On Wednesday 19 December 2007 17:41, Ari wrote: (snip) > Powter had three chapters (categories) describing 'the driving issues > and forces behind the characters': the burdened, the bent and the > lost. Though I think the category titles have quite a lot poetic > freedom of expression, it is fascinating to read his stories and > descriptions. How about if your fellow paddler becomes (or is) a > risk? Or, sometimes, you? > > The 'burdened' were 'haunted by the tremendous challenge to succeed, > either from within or without'. - I have seen that, and witnessed the > pressure. Sometimes I work hard to avoid this in myself. Quite a few of those I have met, but the most classic is Donald Crowhurst, the clever British inventor who decided to win the around the world single-handed race, just to refinance himself, in a new, unknown boat and being very much a tyro sailor himself! His sponsor told him in no uncertain terms that if he withdrew anywhere along the route he would be sued for the cost of the boat and the rest, so sail, no matter what. Rather than facing economic ruin, he sailed in an uncomplete, faulty designed, leaking trimaran, and never left the Atlantic - sending spoof transmissions along the way, trying to catch up with the others when they returned into the Atlantic, as to sneak back as last man. Fate would have it that those in front of him suddenly withdrew, leaving him in front, thus being sure of being found out, as the winner's logs are always carefully checked! By this time he was totally off the rocker, and rather than confessing he disappeared in to the cold Atlantic - he had earlier made landfall - another no-no)! There is an excellent DVD available about this guy, by the way - got mine from Amazon! > 'The bent were likely drawn to adventure and acted the way they did > because of a deeply seated malignancy in their psychological make- > up'. - Not familiar about this, but egocentric adventurers are not > quite uncommon, aren't they? At worst this could be described as > narcissistic or sociopathic character. Powter spends few lines to > ponder the thin line between self-absorved activity/constructive risk- > taking and pure narcissism which can lead others into danger. I find > the subject fascinating and have some doubts that I have met one or > two people who do fit this category. Very common among climbers, paddlers and other adventurers - from Hannes Lindemann's Atlantic crossings, very much alone, once in a dugout, and then repeated in a Klepper Ae II, to fellow Swede Gvran Kropp, who biked from Sweden to Mount Everest, and climbed it twice (without oxygen), before returning back home. Later he climbed Everest again, together with Renata Chlumska, his girlfriend, collecting garbage, left by other expeditions, on the way! > 'The lost were people whose adventures ultimately had the same > rudderless quality that their lives did, drifting sadly, frantically > or naively toward their unhappy conclusions'. -Again, quite familiar > subject, though fortunately no tragic endings... at least as far as I > know. Crowhurst was a little like that, too! Clever, but not too organized! Tord *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Hi Tord, Crowhurst is in the book -there is also a photograph of his wrecked trimaran. Very interesting story, with his last diary notes. It seems that he broke mentally under the pressure. Ari Saarto - navigare necesse est - tel. + 358 (0) 40 58 59 676 http://asaarto1.blogspot.com/ On 20. joulu 2007, at 12:51, Tord Eriksson wrote: > > Quite a few of those I have met, but the most classic is Donald > Crowhurst, > the clever British inventor who decided to win the around the world > single-handed race, just to refinance himself, in a new, unknown > boat and > being very much a tyro sailor himself! *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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