UPDATE: BBC (and now the Independent) commit the same FAIL. See below.
More “Row to the Pole” nonsense writ large:
Ummmm…no, Mr. Hough, the Telegraph’s headline and story are simply wrong. You are a victim of spin and/or a failed geography lesson.
First congratulations, to the RttP team for reaching their destination, which is not a pole of any kind, much less the actual “North Pole”. I didn’t think they would make it.
As I explained before the trip even started, there’s no “pole” achievement here, not even close. They are 738 KM short of the actual magnetic pole. The 1996 magnetic pole doesn’t exist there anymore and thus can’t be a pole of any kind.
The Telegraph article says:
The successful trip to the Pole, described as the “greatest ocean rows of all time”, was only possible because of more seasonal ice-melt in the Arctic that has opened the waters up.
No mention of the fact that they aren’t even close. The actual North pole is 790 miles away:
The FAIL is strong with this one. h/t to reader “Angry Exile”
And the BBC is in on the act of shoddy journalism too:
Kitefreak says:
BBC reporting that the Pultney rowing expedition has reached “the north pole”. Reported on Radio Scotland at 8am (main news bulletin) and on the news website http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-14665937
Absolutely no mention on the radio or the website that it’s the magnetic north pole from ’96, no, they just say the folks have rowed TO THE NORTH POLE.
Pure propaganda.
UPDATE: The BBC commits the same FAIL here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9573000/9573302.stm
What a bunch of liars.
UPDATE2: The load of porkies continues…now the Independent repeats the lie.
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Isn’t there a GB media ethics commission or something ?
They may have well stayed home and had a booze fueled party celebrating that they “aspired” to row to the pole in view of their 19th century accomplishment with 21st century technology.
Shame on their public relations abuse of the facts.
When somebody actually achieves the feat, rows to the pole, which likely was done already 1000 years ago by some unsung Norse hero who paid no never mind to it, then this failed event will be unwound for the fraud that it is.
Watch our so called “press” lie all about this.
I suppose the truth is a bit boring.
“We rowed to an island!”…..
er? Okay….
” it used to be a pole, you know!”…..
er, righto……
” we sorta didn’t row all the way though, we kinda dragged it a ways…..”
Mmm’kay…..
“It was really hard work….”
Zzzz zzz zzz……
……;-)
Why not counter with a “Skate from London to New York” to warn of the coming Ice Age. With similar spin, and the use of some ice arenas along the way, it would be easy.
Maybe CCM or Bauer would be interested in sponsoring?
Actually, the “MOOT” is stronger than the “FAIL”.
http://igloo.atmos.uiuc.edu/cgi-bin/test/print.sh?fm=08&fd=23&fy=1979&sm=08&sd=23&sy=2011
With the area that they traversed being open in the summer with large areas of sea-ice in the arctic, they might as well rowed to the equator. The same arctic area was open 32 years ago, so I would not even congratulate these rowing idiots.
Canada has some really good false advertising laws — maybe we can throw those whiskey merchants in the clink for a few days or months… I have asked for the reporter to be put on a watch list — we’re waiting. I can see him behind bars now…
They are moving quite slow right now. http://www.rowtothepole.com/satellite-tracking/ shows a speed of 0.03 knots to about 0.12 knots. If they are rowing then they are having a lot of ice around them or they are pulling the boat over the ice. I bet on pulling!
Could someone save them. They are for sure in trouble. Send an icebreaker!
It looks like they are trying to find open water or trying to get on land.
And the sun is shining at the North pole? What date was that picture taken?
If the purpose of this publicity stunt was to sell whiskey. I’d say they probably succeeded. Beyond that I do not see this achieving much. That said, it still would have been fun to participate.
Yep – usual sloppy journalism.
Not only did they not ‘row’ a lot of the way – the boat was equipped with skids to enable it to be dragged like a sled – but it was the ‘magnetic’ Pole which they reached – which keeps moving anyway.
Looking at the satellite-generated graphs from the varous scientific organisations which monitor it, the sea ice extent seems not a lot different this year from any other year – but then no story like this would be complete without the ‘we couldn’t have done it without climate change’ phrase….
I go to my local Barbour every month for a haircut. He has a barbour-pole outside his place, perhaps I should alert the BBC and they can write a story saying people can now drive to the ‘pole’ because of Anthropogenic climate change.
At least the BBC website now says it was the 1996 magnetic pole they reached. But no context, so most folk will probably have no idea how far away it from today’s magnetic pole and will likley assume it’s near to the real pole as well. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-14665937
Seems to me most of the folks here are missing the point.
This trip was an ad-venture for Old Pulteney.
It seems to have been very successful. I only wonder what this will do to sales and does the company have enough to meet demand. Next question: what will be their next stunt?
Reminds me of the Tao of Pooh. Pooh sets out for the North Pole, and finds a pole lying on the ground which becomes the “North Pole”.
The BBC article now begins:
“A rowing expedition has reached the 1996 location of the magnetic North Pole in a bid to highlight the effect of climate change in the region.”
Prior to the expedition Mr Wishart had explained the reasons behind undertaking the challenge.
“It is only possible because of the melting ice in the polar regions,” he said.
“Whether this is cyclical, whether this is because we are pumping too much CO2 into the atmosphere, it is happening nonetheless.
“We want to demonstrate to people there’s a problem up there.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-14665937
—————————————————————————————
Well, if “this is cyclical” why is there “a problem up there”?
Also it would have been a lot quicker, cheaper and easier in a rib, which again would “only possible because of the melting ice in the polar regions”. But ain’t got the kudos I suppose.
At least the BBC website got it right – for once!
“A rowing expedition has reached the 1996 location of the magnetic North Pole in a bid to highlight the effect of climate change in the region”
“Remarkably, the final two miles was the first and only ice blockage which they had to trek across.”
— from their website. They don’t say whether this was because they turned back when they met other icefields earlier.
Also, they do admit that it was the 1996 magnetic pole on their website.
I walked to The South Pole once in a t-shirt and shorts …. Mind you it was “The South Pole” pub in County Kerry, Ireland. The beer was cold.
‘Mark Twain’: “If you don’t read the newspaper, you are uninformed. If you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed”.
Jit says:
August 26, 2011 at 9:03 am
“Also, they do admit that it was the 1996 magnetic pole on their website.”
Why didn’t they tell the Telegraph?
The Failograph cannot even find a new picture of The Intrepid Ones – they’ve re-use the same picture from Jul 30 when this ‘adventure’ commenced.
I would venture that nothing more than a snow machine in a (otherwise) disused North London warehouse was employed here. Must further assume that Titter and Boogle realised the fraud ages ago and stopped their accounts, hence the old photo
The story reminds me of Lewis Carroll’s “The Hunting of the Snark’. The hunting party uses a map of the Oceans, which is a blank sheet of paper. Some lines from the poem:
“What’s the good of Mercator’s North Poles and Equators,
Tropics, Zones and Meridian Lines?”
So the Bellman would cry: and the crew would reply,
“They are merely conventional signs!”
If their purpose was to sell Whiskey, I for one would never buy that brand again. Not that I am a whiskey drinker. I am all for unusual adventures, but this one was just pure bs crap. They banned me from posting on their facebook page. I never said anything bad.
Moving the goalposts.
800 miles.
Classic.