Can we define what adventure is? By Pete Goss

For this third article I have been asked by Garcia to explore the following theme’s; What is adventure? Is danger necessary to feel pleasure? How to make adventure safe? Why blue water sailing as a couple or a family is a project you can afford?… here we go.

For me, the definition of an adventure, is that of a ‘journey that has an unknown outcome’. We strive and toil for our goal but it doesn’t always work out which in itself brings a frisson of excitement. Whilst a testing experience it isn’t a test in the true sense of the word. There is no pass or fail and on subsequent reflection its the journey that counts.

All this was perfectly expressed by Theodore Roosevelt, in the famous speech “Citizenship in the Republic” delivered in Paris at the Sorbonne in 1910 and widely repeated since – by John Fitzgerald Kennedy, among others:

“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best, if he wins, knows the thrills of high achievement, and, if he fails, at least fails daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

One of the joys of life is that individual knowledge, experience and passion sets the arena. I know a man trying to grow the worlds largest melon and he is an exemplar of Kennedy’s definition. Indeed, my first channel crossing as a boy with my father was as exciting as completing the Vendee Globe many years later. I’ll never forget the childish thrill of watching a foreign land rise above the morning horizon, a new language and amazing croissants!

We all need to be stretched in life for tension brings reward be it through education, physical challenge, building a business or raising a family. We can be stretched by grinding toil but this doesn’t lift the spirit whereas a hint of danger gives it wings. Why else do we have fair grounds where the thrill of fear is chased from one ride to the next. The attraction quickly dissipating with familiarity.

Some of us have a greater tolerance to danger than others and so adventure should be graded by tolerance not scale. A thrill for one can be shear terror for another who would otherwise be just as tested by an apparently more mundane activity. The reward will be just as great and its on this outcome that one should chose the correct arena for a positive experience.

I’ve never had a career, I’ve had a series of ‘daft ideas’. It’s not that you shouldn’t repeat things but to me life is so short that I like to treat it as a fair ground, skipping from differing project to project. I could have done a series of Vendee Globes in a quest to win but that for me is a sandwich made thin by lack of imagination and broader growth. The Vendee Globe was an itch that was scratched at my first attempt, something that I shall ever be grateful for as it freed me up to move on to pastures anew. 

I soon found that the novelty of a new arena flexes the muscle of both mind and body. Its new and rewarding trajectory thrust me into the orbit of fresh groups of passionate people. The type of people that bring texture, vibrancy and colour to life. A love of the sea has meant that most of my projects have been sailing but there has been foray’s into Kayaking, the North Pole, historical re-creation and in my early days the Royal Marine Commando’s.

To the uninitiated the above list might highlight great danger but life itself is dangerous. During the Gulf war there were more death’s through road traffic accidents across Europe than at the front line. Risk, often ignored as background noise in our day to day lives is unpredictable, ever present and has many faces. Choosing to put yourself into clear and present danger is another matter altogether for it needs processing and then managing. Those that faced down the unknown threats of a murderous enemy during that same Gulf war showed great courage. Risk was mitigated by superior technology, training, teamwork and leadership. The military are exemplars at risk management and as I always say ‘I don’t take risks I manage them’. A very different approach to the common perception that adventurers choose to throw their lives on the line in a rash quest for thrills.

At the same time it must be recognised that danger is part of the attraction, like moths to a flame. The key is knowing how close you can fly by building a protective shield. This starts with breaking the challenge into its constituent parts and then individually addressing them with a team of appropriate experts. As part of Musto’s development team I wore the first revolutionary prototype of the HPX Ocean suit into the southern ocean. Amongst other things I became a guinea pig on the first ever sleep deprivation programme run by NASA. Knowing my personal sleep pattern upped my competitiveness and reduced risk. Benetton Formula 1 wired me into their physical training programme, and I do mean wired. All this and more was then put to the test with transatlantic races to iron out the wrinkles before the start. 

All my more extreme projects have thrown up disasters with the potential of being catastrophic. A failed keel, broken leg, fractured mast. A major rescue in hurricane force conditions, self operation on my arm, frost nip, being rolled upside down and numerous mechanical and electronic failures. All of which were able to be managed through thorough preparation, training and the support of an excellent team. For all that the most salient lesson is that the closest I have ever come to losing a boat was just off the entrance to Plymouth. I had let my guard down and was caught out, never let up on your drills and routines for they are the unthinking insurance that mitigates a cruel sea. Complacency is a killer.

Adventure doesn’t need a huge budget for purity brings good things. I am minded of slogging our way to the North Pole with a group of amateurs we had trained up for six months. On arrival we spent a cold and depleted night as we waited for a Russian Helicopter. A distant throbbing kicked stiff limbs into action as we bundled up the tent and knelt into the swirling white out of down draft. As the engines wound down the door opened for a wealthy American to coax his belligerent teenager onto the ice for a picture. The next day, through an extensive PR campaign, that boy was hailed as the youngest American to the North Pole. Back in the heated scientific base he glowed in his celebrity over the satellite phone. Nothing was earned, nothing was learned and so I watched with sympathy as that poor boy was hollowed out as he began to realise that to those of us with the inner mantle of honest achievement he was but an imposter.

Nothing could be further from that experience than bumping into Lynne, a teacher who had never been to sea and Matt a veteran. Both young, bright eyed and revelling in all the mistakes, lessons and joys of a new and challenging life at sea. Their’s was an old boat that he had refitted from scratch with up cycled equipment. Most of their food was foraged and I’ll never forget watching Lynne struggle on oars to hold her own over a reef in thirty knot gusts. Every now and then Matt would erupt from the water with a whoop and lobster in hand. They remain firm friends who continue to expand their horizons as their sailing ability develops. Living on a handful of dollars a week theirs is a richer experience than the fortune spent on that boys foray to the North Pole. There is no correlation between money spent and adventure gained.

With the kids leaving home Tracey and I were able to choose a new arena, one that suited our combined abilities and aspirations. Tracey had limited experience  under her belt when we set off for the Caribbean. Often asked if she was scared she would answer that she didn’t know what to be frightened of so no she wasn’t. She had faith in myself the boat and experience would displace any new found fears as her knowledge developed. One deep seated fear that she has from a childhood accident is that of the water. She can’t go above knee deep and so with a good tender and bathyscaphe we were able to delight in the the undersea as I towed her along whilst snorkelling. There’s always a way.

Garcia has asked if danger is necessary to feel pleasure? I guess it could be seen as one of the many components of pleasure but excitement is dangers natural bed fellow. Our cruising has of course had its moments but an outstanding boat kept them well within our bounds of comfort. If I look back using the word pleasure as my filter it brings into focus distant lands, glorious sun sets, joyous sailing and newfound friendships. Certainly not danger for that’s not something we court.

We love travel but dislike impersonal hotels and being forced to skate across touristy surfaces by the straight jacket of limited time. Cruisers can go at a snails pace for they have their home with them. If we go back to my definition of an adventure being a journey with an unknown outcome then long term cruising could be construed as the ultimate adventure. We set off with aspirations not plans and so the voyage remains forever unpredictable, each encounter opening the door to further unknowns that stimulate all the senses. Its life at its best and if there was ever a poem that captures cruising for us it would be ‘Sea Fever’ by English poet John Masefield in 1902:

I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;
And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking.

 I must down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull’s way and the whale’s way where the wind’s like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.