By Andy Olivier, SAMS
Today is the penultimate day of science on the Cook. The day was filled in with the deployment of landers in the morning, a CTD and an optics cast was carried out by Victor. The majority of the day was spent RMTing, Martin keeping an eye on the depth of the nets and pressing the big button that changes the nets.
I aim to digress somewhat from the science for my blog today however, but, I do promise in a roundabout way to get back to it. When thinking about what I wanted to write for my blog, someone suggested interviewing Peter Bray, our guest rower on the ship for the final three weeks. Once I had tracked him down, I managed to get him to agree to an interview. Armed with pencil and notepad I headed to the bar and met up with him and began the questioning, once I realised he wasn’t going to just tell me everything.
Peter Bray left school and joined a supermarket chain and was being trained as a trainee manager. It was at this time he realised how boring he found this and that jobs sitting at desks, or jobs where it was 9-5, were just not for him. He decided to join the military and became an instructor at an early age due to his enthusiasm. After doing this for a while however he became bored again. In an effort to find a path in the military where he would avoid the boredom which ailed him, he decided he should apply to the top of the totem pole as such.
He applied to join the SAS and was then ‘beasted’ for six months, the training taking place in both the Brecon Beacons, the SAS’ favourite playground in Wales. Here the SAS supplicants are given time limits and packs and have to travel between locations. A portion of time is given to preparation and training before a final four weeks of beasting which occurs before the testing week. One of the tasks is an eighty mile distance which has to be completed within a twenty two hour period. This is with a 55lbs pack plus his weapon and then a what is known as belt kit – a belt to carry additioanl water and food, which does not count towards the 55lbs.
When he passed the selection process, upon finding out that he was a keen kayaker and swimmer, he was put into Boat troop, the section of the SAS who specialise in the use of boats and diving to carry out their jobs. Fast forwarding somewhat, Peter left the military after twenty four years. The last fifteen years of this was in the SAS.
After leaving the military Peter set up an outdoor company which did everything from Canyoning, Caving, Kayaking, White water rafting, etc. However, due to an incident during this time at another outdoor centre, a lot of paperwork was created to insure accidents wouldn’t happen. It meant that most of Peter’s time became taken up with doing paperwork and hiring staff to take people out to do the activities, rather than going out himself. Getting bored with this he decided enough was enough and went freelance as an Outdoor instructor.
For a time he taught outdoor education at Pen-coed college, when he was invited to London by a friend to meet another friend. This trip was actually a job interview, in the end Pete was hired but his friend wasn’t!!!
The job was close protection,ie body guarding, for the British Embassy and for gas and oil engineers in Baghdad. He went out and did this from 2004 to 2009. Eventually he was invited to join a team of sixteen who protected a two star American generals. The only way to join this protection team was by recommendation and invite!
When he isn’t living this far from boring lifestyle, Peter keeps busy on the water. In 2001 he kayaked across the North Atlantic solo and unsupported. Three years ago Peter was part of a team of four rowers who were rowing across the Atlantic. They were hit by hurricane Alex off of the coast of Cornwall and the boat was ripped in half. A year after this another team succeeded.
Rob Munslow was part of this team and he later rowed across the North Atlantic solo. It turned out later that a yacht had given Rob Munslow equipment halfway across. Peter felt that this broke the theory of an unassisted crossing, but it’s not actually against the rules. He decided to undertake the challenge and do it himself without resorting to receiving equipment halfway through.
The boat he would use, Black Knight, was custom made and a lot of planning and thought went into the design of the boat. During his row his biggest problem was the fog, at some points it would sit five miles off, but at other times it would close in cutting off all vision. At times like this, Peter would head inside the cabin and keep an eye on the radar. As news of hurricane Bill increased and the threat it posed escalated discussions started with his onshore team about cancelling his attempt.
Black Knight
At the time of the pick up the RRS James Cook was battling waves between five to six metres in height, and the wind was gusting at thirty to forty miles per hour, not a pleasant place to be. With conditions already like this and the weather reports saying that it was going to worsen, the onshore team and and Peter made the decision to cancel the attempt.
Peter is hoping to get his boat back after it is receovered, as it is currently floating in the Atlantic. When asked if he would go again he paused, considered and then said “yes”. Whilst not a failure, as the weather conditions were too severe, Peter still sees it as such and so he will do it again.
Peter Bray, still smiling, immediately after rescue.
Finding himself upon the James Cook with its hard rations of a three course dinner and more food than the scientists seem able to eat (despite some valiant attempts by some) and with his own cabin, Peter see’s how things could be a lot worse. The downside of his rescue is that he is stuck with us for three weeks, until we make port in Falmouth. In his own words, this has been an educational turn of events, he had had no idea that money was being put into marine research. Since being onboard he has watched the moorings being recovered and deployed, landers, trawls and seen the dissections of fish.
When I asked him, “What was the most interesting part of the science that he had seen?” Peter replied that it was the scientists and the enthusiasm in which they worked. The day we pulled in the trawl full of mud he was impressed with the way that the teams just jumped in with shovels and hands, grins on their faces and laughter coming as they got on with it. Als, he has been impressed with the way the scientists have answered his questions about what they were doing and have aways been happy to explain exactly what was going on.
See I told you I would bring it back to the science eventually.
A good evening all.
