Is it difficult going through life without a sense of humor or the ability to detect sarcasm?
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Not exactly rare
Heyerdahl has been a controversial person a long time.
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DNA has proved the Polynesians originated in what is now Taiwan.
I don’t know…I think ties in the ER are a hazard. There’s a lot of pullies and belts and things down there that go round and round and a tie could get caught in there. I just dont’t think it’s a good idea, I’m sorry…
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I’m really landlocked thus brown water is all I got.
But speaking of epic journeys in small boats…anyone thought of America’s Great Loop ?
At least part of it is right along the Atlantic coast.
Some take their retirement on this route in boats like this, Sea Camper
Years ago I read “River-Horse” by William Least Heat-Moon. It chronicled his journey across America in a small boat.
I need to get a copy of that. I lurk on a forum that has people living out of converted Vans
or larger utility trailers converted to RV’s. They are always talking about W Least book,
“Blue Highways”. And Gurney Norman’s “D.R.'s Trip”. Of course this stuff is on land
but those touring the Great Loop in a boat like the “Sea Camper” would be in
a boat set up much like a Camper Van.
I’d enjoy a little of both. 
I met this guy in Golfito, Costa Rica, many years ago:
Tristan Jones incredible voyage is a great read!
The Incredible Voyage [edit]
In the early 1970s, he conceived the idea of setting “the altitude record for sailing” by sailing both the Dead Sea (the lowest open water in the world) and Lake Titicaca, which is 3,812 meters (12,507 ft) up in the Andes Mountains. He sailed to Israel, and trucked his sailboat to the Dead Sea. Though he was not allowed to launch his boat, he did make a brief sail on the Sea in an Israeli naval officer’s sailboat.
He then sailed his boat from Israel around Africa to the West Indies, where he traded it for a smaller boat. He sailed this boat to Peru, trucked it up to Lake Titicaca, and sailed the lake, thus achieving the “record”. He then hauled his sailboat across Bolivia to Brazil on the Paraguay River, and sailed down through the Mato Grosso to Paraguay and Argentina.
His account of this adventure was published in 1977 as his first book, The Incredible Voyage .
I’ve enjoyed Tristan Jones’ writing as well. He accomplished some remarkable feats but it’s been discovered that he was prone to exaggeration and even fabrication when it suited his fancy.
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For anyone interested in the history of lifeboat voyages and sea survival in general, the only comprehensive history I’ve found is Lifeboat by John Stilgoe. Lots of sea stories.
Turns out the concept of having a small boat with lots of floatation and stability, stocked with supplies, and maintained in case disaster, was a radical notion until about the beginning of the 20th century. Before that, if you sank, you usually drowned, and if you did make it to a boat, there was a good chance your fellow crew members would eat you.
Another book well worth the read is Survivors: British Merchant Seamen in the Second World War. This has to do with the whole seaman’s experience, not just lifeboats, but survival at sea figures largely into it.
You learn that seamen who had to take to the lifeboats because their massive ship was torpedoed, commonly panicked, gave up and died. The men most likely to survive were fishermen, who were used to working in similar tiny boats since boyhood, and were used to the life.
Fun fact from the book: The organization Outward Bound was originally formed to teach merchant mariners how to live in lifeboats for long periods. Only afterwards did it gravitate to teaching young people outdoor skills.
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Years ago, I participated in a survival at sea class taught to a select group. The scenario was one in which the group was stranded aboard an imaginary lifeboat and the goal was to reach help with those who had the best chance of survival. The object of the course was to hammer home that survival choices cannot be based on emotions. Lives had to be sacrificed based on individuals’ chances of survival and their effect on the rest of castaways. A no nonsense coach would tear you a new one if you got soft. It’s not for everybody. It was life changing experience I’ll never forget.
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There’s a classic movie that focuses on this dilemma: Abandon Ship. I used to show part of it when I was teaching STCW Survival at Sea.
A passenger ship sinks in the middle of nowhere after hitting a derelict mine. No mayday. One lifeboat escapes. The survivors are mostly passengers. The senior officer in the boat dies from injuries. But not before telling the only other officer that he won’t be able to save everyone, and that his best chance is to try to row to Africa, 800 miles away. But that means casting off the weak and infirm, so the young and healthy can survive (hmm, is that topical or what?)
The steward is faced with the decision of what to do for the common good. It was based on an actual event, the wreck of the William Brown in the 19th century, which led to a trial.
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I attended Outward Bound at a time when the instructors were all ex military. The chief instructor was a Major Andrian Hayter, a decorated soldier from WWII in Burma, who was a jungle warfare instructor during the Malaysian Emergency. We rowed a naval cutter ( Bligh used one) 40 miles because there was no wind. At the end I could tie my shoe laces without bending down two and a half tonnes of boat was not fun. At one stage we were trapped in a blizzard for five days, no one came looking for us and we just walked out at the end of it.
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I just found thishttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Hayter
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Thanks for that. I’ll be hunting for some of his books.
Reading now, thank you.
Agree all. And I think ickiness gets out of the way very quickly in such circumstances.
I think you’re misremembering. He first defended the lad’s right to not pray, and later on reamed him out for giving the people who did a hard time. Seems fair.
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