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Photo: Contributed
I was saddened earlier in the week at reports of Sergey Ananov, a Russian helicopter pilot lost in the North Atlantic.
It is a nasty piece of water to cross and while statistically the probability of failure is extremely low, if you do go for a swim, the water is so cold you will likely not survive.
Of course, on Monday we had reports of an epic survival tale with a Russian pilot swimming to an iceberg and surviving for two days keeping polar bears at a distance!
The forum trolls came out in droves on the CBC forum at least to shout in capital letters about the stupidity of such a pilot to even consider advancing aviation understanding by embarking on such a flight. The pointless nature of his adventure would cost tax payers millions (a little like expense accounts in the House of Senate!)
Naturally I was frustrated not least because I have a similar grand adventure planned. But the ignorance to even suggest that nothing good comes from such adventures is well, without dwelling on the topic - bordering on stupidity.
There are so many things we take for granted today which were pioneered by adventurous souls. Often adventurous entrepreneurs but many times true adventurers in the greatest sense of the word.
For example, a sport that many point fingers at as a giant waste of money only for rich people is Formula 1. Businesses do not invest in Formula 1 because it is fun. They invest because it makes sense. The discoveries from Formula 1 pioneered kinetic recovery systems for hybrid cars that you drive today, carbon fibre mast technologies that are used to make sailboats safer and aerodynamics that assist in fuel consumption of your daily driver.
Mountaineers and sailors have pushed clothing and equipment to the limits so that you or I can comfortably wear clothing in wet or extreme environments and survive.
Your Subaru and Mitsubishi? Well they advanced the commercial use of all wheel drive systems through the help of the worlds greatest rally drivers who risked life and limb in races all around the world.
So at the end of the day, it is not just about the adventure. It is what we learn from the adventure. That is why research institutes and universities support great adventurers like Ray Zahab who takes school children on daring and sometimes dangerous runs through harsh environments.
It is not about a cost to the taxpayer, it is about the benefit to society as we push boundaries and learn from real experiences.
Why else would we ever have attempted to put a man on the moon? Just to say we could?
This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
