Comments on: Jessica, Jesse, Joshua and the Cruel Sea

By: Mick

Mick — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 11:16:54 +0000

I spent half of my seagoing life in the Southern Ocean. Its a very very bad place at times. I did it for commercial and personal gain. But I did it in well found ships. It has never failed to astound me that people would do it for pleasure or to prove something to a world which really does not give a fig. The Fastnet disaster, Sydney/Hobart, Auckland/Noumea –races for dickwads with jauntily named boats–have all gone pear shaped. When it does, you deviate from your course, stop fishing, whatever, and go look for dickheads that have become the “victims” of “rogue” waves, “unpredicted” fronts and so on. The Navy and Air Force do their thing, some are rescued, some perish, the talking heads on TV bring the folks ashore updates and breaking news and it’s all very exciting, gripping stuff. Rinse and repeat every few years.

The biggest diasater is yet to come.

When round the world races take the fleets on the shortest route [the Great Circle], down towards the Antarctic in those huge empty spans of ocean from the Cape to Australia/NZ and that formidable home of current, cold, wind and shitty weather The Horn, well they are asking for it. Lighter boats, space age material, satphones blah blah blah records to beat, sponsors names up in lights and going like a mob of cut cats in a group; they are all vulnerable to an ocean that can wipe them like snot. With no possibilty of help, yea great grief shall fill the land and loud lamentations shall be heard from the former partners of the swashbuckling crews; the mercantile princes shall be of grim visage as chunks of flotsam bearing the heraldry of their houses are retrieved. “Closure” will be brought when a maritime patrol aircraft drops a wreath upon the spot for bewildered mollymawks to skid past as they look for their next feed of squid. The former partners will go back to wearing their sunglasses on top of their heads and the women’s magazines shall feature them with their new partners.
Yes its all a challenge, but this is a challenge to common sense and seamanlike prudence. What they are doing is entering Formula One cars into Baja California terrain, and there ain’t no tow trucks and pit crew out there.

By: peter dedman

peter dedman — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 06:19:20 +0000

I have a spray 40 in my back yard is there any adventurer to fit her out ????I need to sell ,,, of course these boats wont sail into the wind but off the wind they will self steer ,,,,I also hav e a building site as where she is in perth weas australia …………tel no is 08 94100520

By: David Morgan

David Morgan — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 02:56:26 +0000

‘traditionally known as the “Antipodes”’? Only in England.

And do we really have a relaxed attitude to danger? Teenagers everywhere think they’re immortal. But live in the bush – even on the outskirts of the cities – and the risk of bushfire is always at the back of your mind. Then go for a swim at the beach and just try and forget about sharks, jellyfish and undertows. And then there’s the risk of skin cancer…

I wouldn’t let this girl go if she was my daughter. And yes, showbiz is playing a big role in this voyage. But she has spent much of her life on the water. If anyone of her age is prepared enough for such a voyage, it seems she is.

I too have read and enjoyed ‘Sailing Alone Around the World’. But it needs to be said that Slocum became a celebrity, not after the voyage, but during. Thanks to the telegraph, news of what he was attempting preceded him. He was feted in Sydney, met Henry Stanley in Durban and President Kruger in Pretoria:

‘His Excellency received me cordially enough; but my friend Judge Beyers, the gentleman who presented me, by mentioning that I was on a voyage around the world, unwittingly gave great offense to the venerable statesman, which we both regretted deeply. Mr. Krüger corrected the judge rather sharply, reminding him that the world is flat. “You don’t mean round the world,” said the president; “it is impossible! You mean in the world. Impossible!” he said, “impossible!” and not another word did he utter either to the judge or to me…Only unthinking people call President Krüger dull.’

By: Wendy

Wendy — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 11:16:20 +0000

These days I paddle outrigger canoes rather than sail oceans, but the temptation to keep paddling beyond “the line ‘tween sea and sky” is overpowering. The content I’ve read here its the closest I’ve found to the sort of people and real boats that I want to sail oceans with. I too am reminded of Thoreau, Muir and Emerson when I think of Slocum – an ocean version of philosophers and natural adventurers.

Hopefully you don’t have to be a teenager to dream… Joshua and Thoreau weren’t.

Mahalo nui loa!

By: Dale

Dale — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 01:53:05 +0000

It’s not how she handles the sea that worries me, it’s how she will be handled when she lands. Anywhere.
There are far too many men in the world who see a little unprotected teenage girl as a victim in waiting.

By: Ian Oldham

Ian Oldham — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 08:58:07 +0000

Hi Roger
Your essay does sound a little dispirited. As I was reading it, I recalled that Australia won the Americas Cup closely followed by New Zealand (twice); apparently they did not realise that it was an impossible dream – after all, Britain had tried, and failed, many times. Perhaps the prevailing non-antipodal part of the world has become totally risk averse and tries to justify it by describing ‘the risks’ from the perspective of a comfortable armchair. You may also recall that a bee keeper was the first person to climb Everest.
Many people, after doing ‘the impossible” have said that they would not have attempted the challenge had they known what it involved.
I suspect that you have missed the point. Try reading the intro. to ‘An Unexpected Light’.
Best wishes
Ian Oldham

By: Twitted by bradpiercephd

Twitted by bradpiercephd — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 19:12:28 +0000

[...] This post was Twitted by bradpiercephd [...]

By: uberVU - social comments

uberVU - social comments — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 17:43:19 +0000

Social comments and analytics for this post…

This post was mentioned on Twitter by bradpiercephd: “Sailing alone around the world”: http://bit.ly/7ttdl5...

By: Chuck Lanigan

Chuck Lanigan — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:30:10 +0000

Roger: Nice reflection on the risks and benefits of pursuing and being present to authentic experience in our lives, vs. pursuing it a priori as a marketing gimmick purely for promoting ourselves. We are driven to do this in our celebrity-obsessed, YouTube, Facebook culture. I live in Andy Warhol’s home town of Pittsburgh in the US. Don’t get me starting on the ridiculous fawning that still goes on over the post-modern influence re. commodification of the self of a man who’s been dead 20-odd years; and a weird, disaffected one at that.) . See also Kenneth Gergen’s ‘The Self in the Age of Information’.

I was thinking before you mentioned it as I read Slocum’s account of his career and re-building of ‘The Spray’ that his writing reminds me of Thoreau’s. Good call. I have visited Walden and swam in HDT’s cove. It was a significant experience in my life.

Best. — Chuck Lanigan

By: Tracy W

Tracy W — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 11:20:03 +0000

As an Antipodean myself, this analysis of Antipodean character does not ring any bells as a generalisation. I go tramping (hiking, for non-Antipodeans) and most trampers are well aware of the dangers (and any who aren’t eventually get a sharp reminder, or killed). As for Asians’ greater awareness of danger, I find this hard to believe. Take this story of nine Indonesia climbers lifted from Mt Cook, NZ, who were attempting to climb this mountain after having trained on sand dunes in Indonesia. There are of course Antipodeans who are bloody stupid about the great outdoors, but there also are Asians who are bloody stupid.

As for Pacific Islands, they are relatively safe places to visit. How many people get blown up compared with the numbers who get hit by cars? The Bali bombings killed 202 people, but in Indonesia an estimated 15,000 road fatalities occurred in 1995 (see http://www.factbook.net/EGRF_Introduction.htm). in NZ 350 people died in road accidents in 2009, not an exceptional year. http://www.ltsa.govt.nz/research/toll.html