Kenneth Frank Crutchlow,
FRGS
The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...
(18 March 1944 London, 17 January 2016) was a British adventurer, writer and entrepreneur. He was the founder of Ocean Rowing Society International (ORSI), the Head of ORSI and main Ocean Rowing adjudicator for
Guinness World Records
''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
.
Adventures
* 1958–1965 Active member of Gladstone Warwick Rowing Club, London
* 1965 Lived in and was an active rowing member of
Thames Rowing Club
The Thames Rowing Club (TRC) is a rowing club based on the tidal Thames as it flows through the western suburbs of London. The TRC clubhouse stands on Putney Embankment. The club was founded in 1860.
As at July 2022, Thames had won events at H ...
, London
* 1965 Started 7 years hitch-hiking journey around the world visiting 60 countries
* 1969 Entrant in Race from Top of
Empire State Building (New York) to top of
GPO Tower
The BT Communication Tower is a grade II listed communications tower located in Fitzrovia, London, owned by BT Group. Originally named the Museum Radio Tower (after the adjacent Museum telephone exchange), it became better known by its unoff ...
(London)
* 1970 Rode a bicycle from
Glendale Glendale is the anglicised version of the Gaelic Gleann Dail, which means ''valley of fertile, low-lying arable land''.
It may refer to:
Places Australia
* Glendale, New South Wales
** Stockland Glendale, a shopping centre
*Glendale, Queensland, ...
, Los Angeles to
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...
– 1755 miles (2824 km)
* 1974 The first person to run across
Death Valley
Death Valley is a desert valley in Eastern California, in the northern Mojave Desert, bordering the Great Basin Desert. During summer, it is the Highest temperature recorded on Earth, hottest place on Earth.
Death Valley's Badwater Basin is the ...
(the hottest place on earth, in August – 130 °F (54,44 °C)), from Jubilee Pass to Scotties Castle
* 1975 Swam from
Alcatraz
Alcatraz Island () is a small island in San Francisco Bay, offshore from San Francisco, California, United States. The island was developed in the mid-19th century with facilities for a lighthouse, a military fortification, and a military pris ...
to San Francisco at Christmas time
* 1976 Rode a bicycle from London to
Dundee, Scotland
Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...
, swam the
Firth of Forth and run to
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...
* 1977 The first person to run 500 miles from Los Angeles to San Francisco
* 1979 Rode bicycle from San Francisco to
Ketchikan
Ketchikan ( ; tli, Kichx̱áan) is a city in and the borough seat of the Ketchikan Gateway Borough of Alaska. It is the state's southeasternmost major settlement. Downtown Ketchikan is a National Historic District.
With a population at the 20 ...
, Alaska
* 1980 Rode bicycle across Death Valley from
Badwater to
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
, Nevada
* 1981 Ran from Badwater in Death Valley, the lowest point in Continental US, to top of
Mt. Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous USA
* 1989 Entrant with Mick Cerre of Globe TV in
The Global Scavenger Hunt
''The Global Scavenger Hunt'' is an annual international travel adventure competition in which teams of two people travel around the world in competition with other teams to win ''The World’s Greatest Travelers'' title and trophy.
History ...
public transport race around the world, San Francisco – San Francisco
* 1991–2000 Technical support of Sector No Limits program
Founding of Ocean Rowing Society International
His involvement in ocean rowing commenced as far back as 1969, when he took the train from NY to Miami on the mission to report the arrival of John Fairfax for a National British newspaper "
Daily Sketch". He was involved in the next row of
John Fairfax
John Fairfax (24 October 1804 – 16 June 1877) was an English-born journalist, company director, politician, librarian and newspaper owner, known for the incorporation of the major newspapers of modern-day Australia.
Early life
Fairfax was bo ...
and
Sylvia Cook across the Pacific (1971), was one of the major sponsors of the rows of
Peter Bird across the Pacific (1980, 1982).
In 1980 Kenneth for the first time used
ARGOS
Argos most often refers to:
* Argos, Peloponnese, a city in Argolis, Greece
** Ancient Argos, the ancient city
* Argos (retailer), a catalogue retailer operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland
Argos or ARGOS may also refer to:
Businesses
...
satellite beacons to track the row of Peter Bird across the Pacific Ocean from Russian Far East to San Francisco; and hence, after launching the website, ORSI became the first to start monitoring and tracking rowers at sea, listing positions, plotting charts and posting them - along with the press articles, news and other information about and from rowers at sea, making it available to public.
From 1983, when he founded the ORSI, Kenneth dedicated himself to documenting attempts to row the oceans, and with the assistance of his wife Tatiana, provided Guinness World Records with the ratification needed for record-breaking rows.
