On a Yacht around the World : What Records did Travelers Set?

The record of Laura Dekker, who at the age of 13 went around the world on a yacht, was not counted. We tell you why. What unusual records did travelers set? How difficult is it to replicate their achievements?

The fitness trainer answers.
Do you believe that some people want to go on a trip not to relax, but to set a record? It will sound unbelievable, but such people really exist. And everyone who embarked on a crazy adventure was driven by something different.

Now just read the stories of these people and be inspired by their courage, willpower and slight madness, without which they would not have done anything like this.

It is difficult to walk 2760 kilometers even on foot, let alone on stilts. Not everyone will master it both physiologically and psychologically.

Sylvain Dornon, a Frenchman from the city of Landes, made his way from Paris to Moscow, moving on wooden stilts one and a half meters high. Starting on March 12, 1891 and covering 60 kilometers every day, the brave man reached his destination in less than two months. In every city, Sylvain caused a sensation – the inhabitants left their houses to look at the passing tourist.

From the outside, of course, it looked difficult. By the way, if you want to become a Silvain for a while, there are many tutorials on the Internet.

The distance between the capitals is 2760 kilometers. This is non-stop 30 hours by car or 560 hours on foot. Today, when you can fly from Moscow to Paris in two hours, this story seems crazy. Is not it?

Is such a journey possible without preparation?
Egor: I think, before the trip, Dornon prepared or did good physical labor. Perhaps he trained his balance, learned how to walk correctly and how to wrap around sticks in order to minimize unnecessary movements along the way, thereby conserving energy. At the same time, Silvain had to understand what to wear, where to stay and what to eat. However, walking on stilts is not a supernatural thing. With the desire and good preparation, this is possible.

Hans Mulikin: across America on all fours
Preacher Hans Mulikin traveled to Washington DC from Marshall, Texas. All 2600 kilometers of the route 39-year-old man crawled on all fours. In his hands he held an axle with wheels of different diameters. This compensated him for the slope of the road to the curb. In order not to hurt his legs, he wrapped them in fur and protected them with steel strips.

After spending more than two years on the journey, which began in 1978, he reached the White House fence and asked for an appointment with then-President Jimmy Carter. The security of the residence refused Mulikin. Then he addressed a speech to journalists, saying that the government wants the bowed heads of the population, silently walking on their knees.

Whether it was a way to change the attitude of the authorities towards the people or an attempt to set a record and go down in history, one can only guess.

What could be the consequences of such a record?
Egor: Crawling on all fours for two years is not very good for the musculoskeletal system: you can injure your knees and back. We must remember that we are upright people. Each part of the body has its own purpose.

Now Blessit is 80 years old, and he continues to wander and carry the cross. In total, in 54 years, the traveler crossed seven continents, visited 324 countries of the world, walked more than 70 thousand kilometers, took 86 million steps and was arrested 24 times.

In the 90s, doctors diagnosed Blessit with an aneurysm (protrusion of the artery wall) and forbade him to engage in active physical activity. The man decided that no circumstances could change his vocation. In 2008, Arthur became the first person to officially walk around every mainland country and every major island on the planet. Later, all his achievements were included in the Guinness Book of Records.

In 2009, a documentary about this amazing man was released.

Is such a difficult journey dangerous for a person of 80 years old?
Egor: You need to subject the body to loads as long as the body allows you to do this. The only question is in individual contraindications. However, in this case, the load can be chosen for yourself. In general, everyone needs physical activity. It is directly proportional to psychological health. This is how the hormonal and nervous systems, psychosomatics develop.

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Many people have traveled dozens of countries on foot, but the Briton Robert Garside was the first to run around the world.

Garside became obsessed with running in the late 80s when he came across a copy of the Guinness Book of World Records and noticed that there was a world record for walking, but not for running.

Robert began his journey on October 20, 1997 in New Delhi (India) and ended there five and a half years later, on June 13, 2003. In 2062 days, he covered 48 thousand kilometers, visited six continents, except for Antarctica, and 29 countries. At the same time, the athlete was fleeing armed attacks in Mexico and Panama, spent three days without food, was imprisoned in China and wounded in Russia.

