Join the virtual voyage of a lifetıme
By Tony Watts - Editor - 14/09/2010
I have the most fortunate of jobs – regularly meeting some of the best known and highest achieving people across the world of sport, entertainment and politics. But you always know when you’re in the company of someone with an added dimension – someone who seems to have a perspective on life that takes them beyond the here and now.
Pete Goss is such a man. If his name is not immediately recognisable to you, he’s the fellow who – during the 1996 Vendée Globe solo around the world yacht race – received a Mayday from a fellow competitor in danger of losing his life. During a severe storm in the Southern Ocean, Goss turned his boat around and spent two days sailing into hurricane force winds, finally finding Dinelli in a liferaft that had been dropped by an Australian Air Force plane shortly before his yacht had sunk.
Pete is well used to being at the helm of the fastest boats built by man, but when we meet it’s in the galley of a far more humble affair. The ‘Spirit of Mystery’ is a 37-foot wooden lugger that Pete built using Cornish timber, and then sailed to the other side of the world. “I had always known a little of the story of six men from Newlyn who decided that Cornwall held no future for them – about 40% of the population left here to find a life overseas. There was talk of a gold rush in Australia, so just over 150 years ago they went there to seek their fortune.
“Only one of them had actually sailed before. Astonishingly they made it - although by the time they got there, the gold rush was over. But this was a legendary journey and we decided to recreate it.”
The ‘we’ in question included his 14-year-old son Eliot, a youngster who has since gone on to become an accomplished sailor in his own right. Taking him out of school for that length of time might be criticized in some circles, but in Pete’s words, “There are two routes to education: the University of Knowledge and the University of Life, and in modern society one can’t help but feel that the University of Life is being overlooked in the quest for paper certificates.” How many other youngsters have a perilous voyage on a wooden boat on their CV?
They arrived in Australia five months later to a heroes’ welcome – the Cornish diaspora down under is huge.
Setting out to conquer a mighty ocean might seem beyond imagination to you and me, but to Pete this is nothing unusual. So far he has clocked up 250,000 nautical miles: roughly speaking, the distance from the Earth to the Moon.
Doesn’t he fear being killed at sea? Doesn’t he get lonely? “I don’t see myself as a risk taker,” he says. “I just keep pushing new boundaries. I make sure I know all the risks and do all I can to eliminate them before I set off by careful planning and preparation.” And lonely? “No, I miss people sometimes, but I never feel entirely alone.” He describes the techniques lone yachtsmen employ to keep sailing 24 hours a day: “I can get by on four hours sleep in 24 – and I take it in 20 minute cat naps,” he says. “I did a study with NASA to show what can be done.”
His life has been a succession of challenges that he has set himself – each one demanding the most of his mind, body and spirit. He makes ends meet and gets new projects off the ground simply by being himself – giving motivational talks and winning sponsorship for his ventures. To him, “profit is a measure of efficiency – not a means in itself”. And “the biggest tragedy for most people in their lives is their failure to take risks because of their fear of failure”.
He is a man patently keen to put back into life the non-material riches he takes out and is now working to try and help both youngsters and older people by setting up a project that will bring them closer together and enrich all their lives.
“There are hundreds of troubled youngsters each year whose lives are turned around by going on wooden ‘tall ship’ journeys – it gives them life skills, confidence and self-esteem and teaches them to work with others as a team.
“Equally there are many, many older people who would love to ‘feel’ part of the journey that these young people go on, and we’re now trying to help that happen by encouraging older people to sponsor a youngster through their training and then monitor their progress. They will be able to receive letters from them or even – if they have Internet access – watch them on the computer.”
You can join Pete’s weblog via satellite links on his next adventure when he sails in the mighty Route de Rhumb race from the end of October: 3,500 miles against the best sailors in the world. Just go to the website linked below.
And one organisation has already put its weight behind Pete Goss's inter-generational project: Girling Retirement Options, which provides rented accommodation for older people throughout the country. Says their Chairman Peter Girling: "We see this as an incredible way to link the generations - giving older people the chance of armchair excitement and younger people from deprived backgrounds the opportunity to have a potentially-life changing experience.
"If anyone reading this would like to know more about how to get involved, we are acting as a link organisation for Pete Goss, and they can contact Caroline Hull in our Taunton office on 01823 346800."