We recently released a completely new version of this website.  We hope you like it. If you have any comments, whether good or bad, please use this page to let us know your thoughts. Below is a running log of the updates that we’ve made.

New Website Update Log

• August 3, 2009, 10:30am Hawaii: Fixed the Blog page so now if you click the ‘Comments’ link it will take you to the Comments for that blog.
• 1pm Hawaii time (8/1): The site seems to be doing well, Roz’s blog came in last night, and comments are coming in now too. We apologize about the photos. We’ll get this fixed soon and might just manually need to enter photos until we can get it worked out. Does anyone know a good WordPress plugin for supporting emailing blogs and photos? I’ve tried Postie, but it seems to be having issues.
• 10:30pm Hawaii time (7/31): The website should be fully functional right now, although there may still be a few broken links that we will fix soon. Roz’s blog for the evening should be here any minute. We’ll make sure it goes through properly… and then go to sleep!
• ~6pm Hawaii time (7/31): The website is mostly up and functioning, with some pages and content still to be updated soon. We are aware that comments from two blogs were not entirely moved (Day 67 and Day 68). These will be moved over soon.
• ~12pm Hawaii time:  We are currently updating Roz’s site, so you may experience some issues for the next several hours.

You can have a project done:
a) cheaply
b) quickly
c) well
Pick two.

So the corporate saying goes, and generally it’s true. Do something
quickly and cheaply and the quality suffers. Do it well and to a tight
deadline, and it will cost you. Do it at low cost and high quality, and
it will probably have to be fitted in around more lucrative projects and
will take a long time.

And today I realized that something similar applies to ocean rowing. You
can do a voyage:
a) quickly (relatively speaking, ocean rowboats not being renowned
speed machines)
b) easily (again, relatively – it’s never easy, but we’re talking
10 hour days vs 18 hour days)
c) accurately (i.e. to a very specific destination)
But you only get to pick one, not two.

The inevitable conclusion from this realization was that I was going to
have to take a more flexible approach.

The trouble with going quickly, i.e. downwind, is that downwind may not
take you anywhere you want to go. If I go downwind from here I’d end up
in the Marshall Islands, which would make Stage 3 very tough.

And I don’t want to put in 18-hour days at the oars. This would be
brutal, and would leave me no time for blogging, videoing, etc – and I
regard sharing my adventure online as a high priority.

So I would have to consider compromising on destination. I realized I
had become fixated on Tuvalu, stressing if conditions were pushing me
west making a Tuvalu landfall more difficult. I was spending time on the
sea anchor going north, obsessed with keeping as much east as possible.

But by mid-afternoon today I was bored with being on the sea anchor, and
fed up with seeing my hard-won miles south ebbing away. Something had to
give. So, with wind and currents conspiring to push me away from Tuvalu,
the time had come to reconsider Tarawa as an option. I pulled in the sea
anchor and started rowing, a southwesterly course the best I could
manage in the conditions. I certainly haven’t given up on Tuvalu as a
destination – it may still be possible – but by considering Tarawa I was
able to break the stalemate that I’d got myself into.

As I rowed, the wind lessened and I was able to make a better course. So
I haven’t regained much – I’ve ended today at about the same latitude as
I was this morning – but at least I’ve stopped feeling that I was
banging my head against a meteorological brick wall – and it feels good!

[photo: Double rainbow from yesterday morning. I will probably post some
another picture of a whale tomorrow, which I hope might identify it as
Minke vs Sei vs Pilot vs False Killer Whale – thanks for all the
comments about yesterday's visitors!]

Other Stuff:

*What’s in a name?*

My seven little birds are the subject of conflicting opinions – storm
petrels, or brown noddies?

Storm Petrel sound really cool. Like an avian superhero, maybe like one
of the X-Men. X-Bird Storm Petrel.

Whereas Brown Noddy sounds terminally unglamorous. Reminds me of Noddy
and Big Ears – a little children’s character with a round face and
pointy hat. And not even an interesting color. Just… brown.

Given the choice I know which I would rather be. But it could be worse.
Even being a brown noddy is surely better than being a booby.

*Update on the Website*

Following our problems with the new version of Internet Explorer (which
has affected quite a number of websites, not just mine) our Geek
Superhero Evan at Archinoetics has been slaving away to create a new
version of my website on the WordPress platform. It will go live soon –
hopefully within the next week. I am amazed at how quickly he has been
able to turn this around, despite a heavy workload. I will let you know
when the transition to the new site has been completed. Thank you,
faithful Rozionados, for your patience!