Kenneth was the first to organize a resupply of an ocean rower on route (Peter Bird, Pacific Ocean 1983) and then organized and participated in several resupplies of rowers and teams at sea - sailing and flying, or coordinating a meeting with a vessel or even another rowboat. He was an associate producer of the film called "The Longest Row". The film won Grand Prix prize at La Plan (France) Adventure Film Festival. In 1985 Kenneth became Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, London. In 1997 he formally registered Ocean Rowing Society in London. In 1997, at the start of the first ocean rowing race from Canary Islands to Barbados, an American Tom Lynch, - a friend of Kenneth Crutchlow and of then later Peter Bird, - launched the website of ORSI. In 2003 Kenneth launched new design of ORSI ocean rowboat ("Ukraine", "Queensgate", "Macmillan Spirit"). He later organized several Black Tie Dinners for Ocean Rowers.
Release of prisoners in Vietnam
Richard Knight was the leader of the expedition looking for treasure allegedly been buried by the 17th century
pirate
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
Captain Kidd
William Kidd, also known as Captain William Kidd or simply Captain Kidd ( – 23 May 1701), was a Scottish sea captain who was commissioned as a privateer and had experience as a pirate. He was tried and executed in London in 1701 for murder a ...
.
The expedition members were arrested on June 16, 1983 by Vietnamese authorities, and kept in a provincial prison at
Kien Giang Kien or Kiens may refer to:
* Kien, Bern, a village in Bern, Switzerland
* Kien, Burkina Faso, a village
* ''Kien'' (album), a 2008 album by the Japanese group Bleach
* Pine Ridge Airport (ICAO: KIEN), Pine Ridge, South Dakota , US
* Kiens, a c ...
.
The Vietnamese government officially reported to British officials that they were holding the pair on September 1. The boat and all their equipment were
confiscate
Confiscation (from the Latin ''confiscatio'' "to consign to the ''fiscus'', i.e. transfer to the treasury") is a legal form of seizure by a government or other public authority. The word is also used, popularly, of spoliation under legal forms, ...
d.
The families of prisoners said they did not have the money to pay the fines and appealed for their release on humanitarian grounds.
The Vietnamese government, however, insisted that the provincial court's ruling stood and the amounts had to be paid.
The Vietnamese indicated they expected the British and American governments to come up with the money, but both refused on grounds it would set a bad precedent.
One diplomat complained "The Vietnamese think we are a charity."
The fine, he said, "is essentially a ransom."
Knight, who had been unable to raise the money for his release, was still held.
Knight had raised only $2,000 and was said to have been suffering from
severe depression
Major depressive disorder (MDD), also known as clinical depression, is a mental disorder characterized by at least two weeks of pervasive low mood, low self-esteem, and loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities. Introdu ...
.
Crutchlow heard of the capture of Knight and donated $8,000 (today $25,000) for Knight's release.
Knight was released on August 20, after Kenneth's lengthy correspondence with Vietnamese Authorities.
While Knight was released in 1984, the two Thai boatman who accompanied them remained in captivity.
They were finally released after 44 months in captivity when Crutchlow paid the bail to Vietnamese Embassy in Bangkok.
Crutchlow said it was his "duty as an Englishman" to help them. "It was an Englishman who got them into Vietnam. If he wasn't going to help them, then there had to be an Englishman who could."
Crutchlow planned to sell one of his
London-style taxicabs to pay for the fine.
Death Valley to Mount Whitney Challenge
1987 was the first year that the official
Badwater Ultramarathon was run, on a 146-mile course from Death Valley to Mount Whitney. The previous year, Tom Crawford and Mike Witwer had attempted to organise an official race but it was cancelled when the insurance policy was rescinded. So the two of them ran the course, completing it in 70 hours and 27 minutes. After reading about it in the ''
San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The ...
'', Kenneth Crutchlow challenged Crawford and Witwer to a team race: Crutchlow and a partner, representing Britain, versus the American pair.
Crutchlow put an ad in ''
Athletics Weekly'' to find a teammate and
Eleanor Robinson
Eleanor Robinson (formerly Adams, née Puckrin, 20 November 1947) is a British former ultramarathon runner and two-time winner of the IAU 100km World Championships. She was the first woman to run over 150 miles in a 24-hour endurance race. Sh ...
, at the time considered the best female ultra runner in the world, was the only person to respond. Witwer pulled out.
Enterprise
Crutchlow imported a fleet of London black taxis to
Sonoma County
Sonoma County () is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 488,863. Its county seat and largest city is Santa Rosa. It is to the north of Marin County and the south of Mendocino ...
, California, and established a cab firm there.
Writing
Crutchlow researched and documented lives of many today notable, but prior to his work little known ocean rowers.
Personal life
He married Ukrainian artist, Tatiana Rezvaya. They lived in London.
Obituary
Guinness World Records published an obituary letter commemorating Kenneth’s death, ending with words: “He’ll be sadly missed by everyone here at GWR."
On the same note
The Global Scavenger Hunt
''The Global Scavenger Hunt'' is an annual international travel adventure competition in which teams of two people travel around the world in competition with other teams to win ''The World’s Greatest Travelers'' title and trophy.
History ...
program stated: "His curious and boisterous spirit was exhibited front and center from the moment you met him.....You couldn’t not like him."
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crutchlow, Kenneth
British male rowers
1944 births
2016 deaths
Ocean rowing