Prior to this thread, I had no knowledge of Mr. Kirk, and very little about Sam R. and the rallies with which he is associated, so my comments emanate from what I read here.
If Sam wants to organize a rally, and charge an entry fee, that is his business, accept the terms, and pay, or choose not to be involved. Don't complain about the terms you chose not to accept, you chose not to accept them!
Mr. Kirk's apparent reputation as an aviation rebel does little to enhance aviation professionalism. Things I read like
Maurice left the UK with a Garmin GPS ( Which he dropped down a drain in Cannes ) he had Maps which he lost somewhere else ( excluding the few he used for Fag Papers ) He had some kind of IPAD with an Aeronautical Nav program on it, so he wasn't ill equipped on departure from the UK.... It does seem to have gone rapidly downhill from Crete onwards.
Pilots are required by regulation to carry adequate navigational material for each flight. Don't have the material (for any reason) don't fly until you get it. "Lost somewhere else" is about like "the dog ate my homework" = lame.
Maurice wanted to be part of the Vintage Air Rally because he abhors paperwork & if the Crete to Cape Town Organisers were responsible for doing all the paperwork it suited him to do so.
Okay, so he does not like paperwork, many of us do not. Then agree to the terms of a person/company offering the service for sale, or choose not to, and stop whining. You don't get something for nothing!
I suspect G-KURK under normal circumstances is beyond economical repair, however the tenacity of Maurice would be to get it back in the air by hook or by crook.
I suspect the Cub is BER too. If Mr. Kirk has an emotional attachment to it, and wants to recover it, fine, pay the price - he flew it to that place, he can't be surprised that the plane is there now! But it's
his to arrange, when conventional (very experienced) wisdom agree it should just be abandoned there. If people want to assist nice of them, but people who view this as a fool's errand aren't wrong either!
Mr. Kirk has only a small amount of sympathy from me, as it does not sound like he takes personal responsibility for doing things properly. In don't care how good your hands and feet are, that is not an excuse for sidestepping proper piloting habits!