An expedition team which set sail from Plymouth on a 5,000-mile carbon emission-free trip to Greenland have been rescued by an oil tanker.
Raoul Surcouf, Richard Spink and skipper Ben Stoddart sent a mayday because they feared for their safety amid winds of 68mph (109km/h).
All three are reportedly exhausted but safe on board the Overseas Yellowstone.
Mr Surcouf, 40, from Jersey, Mr Spink, 31, and Mr Stoddart, 43, from Bristol, are due to arrive in the USA on 8 May.
‘Heartfelt thanks’
The team, which left Mount Batten Marina in Plymouth on 19 April in a boat named the Fleur, aimed to rely on sail, solar and man power on a 580-mile (933km/h) journey to and from the highest point of the Greenland ice cap.
…
But atrocious weather dogged their journey after 27 April, culminating with the rescue on 1 May after the boat was temporarily capsized three times by the wind.
…
Water was also getting into the boat from waves breaking over it and the crew took refuge in the forward cabin.
The crew were 400 miles (644km) off the west coast of Ireland when they sent a mayday to Falmouth coastguards who co-ordinated the rescue with Irish coastguards.
The transfer from the Fleur to Overseas Yellowstone was achieved in 42mph (67km/h) winds.
see the complete story from BBC NEWS here
(h/t to Philip Bratby – I suppose the boat becomes eco-pollution on the high sea now – Anthony)
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How about the term Greeniacs for these fools?
What next a green Children’s Crusade?
Wouldn’t the guy who gave up everything and went to live in the wilds of Alaska with no modern amenities, and was consequently killed by bears be one of those?
That’s basically what they all want the rest of us to do.
The vikings had no oil tankers to rescue them and they made it to greenland, no solar power either.
I have come across in discussing the arguement that the name greenland is not the correct translation of the name the vikings gave it.
“In the Icelandic sagas, it is said that Norwegian-born Erik the Red was exiled from Iceland for murder. He, along with his extended family and thralls, set out in ships to find the land that was rumoured to be to the northwest. After settling there, he named the land Grænland (“Greenland”).[31] Greenland was also called Gruntland (“Ground-land”) and Engronelant (or Engroneland) on early maps. Whether green is an erroneous transcription of grunt (“ground”), which refers to shallow bays, or vice versa, is not known.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland
There are two written sources on the origin of the name, in The Book of Icelanders (Íslendingabók), an historical work dealing with early Icelandic history from the 12th century, and in the medieval Icelandic saga, The Saga of Eric the Red (Eiríks saga rauða), which is about the Norse settlement in Greenland and the story of Erik the Red in particular. Both sources write: “He named the land Greenland, saying that people would be eager to go there if it had a good name.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Greenland
Since the name greenland is often cited in discussions about past climate then i think the orign of the name is worth considering. Also shows how wiki can have two articles with different stories.
There is a legend of Saint Brendan who sailed from Ireland to Iceland and beyond in a currag made of ox-skin, in the early 500’s AD. Now there is an eco-friendly sailor!
From Wiki: In 1976, Irish explorer Tim Severin built an ox-leather curragh and over two summers sailed her from Ireland via the Hebrides, Faroe Islands and Iceland to Newfoundland in an attempt to demonstrate that it was feasible for Brendan to have reached America. No oil tanker needed.
Thanks M. White for the website.
These people have lost it. A landscaper, physiostherapist and a guy who sailed family boats across the Channel. They can’t be serious….
It seems that they were thinking that sailing would be the easy part. In their blog they were constantly disappointed that the wind was blowing in the wrong direction.
I once crossed the North Atlantic in 10,000 ton cargo ship, in summer! Very violent place. We encountered bad weather twice. The second storm was massive and the swells would almost stop the ship when it hit the bow.
They complained about rolling the boat several times. Of course. When the waves are higher than the length of the boat, that will happen. They should be glad to be alive.
Jeff Alberts,
You may be merging Christopher McCandless and Timothy Treadwell.
MCandless died of starvation whereas Treadwell was killed by a bear. Both were, IMHO, monumentally ignorant of the power and capriciousness of nature.
……………. Hmm. Yes, I can sort of see how this might have happened. See, here, for example.
http://www.mcphee.com/pixlarge/10806.jpg
But at least we were spared the later parts of the expedition.
” Spink and Surcouf will spend four days on arrival in Greenland carrying their supplies up on to the glacier. They will then set off on a 560-mile round trip, each dragging 100kg of supplies on sledges across the ice cap, following a route pioneered by the Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen in 1888. This part of the expedition is expected to take 40 days, during which they could encounter temperatures of -25C (-13F) and winds of up to 80 mph.”
