A DROP IN THE OCEAN
By Geoffrey Pettit After thirty years of sitting behind a desk in both England and Norway the author sets out to realise an old sailing dream of circumnavigating the globe alone. Some dreams are however, best left to the sleeping hours and following early humiliation and near disaster in the North Sea the author finally settles on a more realistic yet still daunting project, the completion of an Atlantic Circuit. Setting out alone from his hometown, Stavanger on the west coast of Norway and hoping to avoid the shipping hazards of the southern North Sea he steers a course instead for the Outer Hebrides, the west coast of Ireland and the Bay of Biscay. Surviving both near-shipwreck off Cape Finisterre as well as the ultimate nightmare of falling overboard he finally errs on the side of caution and enters the 2006 ARC from Gran Canaria to St.Lucia with a two-man crew. This is a real life adventure story, as far from the hullabaloo and professionalism of modern sailing as it is possible to get while still relying on a gps, autopilot and short wave radio. The 5,000-mile return journey, sailing alone amongst the low-pressure systems of the North Atlantic, provides a catharsis for both body and soul, where the outcome is never certain. |
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