A sabre-cut above the rest? I just can't keep Mumm

I'm going to miss Ran Fiennes if he dies attempting to climb mount Everest. I think the most likely outcome is that he collapses somewhere on the attempt and is persuaded by Rob Casserley, the team medic and cameraman, to give up.

If he collapses high on the mountain, possibly after summitting (the way back down is often the most dangerous part of the climb) then I wouldn't give much for his chances, given his history of heart problems.

Some might criticise his decision to go to Everest again when he has a young wife, but he is a driven man. It's part of his character to do extreme things. What I most admire about him is that he just gets on with them.

Telly adventurers

I'm glad he is not one of the new generation of "telly adventurers" like Bear Grylls and Ben Fogle who, while they have achieved some things - I wouldn't diminish the feat of rowing across the Atlantic - have learned to talk a good story in front of the cameras. The problem in Gryll's case is that sometimes the "derring-do" is less than its seems. Journalist/adventurer, Tarquin Cooper told me about this article.

I have met Grylls on a few occasions. The last occasion was at a recent do hosted at the Royal Geographical Society and later at the Travellers' Club by GH Mumm, the Champagne producer. Mumm has a clever marketing strategy of shipping a case of champagne and offering some limited sponsorship to various people when they have achieved something special, thus sharing the limelight at the celebratory end of the trip.

Polar gentleman

This is not a new idea. They have been doing it for years, ever since Captain Jean-Baptiste Charcot - a Frenchman (naturally) described as the "polar gentleman" by Captain Robert Falcon Scott, went to Antarctica in 1904. Charcot and a companion were photographed sitting in wicker chairs on the ice with a fold-down table and their glasses of champagne.

It's all harmless stuff and I suppose there is nothing wrong with Mumm setting up a special club, The Cordon Rouge Club, for special people. All of its members deserved the sabres they were given in their special presentation packs. Indeed it was an all round special evening with a few hangers-on like myself invited to share the posh nosh and champagne. The sailing world was represented prominently by Mike Golding, Brian Thompson, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, Dame Ellen MacArthur (who didn't make it to the do because of another promotional commitment)and Dee Caffari.

People who do exceptional things deserve recognition. But I worry that the media - people like me - are sucked in to what can become a fame game.

Everest in winter

If you read the article on exploration that I wrote a little while back, you will see some examples of people who have achieved some astonishing feats, but who are not feted by champagne manufacturers and who are barely recognised by the media or the public outside their specialist fields. I'm thinking of people like Krzysztof Wielicki, the first man to conquer Everest in winter (you only need to compare his Wikipedia entry with that listing all the achievements of Grylls to work out who has the best PR).

You wouldn't see Wielicki making popular survivalist series (that have been made much better, incidentally, by Ray Mears who doesn't pretend to be an explorer or action man adventurer). You might wonder perhaps why some of our great mountaineers such as Sir Chris Bonnington or Doug Scott are not part of the club? Where is Sir Ranulph Fiennes or James Cracknell, Fogle's slightly more accomplished rowing partner? Where is Pete Goss, another true adventurer?

The answer, of course, is that Mumm can ask whoever it wants to its own party. Some who were there, such as Ben Saunders, a genuinely outstanding endurance nut, deserved their accolade. But I wouldn't say that all of them were a sabre-cut above the rest.

Mount Gay Rum hats

I am not a serious party-goer but I know enough about party-going to tell you that if you ever fetch up in Antigua at the start of the annual regatta (i.e. now at the time of writing in April 2007), the Mount Gay Rum party is the place to be.

Some might argue that best thing about the Mount Gay Rum party is Mount Gay Rum. Not so. The best thing is the red Mount Gay Rum hat. Among serial Antigua week sailors a Mount Gay Rum hat, salt-faded and tattered as the years go by, is the hat to have.

The Mount Gay Rum people are very clever and restrict supply. To get a hat you need to have a red ticket acquired in certain places the previous day.

At the party there is a man in a small cubicle who supplies the hat on receipt of the ticket. One ticket buys one hat. But getting a hat with a ticket is too easy so I was quite pleased that we didn’t have one. Arriving ticketless makes the party more fun and the acquisition of a hat more of a challenge.

Hats off

First you need to talk to people with hats to get the low down on hat acquisition technique although you should not expect them to part with their own hats. Those with more than one hat seem to know what has to be done.

To avoid a free-for-all between the hatless and the hatted the Mount Gay people have inserted a clever ritual. At an appointed time in the evening one or two specially selected Mount Gay representatives begin to mingle with the party goers. If they find a hatless one who looks deserving enough, a ticket or two will be slid surreptitiously in to the palm of the hand.

I don’t remember enough about the party to know how I came by three hats but there we go. Much rum was consumed, friends were made, invitations extended and the upshot is that today I find myself among the crew of Pindar, a former Volvo Ocean Race yacht, sailing with Alex Thomson, Ian Williams and Brian Thompson, each of them recognised single-handed sailors taking the opportunity to work as a team.

Keel failure

Alex suffered a keel failure on the Hugo Boss Open 60 yacht in the Velux 5 Oceans solo round-the-world race that is still running. He was rescued by Mike Golding on Ecover. Ian Williams, just now, is leading the rankings in the world match racing circuit. Match sailing involves sail-offs between two boats competing head to head over a short course – very tactical stuff.

Ian would almost certainly have represented Great Britain in the Olympics had match sailing not been dropped as an Olympic sport. Having devoted the best part of his sailing career to this type of sailing I suggest to him that this must have been a bit of bummer. He agrees.

He decided to enter a profession and took up law. But a love of the sport, not to mention the potential earnings in top flight professional sailing, have lured him back in to serious sail-racing.

One thing I had forgotten about sailing when I came out here is that I get seasick and 20 knots of wind in a lumpy sea is just about enough, particularly since my rumometer had slipped off the scale the previous evening.

Big wave

The plan was to do a few tacks on the East side of the island before turning round for some downwind jibes so that every manoeuvre could be practiced before the start of racing tomorrow. That was before the accident.

Sailing close-hauled before the wind we hit a big wave and the shock was sufficient to break one of the diagonal rods that help to stabilise the mast. Usually when this happens, the whole mast collapses, but the sails are dropped quickly and the mast survives. It’s a tense moment all the same. New struts have been ordered before the boat is back in port. But there will need to be a thorough rig inspection to check for other damage.

I was feeling pretty grim in the swell and was thankful to be given the helm to take my mind off it. Ian tells me to steer for a headland but perhaps I take him too literally and Brian suggests I might be getting a tad close. Still it was good to take the wheel of this former Volvo Ocean Racer. I’m used to getting the grunt work on boats so it was a pleasant change and made my day. I hope they get everything fixed for tomorrow.

The Mount Gay Rum site where you won't find a hat.

N.B. This was written two days ago but because of a server error can only be published now. Apologies to anyone who tried to access the site yesterday. Pindar was back out on the water today and narrowly finished ahead of Artemis in the big boat class.