In the last few weeks there have been an uncommon number of 'What a small world!' moments - I'll be talking with someone I've never met before and we'll find we have an acquaintance in common.
Is this:
a) pure serendipity,
b) a sign that I know an awful lot of people, or
c) evidence of a kind of global network of people doing unusual and interesting things and I am lucky enough to be entering the periphery of their ranks?
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No, not my expedition, thank heavens. I see Ben Saunders has decided to postpone his expedition to the South Pole.
Tim Harincar, my webmaster at WebExpeditions told me after I'd completed the Atlantic row that around 50% of the expeditions he covers end in failure.
This means I have been lucky so far. I managed to get to the start line of the Atlantic, on time (if way over budget), and even more miraculously I also managed to get to the finish line.
I'm still looking good for the Pacific. Given that I already have the boat, sponsorship for the oars, and still 9 months to get ready, I can't foresee any reasons why it shouldn't come about. Let's hope my luck holds and that it wasn't purely beginner's luck on the Atlantic.
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Adrian Flanagan set out in October last year to sail around the world via the polar regions. I set out in November to row across the Atlantic. I was out there for 103 days which felt like a REALLY long time. Adrian has had to temporarily abandon his mission due to Russian red tape, but even so, he has been out there, mostly alone, nearly 3 times as long as I was at sea.
His story is too long to tell here - look at his website for the full tale.
Adrian helped me out with my weather when my original weatherman let me down. When Adrian was pre-occupied with rounding the Cape, he handed over to Ricardo Diniz, his weatherman from Portugal. I hadn't spoken to either of them since I was in mid-Atlantic. Today I saw them both in Chearsley with Adrian's ex-wife Louise and their sons to celebrate his birthday.
[photo: L to R: Ricardo, Benjamin, Adrian and Louise]
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As I embark on writing the book of my Atlantic adventure, a few sobering thoughts from the great and good of literature:
The profession of book writing makes horse racing seem like a solid and stable business.
(John Steinbeck)
It took me fifteen years to discover that I had no talent for writing, but I couldn't give it up because by that time I was too famous.
(Robert Benchley)
Critics are to authors what dogs are to lamp-posts.
(Jeffrey Robinson)
And that is my cop-out of a blog for today. I am saving myself for the book. (Or to tell the truth, after a few weeks of haring around giving my energy to people and places, I have suddenly slumped today into a jelly-like blob and can barely string together a... one of those long wordy thingummies....)
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