What is it with these eco loons? See their route here: http://blog.mailasail.com/fleur
To be fair it was a full keel sailboat so is essentially seaworthy but at only 38′, is far too small to handle the sort of weather they were sailing into. They just don’t make boats like they used to! (or sailors for that matter)
Surely this can only be the result of three men in a (eco) pub shortly before closing time.
‘The team, which left Mount Batten Marina in Plymouth on 19 April in a boat named the Fleur, aimed to rely on sail, solar and man power on a 580-mile (933km/h) journey to and from the highest point of the Greenland ice cap.’
Err 580 mile round trip to Greenland from Plymouth? I don’t think so – according to Google maps the distance TO the southernmost point of Greenland (as the crow flies) is 2918.95 km, about 1,800 miles, making a round trip of more that 4,000 miles. I have done the Fastnet race (Cowes- Fastnet Rock-Plymouth) and can promise you that this is about 600 miles and Greenland is a lot further than the south of Ireland!!!
You may be right about the quality of the sailors.
Vikings plied the same waters in boats with only a few feet of freeboard. I have only a Reader’s Digest version of the story in mind, but it seemed to me “climate change” got the better of them, too. I don’t know how they would have handled 70 mph winds, but those big chunks of ice (“bergs” as they called them), ultimately blocked the access to their colonies on the west side of Greenland. The expedition apparently wasn’t curious about any of this, but I might like to know if Nuuk had some Norse history.
By the way, if anyone has more on the end of the Greenland Viking colonies / climate connection… I’d like to read more.
@Jack mosevich (12:43:17) :
I have a picture of Severin in his hide boat, “Brendan”, sailing in open water, in Conway’s The Earliest Ships. It looks like two men handling both square-rigged sails and the tiller. It also looks scary as hell with about a foot of freeboard.
“The wind generator and solar panels were ripped from the yacht.”
Attached with dry wall screws, no doubt.
I suspect that just before the storm began to get truly dangerous, somewhere in the world Al Gore turned to someone at whatever gathering he was attending and mentioned the expedition by name. Then the skies truly darkened and the seas began to roil. There is no other explanation other than the touch of the Gore for this level of Natural ire at a publicity stunt intended to show how man endangers Nature.
He is the Marvin the Paranoid Android of AGW. One Al Gore on their side is worth a legion on ours.
deadwood (06:52:37) : One would think that this expedition had some planning. […] Perhaps the weather was unusual,
tarpon (07:19:05) : What is most amazing, is they keep trying these stunts …
Don’t you know? AGW was going to make it a nice calm Caribbean type climate with mother Gaia watching over them with nice fuzzy soft breezes and tropical warmth…
A supreme example of the triumph of self delusion over observed reality. That they “keep trying these stunts” is the best possible proof that these folks suffer from a reality defying delusional psychosis of some sort.
BTW, lived aboard a dumpy 27 footer for a couple of years with a 2 cylinder Volvo Penta marine Diesel auxiliary, roller reefer jib, single mast mainsail. Single handed around the S.F. bay. Most exciting moment? 4 knot current after a tide shift in Raccoon Straits headed for the rocks 10 minutes away on Angel Island with a 3 knot hull speed and winds toward the island. Diesel wouldn’t start. Did a half hour throttle cable rework in 5 minutes… It’s amazing what adrenaline will do for you…
Second most exciting? Taking in a reef in increasing winds and seas of “a few feet more than I like” and seeing a Giant Something Ship coming out of the foggy mists headed right for me… You know, you can steer a ship on Diesel power while holding the (dropped) boom and mainsail in a bundle with the other arm …
I love my Diesel. Diesel brings life. Diesel good.
All of 10 hp in a several hundred pound package that would run for a year or two on a single tank of fuel (40 gallons? never did need to fill from empty…) and had an emergency hand crank lever for when the batteries were shot. Marvelous piece of machinery. And yes, Point Up Ye Landlubbers! Point up!
The True Believers would deride my Diesel and insisted on the purity of a sailboat without an auxiliary (and docking under sail despite the increased risk to others). They also loved their fin keels with 8 foot draft. Every so often I’d see one, fin stuck in the 4 foot mud outside the edge of the dredged channel… And they would frantically wave at me as I pointed my tack outside them and outside the channel then look Oh So Peeved when I’d make a beautiful turn outside the channel and keep on sailing to port… I had 27 INCHES of draft. Thing was a pig and scudded sideways with more leeway than you can imagine, but it was ideal for S.F. Bay where much of the place is a few feet of water over mud. More like a river with a wide flood plain than a bay…
Sigh. I wish I hadn’t sold it now… 8 foot beam with lots of liveaboard room.
