KEY POINTS:
No doubt about it, Oliver Hicks - or Olly as we know him on his webpage - is a go-getter. At the age of 14, he announced that one day he would row across the Atlantic.
To whom he made this utterance is not reported, but evidently, the
announcement was made and just nine years later, Olly became the first person to row solo all the way from the United States to England and the youngest person to row an ocean solo.
Before that feat of endurance, he cycled from Land's End to John O'Groats (the length of Britain); he completed the Marathon des Sables (six back-to-back marathons across the Sahara); and competed in the 700km Yukon Canoe Race (the longest canoe race in the world). So. Pretty much a derring-do kind of a guy.
But all these impressive efforts were stepping stones towards his ultimate goal: making a solo global row. He says he wants to emulate earlier explorers and complete an arduous and hazardous but nonetheless epic journey.
He wants to have for himself the ultimate adventure and this global row, he believes, is on a par with the quest to climb Everest.
And, to his credit, he's persuaded some high-end sponsors to back him. Richard Branson's company Virgin has climbed on board, figuratively speaking, and I imagine this sort of barking mad endeavour would be right up Richard's alley.
Once Virgin succumbed, then others quickly followed and so Olly's dream has become a reality and he's well and truly on his way. Only he's hit a small snag.
Maritime New Zealand has refused him permission to launch the latest leg of his journey from New Zealand shores. They say the journey is too risky; that the likelihood of Hicks capsizing is almost inevitable and that the cost of rescuing him is prohibitive - a cost which will, of course, be borne by the New Zealand taxpayer.
Undeterred, Olly shipped his high-tech fibreglass craft, dubbed the Flying Carrot, to Tasmania, and he intends to set off from Hobart within days.
Tasmanian officials also don't like the idea but they don't have the same powers to prevent Hicks from heading off on his 24,000km journey around Antarctica.
And that's where I have a problem with this whole boy's own adventure. Good for him for having a dream and getting off his butt and making it happen. It's brilliant that he is willing to undertake such a dangerous journey. But I don't want to pay for it.
I would be cheering him on like crazy if he signed a waiver saying in the event of disaster, don't come and get me.
If he posted on his blog that he was willing to follow in the footsteps of his adventurer heroes and die trying in his gallant attempt, I'd be right behind him, wishing him well and hoping he beats the odds and makes it round the Southern Ocean.
But if he dares to call for help when the Flying Carrot is grated by icebergs or mashed to a pulp, then I shall be furious. According to a caller to my radio show, when a sick passenger from a cruise ship in the Antarctic had to be airlifted to Argentina, the cost was more than US$1 million ($1.8 million).
That's a lot of dough to be spending on a young British boy with more balls than brains. If he signs a waiver that has a maritime version of 'do not resuscitate' or gives a sponsor-supplied bond to our search and rescue teams then I'll be really impressed. But if he is involved in one of the more expensive rescues undertaken in this country, then he could never consider himself a true adventurer cast in the mould of the greats.
* www.kerrewoodham.comm
