Nearly there!

John Kennett · 14 August 2003, 00:28

Despite taking a major battering on the Greenland to Iceland leg, Bear and his crew have had some better weather and are now in the Faroes ready for the last leg to Scotland tomorrow.

Congratulations!

John

bogib · 14 August 2003, 01:18

Dear John, how nice to have the forums and rib.net back in action.
Nice to know that Bear and colleages finally got good seas/waves after they left us here in Reykjavik and Vestmann Island we all wish them congratulations and welcome home to UK. It was pleasure having them here in Reykjavik and "little Bear" don´t leave the cap far away. Regards Bogi

MarkWildey · 14 August 2003, 18:13

Looking at the marine tracker website it looks like Eddy has made it.

Well done from me to him and his crew.

Pimms all round

Mark

bogib · 14 August 2003, 19:07

Bear, Mick, Nigel, Andy and Charlie well done and welcome back home. I and "little" Bear look forward seeing you all guys in London in September.

Alan Priddy · 15 August 2003, 09:55

To Bear and his crew.

Congratulations on making it back to Scotland. I have been following you every step of the way, looking at your weather and counting the ice bergs. It is always a tough decision to call for help and advice when the chips are down and I am glad that you kept in touch with the Danish navy in the remotest of places that you visited.
I hope now that you and your crew understand how tough our succesfull trip was back in 1997, and why we have taken exception to your claims.
It is a shame that you did not break or set any records but you have youth on your side and perhaps you will have another go at sometime in your life.
You have proberbly heard that I am not doing anymore trips in smal boats so unless anyone else comes out of the wood work, you should have a clear run at anything you go for.

Dont forget you owe me a beer (or Two)

Alan Priddy

narked · 15 August 2003, 16:29

Headlines on news.bbc.co.uk now mentioning "first unassisted atlantic crossing in an inflatable - more soon". Seems to me that's referring to this 'ere trip, surely that's wrong?

But anyway, well done.

Andy · 15 August 2003, 16:47

Well done guys and welcome home. Time will thrash out the details of your achievement.

One thing we all know is that few men have done what your team and Alan's team have done. A fantastic achievement on both sides.

Egwalters · 15 August 2003, 17:03

Having crewed for "Team Priddy" on the Jolly Sailor I know what the North Atlantic can throw at you. Congrats on your safe return home--thats all any of us can ever hope for when we venture out like both crews did.Perhaps our paths will cross some day and I can relate the story of the Old Bull and the Young Bull.All my best to you and your team.

narked · 15 August 2003, 17:35

BBC report of their return.

Quote:

A British team failed in a similar record bid in 1997 after their boat became enclosed by an ice-pack off Greenland and had to be lifted to safety by a Danish ice-breaker.

Julian · 15 August 2003, 17:52

Mr Priddy is not going to be happy about this. They need to get the facts right on this before printing.

narked · 15 August 2003, 17:54

I sent the an email to newsonline@bbc.co.uk about it after I read it, seems like it was pretty much a quick copy and paste job off the Bear Grylls website, no research done at all.

Deana Angell · 15 August 2003, 18:21

Well, I just read the article regarding Bear and immediately emailed the BBC website regarding their error. While Bear and his crew did finish the crossing, they did not make any records. The record remains with Alan Priddy and his crew. I certainly hope the BBC will check the FACTS before printing again.

narked · 15 August 2003, 18:24

Yep, pointed the record thing out too. The BBC makes it sound like they've set an official record or something in that report.

Seems recently the BBC have not only been going downhill with spelling and grammar, but also with quality of reporting.

bogib · 15 August 2003, 19:40

My opinion is both teams have achieved remarkable work. Alan´s trip in 1997 where assisted from a Danish Navy ship out of Greenland´s coast and also they ran out of fuel out of Iceland´s coast and came to port Reykjavik on board Icelandic trawler "Otto N. Thorlaksson" so they where not all time on sea, Bear however went this trip without any assistance from Danish- nor Icelandic ships therefore to my opinion they are entitled to be the first team to cross the North Atlantic ocean via Greenland and Iceland in an open RIB. The Alan´s trip in his attempt to cross the North Atlantic ocean in cabin RIB and they did that with style this time.
The Irish fellow I have seen mentioned on the forum is not entitled to any credit as he was cruising in much calmer and easier waters.