Eco Champ of the Day! At long last, UncaDoug, after many eco-comments,
has acquired real life champ status!
“Until several months ago, ]soup in my work cafeteria] was served in
styrofoam bowls, until … the good news … they switched to
biodegradable bowls. Normally (in my town of Hayward) to recycle dirty
food containers (plastic or fiber), you just have to wash the food away.
I learned that this building or this town where I work (Sacramento) does
not recycle plastic or fiber food containers, period.

So I now take my own washable porcelain coffee cup and save a quarter,
too! Next tasks: talk to the food service management to post the option
and savings, and talk to the City about recycling policy.”

Ellen/chep2m – lovely to hear from you. I’ve missed you!

Naomi in NY – wow, sounds like you’ve got some serious momentum going
there – keep it up!

Weather report:

Position at 2245 HST: 03 36.278N, 175 25.053W
Wind: 20 knots this morning, decreasing to 8 knots now, ESE
Seas: 6 feet decreasing to 3 feet, ESE
Weather: sunshine and some clouds. No squalls or rainshowers. I think I
am out of the ITCZ now.

Weather forecast, courtesy of weatherguy.com:

Feedblitz blog email reported your position as: 03 36N 175 08W as of
29Jul 2200HST (6hrs ago). Eastward motion is the preferred direction
while in the equatorial counter current.

As of Thursday morning 30 July 2009. According to measured data, there
is ESE-SE winds 7-17kts in your area with moderate to light rainshowers.
South of the equator, more of the same. Uncertainty remains, as
previously discussed. Forecast is for wind direction to shift more
ENEerly 5-15kts today then, SE 5-15kts on 01 Aug becoming light and
variable and possibly SW 5-15kts.

According to satellite imagery, there is light to moderate convection
with heavy rainshowers and squalls overhead and south to the equator.

Sky conditions: Mostly cloudy. Scattered heavy rainshowers, squalls,
and possible thunderstorms.

Forecast (low confidence due to extreme variability in equatorial
regions and naturally occurring small scale fluctuations in
direction/speed in the Doldrums)
Date/Time HST Wind kts Seas (ft) est
30/0600-01/0000 E-ENE 5-15 2-5
01/0000-02/0000 ENE-SE 5-15 4-6
02/0000-02/1200 Variable direction 1-5
0-10kts
02/1200-03/1200 SW 5-15 2-5

Next Update: Monday, 03 August

Roz has now rowed over 2,000 miles since leaving Honolulu in May. Wow! Go Roz!!!

I should have lassoed the whales.

About noontime I heard a "whoomph" and looked towards the sound to see a
whale spouting a misty fountain out of its blowhole, about 10 yards away
from my boat. Then there was another, and another. I'm not sure how many
there were in all – they were circling around me and doubling back,
swimming all around and underneath the Brocade, so it was difficult to
do a headcount – but there must have been at least a dozen, surfacing
and spouting and stopping by to check me out.

It was the first time I'd seen whales on this stage of my voyage, so I
was very excited. It was the second good thing that had happened today.
This morning I had emerged from the cabin after an early morning squall
in time to witness a beautiful golden sunrise, and a double rainbow cast
against the western sky.

So if I believed in omens, than I looked all set for a good day. But it
was not to be. As the afternoon went on the wind strengthened from the
southeast. This meant the best course I could make was southwest, but as
the force of the wind increased I was able to make less and less south,
until my course over ground was due west. This is not the way I want to
go.

So I had the choice between going where I didn't want to go quickly –
rowing west – or going where I didn't want to go slowly – putting out
the sea anchor and going north. It's obviously better to go slowly if
you can't go the right way, so out went the sea anchor.

It's a shame – today has brought some of the sunniest, nicest weather
I've seen in a while and it would have been lovely to row along watching
the sun set over the ocean. But the wind wasn't going where I wanted to
go. The whales, on the other hand, were. If only I'd thought to lasso a
couple of them as they passed under my boat…

[photo: a passing whale - and I wasn't using the camera zoom - he really
WAS this close to my boat!]

Other Stuff:

I worked hard today to get down to 3 degrees 30 N, and succeeded. But
now, alas, am looping north again – already nearly back up to 3 degrees
31 N. That's just the way the cookie crumbles…

Calling all poetically inspired Rozlings – Nicole has discovered a grant
scheme that will give $10K to a nonprofit cause. She posted details as a
comment on yesterday's blog, but for those of you who receive this blog
via Feedblitz and so may not see the comments, here is her message – and
there are more details about the scheme ALL the way down at the bottom
of this blog.

"To enter, we have to submit a poem (4-8 lines) as part of the
quick and easy application. The poem should express the heart and soul
of the service mission.

You Rozlings have shown such wonderful creativity and have embraced
her cause with such enthusiastic support, that I'd like to ask for
your help. Will you please send your poems to [email protected] and
help us win $10,000 for Roz to continue to spread her message? We'd be
so grateful!