For a long period, Garside’s record was criticized by athletes and the media. They claimed that Robert could not cope without someone’s help. However, the runner had evidence – witnesses and a 300-hour videotape, according to which the Commission of the Book of Records verified the authenticity of his statements.

By the way, Robert met his future wife while running through Venezuela in 2000. This is another great excuse to go out for a run in the evening.

What happens to a person who runs every day for five years?
Egor: It depends on what distance to run. With a reasonable one, the functional abilities of the body increase. If you do not know the correct technique, you can ruin your knees. A lot depends on weight: an obese person risks getting a lot of health problems. An important point is shoes and a place to run. If you follow all the rules, then such a run will benefit: the capillaries will thicken, endurance will increase.

Laura Dekker: sailing around the world on a yacht
In 2009, when Laura was 13 years old, she announced her intention to travel around the world on her 12-meter yacht “Guppy”. Due to age, the Dutch authorities opposed the plan. In December of that year, she violated a court order and tried to fulfill her dream. True, unsuccessfully: Laura went to the Caribbean, from where she was later returned home.

In July 2010, the court lifted her restrictions, and the dream became a reality. On January 20, 2011, 16-year-old Dekker left the island of Sint Merten on the Guppy and, having circled the Earth, returned back. Laura swam 50,000 kilometers in 519 days. So the girl became the youngest navigator who made a solo trip around the world.

Officially, the Dutch record was not set off, as representatives of the Guinness Book of Records refused to recognize Laura’s achievement, so as not to inspire other teenagers to similar feats.

Is a teenager able to cope with difficulties along the way?
Egor: I would put two concepts into age: physical abilities and life experience. Speaking about the first, young people who are in their prime can endure a great burden: both illness and depression. It is more difficult for an older person to do this. However, if you think about the second, the older the person, the more experience he has. He understands better than a teenager when and where to sail, when there is a storm, what to eat, whether it is possible to drink salt water, how to fish. Laura Dekker had enough physical and moral strength. The girl was aware of security issues. In fact, people and rafts swam alone. For example, in the 20th century, Ulli Williams, at the age of 60, traveled from Peru to Samoa on a wooden raft. On a yacht, people can do much more.

Laura is an example that, if desired, you can achieve any goals. The yachtswoman speaks modestly about her victory: “I don’t consider myself a hero at all. I am an ordinary girl who believed in a dream.” Believe and you.

How to Choose a Good Watch for Diving?

Choosing a watch from any category is not always easy since you are spoiled for choice. We therefore find different brands and different ranges, each one is more interesting than the other that we no longer know which one to choose. So to choose better it is better to rely on some basic and very important criteria to choose the right watch, whether it is a watch for diving or other. Let’s discover the criteria to follow to choose a watch for diving.

Design
When choosing any watch, whether it’s an analog, automatic, connected, diving or other watch, design is always the first criterion for choosing your watch. The first thing that attracts us to a watch is its design, then we wonder if it is of good quality. We can’t impose a specific design on you to choose, but we can at least advise you to choose a watch with a simple design that can be easily combined with different outfits, and with different outfits, it will be much more useful.

Functionalities
Like smartwatches, dive watches come with some basic features that are essential for the watch to work properly. When choosing your watch, make sure that the basic functions of a watch for diving are present on your watch. Also make sure that it is resistant to a fairly large depth, so you can use it at any depth without risking destroying it.

Cost
The cost of your watch depends mainly on its range. Like any other type of watch, diving watches come in different ranges. We therefore find high-end watches which are the most efficient, but which are quite expensive. There are also mid-range watches, which are less efficient, but less expensive. Finally, we have the watches of the low range which are the least efficient and the least expensive. So the price of your watch will certainly depend on the range you decide to choose. Try to take advantage of promotional periods to buy your watch, so you can have a very good watch for a price that is not very high.

How to use a watch for diving?

The dive watch is not actually in use, so just wear it around your wrist and it can work on its own and give you the necessary information about your dives, whether it is the depth, the duration of your dive and several other details that will be very useful to you during your dive. The only thing you need to do before using your watch for diving is to make some basic settings necessary for the watch to work properly. If you don’t know how to perform them, you can ask someone who does, or take it to a professional.

