What is the story of windsurfing conquering the Sahara?

Among the heroes who conquered the world's largest and most sinister Sahara desert in Africa, some drove cars, or rode motorcycles, or even rode bicycles, some rode camels and horses, and others walked and ran long distances. ...

1979, 33-year-old Frenchman Arno de Losnay was ingenious. In order not to follow the old path taken by predecessors and to create new exploration records, he specially designed a new type of transportation that can travel on sand. It is shaped a bit like a windsurfing board that can walk along the sea, a 2-meter-long narrow board with four small wheels and a 6-square-meter sail that can be manipulated at will. Using the wind as the driving force is like a windsurfer standing on a windsurfing board and gliding on the waves with the help of the wind. Yano called it a "sand boat".

Yano plans to sail this simple sand boat from Nouadhibou, a coastal city in Mauritania, and sail south along the coast of West Africa bordering the Atlantic Ocean. With the strong northeast trade wind in this area, it will slide 1 100 km in the Sahara desert and reach Dakar, the capital of Senegal. In order to ensure the success of the expedition, he rushed to West Africa in advance to learn about the local weather, tides, winds and deserts.

Looking around, the deserts in West Africa look lifeless. This area is near the sea, and the sand is white and fine, mixed with sea breeze and shell powder rolled up by the waves. At first, he stepped on a narrow flat plate, bent slightly and steered the sails according to the wind direction. Smooth sailing, "drifting" is quite smooth. However, it didn't take long for the "sand boat" to break down one after another: he didn't see it clearly, and he didn't expect it in advance. On the sand along the way, there are clusters of short and prickly thorns, like buried mines. By the time it was discovered, 16 rubber tires had been punctured.

Fortunately, he was not alone in the first half of the journey. Photographer Francois and two soldiers sent by Mauritanian army accompanied him. They drove an SUV to protect Yano's adventure. Every time there is a flat tire, everyone helps to mend it. At night, everyone sleeps together in a tent set up by the sand dunes. Because of the bad start, they were in a bad mood, Fran? ois pulled a long face, and Jarno didn't sleep well. There is a great temperature difference between day and night in the desert, and it is particularly cold at night.

Things got better the next day. Yano became more confident and left his partner. He drove alone in the sand 13 1 km. He couldn't help being intoxicated by the vast wilderness scenery around him and his unprecedented adventure. He wrote emotionally in his adventure diary: "I came to a virgin land. There is no garbage, no noise and no people here, but it doesn't make people feel lonely. I became a part of nature, talked to her and fell in love with her charm. "

There are no roads and no people in most parts of the Sahara desert. It is easy to get lost if you get stuck. Yano always corrects the direction of progress by referring to the position of the sun, the wind direction and the compass installed on the sand boat.

Traveling in the desert is most afraid of encountering sandstorms. The strong cyclone keeps rolling up dust, sand and dry soil particles from the ground, and flying sand and stones in the air makes the sky dark. At this time, although the mouth is closed, it will be full of dust and sand. It turns out that some of it was sucked in through the nostrils! On the third day, Yano was trapped in such an overwhelming sandstorm that he couldn't get away for several hours. The companion behind him struggled to find him from under the sand boat, and he wrapped himself from head to toe with the canvas.

On the fourth day, the situation was just the opposite, and there was almost no wind. The sand boat, which had to borrow the wind, stopped helplessly without taking a few steps forward. The off-road vehicle has already moved forward, and there is no company of Jarno on this day. In the evening, he turned the sand boat over, erected the bottom plate on the sand dune, and set up an open temporary tent with sails. The beach was at high tide, and he was soaked through by the surging tide. At about 2 o'clock in the morning, he was awakened by the howling of a group of jackals. Although the jackals are not big, they are fiercer than wolves. They quickly picked up the air pump to inflate and scared them away.

On the sixth day, the wind was still weak, so we couldn't wait any longer. Many times, he has to pull a sand boat on foot, just like pulling fibers for a boat in a river. On this day, he finally arrived in Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania, and now he has only walked half the way. Accompanied by two soldiers, he received an order to return to the army. After that, Yano had no vehicle to accompany him and had to travel alone in the desert.

Yano had a day off in Nouakchott. He has indigestion and doesn't feel well. Nevertheless, on the eighth morning, he continued to sail in the desert with 5 kilograms of food, 5 bottles of fresh water, sleeping bag, dagger and spare sail, two spare tires, and a total of 20 kilograms of luggage.

Photographer Francois flew the plane and searched along the beach for hours, but he was not seen. On the ninth day, there was still no news of Yano.

On the tenth day, I still couldn't find Yano. Fran? ois was impatient and ready to go out for help. Unexpectedly, the first 1 1 day, Yano appeared in the town of Rosso on the north bank of senegal river. No wonder the photographer couldn't find him.

What the hell happened? It turned out that Yano fainted due to weakness shortly after his departure, and it was midnight when he woke up. He waited until the next day, but the wind was wrong at dawn, so he had to change to the east and deviate from the original route. There are still 170 kilometers from Rosso town, and he intends to arrive before dark. But on the way, he was stopped by a policeman. After explanation, he persuaded the policeman. Then the tire broke again. Yano can't waste any more time; He was on the road all night. The moonlight was bright that night, and the sand boat flew at a speed of about 60 kilometers per hour, close to the speed of the car, so it arrived in Rosso in the early morning of the eleventh day.

After a short rest, he set foot on the journey again and arrived at the other side of the port of St. Louis in the afternoon. By this time, he had walked 846 kilometers, and victory was just around the corner.

On the thirteenth day, Yano wanted to finish the expedition as soon as possible. Ignoring the advice of local residents, he ventured to cross the senegal river on a raft at high tide. There was a strong wind blowing on the river, and suddenly a torrent from the upstream swept away the raft and pushed it quickly to the estuary. Seeing that he and his sandbar were about to be washed out into the Atlantic Ocean, Yano tried his best to make the raft run aground on the sandbar. A few hours later, with the help of local fishermen, Yano was out of trouble.

Only 200 kilometers away from Dakar, the final destination, Yano accelerated like crazy. Whether it is the beach, sand dunes or the wind, it seems that it no longer bothers him. He skillfully manipulated the "boat" and finished the last leg in less than six hours. Thousands of Dakar residents cheered and congratulated him with surprise. He was filled with emotion and said to himself, this has just begun. He is determined to control his designed and manufactured sand boat and cross all the deserts in the world!