Further, there is the question of his crew. He maintains they were all volunteers, but where does one find six or seven men to can take several months off on a whim? And, in turn, where did they get their money? Had they no obligations? Remember, I myself am a world traveler and only a fool disregards the cost involved. Also, consider the actual state of affairs being afloat in mid-Atlantic with six unemployed men from, say, Florida. No thank you.With an accountant's eye, my estimate is that transporting the reeds, boat-builders and crew to the launch sites, the food, sails, cabin and all else separately contracted out, that the trip cost, in today’s money, around $1,280,000 USD. One does not retire such funds from an ATM, and there is no mention of Thor winning the lotto. Something smells a bit like Denmark. When the boat is overloaded, the first thing they jettison is food; what’s wrong with this picture? Ah, they never worked for it.
[Author's note 2015-08-09: This book is a prime example of what I call the "free" travel brand of authorship. These people must have access to free money because they never reveal the costs of this kind of trip, or where they got the cash. They don't even explain how they managed to take so much time off from work. To me, any book about travel that does not expose these important details is a deficient work. All my travels give and excellent accounting of my expenses. And 100% of my money comes from my own years of employment.]
I do not belittle bravery, but I feel an important aspect of the feat has been intentionally concealed by the author. I understand his declared motives, he wants to focus on the scientific, but at the same time he does go on about nationalities, politics, religion and his family. So if he wants to motivate and bloviate, [he'd] best tell us where he discovered the Fountain of Painless Cash. Then we’ll do some adventuring, ourselves.
Doing more research, I see the Dnepr motorcycles have evolved into a consumer version called the “Ural”. There are dealers in Florida who state the unit has been Americanized but do not elaborate. It comes in five models, all of which are clearly descended from the Dnepr. One even has a switch for one- or two-wheel drive, and all automatically stop drive power if the sidecar goes aerial. The price has also gone aerial, starting at $10,000 up to $13,500.
Trivia time. Who remembers all those chickens wearing red goggles? The claim was it made them happier and led to the phrase “rose-colored glasses”. The reality is much more brutal. Chickens in large groups often attack each other, going for the eyes. When one chicken sees blood, they go into a killing frenzy. The goggles are to protect the eyes and camouflage the red color of blood, making it look black. So the claim is true in a way. Live chickens lay more eggs than dead ones. (These days, each chicken has its own cage, just like tax collectors have cubicles.)
Want a little more? Okay, barbed wire. It spelled the end of the open range in the America west. Originally, it was a military invention but the sales pitch went that it made cattle “steer” away from the wire. I’ll let you figure it out from there.
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