Transcript
Nick Thatcher:
Hello and welcome to this BBC News interactive forum, I'm Nick Thatcher.
British adventurer Jim Shekhdar, who became the first person to row
single-handedly and unassisted across the Pacific, is about to embark on
an even more challenging journey. Mr Shekhdar who's 57 survived shark
attacks and an encounter with a tanker on that Pacific trip from Peru to
Australia. It lasted 274 days in all and earned him a place in the
Guinness Book of Records. But not content with that he's at it all over
again. This time the aim is to travel more than 9,000 miles, from New
Zealand to Cape Town. When he makes it he will set another record. Is he
mad or is he just a great British adventurer? Well he's here to answer
that question and many more of your questions. Welcome to the
interactive studio. We've had plenty of questions in throughout the day
so let's kick off with one from Emily in Bristol who asks: "What
inspired you to do a trip like this, isn't one enough?"
Jim Shekhdar:
That's the biggest question of all. I've done two and I thought the
second one would be the last because I'm pretty old but then I found
something more difficult. Well not more difficult but something, I
suppose, a degree of difficulty up which I could still do. So this is
the ultimate row and I think it will be the last.
Nick Thatcher:
So you weren't tempted to hang up your oars?
Jim Shekhdar:
I did the last one across the Pacific because I thought that would be
enough and I could hang up my oars because it was the biggest but then I
found that round the Horn was probably a little bit more exciting, a
little bit more challenging.
Nick Thatcher:
I have to put to you a question that Ben asks rather bluntly, Ben's from
the United Kingdom: "Aren't you a bit old for this sort of thing?"
Jim Shekhdar:
Well again as I said the last one was supposed to be the last one but I
think if somebody younger had done this before me I wouldn't need to,
would I.
Nick Thatcher:
We've got plenty of questions coming in live as we're on air. Girish
Patel from Leicester again asks a very direct question: "Is it a measure
of great courage or is it a measure of complete madness? Both I think,
there is a thin line between the two." Depends on your perception,
doesn't it, who's mad you or me? You're not mad?
Jim Shekhdar:
I don't believe so but I do like it out on the ocean.
Nick Thatcher:
So what motivates you? Tom from London wants to know: "What actually
motivates you to take on these challenges? Is it simply because they are
there?"
Jim Shekhdar:
That's the easy answer I think. There is no absolute answer, there's
lots of little reasons. I think one of the major ones is that it's one
of the few things - I used to be a sportsman, I probably am not the
right shape to be a sportsman now and certainly my knees and shoulders
don't help me but it's one of the few things that I've found that I can
do that other people haven't done, everything becomes easier once
somebody's done it.
Nick Thatcher:
The last trip was quite an adventure and there were a few scary moments,
just towards the end weren't there, I think we've got a few pictures
that we can take a look at on our screen now which is when you were
coming into Australia - explain to us what was going on there, you
seemed to be .
Jim Shekhdar:
Well there was 40 miles of beach and there was a three metre swell,
which somebody told me would translate into a five metre wave, which it
did. There was no way I was going to come in slowly, so I tried to surf
in but there was a cross break and it turned the boat round and rolled
it over. So I had to walk.
Nick Thatcher:
A great way to finish though isn't it.
Jim Shekhdar:
I was incredibly grateful for it because it got me the book deal that
paid for the trip because I didn't have any sponsors.
Nick Thatcher:
Well Trevellyon Newell from Didcot: "What do you fear most when you're
out in the middle of the ocean?" We've heard in the introduction those
shark attacks, tankers, boats capsizing at the last moment - what is it
that you fear most?
Jim Shekhdar:
I think the dark probably. It's never dark or it's very rarely dark, I
mean it's amazing how much the moon and the stars lights up the place
when there's no false lighting. It depends what's happening - the
weather can be enormously intimidating, I think, rather than
frightening. I think the only time I was frightened was when I had to
put a harness on when the sharks were outside the boat, head banging it.
I wasn't worried about the sharks damaging the boat or getting me, I was
only worried about falling in and being eaten by them. But apparently
Great Whites don't actually like the taste of people - the trouble is
they have to bite you first before they know that.
Nick Thatcher:
Al from Nottingham says: "How much of your progress does rely on
navigation and using the weather and how much is rowing?"
Jim Shekhdar:
Well navigation obviously comes into it. I don't believe weather routers
are a huge amount of help except in advising you where the weather goes
because you've got to go with the weather. I have got a guy called
Pierre Lesnier this time, who was weather router for - well he does a
lot of yachting but he also was weather router for Jo Le Guen, who's the
only guy who tried to row the Southern Ocean before. You can't do much
about the weather when you're in a rowing boat, when you're in a sail
boat you can actually get to the right place. What I've got to do is try
and avoid easterlies, which means I don't have to go too far south and I
don't want to go too far south anyway because of icebergs. So it all
works out except if I'm too far north I get washed up the western coast
of South America, which also isn't very good because there's no way
back. So it's a compromise.
