David has been doing some epic journeys training in some stupid winds for this event. Hope it goes well for them all and you all sponsor them - some very worthwhile charities being supported here.
That's a crazy challenge! A Laser doesn't stand a chance... The only reason that the mast will not be driven through the bottom of the boat taking all the fixings with it, is that the mast will break. A Laser mast can't take the winds you get there...
Can't see the cold being an issue, what with Steve C involved they should be wearing as much rooster thermal kit as they could possibly desire!
David has already proved that even with a snapped mast the laser will move at a good rate as long as its a broad reach. If you look on there website you can see the photo of the state of his rig when he landed at HHSC on one of his training runs. That day was in excess of 35 knots for large parts of his journey. As they are waiting for the right wind window hopefully they'll avoid any weather systems chucking out that sort of breeze anyway.
Both boats are from the 1970's and David has fully renovated them. He used one at Weston Open the day before his training run to HHSC and it looked in better nick than my current boat (196xxx)!