Deana Angell · 15 August 2003, 19:56

An accomplishment to cross the North Atlantic, indeed BUT I do believe Bear's boat had some type of box they were able to get into as well. I'm sure their box is equilavent to the tiny cabin on the Jolly Sailor. In addition, I believe the Jolly Sailor was smaller and had a smaller motor than Bear's boat.

Alan Priddy and his crew are the ONLY record holders with regards to this trip.

bogib · 15 August 2003, 20:23

Ok the size of Spirit of Portsmouth was 7,5 metres powered by Yamaha 165 hp diesel engine, Bear Grylls´s is 11 metre long with CAT 450 hp. although the size is not the main issue. I had look at the storage cabin on their boat and it is not possible to sleep their as in there are racks to tight down their equipment, on Spirit of Portsmouth they could put over the bow towards the helm canvas to cover from splash and rain. I express my opinion that both teams have achieved their goals of crossing the North Atlantic ocean. Again I feel if you need assistance and the boat is lifted out of waters (Spirit of Porsmouth lifted twice) it had to be credited and therefore not complete record crossing the waters from west to east via Greenland and Iceland. I have had the priveledge to have met and assisted both teams Alan in 1997 and Bear during their staied in Iceland and in my mind they are all my boatfellows and always welcome to Iceland.

narked · 15 August 2003, 22:03

"The Irish fellow I have seen mentioned on the forum is not entitled to any credit as he was cruising in much calmer and easier waters."

If he did it, he's entitled to the credit. Size of boat is quite a large issue, those extra few metres could have made the ride a lot more bearable.

Clive Tully · 15 August 2003, 22:32

I’ve bitten my lip about Mr “Bull” Grylls for too long. Whether or not Alan, Jan, Steve and Vic were successful or not in 1997 is not open to different peoples’ interpretations as to what is assisted or unassisted. They did the trip, as with all the trips I have done on Spirit of Cardiff / Jolly Sailor, according to UIM rules - ie the rules of the official international governing body of powerboating. I don’t suppose Bull even knows what the UIM is.

Those rules state that any voyage which requires stops for refuelling and reprovisioning is “assisted”. The only way you can do an “unassisted” passage is by going non-stop without refuelling. As for the business of accepting outside help, it is within the rules, provided that you return to the point where you accepted help in order to continue the passage. This is exactly what happened off Iceland in 1997, and indeed what we did on Spirit of Cardiff last year when the boat was disabled by colliding with a fish farm outside Valletta harbour.

The sad fact is that Bull has no regard for official boating rules, hence his flying a blue ensign when he launched his boat in March, and for flying a white ensign when he arrived at John O’Groats. As far as we know, his boat has never been scrutinised by the RYA for record attempts, and of course the simple fact is that neither the UIM nor Guinness World Records will recognise the Greenland / Iceland route across the Atlantic for a world record. We know - we’ve checked.

I note too that Bull regards much of his route as uncharted for weather. It seems strange, as we had expert weather forecasting all the way across. You just need to get the right people - and you need the experience to judge what’s safe and what isn’t. Bull confesses to coming close to putting out a mayday twice during their crossing. I would suggest that if they came close to it once, that should have been the point at which they ought to have considered the wiseness of carrying on, because they clearly didn’t have the competence. Or perhaps Bull’s record will be a special one for foolhardiness.

That’s not of course to demean their achievement. I know exactly what it felt like, because I’ve done the Atlantic twice already, although sadly, because of Bull Grylls and the BBC’s sloppy journalism (where else have we heard that recently?), I didn’t “make history”.

Clive Tully

Deana Angell · 15 August 2003, 22:49

Well said, Clive.

Cheers to you and the rest of the crew of the Jolly Sailor for your amazing accomplishments. No one can take that experience away from you.

Will there be a book regarding this latest adventure?

narked · 15 August 2003, 23:19

Nicely put Clive, and not sure if I've said this already or not, but here it is again anyway, well done to you and the other lads. If any of you are ever in my neck of the woods, as much beer as you can drink will be provided.