Nick Thatcher:
A lot of our e-mail correspondents, including Al, wishing you the best
of luck incidentally in their e-mails to us today. Guy and Ed have
similar questions, both from the UK, Guy's in Cambridge, we've been
talking a little bit about this already - how important it is to be
physically fit before you set off on a voyage but Ed says: "Do you think
the biggest challenge is physical, is it mental or is it emotional?"
Jim Shekhdar:
It's mental and that includes emotional I think. When you spend an awful
long time alone in a sort of solitary confinement in a very small space
you tend - your imagination tends to run wild. Physically you have to
know your body - you don't have to be a superhuman athlete because
however unfit I am when I start I'm going to be pretty fit by the end of
it. So as long as you don't break anything or strain anything you can
keep going and eight, ten hours of exercise a day with just water to
drink and food to eat is a good way to get back in shape.
Nick Thatcher:
John Lowe from Liverpool says: "How do you cope with the moments of
boredom?" I guess they're not just moments are they, they're sometimes
days?
Jim Shekhdar:
I've never been bored on a rowing boat. Last time it leaked so I was
quite busy trying to stop the leaks and row. I've been bored on sail
boats but I've never been bored on a rowing boat and I can't explain it.
I've been frustrated by the fact that I'm going backwards but I take an
awful lot of mental stimulating stuff - for instance I'm writing a book,
I've got a computer with me which means I can write programs, I can send
e-mails, I can play games. There's a million and one things that I can't
do when I'm on land because there's so many other pressures that I can
actually do on the boat.
Nick Thatcher:
Phil from Durban in South Africa says: "How much weight will you lose on
this trip?" Because you lost a lot last time didn't you, so you've been
bulking up, if you don't mind me saying, you have to eat a lot of food
before you go.
Jim Shekhdar:
Well I was going to exercise a lot but then I got very busy with the
logistics and building the boat, so I decided to bulk up which is the
next best thing. I have unfortunately - I'm the heaviest now than I've
ever been, I'm about 115 kilos. When I finished last time I was 87,
which is quite a bit but it means I'm probably a bit heavier now than
when I was when I set off last time but I probably will go down to 85 or
80.
Nick Thatcher:
John from London says: "Best of luck. Don't forget to take the tin
opener this time!" I understand that was a bit of a problem last time.
Jim Shekhdar:
The problem was when I got back, everybody - every talk I did I got a
tin opener at the end of it until I said something rude and then they
stopped coming, I think after about the first dozen. I've got a tin
opener already packed. The trouble is I don't know if the kiwis are
going to let the boat in with the food and the cans, that's my bigger
problem.
Nick Thatcher:
Olivia from Oxford has sent us a live e-mail: "What is the most amazing
thing you have seen and what are you most looking forward to seeing on
this adventure? Best of luck."
Jim Shekhdar:
Well I mean being out on the ocean like that, a thousand miles from
nowhere, you are taught by the elements the meaning of the word awesome
and so a very large wave is probably the most spectacular thing I've
seen. But the most interesting were the whales. I saw turtles and
sharks. I mean explaining the sharks' behaviour is impossible. I also
had last time a shoal of tuna, yellow fin tuna, they came all the way
with me from South America to about four miles east of Brisbane and then
they just set off and I haven't seen them since, they haven't even
written a postcard. But the wildlife is fantastic. On the Atlantic we
had a whale come up - on its second visit it came up vertically next to
the boat, inches from the boat, without touching it. I mean it sort of
rocked the boat quite a lot because it was moving the water but it
didn't actually touch the boat physically, they are such amazingly huge
animals and they're so precise as well. I was absolutely amazed. This
time it's albatrosses. In fact the guy who rowed the Atlantic in '66
with Chay Blythe - John Ridgway - he has just set out on a
circumnavigation to save the albatross, so I'm talking to him on the
internet as well because it would be nice to bring attention to that
because apparently albatrosses are in danger of dying out apparently.
But they are magnificent birds I am told.
Nick Thatcher:
We'll talk more about the boat and how it's changed for this trip. An
interesting question from Bangladesh from ???, he says: "What is the
lesson that human civilisation can learn from this voyage?"
Jim Shekhdar:
Don't live in cities, people annoy each other. That's a flippant answer.
I think what I would like people to learn is that anyone who really
wants to do something can do it. Don't make excuses.