To get your creative juices flowing, consider Roz's message of "If we
all PULL TOGETHER, we can save the world."

Please submit your entries by August 10th, that will give me enough
time to incorporate the poem into the rest of the grant entry.

Many thanks,
Nicole"

Today's Eco Champ is Meg: "Whenever I go out to eat I always try to
bring my own water bottle if I know the drink will come in a disposable
cup. I have an abundance of these things due to my former career as a
high school 1600 meter runner and the drug companies who always try to
get my mother to put in a good word for procrit or zoloft or quackadril
(I made that last one up, but you get the picture). I just fill one up
and then have that as opposed to spending $3 on a soda. It saves me
money on dental work as well. One less piece of trash in the world."

Well done also to the Anonymous commenter (the guilty-feeling
SUV-driver?!) on switching over to organic and cutting down on
takeaways. I'm always horrified by how much Styrofoam and plastic is
involved in takeout, so that's a big win. I'd have made you an Eco Champ
if I knew your name!

Joan – well done the sushi bar server on the extra-large portions as a
reward for your plastic frugality. They say virtue is its own reward,
but extra seaweed salad is good too! That's my favorite as well – I've
got the seaweed here, but no sesame oil. Too bad!

Astrid – thanks for the messages from you and George. Lovely to hear
from you. I wish I could tell you what species the little birds are, but
I don't have a reference book here, and alas the Young Ornithologists
Club of Great Britain did not equip me with the necessary knowledge….
But Walt, one of my Rozlings, tells me: "The bird looks like a storm
petrel. They are strictly pelagic coming to land only to breed. The
smallest of seabirds, they feed on planktonic crustaceans picked from
the surface while hovering." This certainly seems consistent with what
I've seen of their behavior – thank you Walt!

Hi Anthony – give my love to Marylebone! I was listening to a Sexton
Blake story the other day (hilariously spoofish, although I don't think
it's supposed to be!) and was thinking of Baker Street… happy memories!

Weather report:

Position at 2115 HST: 03 30.951N, 175 18.151W
Wind: 10kts this morning, strengthening to 20kts by evening, and veering
from E to SE
Seas: 4-6 feet E-SE
Weather: overcast morning, sunny afternoon with clouds and occasional
rainshowers

Weather forecast, courtesy of weatherguy.com:

Using last night's Feedblitz blog email (26 Jul), reported position was:
04 09N 175 04W as of 26Jul 2145HST. Making good progress eastward. This
is the preferred direction while in the equatorial counter current.

As of Monday 27 July 2009. According to measured data, there is ESE
blowing squalls with winds 20-40kts have been in your area. South to the
equator and east of your position to 171W, squalls continue. Otherwise,
winds have been mostly ESE 5-17kts. Uncertainty remains, as previously
discussed. Forecast is for wind direction to shift more ENEerly 13-18kts
then, NE 5-10kts on the 28 Jul becoming light and variable.

According to satellite imagery, there is over cast skies and deep
convection overhead and south to the equator. Embedded thunderstorms
possible. You can expect more heavy rainshowers.

Suggest rowing towards the east

Sky conditions: Partly to mostly cloudy. Scattered heavy rainshowers,
squalls, and possible thunderstorms.

Forecast (low confidence due to extreme variability in equatorial
regions and naturally occurring small scale fluctuations in
direction/speed in the Doldrums)
Date/Time HST Wind kts Seas (ft) est
27/1200-28/0000 ENE 13-18 3-8
28/0000-28/1200 NE 5-10 4-6
28/1200-01/1800 Variable direction 1-8
0-10kts

Next Update: Thursday, 30 July

The 2009 CTK Foundation Heart and Soul Grant Award Program

The Heart and Soul (H&S) Grant Award is a national grant competition
that provides the opportunity for one selected, eligible nonprofit
organization to win a $10,000 cash award and a professionally written
and produced song by the internationally acclaimed, Grammy Award-
winning group, Los Lonely Boys – all through The CTK Foundation
Philanthropic Fund. The intent is that both the song and the
accompanying $10,000 grant will help the selected nonprofit to better
publicize their important mission in their community.

The CTK Foundation is also pleased to announce that we have partnered
with Massachusetts-based musical instrument maker First Act, who will
be donating 3 full-sized steel string acoustic guitars (and signed by
Los Lonely Boys) for the Heart and Soul Grant Award runner-up winners.

