All the materials have been either donated or purchased by Mr Smith, who is spending compensation he received after he was run over by a van two years ago – an accident that has left the adventurer, writer and grandfather with metal pins in his leg. What would normally be regarded as a devastating setback has been turned into a positive. "I had some luck two years ago – I was run over," Mr Smith said. "That's what inspired the whole thing and that's provided the basis for the money. "The whole point it to prove that elderly people can do something interesting. Well, I am 84 and disabled, so I'm well qualified on that score." The inspiration for the unusual trip comes from a desire to show that rafts, although a primitive form of transport, are no more dangerous than hollow-hulled vessels. The crew are also raising money for WaterAid, a charity that provides clean water for the world's poorest people.
"People ask me 'Am I frightened?' But I say I don't know enough to be frightened," Mr Smith explains. "I don't know how we will get on, as we don't know each other very well. I don't know how tiring it will be, living on something that goes up and down all the time. I don't know what it will be like living on a bunk. Nobody knows what a storm will do to us, or how well we will be able to steer." But Mr Smith, of west London, insists the adventure is no foolhardy indulgence. Two of the crew – Mr Hildred and Mr Bainbridge – are experienced sailors, and the raft has been kitted out with all the necessary communications in case they get into trouble. All the pieces – including gas pipes, electronics, wood, and two telegraph poles that would became the mast – were assembled and shipped in a container from Felixstowe, Suffolk, to La Gomera in the Canary Islands. The crew will be sheltered by a wooden hut, 20ft by 7ft (6m by 2m), where they will take turns to sleep on two bunk beds. Cooking, from gas stoves, chart-reading and all-important communications will be also be carried out there.
"We've also got a small library so it won't all be hard work," says Mr Smith. The lights and electronics will be powered by four solar cells on top of the hut, a wind generator – and a pedalling machine. Meanwhile, the crew will be sustained by 16 boxes of food, containing dry stuffs like cornflakes and perishables such as eggs, oranges and bananas. A small bread maker will add homely comfort to their ordeal. "We also have a hook and line to catch fish, and a plankton net to eat plankton. Plankton is good enough for the blue whale, the biggest creature on earth, to eat, so it's good enough for us." Drinking water will be carried in five pipes, each 18ft long. "We'll have so much water I think we will be able to sell it to passing yachts." Asked what treats he's brought along to keep the crew's spirits up for the long days and nights ahead, Mr Smith's answer is short and simple. "Alcohol," he says. "Everyone's quite keen on a drink, so it's not so much beer as rum and whisky." The crew has had to wait for the weather to calm down before launching the raft. A support vessel will tow the raft out to sea for a few miles – "in case anyone forgets their toothbrush". "We have to wait for the wind. I don't want to be released and then blown back to shore. But the current is there to do the job. It took Columbus across in 1492 so it should take us across too." The crew's destination is the small island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas.
An-Tiki website.
2 comments:
I do applaud them. The wannabe adventurer in me hopes they make it in order to inspire people to do more in their lives. The skeptic in me really hopes they make it so that tax payers don't have to pay for their rescue.
It's an interesting concept. The big blue pipes aren't gas pipes though, they're water pipes...
I'd like to see how the structure is tied together. Unlike Kon Tiki's balsa logs, high density polyethlene (HDPE) is very slippery stuff.
Good luck to them!
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