So yeah, the sea is very unforgiving. You must select the right equipment for the job and what THE SEA wants is what you base your decision on. What you want is of no importance…
Then again, my Irish and Viking ancestor covered the same seas with skin boats and wooden hulls, so maybe it’s more about the sailor than the boat…
Chance favors the prepared mind, and the prepared sailor…
Rub a dub dub,
Three men in a tub,
And who do you think they be?
The planter, the sailor,
The brave chiropractor.
Turn them out, knaves all three.
In thinking about this, I’m ever more wondering:
What in the world did they need electricity aboard for?
A sextant and compass are non-powered. An emergency radio has long life batteries (carry two sets, at least). You don’t need TV or a computer…
You don’t need lights to function (navigate by stars and prevailing waves by night, as the polynesians did).
Running lights? Navigation hazard beacon? For a short crossing a battery powered set of LED lights ought to last a very long time…
I’m thinking that they wanted to bring the whole modern electric world with them (microwaved frozen pizza anyone?)…
I’ve seen sail boats with the solar panel moulded into the deck. No way to lose it. No need for a wind turbine. (Better choice would be a small hydro turbine lowered into the water when under sail if needed to charge batteries, stowed when not).
Now for a liveaboard where you want some electricity while in port or at anchor, a wind turbine is a nice bit of gear… But stowable when underway…
Media Stunt is the only reason I can see for glue on solar and wind…
They expected this solar panel installation to survive an ocean wave?
http://carbonneutralexpeditions.com/gallery/?album=2&gallery=8&nggpage=2
These folks had no clue what they were getting into…
I don’t get it. Late night comedians should be ON this! George Carlin, where are you when we need you most!?!?!?!?
Not thanking rescuers of the ‘wrong sort’ does appear to be a, not-uncommon, trait amongst Zealots of many colours.
Witness a similar response to the Special Forces personnel who rescued hostages in Iraq in 2006. It was widely reported that the freed hostages were less than vocal in saying ‘Thank you’ to the gallant soldiers who freed them.
“British officials in Baghdad said those freed were Canadians James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, and Briton Norman Kember, 74. The men – members of the Chicago-based Christian Peacemaker Teams – were kidnapped Nov. 26 (2005) along with their American colleague, Tom Fox”
http://sistertoldjah.com/archives/2006/03/23/3-christian-activists-rescued-in-iraq/
Having seen the pictures of the “yacht”and solar power panel – wow !. Once out of a harbour, you can expect anything. Obviously, they did not speak to any open ocean sailor, who would have mentioned waves breaking over the whole length of the boat etc. A group of frightened activists who did do one thing right – they got out when they could.
The Brian Fagan description of a typical day out “yachting” in this area can be found online at:
http://books.google.com/books?id=LwvkmXt5fQUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Fagan,+little+ice+age&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0#PPA3,M1
See chapter, “Medieval Warming” from The Little Ice Age
The Greenland Vikings sailed their cargo ships to and from North America during a 300 year period by traveling along the coast and crossing over at a northern point where it was calm. They knew better than sailing direct in via the treacherous open northern sea. Of course today that coastal route would be difficult due to the ice.
Douglas DC (07:57:56) :
This adventure reads like a story in Sail magazine.
Some years ago I had the *pleasure* of crossing the the Columbia River Bar in a 72 footer-Schooner rig, good aux power, and had the daylights scared of of me. This was in Mid Summer with the Northwesterlies.
My Dad used to go out salmon fishing with a buddy of his across the bar in a 17-foot runabout (Fall and Spring runs). And they weren’t the only ones out there in boats that small.
One of my uncles was a Coastie stationed there. Had tales that really put the fear of God in you. There is good reason the Columbia Bar is considered the worst section of water on Earth.
Anyone who would sail the north Atlantic in a small boat this time of year deserves a Darwin Award (you only get one by permanently removing yourself from the gene pool). Gales are normal now. And they normally blow out of the northwest as do the prevailing winds in latitudes above 50N. They’re not called the “roaring fifties” for nothing.
To get to Greenland from the UK, you go south to the trades, ride them to the across the Atlantic and then go NE to Greenland. Columbus knew this, that’s while he felt confident he could get home.
He became rich and famous the right way, by being smart. These clowns lost their boat through stupidity and they will be happy to lose their fame.