Chesapeake Laser sailor Robert Suhay, 51, was forced to give up his attempt at sailing a 14-foot Laser non-stop and unassisted from Norfolk, Va., to Pooles Island near Chestertown, Md., a distance of approximately 320 nautical miles.
His attempt was thwarted on July 2 when he was battered by a series of powerful thunder storms on the return leg and was forced to stop after conferring with the U.S. Coast Guard.
Had Suhay succeeded, he would have trumped the current Guinness Book record holder, Mexican Olympic sailor Tania Elias Calles who traveled 300 nautical miles in 2010.