Nick Thatcher:
John and Richard, both from London, have asked about the boat, the
changes and the additions that you've made from the boat - to the boat -
to make it different from the last time around.
Jim Shekhdar:
Well last time I used the same boat as we used for the two man Atlantic
race in '97, modified slightly. This time it is a totally different
concept. Instead of being made of marine ply, it's made of closed cell
foam and fibreglass. I over specified it, Phil Morrison who designed it
over designed it and Blondecell, who built it, have over built it
because Scott Bader gave us enough equipment - gave us enough material
to do it. So instead of being about 350 kilograms in weight, it's over
900, I couldn't actually get it across the .[talking over] . it won't
break, that's the main thing, I specified it to actually withstand a
hundred foot breaking wave and to go 25 feet underwater, which means it
can be a submarine as well. And it will - I'm very confident that it
will do that and it's also got to be self-righting, which it is because
we've tested it. I'm going to be strapped in, Phil's actually made the
calculation which is if a 60 foot wave comes over the back and hits the
main bulkhead - and I've got a big superstructure - I've got two cabins
- I've got a wet cabin and a dry cabin - so the wet cabin's six feet
tall and about three feet wide, so I can actually get out of my survival
gear because it's going to go down to about minus 35 I'm told, so I'll
need quite a few clothes this time.
Nick Thatcher:
And the boat's on its way already isn't it?
Jim Shekhdar:
The boat is - as we speak - getting itself to New Zealand in a
container, which it fitted by three millimetres, so it was a tight fit.
Good design.
Nick Thatcher:
Michael from ??? - these questions are coming in thick and fast on all
different aspects of your trip. "Do you get boat fever, the distant
cousin of cabin fever?" I'm not sure if that's true or a bit of tongue
in cheek but we were talking about boredom earlier, I mean when you're
in those confined spaces are there times when you feel it's all too much
or do you think with the expanse of ocean compensating for it?
Jim Shekhdar:
I feel a greater deal of claustrophobia if I go into a shopping centre,
shopping mall, with all those people. I can close my eyes in a confined
space and imagine I'm outside. I've got outside. I mean one of the
questions in designing the boat was should we make it fully enclosed, so
you can just row through a couple of holes in the side and that would
really freak me out. I can actually walk outside, it's not a big area of
boat to walk on but there's a huge space around it, so I'm not worried
by either agoraphobia or claustrophobia.
Nick Thatcher:
Dave from Free State says: "It's great to hear you're doing this, there
are not many adventurers left on this planet. Would you say this is a
more a personal adventure - something that you want to do or is this an
adventure with much wider purpose?"
Jim Shekhdar:
Totally selfish. I'm doing it for me. I would like to think that it also
reinstates British adventuring. I'll be flying the flag but people don't
seem to acknowledge that these days.
Nick Thatcher:
Liam's near Boston, I hope the lights are on there: "God speed. Do you
think you'll show all the young people that old people aren't
necessarily passed it?" He hasn't quite used that language.
Jim Shekhdar:
Well I'm still looking for sponsorship from Sanatagen.
Nick Thatcher:
Lots of other little questions that I must put to you. Clara from
London: "What's your best tip for dealing with blisters?"
Jim Shekhdar:
Don't get them. I mean this isn't a race, and I said at the start,
physically you've got to know yourself, you've got to know your body, if
you break something and you're trying to row an ocean you obviously
can't do it, although I broke my wrist last time but it was only a
little break. Last time when I rowed I actually didn't have any skin or
flesh to blister by the end of it so just go gently and wear them away.
Nick Thatcher:
I'm not sure whether she's planning a trip but she wants to know the
answer to that question.
Jim Shekhdar:
Vitamin E also that helps but that actually makes the skin grow again
and then you just rub it off so there's not much point.
Nick Thatcher:
Two Marks, both from the United Kingdom, one in West Sussex, they've
heard a bit more about this rock group who I understand are called
Marillion and they are apparently bringing out a track or an album very
shortly which is all about your exploits.
Jim Shekhdar:
Well one of their numbers is Be Strong and they're actually using the
picture on the front of the book I think to - on their album cover. But
I believe they're a group that plays real music rather than synthesisers
and they're part of the real music campaign, so I wish them luck with
their .
Nick Thatcher:
They haven't asked you to sing along?
Jim Shekhdar:
They haven't actually volunteered to name the boat in the title song.
I've heard one of their CDs but I've never actually seen them perform
but apparently they're pretty good.
Nick Thatcher:
Well Matt from the UK, if we continue on that theme of sponsorship:
"Given the risks that are involved do you have take out insurance to
cover the cost of any likely rescue mission?" Touch wood that won't
happen.
