Horse Latitudes
There is a Canadian movie called Horse Latitudes starring Gordon Pinsent that was based on this (Although the IMDB, erroneously claims it is Philip Stockton, the character name, rather than Crowhurst)
shareI remember seeing a program about this race and Crowhurst's ordeal many years ago. It may have been this Canadian film. I can't imagine this race actually took place. A person is a social animal and being alone that long is beyond human endurance. Forget the problems of sailing a ship by yourself. Just being alone that long is the real danger. I assume they never had another one of these races. The dangers are too great.
Waffles Anyone
rstory-3
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=28764731
they actually have these races every four years one being non-stop and the other with stops. the non-stop race is known as the Vendée Globe race. There are many books on these races which give an insight into why one would do this and what the experince is like.
shareThat is correct. The next Vendee Global race starts in November 2008. Here is their website:
http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/
Of course now days they have GPS, satellite phones, e-mail and faster custom boats, with the winners finishing in less than 100 days, but it is still a grueling race. Breakdowns are a common cause of needing to withdraw, and there have been deaths.
Satetlite phones would certainly help. Hearing another person's voice can go a long way in keeping your sanity. Even with the phone these must be experinced people who have been in other events to prove their capacity to being alone for long durations.
I can even understand deaths occurring when you consider the other dangerous sports that exist. Auto racing still has an occasional death, even though they have made major changes to increase safety. But when someone steps off their boat and lets it sail away, leaving them in the middle of the ocean, I begin to question if this is worth the risk.
It is the isolation that the human is not able to tolerate. This is why they have had isolation chambers in prisons as a punishment because they knew how bad the effect is on the human mind.
Waffles Anyone
rstory-3
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=28764731
Check out Bernard Moitessiers books about circumnavigation. Some people just really suit this kind of isolation. Moitessier was part of this race and just kept on going around the world, not seeing it as a competiton at all, but as some kind of thing that he had to do. Fascinating.
"Happy Christmas- you fat handed twat!"
THANK YOU. fear of/withering due to isolation is not an inherent human quality.
i don't know where people get these crazy ideas, when people endure solitary outposts, and even seek the solitary existence as hermits. those things are well established. people have different temperaments.
"Ugh! I don't like this." --Ambrose Bierce
I think that some people just don't get what it means to be introverted. Personally, it's when I am forced to be around too many people too often that I start to lose my mind.
shareThey had ordinary HF radio then, you know. Many of the yachtsmen were radio amateurs, so would have been able to talk away to their satisfaction every day, battery charge permitting, and other radio amateurs would have been queueing up to contact them. The non amateurs would have been able to receive plenty of short wave radio stations in those days and would certainly been able to contact other ships at sea, up to considerable distances away, on the marine frequencies for a chat any time of the day or night.
So, not as isolated as seems at first. Crowhurst's isolation was self-imposed because of the radio silence he needed to keep in his deception.
In the docudrama, I saw several years ago, that seems to be what occurred. Crowhurst seemed to have been a disturbed person before ever starting this competition. Of course you have to take any film at face value. Writers to license when the want drama. So even though he had a radio, he refused to use it. In the film he actually gave out false reports about his progress. Crowhurst must have been the lesson to all those in charge to be careful about the selection of future candidates.
I forgot about regular radios. In this age of satelite connections one tends to forget the simple devices that were actually quite reliable.
But it still must take an exceptional person not to have someone near. Talking on a radio is good, but the lack actual personal contact would drain most people. But there has always been people with the capacity to endure this. How many have traveled the world unable to communicate because they do not know the language in the regions they visit. I always give people credit for their fortitude to endure lonelyness. They are rare and they are the ones that open the doors for others.
That must be what this event is all about. To give those soles the adventure to explore their limits. I suspect the people who run this event are know the limits of the people who enter this race. They must have competed in other events that showed their capacity for this great adventure.
Waffles Anyone
rstory-3
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=28764731
The ironic thing is that when Crowhurst really needed someone to talk to his radio actually failed and this may well have contributed to his final breakdown and (assumed) suicide.
"The hour is come but not the man"
It was a long time ago when I saw that film about his suicide. So I am not to familiar with the events. But from what I recall he set up his camera to face the aft of the boat and actually filmed himself stepping off the boat and letting it sail away from him. It is sad. I know he had a wife, but not sure if he had any children. I always picture myself going in a ten car pile-up during rush hour. Quick and dramatic.
Waffles Anyone
rstory-3
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=28764731
your recollection that he filmed himself in his act of suicide was hard hitting information and especially because most people who do it want to be quick about it... and jumping off the boat is a SLOW manner of death. very hard hitting.
but, i haven't seen the movie nor any written material other than yours that described such an event. if its in the movie, you should place "spoiler" in your title to warn people like me. if it is in the movie, it would just cement the entire affair into my mind for a very long time.
I am sorry Bobsphotograghy about the spoiler. I got caught up in the discussion and forgot myself. I will try to be more vigilante about my posts in the future.
Waffles Anyone
rstory-3
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=28764731
rstory-3, you can still go back and edit your post to include the word SPOILER.
shareBob, don't forget to go back and edit virtually all of your posts on this page with a "spoiler" caution. This really has devolved into a comedy skit.
shareYours is the only mention that I can locate of the apparent suicide being filmed. Even the log only infers suicide by wording of a person who has lost his ability to hang on to reality. Is it possible that you are accidentally mixing the true story FACTS with a hollywood fictional version of it? Anyone else find any evidence of a filmed suicide?
shareAnyone else find any evidence of a filmed suicide?
There wasn't one. In fact, in the films he took Crowhurst managed to appear fairly normal and convey a sense that all was well even when he must have been in a state of near emotional collapse.
He may have timed his suicide - the chronometer was missing and one of the last entries in the log said that he would 'resign the game' at a specific date and time.
"The hour is come but not the man"
Yes. That was explained in the book (voyage for madmen) that he took the Chronometer... so i guess the post about the filmed suicide must have been in the fictionalized version 'horse latitudes.'
The book also indicated, amazingly enough, that they figured he had sat and wrote nonstop in his log books for 30 hours prior to going over the side. it was mostly jibberish that sounded like a deep thinker but didn't really say anything. so, in truth, he could have fallen over in a walking stupor, been knocked over by a roll of the boat, jumped over for a dangerous swim to cool off, or jumped over to drown himself. The people who all evaluated the evidence figured he killed himself.
Crowhurst not only had a wife, but FOUR CHILDREN... and he intentionally signed a second mortgage to his house, a loan, to obtain funds for the boat. The family was at risk due to his actions. Were it not for the eventual winner of the race turning around and donating the (in today's dollars) approximate $250,000 prize money to the family, the family would have lost their home and been on the street or welfare or worse.
Read the very well written book, "Voyage for Madmen" from your local library. Its about the actual event. Horse Latitudes was apparently a Hollywood, fictionalized version.
you are too close minded.
shareafter reviewing your posts all over the boards, i'd say you seriously need a friend. but, maybe you didn't know that people don't want to be with sarcastic, immature, self rightous types like you? by the way, the phrase is "narrow minded" and not "close minded."
share