A Real Gypsy Rover
The Age
Saturday August 23, 2008
CROSSING the Bering Strait, the 85-kilometre gap of sea that separates Alaska to the west and Russia to the east, is difficult enough in winter when the sea freezes and the region becomes an icy sheet.
However, that's not enough of a challenge to West Yorkshire farmer Steve Burgess and co-driver Dan Evans, who decided they wanted to tackle the strait in a Land Rover Defender during summer, when the ice had thawed.The pair made the watery crossing after attaching outrigger pontoons and an outboard motor to the Defender. Bad weather closed in about halfway across, forcing the pair to temporarily abandon the crossing at Little Diomede, an island about 40 kilometres off Alaska's coastline.However, earlier this month they finally succeeded, making the first recorded sea crossing of the strait in a car in a total time of 18 hours, 50 minutes. Who says Land Rovers can't float?It's not the end of the trip, however, which kicked off early this year from central Britain and has so far taken in a wide loop through eastern Europe and central Russia.Expedition leader Burgess says he plans to go as far as Cape Horn, the southernmost point of South America, as soon as he has completed extra fund-raising. -- BARRY PARK
© 2008 The Age