The H&S Grant aims to:

Provide a grant to a selected nonprofit in the US, providing it with
assets with which to increase their reach and visibility
Underscore the importance of the "heart" of nonprofit missions,
especially in difficult economic times
How the H&S Grant Competition Works:

In every community across the US, nonprofits submit a poem, (4 -8
lines), as part of a quick and easy grant application. The poem should
express the heart of their service mission.
Nonprofits submit the grant application, with poem, to the CTK
Foundation, via the CTK website.
If selected, the poem will become the basis of a song, written and
produced by Los Lonely Boys and presented, along with a video of the
performance of the song, for non-commercial, community education and
awareness.
The selected nonprofit will also receive a non-restricted $10,000 cash
grant from the CTK Foundation; this grant may be used for any purpose
that fosters greater understanding of the nonprofit's mission in their
community.
The writing and submission of a four to eight line poem is a fun and
inspirational process for the nonprofits; in fact, based upon CTK's
experience with a similar, Texas-based grant event in 2007 and 2008,
nonprofits use the writing process as an opportunity to engage
clients, staff and volunteers in a meaningful activity (writing the
poem) that reminds everyone in each service organization about the
"heart" of their mission.

By recent standards today was a mega-result. 20 nautical miles closer to
the Equator, and 17 nautical miles closer to Tuvalu. It was a brutal old
day at the oars though, with constant high winds chopping the sea up
into steep peaks and troughs coming at me broadside from the esast. But
for the gain of 20 miles I'm willing to put up with some uncomfortable
rowing and frequent dousings.

Not wanting to seem ungrateful, but the one downside was that I also got
pushed a few miles west, and I'm trying to hang on to all the east that
I can. In the zig-zag-zig of my intended course, I want the zag
(eastwards) to be on the generous side. It doesn't matter if I get down
to the latitude of Tuvalu too early – the winds will help me the rest of
the way – but if I get down there too late…. Then it's hello Philippines
– and another few months at sea before I have the chance to make
landfall. This would most definitely NOT be okay.

This reminds me of a few lines from one of my favorite poems, Rudyard
Kipling's If.

If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
….
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run –
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And – which is more – you'll be a Man, my son.

I'm not likely to ever be a man – nor, with all due respect, would I
ever want to be – but to take the words in the spirit in which they are
intended, I hope I can treat the twin imposters of big mileage and
little mileage, and take them just the same. In either case, my effort
has been the same – it is just a matter of what the ocean has allowed me
to achieve. There is no "conquering" of oceans here – it is by the grace
of the ocean that I will succeed – eventually.

[photo: The little birds were on board again today at dawn. Here is one
perched on the aft hatch of my sleeping cabin. They're not as messy, nor
as noisy, as the smelly poopy booby birds...]

Other Stuff:

I've realized that the tsunami I ordered (to spice up my voyage) was due
to arrive on July 23. But it hasn't turned up. If there was a tsunami
after the New Zealand earthquake it didn't reach me. Darned deliveries –
never on time! I could call them up and see where it's got to, but of
course I've lost the tracking number and they'd probably just tell me
it's in the mail… so that's blown my chances of getting rescued by the
Johnny Depp lookalike. Sigh!

Rozta' Bill was asking about my hashtag on Twitter. I can't follow Twitter
from out here, but Nicole tells me that #rozsavage is the best way to find
fellow Roztafarians. Thanks for asking!

Eco Champ of the Day #1! Laurey in Asheville, NC (which I very much hope
to visit sooner rather than later!)
"I have a catering company and a restaurant, as I think I've
mentioned. We carry bottled water with our name on the bottle. Yes,
plastic. Yes, the disposable kind. WE recycle the bottles but probably
not everyone does. So I am going to use up the rest of the bottles we
have (the company makes them by the pallet load for us) and then I will
not order any more.

We also carry nalgene water bottles with our motto "Don't Postpone
Joy(r) on them but they are the good, hard, reuseable kind, not the
disposable kind. We will continue to encourage folks to use them and
will, once this order is finished, no longer sell the disposable ones."
This is great – just the kind of mindful attitude that I love to hear
about. Whatever your occupation or role in life, I'm sure you can find
creative ways to do your bit.

Eco Champ #2 – Stormcloud wrote to comment how disappointing it is in
books when a character throws away something plastic, or uses a
Styrofoam cup. So authors of fiction can actually help change our
values. The planet thanks you!

Eco Champ #3 – Kathy Miritello!
"Thank you for raising consciousness about ecological issues –
I'd never heard of the floating island of plastic out in the ocean and
was appalled to learn how vast it is! Since then, I bring my own
reusable shopping bags whenever I go grocery shopping, have a growing
stash of Starbucks travel mugs that I take with me instead of getting my
favorite beverage (chai tea latte) in their paper cups, and recently
bought a stainless steel reusable water bottle to fill instead of a
plastic bottle. Oh, and newspapers — they make the best weed barriers
for mulched planting beds!"
I love chai tea latte too – and I've got my travel mug on board just in
case there's a good coffee shop in Tuvalu!

