Colbert, sailing to Bermuda and problem toilets ......
American comedian Stephen Colbert has talked about his upcoming sailing race to Bermuda in the latest edition of ‘Outside Magazine' - and why he wants to do it a second time.Mr Colbert, who hosts the popular satirical news show ‘The Colbert Report' on Comedy Central, will be participating in the biennial Charleston Bermuda Race this May.It will be the second time the comedian has raced to Bermuda. The last time was in 2005 when he joined a group of friends for the race, which is hosted by the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club."Though I grew up in a sailing community — Charleston, South Carolina — I am not a sailor. I wasn't allowed to sail because I'm not waterproof. I have no eardrum in my right ear. As a child, I imagined that if the boat capsized, my skull would fill with water and down I'd go, bow first," he told the magazine.In the magazine, which hits newsstands on April 12, he also talks about his first race to Bermuda and a problematic toilet."Boat toilets...are floating Porta-Potties. Ours through an understandable oversight had not been emptied since the Carter administration. We tried opening a relief valve (provocatively called an "ocean cock") - no go. It had to be pumped by hand. As a father of three, I was used to dealing with other people's waste, so I volunteered, as did two other crew members... I now knew that I would not drown. I would die from amoebic dysentery."When asked why he wanted to do it again, he said: “What endures is what I can't rightly describe: Looking up at night to see the masts unmoving in your eyes but the stars dancing in synchronised figure eights...Flying fish slapping against the sail...Two ounces of gritty cowboy coffee. Eight friends together in a 45ft world and alone at the centre of a referenceless horizon. I can't explain what that all feels like. I just know I want to feel it again.”Since first announcing on his Emmy Award-winning show in February that he would participate in the race, Mr Colbert has mentioned Bermuda and the race several times. He has even challenged billionaire Richard Branson to join the race, though Mr Branson has not responded. His show, on at 12.30am local time, is seen by hundreds of thousands of people across the world.