‘Antiquey’ adventurers sail the Atlantic on AnTiki

Ann Harvey -

No wind or wind from the wrong direction has slowed four adventurers voyaging the Atlantic on a raft made of water pipes.

Beryl Bainbridge, wife of Whitecourt's Andy Bainbridge, at 56 the youngest of them, said the four men are trying to retrace the path of a life boat in which seven men escaped a merchant ship which was sunk by Axis soldiers in the Second World War.

In an interview on Thursday, March 10, she said the men keep in contact through a mobile Internet connection allowing them to post to their webpage. It's slow connection, requiring patience and planning.

"Every second day they have an updated letter from one of them and they put it on the blog part of their home page.

"They're very frustrated right now because they have a weather situation which has taken away all their wind. If any wind does come, it comes from the wrong direction.

"They are currently moving a very, very tiny amount and trying not to go backwards."

Bainbridge said Anthony Smith, an 84-year-old British man, Oxford zoology student, author, television presenter and explorer initiated the trip.

Smith's life has been filled with adventure taking him through 70 countries and including flying a hot air balloon from Zanzibar to East Africa, and then across the Ngorongoro crater in 1962.

He recruited Robin Batchelor, a professional balloonist, and David Hildred, a yacht master and civil engineer.

Age is not the only factor working against the 84-year-old Smith, she said. "He had a terrible accident. A couple of years prior to this a van ran him over and left him walking with a stick.

Instead of being discouraged Smith, who celebrates his age, had seen and memorized the plate of the van. He used the compensation money as initial funding for the expedition.

Whitecourt's part-time physician was recruited as ship's doctor and sailing master by a friend from his childhood, his wife said. He had the necessary experience.

"We have owned a sailboat for a period of time in the '90s. We used to keep it in Florida and travel down for several months each winter.

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