Richard in Austin – I loved the sea shanties! I just have to share them
here, for anyone who didn't see them in the comments:

I'm not good at patience,
I'm not good at rhymes,
I need western movement
On these longitudinal lines.
And if the gods will protect me,
And take me still far,
I'll keep on a-munching my Larabar.

I know that my poem
Seems pretty dumb,
It sounds a lot better
After quite a few shots of rum.
And there's an island awaiting
It's the next logical step,
Because waiting on the beach
Is that hunk Johnny Depp.

Vern – thanks for pointing out the metaphorical angle – how very true!

Jess Rees – congrats on taking on the obituary exercise, although it
sounds as if you don't need to! Paulo Coelho's book must have touched so
many lives. What power. Maktub.

Special hellos to UrbanCowgirl and Carla Salikin & Larry Wallace in the
Northwest Territories of Canada – thank you for your comments, your
support, and for spreading the word!

Rowing adventure tour??! I like the idea of me being the drum beater and
having other people row me around for a change! We could borrow the
Greek Trireme that I rowed on when I was 19 in Greece – room for 174
rowers. Hmmm, 174 x $5K….!

Quick answers to quick questions:

Q: Roz: have you ever read Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons?
A: I'm ashamed to admit that I haven't. Will take note and try to get
the audiobook for Stage 3!

Q: Do you have disaster insurance?
A: Nope. Nobody will cover me!

Q: When you arrive at shore after a crossing, How long does it take to
get your land legs? Do you weave as you walk?
A: Usually about a week – and yes, there is a bit of weaving involved,
and it's not all due to the beer!

Weather report:

Position at 2200 HST: 03 36.621N, 175 07.778W
Wind: 20+ knots E
Seas: 4-8 feet E, steep and choppy
Weather: cloud and sun this morning, mostly overcast this afternoon and
evening

Weather forecast, courtesy of weatherguy.com:

Using last night's Feedblitz blog email (26 Jul), reported position was:
04 09N 175 04W as of 26Jul 2145HST. Making good progress eastward. This
is the preferred direction while in the equatorial counter current.

As of Monday 27 July 2009. According to measured data, there is ESE
blowing squalls with winds 20-40kts have been in your area. South to the
equator and east of your position to 171W, squalls continue. Otherwise,
winds have been mostly ESE 5-17kts. Uncertainty remains, as previously
discussed. Forecast is for wind direction to shift more ENEerly 13-18kts
then, NE 5-10kts on the 28 Jul becoming light and variable.

According to satellite imagery, there is over cast skies and deep
convection overhead and south to the equator. Embedded thunderstorms
possible. You can expect more heavy rainshowers.

Suggest rowing towards the east

Sky conditions: Partly to mostly cloudy. Scattered heavy rainshowers,
squalls, and possible thunderstorms.

Forecast (low confidence due to extreme variability in equatorial
regions and naturally occurring small scale fluctuations in
direction/speed in the Doldrums)
Date/Time HST Wind kts Seas (ft) est
27/1200-28/0000 ENE 13-18 3-8
28/0000-28/1200 NE 5-10 4-6
28/1200-01/1800 Variable direction 1-8
0-10kts

Next Update: Thursday, 30 July

This morning there were seven little birds on my boat when I woke up. In
fact, it was they that woke me up – a couple of them were tap-dancing on
the roof of my sleeping cabin and the unfamiliar noise brought me out of
zzz-land. I came out on deck to find there were two more on the roof of
the fore cabin, a matching pair on each end of the furled bimini, and
one perched on an oar.

Seven seemed like an auspicious number – and maybe they did bring me
good luck, because today many squalls passed by but none of them
actually hit me until this evening. By that time I had finally, finally,
after a lengthy ding-dong battle against the elements, made it across
the line of latitude at 4 degrees north. Until I reached the ITCZ I was
crossing each degree of latitude in about 3.5 days on average. To get
from 5 degrees to 4 degrees north took me over twice as long – 8 days.
So there were big hurrahs on board the Brocade, I can tell you!

I'm having to be very disciplined about not extrapolating or predicting
based on present rates of progress. I keep nearly falling into the trap
of thinking that if I've done x miles in my first shift, then by the end
of today I'll have done y miles and crossed z line of latitude. And it
just doesn't work that way. No sooner will I have finished my mental
arithmetic than conditions will change and I'll find myself going
backwards. So it's much, much better just to take it as it comes, and
regard any progress as a welcome bonus – and backwards progress as,
well, just one of those things. Swear about it and then accept it.

