Sailing seems to me to be one of those activities that’s better done than watched, which is why I’m finding it difficult to raise anything in the way of enthusiam at Ellen McArthur’s record breaking solo round the world voyage.
On a basic level I can appreciate her achievement. 71 days at sea, on your own and with little sleep would tend to reduce most people to the state of sticking pencils up their nose and saying ‘wibble’ – undies on head, optional – it’s just that as a mere viewer the whole business seems a hell of long way from being as ‘gripping’ as the media would try to have you believe.
As a televisual experience, 10 weeks of grainy satellite feeds starring a sleep-deprived truncated prop-forward in waterproofs is not my idea of rivetting stuff, especially when the dialogue seemed to consist mostly of ‘I’m feeling really tired’. I suppose I should be grateful we didn’t get on to ‘I spy with my little eye something beginning with S…’.
Still, if anyone is desperate to relieve the whole thing, the dear old Beeb have helpfully provided an animated guide which is at least shorter than the real thing, if no less tedious.
