84-year-old adventurer set to launch Atlantic raft

The TElegraph: 84-year-old adventurer set to launch Atlantic raft
It is a journey that would test the mettle of any seafarer – a 2,800-mile Atlantic crossing powered only by sail.

But when four Englishmen set off on the trip, two things will make their expedition remarkable. Their vessel will be a raft made from plastic gas pipes. And the crew will be led by an octogenarian who relies on a stick to walk.

With a combined age of 259, the sailors on board the "An-tiki" will not be lacking in experience.

Anthony Smith, 84, will be joined by Don Russell, 61, David Hildred, 57, and Andrew Bainbridge, 57, for a ten-week voyage from the Canary Islands to the Bahamas. The raft is expected to begin the epic journey this week.

All the materials have been either donated or purchased by Mr Smith, who is spending compensation he received after he was run over by a van two years ago – an accident that has left the adventurer, writer and grandfather with metal pins in his leg.

Related Articles

Adventurer, 84, to cross Atlantic on raft 22 Aug 2010
OAPs raft across Atlantic 27 Jan 2005
Pensioner joins raft trip 14 Feb 2005
India Hicks, the royal bridesmaid with a no-frills attitude, is the new face of Viyella16 Jan 2011
Carlos T?vez says Manchester City now believe Premier League title is within reach16 Jan 2011
The sacred beauty of New Zealand's Bay of Islands16 Jan 2011

What would normally be regarded as a devastating setback has been turned into a positive. "I had some luck two years ago – I was run over," Mr Smith said. "That's what inspired the whole thing and that's provided the basis for the money.

"The whole point it to prove that elderly people can do something interesting. Well, I am 84 and disabled, so I'm well qualified on that score."

A former science correspondent of The Daily Telegraph, Mr Smith has written over 30 books and worked on several film and documentary projects. He presented Tomorrow's World when the BBC television show, launched in 1965, was in its infancy.

The inspiration for the unusual trip comes from a desire to show that rafts, although a primitive form of transport, are no more dangerous than hollow-hulled vessels.

The crew are also raising money for WaterAid, a charity that provides clean water for the world's poorest people.

"People ask me 'Am I frightened?' But I say I don't know enough to be frightened," Mr Smith explains.

"I don't know how we will get on, as we don't know each other very well. I don't know how tiring it will be, living on something that goes up and down all the time. I don't know what it will be like living on a bunk. Nobody knows what a storm will do to us, or how well we will be able to steer."

But Mr Smith, of west London, insists the adventure is no foolhardy indulgence. Two of the crew – Mr Hildred and Mr Bainbridge – are experienced sailors, and the raft has been kitted out with all the necessary communications in case they get into trouble.

The raft crossing is not the first 'Boy's Own'-style adventure that Mr Smith has embarked on.

In 1962 he led a pioneering expedition, The Sunday Telegraph Balloon Safari, over east Africa. The following year he became the first Briton to go over the Alps by hot air balloon.

But for someone who normally relies on a free bus pass, spending eight to ten weeks on the Atlantic aboard a 36ft x 20ft (11m x 6m) raft will surely surpass his earlier challenges.

Mr Smith has spent the last five years plotting his dream trip. After placing a Telegraph advert appealing for fellow crew, he has spent the past few months gathering materials to assemble the raft.

All the pieces – including gas pipes, electronics, wood, and two telegraph poles that would became the mast – were assembled and shipped in a container from Felixstowe, Suffolk, to La Gomera in the Canary Islands.

The team, joined by wives and girlfriends, swapped the snow and ice of Britain for the hot sunshine of the Canaries as they spent the last two months assembling the raft.

They reached a milestone on Friday when the craft finally was finally placed in the water. Thankfully, it did not sink.

"Everything has gone very well but there is so much more to do than you expect. But then something that is pioneering always throws up unexpected challenges," says Mr Smith, who has attracted a steady stream of curious onlookers from the nearby ferry dock.

The crew will be sheltered by a wooden hut, 20ft by 7ft (6m by 2m), where they will take turns to sleep on two bunk beds. Cooking, from gas stoves, chart-reading and all-important communications will be also be carried out there.

"We've also got a small library so it won't all be hard work," says Mr Smith.

"There is a porthole to look out, though it should be reasonably dry. It shouldn't get colder than 10C (50F) for the most part of the trip. There's a fence around the raft with netting, so none of us should fall over board."

The lights and electronics will be powered by four solar cells on top of the hut, a wind generator – and a pedalling machine.

Meanwhile, the crew will be sustained by 16 boxes of food, containing dry stuffs like cornflakes and perishables such as eggs, oranges and bananas. A small bread maker will add homely comfort to their ordeal.

"We also have a hook and line to catch fish, and a plankton net to eat plankton. Plankton is good enough for the blue whale, the biggest creature on earth, to eat, so it's good enough for us."

Drinking water will be carried in five pipes, each 18ft long. "We'll have so much water I think we will be able to sell it to passing yachts."

Asked what treats he's brought along to keep the crew's spirits up for the long days and nights ahead, Mr Smith's answer is short and simple.

"Alcohol," he says. "Everyone's quite keen on a drink, so it's not so much beer as rum and whisky."

The crew has had to wait for the weather to calm down before launching the raft. A support vessel will tow the raft out to sea for a few miles – "in case anyone forgets their toothbrush".

"We have to wait for the wind. I don't want to be released and then blown back to shore. But the current is there to do the job. It took Columbus across in 1492 so it should take us across too."

The crew's destination is the small island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas.

Perhaps understandably, Mr Smith's five children at first suggested that it might be better for him to "potter in the greenhouse".

"But when they realised I was serious, they just wished me good luck."