Calculate the time spent underwater
For divers, knowing the time spent underwater is very important. So to know the time spent underwater, you can proceed as follows. You will therefore find on the bezel of your watch a small triangle, or a small marking line, these marks represent the zero. It must therefore be placed in the same position as that of the minutes and this before performing your dive. Your mark will remain in the same place, while the minute hand will continue to move. At the end of your dive you will know exactly how long you spent underwater.

Calculation of a precise duration
The watch for diving not only calculates the time spent underwater, but it also calculates any other duration. To do this, you must therefore proceed as follows, if you want to calculate a duration of 15 minutes, for example, and the minute hand is at 15 for example, turn your crown 15 minutes until it is on 30 for example. Do the same thing for the duration you want, just have your duration between the minute hand and the crown mark. This allows you to accurately calculate how much time you have left, which makes these watches very useful.

Other use of the watch
Diving watches are therefore used for diving as their name suggests. They therefore make it possible to calculate the time spent under water, to calculate a precise duration. But it can also be used outside the water to find out how much time is left for cooking your dish, for example. To time a race for example. It can also be used as a simple watch that displays the date and time. From this we deduce that the watch for diving is very useful and can be used in different areas.

7 Hacks for Extreme Solo Travel

Reboot, get rid of stress and emotional burnout is best helped by a change of scenery. It is worth saying that this is the first thing that the therapist will advise you if you come to see him. Naturally, traveling is more fun with a company, but you can do it without. With proper preparation, it turns out nothing worse.

On solo trips, you can look at many places and things from a completely different angle, learn to feel and respect silence. But I don’t feel very comfortable being alone for more than three or five days. A lot depends on temperament here.

The more you travel, the less you travel.
Getting to famous places for the first time, we are full of enthusiasm and immediately run to see the sights. And when the question arises of going somewhere again, you start to think: “Why? I’ve already been there.” But if you come again and take a closer look at what is around the corner, you can find many interesting and beautiful places, the presence of which even the locals are not always aware of.

Life hacks for solo travelers:
Whether you are planning to solo explore a cave, climb higher into the mountains, or walk through a forest in an unfamiliar region, it’s best to be prepared for anything.

1. Bring the bare minimum you need

It’s like the question of what to take with you if there is a risk of getting on a desert island? In this case, I would take a steel, a knife, a rope. And everything else will already be real to get. If we talk about cities, then these are banal, but important things that will help in case of unforeseen circumstances, and if everything is ok, they will simply brighten up the trip.

Powerbank for a phone and probably for a laptop;
cash stowed away in a backpack (in case of loss or theft of cards and fixed assets).

2. Do not conflict with the locals and watch the weather forecast
Definitely, you should not enter into conflicts with the population and violate their customs, rules, traditions. Many places may not appreciate it.

Do not neglect the weather forecast, and if you are promised a hurricane, then there is a chance that it will be exactly that.

3. Let your loved ones know when you show up

If you do not want to stay in touch with the whole world, then at least tell loved ones the control dates and times when you should show up. And leave your family plan for the route, so that in which case you can be rescued.

4. Don’t trust cheap trinkets

Preparing for mountain climbing: what a beginner needs to know before climbing?
Here, of course, everything depends directly on the goals and objectives. But it is better to take with you the equipment of brands that have long established themselves in a particular industry. For example, you should not trust a Chinese headlamp if you are going to walk in a cave.

5. Don’t give up on what’s necessary

Definitely do not overdo it, because you will have to carry all the belongings with you. But it is not necessary to score on really important things.

A raincoat can almost always come in handy, which in the scorching sun can give you some much-needed shade if stretched between trees or trekking poles. Spare socks are not superfluous. It will be very important to replace them if you rub your feet.

6. Plan

Of course, improvisation is everything. But it can make any journey more expensive and more difficult. Therefore, it is better to plan everything. For example, far from all regions can be traveled all year round, there are seasons of rains, hurricanes, tornadoes or droughts.

You need to know in advance whether there will be a mobile connection. If this is a mountain trail, will there be places on it where you can renew your fresh water supplies, or will you have to take a few bottles with you.

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7. Don’t delay your trip
Any journey begins with the fact that you need to go on it. This I mean that you do not have to think and delay for a long time, it’s time to rush. As a reminder, it’s best to plan your trip whenever possible to enjoy the views, food and atmosphere, rather than urgently looking for somewhere to get water before the inside is dry.