"Briton Philip Beale aims to rewrite a bit of African history by sailing around the continent in a boat built with the same materials that he believes the Phoenicians used 2,500 years ago to make the same trip."

Source (http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-phoenicians24-2008may24,0,4235859.story)

The 17,000-mile historical voyage will begin from Syria on August 1 with 20 paying crew aboard.

Good luck at "the Cape" ole boy!

http://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/ai111_folder/111_photos/111_367_thor_tigris_ba.jpg


The Tigris, a 60-foot reed boat based on designs used by Early Man, proved early civilizations were capable of long migrations by sea and ocean. (Photo by Kon-Tiki Museum)


Twenty-five years ago, on April 3, 1978, Thor Heyerdahl (1914*2002) was just completing a 4,200-mile voyage on a 60-foot reed ship known as the Tigris. His journey had started at the place many consider to be the birth of civilization - the verdant valley between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in Iraq. Setting sail from the banks of the Tigris, Thor and his crew navigated down the Persian Gulf to Oman and eastward to the Indus Delta of Pakistan. Then they reversed direction and headed southwest back across the Indian Ocean in the direction of the Horn of Africa. It was the last of Thor's four trans-oceanic voyages, the first being the well-known 1949 Kon-Tiki voyage made on a balsawood raft from the coast of Peru to the Polynesian Islands.



http://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/ai111_folder/111_articles/111_heyerdahl_tigris.html

Looks like it would sink in a jiffy.

...The 17,000-mile historical voyage will begin from Syria on August 1 with 20 paying crew aboard.

I would pay to be part of the crew, for sure. I mean, depending on the food. :)

No, seriously, I would. Too bad my only experience on the high seas is drinking beer and fishing for sharks with 10 other weekend warrior types.