Jim Shekhdar:
I wish I could, I mean I - that's a serious point about rescue missions
and the costs of them. There are a lot of people who are fairly
irresponsible out there and they actually get other people into - or put
other people in danger when they shouldn't. I've planned out 95 per cent
of the risk of this voyage and the unknown that's come along but the
boat design and everything about it is thought through to the extent
that I don't believe where I'm going I can be rescued - so it ain't
going to be expensive. I'm not going to need rescuing, I'm going to be
tied to the boat, the boat will survive and wherever the boat goes I'll
be going with it. So yes I'm uninsurable. I would like to be insured,
there was actually talk of a big insurance company taking on the full
sponsorship for this and four days before they were about to sign the
deal the chairman said we're in the risk management business and this is
a risk we can't manage. And I said - well I'm doing the managing.
Nick Thatcher:
Well that insurance company shall remain nameless. We have the book,
which you flashed to the camera before, hold it up again, give it a
quick - there you go - that's the picture again, I think we can see the
book there. The Bold Man of the Sea. You've done not only the writing of
the book but you've done a lot of talks around the country since your
last trip haven't you?
Jim Shekhdar:
Yes I have, I mean I'd love to do more because I like talking about
myself I think but usually it ends up I do a short talk and then take
questions and answers because that obviously brings out the bits and
pieces and I find it easier to talk about what people are interested in
rather than just going on about myself all the time. But yeah I like
talking. The most difficult one I did - I mean I did the Law Society in
Bristol which was quite daunting because it was an after dinner talk and
they were expecting jokes but the most daunting talk I ever did was at
my daughter's medical graduation ball in Bristol where they only wanted
twelve and a half minutes and all humour, so couldn't really bring the
trip into it very much but I was honoured to be asked and it was nerve
wracking.
Nick Thatcher:
I'm sure there'll be plenty more stories after this next trip. Talk us
through what happens between now and then, when you do set off - the
date I think has been put back a little bit hasn't it?
Jim Shekhdar:
Yes I was intending to leave Bluff in New Zealand on the 30th August and
be there three weeks beforehand. The boat took a little bit longer to
fit out and build than I was expecting. My Atlantic rowing partner, who
built the Atlantic boat, and his brother-in-law who provided the boat
shed down in Plymouth, he and I were doing the fitting out, he mostly,
me a little bit, and we nearly got it finished and I apologise to Jo
that I'm down there for six weeks instead of four but I did move out.
And I've got a little bit more to do when I get to New Zealand but I'm
hoping that a couple of weeks in New Zealand we'll be ready to go. So
the boat gets there on the 6th, as long as there are no problems with
[name] or customs I will get it out on the 7th or 8th, a couple of weeks
work, put a new coat of paint on it and a few stickers and leave on the
19th or 20th, weather willing, so 19th or 20th September is when I
intend to leave.
Nick Thatcher:
And when are you hoping to arrive? Around Christmas?
Jim Shekhdar:
A party in Cape Town on the 30th April, give or take three months.
Nick Thatcher:
So it won't be by Christmas, that will be in the middle of the ocean.
Jim Shekhdar:
Yeah the timing of the trip, I've got a probably two or two and a half
month window from the beginning of September and that window gets me to
the Horn, which is the real objective of the row is to get round Cape
Horn in a rowing boat. I don't know how long it's going to take to get
there but however long it takes I'm going to be there during the summer.
The big problem is that the earlier in the summer I get to Cape Town the
easier it is to get into South Africa, if I miss South Africa I'll have
to go on a bit to Australia, so I'm hoping to get to South Africa but
I've got food for 12 months so we'll see where the weather takes me
after Cape Horn.
Nick Thatcher:
One final question from NK from the UK appropriately: "Hi Jim, I'd love
to take on a big adventure like this, any advice for a beginner?"
Jim Shekhdar:
Well as the ski instructor told my daughter this Christmas, he said if
you've got that sort of problem don't do it. But basically anything you
want to do, if you want to do it enough you'll find a way, do it.
Nick Thatcher:
What about you after this trip, are you going to hang up those oars or
will there be another adventure?
Jim Shekhdar:
Well I don't think there's a bigger row but I would like to get into
something when I get back before I get old. I hope I might drive a rally
car or get serious at golf or maybe walk round the world.
Nick Thatcher:
Plenty more adventures if not on the ocean?
Jim Shekhdar:
I hope so.
Nick Thatcher:
Jim the best of luck to you. Thank you very much indeed for talking to
us today. And to you for your many, many questions that you sent us.
From me Nick Thatcher and the rest of the News Interactive team here in
London goodbye.
British
adventurer, Jim Shekhdar, who became the first person to row
single-handedly and unassisted across the Pacific, is about to embark on
an even more challenging journey.