This reminds me – I once attended a course with a company called Mission
Performance, who use Global Challenge sailing skippers to help corporate
clients develop team skills. They introduced me to a useful concept. If
two members of their crew have a row, they tell them not to bear a
grudge but to "leave it on the wave behind".

So that's what I try to do. Rather than saying to myself, "if only I'd
managed to carry on at that rate then by now I'd be over there", it's
better to just forget it. Leave it on the wave behind. Things are
exactly as they are meant to be.

But it's easier said than done. I'm trying not to think about what lies
ahead – just take it one hour at a time, I keep reminding myself – but I
can't help hoping that the next few degrees are not going to be more
challenging still.

[photo: trying again to upload the photo that refused to be squeezed
through my slower-than-an-ocean-rower Iridium connection last night…]

Other Stuff:

Eco Champ of the Day! Well done Amy, on your consumer choices.
"You are a regular part of my day as I follow your progress and make
small, simple choices like not buying bottled water (I carry an alumnium
water bottle) and brining reusable bags to the grocery store."
It all helps!

Norman – I was very touched to receive your message. Thank you – and
wishing you all the best in your battle against cancer.

Aaron – you wish you could give me day off while you row instead? You
and me both!!

And thank you to all the other Rowsters for your comments, support and
feedback! Ooh, and your orders for my book – THANK YOU! (And thanks
again to Richard Cort of Austin, TX – Mum reminded me it was you who
first came up with the great idea of the Larabar bookmarks that is
catching on like wildfire – nice one!)

Quick answers to quick questions:

Q: Roz, do you have a plan if a typhoon should come your way? Do you
think your boat would hold together in winds of 150 mph and falling off
waves of thirty feet?
A: To be honest, yes, I do think that my boat would hold together in
those conditions. We've handled waves of 20 feet without problems since
we modified the boat in 2007-8, adding 200lb of lead to the keel and
increasing its depth by 5 inches. So if a typhoon hit, I'd retreat to
the cabin, put on my crash helmet, use the seatbelts in there to strap
myself to my bunk, and hope that it passes quickly!

Q: How do you stay "on course"…do you focus on a compass as you row?
A: Yes, I do use a compass mounted between my feet for navigating while
I'm rowing – although usually the wind (when not changing direction
every 5 minutes) keeps me on track. And I check the GPS at the end of
every rowing shift, but more to see how much progress I've made (if any)
rather than direction. The compass is battery-powered and has an inbuilt
red light so I can see it at night without losing my night vision.

Q: I am always intrigued at how supposedly humans need human
contact…and yet you seem to thrive without it..do you ever crave human
contact, a hug….
A: Not while I'm at sea – no. It's one of those things, like wine, that
I really appreciate and enjoy when available, but if not available I
don't even think about. But a massage, now that is another matter
altogether!

Weather report:

Position at 2100 HST: 03 55.627N, 175 04.024W
Wind: 5-20+ knots E
Seas: 4-8 feet E, short and choppy at times
Weather: Light overcast this morning, pleasant rowing conditions.
Squalls increasing as day went on. Sunshine very intense when it came
through.

Weather forecast, courtesy of weatherguy.com:

Using last night's Feedblitz blog email (26 Jul), reported position was:
04 09N 175 04W as of 26Jul 2145HST. Making good progress eastward. This
is the preferred direction while in the equatorial counter current.

As of Monday 27 July 2009. According to measured data, there is ESE
blowing squalls with winds 20-40kts have been in your area. South to the
equator and east of your position to 171W, squalls continue. Otherwise,
winds have been mostly ESE 5-17kts. Uncertainty remains, as previously
discussed. Forecast is for wind direction to shift more ENEerly 13-18kts
then, NE 5-10kts on the 28 Jul becoming light and variable.

According to satellite imagery, there is over cast skies and deep
convection overhead and south to the equator. Embedded thunderstorms
possible. You can expect more heavy rainshowers.

Suggest rowing towards the east

Sky conditions: Partly to mostly cloudy. Scattered heavy rainshowers,
squalls, and possible thunderstorms.

Forecast (low confidence due to extreme variability in equatorial
regions and naturally occurring small scale fluctuations in
direction/speed in the Doldrums)
Date/Time HST Wind kts Seas (ft) est
27/1200-28/0000 ENE 13-18 3-8
28/0000-28/1200 NE 5-10 4-6
28/1200-01/1800 Variable direction 1-8
0-10kts

Next Update: Thursday, 30 July

Anna asked: How has your mindset changed from your first adventure? I am
assuming that you grow each journey?

