84-year-old Brit to lead four-man team in Atlantic raft sail
January 16th, 2011 - 5:15 pm ICT by ANILondon, Jan.16 (ANI): A 84-year-old Britisher, Anthony Smith, will lead a team of adventurers in a sail across the Atlantic Ocean, stretch of 2,800 miles, in a raft made from plastic gas pipes. According to The Telegraph, the four Englishmen with a combined age of 259, will board the “An-tiki”.
Smith 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 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.
“I had some luck two years ago - I was run over. That’s what inspired the whole thing and that’s provided the basis for the money,” Smith was quoted, as saying.
He added: “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, Smith has written over 30 books and worked on several film and documentary projects.
He also presented Tomorrow’s World when the BBC television show, launched in 1965, was in its infancy. (ANI)
- 84-yr-old adventurer set to cross Atlantic on raft made of plastic gas pipes - Aug 23, 2010
- Now, a magazine for adventure tourism buffs - May 18, 2012
- Boat made of plastic bottles completes Pacific tour - Jul 26, 2010
- Two women rafters drown in Kashmir - Jun 25, 2011
- Indian Army engineers summit Mount Kamet - Jun 08, 2011
- WikiLeaks: Anna Nicole Smith created 'hurricane' in Bahamas - Dec 24, 2010
- Chandigarh boy wins Kingfisher's Himalayan expedition - Jul 15, 2011
- WikiLeaks: Playboy model Anna Nicole enticed the Bahamas - Dec 22, 2010
- Himachal opens Lahaul, Spiti waters for rafting - Sep 24, 2011
- Blind daredevil to take on English Channel swim - May 01, 2012
- WikiLeaks: How Playboy star Anna Nicole 'wreaked havoc in the Bahamas' - Dec 22, 2010
- Silly travellers, check out India first: Purab Kohli - Nov 09, 2011
- Have aliens taken over Voyager 2 spacecraft? - May 13, 2010
- Rishikesh, Ladakh - the new getaway for adventure seekers (With Images) - Jun 23, 2011
- Fire ants make rafts to save themselves from floods - Apr 27, 2011
Tags: adventurers, anthony smith, atlantic ocean, bainbridge, bbc television, canary islands, daily telegraph, documentary projects, don russell, englishmen, epic journey, gas pipes, infancy, london jan, man team, metal pins, money smith, raft, science correspondent, tiki