Outside Magazine Tells Rescue Tale

A good disaster story certainly has its appeal. Sitting in a comfy chair in a heated room in the depths of winter while reading of drownings far out to sea only adds to the experience.

Outside magazine has such a story in its January issue. Recounting the rescue last year of three sailors from the Southern Ocean, Craig Vetter spins a hair-raising yarn that bears a remarkable resemblance to Sebastian Junger’s “The Perfect Storm” - except Vetter’s sailors were trying to win an around-the-world race, while Junger’s fishermen died trying to make a living.

It’s hard to care much about the men who sucked away $1 million of Australia’s rescue funds after attempting a shortcut through the waters around Antarctica.

The heroes of the story are the Aussies who put their own lives at risk. Not that you’d know it. Upon returning to land the rescuers were invisible to the media, which aimed the klieg lights instead at one of the men they saved. Just for staying alive, Tony Bullimore was offered endorsements and book deals totaling some $1 million.