My mindset actually changed a lot DURING my first adventure – it had to.
When I look back to my attitude before the Atlantic crossing, I marvel
at how I could have been so well informed and yet so naïve. Many people
had been incredibly generous in giving me the benefit of their wisdom
and experience, and yet I chose to blank so much of it out. Oh, I won't
have that problem. Oh, it's going to be just fine.

And yet… maybe it was necessary for me to be that naive, because if I'd
known at the start just how hard I would find the voyage, I'm not sure I
would have ever started it.

It didn't take long for the reality to hit me like a hammer blow. I
really, really struggled to come to terms with the frustrations of
thwarted progress, the discomfort of being constantly wet and cold, the
pain of the tendonitis in my shoulders, and the uncomfortable feeling
that I was way out of my depth (literally) and had been a total idiot to
take on the challenge in the first place.

But I was too stubborn to quit, so I had to find a way to get through it
– and that was a very steep learning curve. I had many "a-ha" moments
while I was out on the ocean, but it was largely through the process of
giving presentations and writing the book during the couple of years
that followed that I really figured out what I had learned.

My book (Rowing The Atlantic) goes into a lot more detail about what I
learned – in fact, that is really the point of the book – but if I had
to pick the Top 3 things, they would be:

1. Accept what you can't change. On the ocean, this usually refers
to the weather. On dry land, it might be other people. You can fight
reality all you like, but you'll only drive yourself crazy.
2. The biggest task can be broken into little pieces. Just deal
with the next half hour if the next 3,000 miles is too much to get your
head around. Focus on the process.
3. Patience, perseverance, persistence. Discipline, determination,
dedication. With these things there isn't much you can't do.
Unfortunately none of them come easily to me – but that doesn't stop me
trying to acquire them.

I forget my own lessons as often as not (e.g. my frustration with the
smelly poopy booby birds!), and have to keep reminding myself what I
learned before. But gradually they're starting to become second nature.

Do I grow on every journey? I hope so – or else what is the point? On
the Atlantic I felt I'd learned a lot about how NOT to row an ocean, so
I wanted to put that to the test. That is what the Pacific Stage 1 was
about – and yes, I proved to myself that I really had learned the
lessons. So the first two rows were fairly inward-looking, working on
myself.

Pacific Stage 2? I'd like to think I'm maturing into a new, more
outward-looking phase. I'm figuring out that I can use my rowing as a
way to communicate with people and maybe have some influence in the
bigger scheme of things.

Lance Armstrong's book was called "It's Not About The Bike", and I feel
like my rowing is only about 10% about the rowing. It's much more about
me trying to be a better person, and trying to make the world a better
place. It might seem weird to try and do that from a tiny rowboat in the
middle of the ocean – but if you're reading this blog then I must be
doing something right!

[No photo today - I'm having real problems uploading the blog over the
satellite phone connection, so am going to try it minus photo attachment.
It was only a picture of me anyway...]

Other Stuff:

Today started out so well… and ended up in the navigational House of
Horror. I was awake at 5am, the ocean was nice and calm, so I was up
bright and early and rowing under the stars. And all went well for the
morning and early afternoon, and I even dared allow myself a glimmer of
optimism that I would cross over 4 degrees North. Indeed, I got within 3
miles of it. But then I got caught up in a succession of squalls that
swirled everything around. I felt like I was in one of those electric
food mixers with the three spinning whisks, caught up in all kinds of
confusing winds and currents. After going east, north, west, northwest,
southwest, and northeast, I got fed up and put out the sea anchor. And I
hope that by morning the weather might have made up its mind what it
wants to do. Or there's going to be cussing from the cabin…

A reminder – if you'd like to reserve your exclusive Larabar bookmark,
free when you pre-order my book Rowing The Atlantic, just send your
Amazon confirmation email, or any other pre-order confirmation, to
[email protected], and we'll add you to the list. Obviously we
can't start sending out the bookmarks until I get to dry land with the
empty Larabar wrappers – so thank you for your patience!

Ciao to all the Rozionados! (or should that be Hola? Anyway…) Thanks for
the comments – when the going gets tough, the comments keep me going.

Eco Champs of the Day: Stephanie and Wayne!
"Regarding our ocean cleanup at the same marina from which you set out,
we pulled up two carts worth of garbage, to include a huge plastic
covering for a mast and a boat fender. All in all, over 100 pounds of
garbage, much of which was plastic and fiberglass. Not bad for a grand
total of six people. We'll look to do it again on Ocean Awareness day,
coming up soon… Stay strong and happy!"
Great job – that must have been a great feeling to leave the marina
cleaner than you found it – and the ocean wildlife thanks you too! Many
places have regular beach cleanups – if other people would like to get
involved, in the US you can contact the Blue Frontier Campaign which
supports grassroots marine conservation efforts and can probably put you
in touch with a local organizer.

