Land Rover Global 1998 - Part 2

Sir Ranulph Fiennes

By late 1995, Sir Ranulph Fiennes had joined the partnership and Land Rover were approached for sponsorship. They agreed to provide 3 Defender 110's and 3 mechanics as team members for the 'Transglobal Expedition'. They also agreed to underwrite the cost for building a prototype amphibious unit that would be used for negotiating the various bodies of water the team would encounter en route. This amphibious unit was essentially a Kevlar made catamaran, equipped with a hydraulic pump that drove 2 stern-mounted paddle wheels. With the vehicle mounted on top, the pump was driven from the rear power take-off on the Defender. The speed and direction of rotation of each paddle wheel could be individually controlled from within the vehicle to permit steering in water. Eventually, the catamaran was dubbed an LRPC (Land Rover Powered Catamaran).

Construction of the LRPC began in January 1996 on the Isle of Man. While waiting for its completion, the 'Transglobal' team pursued another goal - to be the first to cross the Bering Strait on foot in winter. In early March 1996, Dmitry Shparo, with sons Matvey and Nikita, attempted to cross from Russia to Alaska along an intended route north of the Diomedes.

The LRPC

At the same time Ran Fiennes and Gordon Thomas made a co-ordinated attempt from Alaska to Russia south of the Diomedes. Neither party were successful. The northern team became trapped on an unstable ice floe roughly the size of a football pitch along with approximately 20 Polar Bears. The Russians were unable to rescue them, so a request was put forward to the US Coast Guard. Two USCG helicopters were given permission to enter Russian airspace and the team were airlifted from the ice. Luckily, it turned out that the Polar Bears were unaware of the team's presence, as they were pre-occupied, having launched one of the largest co-ordinated Seal kills ever witnessed. The southern team faired no better, encountering vast stretches of open water on the Straits.

Drying polar bear skins

Although an advert had been circulated within Land Rover asking for volunteers, only 2 men applied for the job of team mechanics for this epic journey - Charles Whittacker and Granville Balis. Ran Fiennes therefore placed further adverts with the Royal Geographic Society and Scientific Exploration Society looking for a third team member to accompany the two Land Rover mechanics - this is where I first got involved with the project. Having attended a selection weekend in Snowdonia, run by Olly Shepard of 'Transglobe Expedition' fame (led by Ran Fiennes, they were the first team to circumnavigate the earth along its Polar axis using surface travel only), Steve Signal was chosen as the third mechanic. As a former New Zealand Army vehicle technician, he was used to Land Rovers and therefore skilled enough to work alongside the two Land Rover guys.

I was chosen as the Arctic Base Leader for our forthcoming reconnaissance mission to Wales, Alaska, but this soon grew to incorporate other roles of Forward Reconnaissance Advisor and Logistics Co-ordinator.

LRPC paddles

By September 1996 the LRPC was completed and the first tests were conducted the following month at the Royal Marine Training Centre in Instow, North Devon. Instow faces the protected Barnstable Bay where water currents and waves are benign. The tests were useful in that the team established that they could easily and successfully turn the assembled LRPC in water. The reason behind the paddle steamer blades was that they could deal with any dark 'Bergy' ice that lies hidden just beneath the surface of the water and can chew a propeller blade up within seconds. A paddle wheel would be able to ride up and over such ice, preventing damage. Some on the spot design changes were made that permitted us to achieve a speed of 6 knots at an engine speed of 1500 rpm. Because of pump limitations however, we were not able to exceed the 1500-rpm limit.

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