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Free Spirit - A Free Spirit (62) competition for maths experts!



In the lead-up to departing Las Palmas the ARC coordinators do safety checks on all boats. Free Spirit had a number of things to attend to, most challenging was extending the life lines - the two lines of wire rope with stainless stanchions (posts) running down either side of the boat. ARC's quite sensible rules are for the life-lines to wrap around the stern and bow of the boat, providing full protection from being swept over-board in rough weather. Ours tapered down to the gunwales about 2m from the stern and 1m back from the bow, leaving large gaps fore and aft to fall through. We realised this just 4 business days days to go, and the prospect of sourcing the four additional stanchions we needed from the UK in that time seemed remote, so we spent most of the morning scrambling around looking for solutions.

That afternoon, Chris was up at the rubbish bins dropping off a load of rubbish and there, sticking out of the rubbish bin, were 4 stainless steel stanchions of exactly the same dimensions as Free Spirits! He came back waving these happily, and we all sat around scratching our heads wondering what the odds are of that actually happening are, we found it reasonably odd to say the least!! We quickly put them to good use, the photo attached shows the finished job at the stern, expertly done by Mark (at the helm) with Chris (assisting!).

So maths experts out there, here is your challenge. Assume someone decides to dump exactly 4 (not one, two or three) 640mm x 25mm drilled, tapered stainless stanchions once every 5 years at Las Palmas marina, in the dumpster that Chris happened to be visiting. Assume the rubbish is cleared once per day by the local authorities, and the period of time we needed to actually locate 4 of these posts was 4 days during that 5 year period. What are the odds that on the one day someone decides to dump them, we are wondering how on earth to find some! Answers to [email protected] by 5pm (mid-Atlantic time) Fri 6th Dec, prize for the correct answer (with workings) is an ARC polo shirt!!

Cheers, Alistair


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