Richard Horntvedt was an man of adventure. So much so that on Sunday, 30th of April he set off on the adventure of a lifetime.

He departed on Sunday from North Cape, which is Norway's most northerly point, deep within the Arctic Circle, in a small open-topped boat in the style of one from the 1850s. He planned to row the entirety of Norway's coastline, some 2,500 kms (1,555-miles), in a trip that was scheduled to take 90 days. Unfortunatly, things didn't go to plan.

Now, it would seem obvious, but apparantly it isn't, that it gets pretty cold in the sea deep within the Arctic Circle. In fact, it gets so cold that without survival gear anyone who finds himself in it will perish after just a few hours. But Richard told a local newspaper in an interview just before his trip that he wasn't going to take a survival suit or a life raft because there "wasn't enough space" aboard his 6-metre (20 foot) long craft.

So the intrepid adventurer set off from the shore, with no survival equipment, and nothing more than a mobile telephone for communication. He was found at 5.30 a.m on Tuesday morning, drifting along with the overturned wreck of his boat. An emergency services spokesman said it was almost certain that the accident accured just hours after he left port, giving him plenty of time for him to succumb to the elements.

Lessons learned: anyone who wants to row along the coast of Norway, please pay attention.

1. stay in contact with someone on the shore, or better still, with a ship shadowing you. Don't expect a mobile phone to get a signal in the middle of the Arctic seas, it won't.

2. Know your limits. Yes, if he was good at this sort of thing, I might be able to understand, but he set off in a calm sea, and just hours later he was in the water. How did he expect to do a 90 day trip?

3. Take some survival gear. Even if he had only taken a couple of flares, which aren't exactly space-consuming, he could easily have summoned help from any nearby shipping, or the shore.

Submitted on 05/02/2006

Submitted by: Brendan Galvin, Iain Macdonald
Reference: Yahoo! News

Copyright © 2006 DarwinAwards.com

James said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
Yep, this is it. Definite DA! I cannot understand why some people do these things. At least a trip over Niagra Falls in a barrel takes only a few seconds; this jamoke expected to navigate the Norwegian Coast in 90 days in an open rowboat, and he came up 88 days short of the goal! At 67, he was IMO too old, and he was apparently strapped to the keel of his boat as well. Creative...Thanks, Iain!

Sheryl said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
Thanks for the story, Iain. I agree with James on this one. It *was* stupid. Any sort of survival gear is a must in that climate.

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