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I feel their pain...
August 26, 2007 - Day 48 17.8710N,133.0679W
The last few days have been disappointing for our small ocean rowing community. I first received the news of the Coast Guard helicopter evacuation of Roz Savage somewhere west of Point Arena, at a location about 60nm NW of where I had been mid-July. Roz had started her row from Crescent City, aiming for Hawaii as her first stop. Somehow the rode for her sea-anchor was severed, which left her boat at the mercy of the high seas she had encountered. Her boat remains at sea since the evacuation.
Then came the news of Ralph Tuijn wrecking his boat on an atoll north of Samoa. Ralph had started his Pacific row from Lima in Peru, had already rowed about 5,600nm since his start, and had another 2,200nm left to go. Due to strong currents Ralph encountered, he was pushed on to shore at the Atafu atoll among the Tokelau islands. The last information I had was that his boat was damaged, and he was going to assess the damage to see if repairs were possible to resume his row.
This season on the Pacific Ocean was special for our small community. There was excitement that for the first time in history, more than one rower would be on the Pacific which is rarely crossed by rowing -- and there were three of us out here for a brief while.
These recent events emphasize the risks which exist at sea. The seas have been kind to me. I am humbled by the good fortune I have been granted so far.
I sincerely hope that Roz can recover her boat for another try this season. She has the resolve to face the ocean again, and this is not over for her. Given the remote location of Ralph's boat, I just hope that the damages are not extensive and can be repaired on the island so he can resume his row. There is a settlement on that atoll, called Atafu village, which could possibly lend some assistance.
In the meantime, I am at a vulnerable location myself, on the path of tropical storms which occur this time of the year. The storms in August and September originate in the warm waters along the southern shores of Mexico. Those which gain sufficient strength to cross the colder currents, venture due west following a path right across where I am now, continuing toward Hawaii. Such storms can turn into hurricanes, so I need to drop further south soonest.
Today I am receiving mild headwinds from the south, so I took the occasion to deploy my sea-anchor, checking every link and line on the system. Then with the reduced clutter, I rinsed the areas where the rode, the anchor and the tripline had been resting. It is amazing how much hair, food crums, exfoliating skin, and bits of marinating flying fish fry can hide among the clutter on deck! The sea-anchor does not stop my boat, as it is simply a large drogue in the water, a parachute of 3m in diameter. It simply turns the bow of my boat to the waves, if the seas are high. Today it is just creating some drag in the water, reducing my NE drift by a 0.5 knot down from otherwise 1.0-1.2 knots.
It is a sunny bright day. I will tend to boat maintenance, finish uploading charts to my spare handheld GPS chartplotter, and while I have my laptop out, I will provide additional data to our educational partners National Museum of Education and WhaleNet.
Erden.
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September tracks for tropical storms. (from a pilot chart by NGIA)