Janis – I wish you could indeed arrange an air drop of grapefruit and
summer squash – at this stage anything a bit different from the norm
would be most welcome! Oh my word, I'm salivating at the thought of a
grapefruit!

Arnoldus in the Netherlands – no, I don't worry about big waves. I'd
probably just ride up and over, and even if they knocked my boat over,
she'd come right side up again. Nice idea about the beer rendezvous!

Alex – the Green People sunblock IS awesome. It's available through the
store at rozsavage.com. Just click on the Green People icon – and I get
a commission on that too, so feel free to order lots! Just a word of
caution – not sure if they can deliver to the US, if that's where you're
located… do check first.

UncaDoug – very entertained by your comment and the IRCN [Inspi-Rozional
Collaborative Nexus] – and I LOVE the idea of mobilizing the Rozlings to
help out with some PR. I get emails from people saying "how come this is
the first we've heard about you?" – so it would be great if you could
help spread the word. It would be especially great if we could generate
some awareness in the UK and Europe in the run-up to my march from
London to Copenhagen in October-December this year for the climate
change conference. PR for me is PR for my cause! So yes please, DO write
to your local paper – or better still, organize a Rozalicious bake sale
(maybe to celebrate my Equator crossing if it ever happens) to give the
story some local interest and write to the paper about THAT!

Thanks also for the perspective on my progress. I think I need to stop
zooming in so close on my GPS – a rather depressing view right now – and
zoom out to the bigger picture, which looks MUCH better! And just today
I was wondering why you do the Crescent Moon Watch – and now I know!

Cindy Maxwell – what a brilliant idea! I am so touched that you do
that!! That is a wonderful way to spread the word. In case anybody else
feels inclined to do the same, Cindy has this message as the footer on
her emails:
"I'm following Roz Savage, as she rows solo across the Pacific Ocean.
http://www.rozsavage.com/"

Michele – thank you – made me laugh! Glad you're enjoying the blog –
welcome!

Quick answers to quick questions:

Q: How did you first make contact with Leo?
A: We were introduced by a mutual friend, Bill Chayes, who has been
working with me on plans for a documentary about my Pacific row. Bill
invited both Leo and me to dinner at his lovely house in Petaluma, Leo
loved what I'm doing, and the rest is history!

Q: Do you have an emergency sail in case your oars break and the oars
are irreparable?
A: No, I don't. I have 4 oars, very strong ones made out of ash with a
carbon fiber wrap, so I'd be really unlucky to break all of them. I
could probably make a sail out of my bimini (sun canopy) but I don't
really rate my chances of managing to steer without a proper mast and
boom. So, erm, best strategy is not to break the oars!

Weather report:

Position at 2150 HST: 04 03.865N, 175 01.018W
Wind: SE-E, 3-20 knots
Seas: SE-E, 4-8 feet
Weather: mostly sun and clouds, with passing squalls making a right old
mess of things

Weather forecast courtesy of weatherguy.com:

Using last night's Feedblitz blog email (22 Jul), reported position was:
04 32N 175 19W as of 22Jul 1930HST. Your are still in the ECC which is
good because you might want to be at this latitude for as long as you
can.

As of Thursday, 23 July 2009. Wind predictions still uncertain while
in the area of the Equatorial region. According measured data, there is
SE winds 15-17kts over your area. To the SE (between 01N to 04N and
168W-170W) of your position, there was a patch of measured winds of
40-50kts in rainshowers.

It would appear you are almost through the southern boundary of the
ITCZ. According to satellite imagery, there is minimal convection south
of 05N. There is one exception.the patch of high winds to the SE. This
is associated with downdraft winds in convective cloud activity.

Movement eastward should be viewed as positive because south of the
Equator the prevailing E to SE winds will carry you westward with no
problem. If you are too far to the west already, potential landing spots
in the southern hemisphere might be missed. So just hang on for the ride
and take the Eerly current as long as it lasts.

Sky conditions: Partly to mostly cloudy. Isolated rainshowers, squalls,
and possible thunderstorms.

Forecast (low confidence due to extreme variability in Roz's position
and the fluctuations in wind direction/speed in the Doldrums)
Date/Time HST Wind kts Seas (ft) est
23/1800-25/1800 SE 12-17 3-7
25/1800-28/1800 ESE 10-15 4-6

Next Update: Monday, 27 July

Q: (from stormcloud) So, I have a question about the motive behind
saving the planet, or however it's called. I've been told that humans
are a scourge on the planet, we're so evil and uncaring, and stuff like
that–but, aren't we part of nature, too? Isn't everything we do a part
of Mother Nature's plan, plastic and all? Don't get me wrong, I do
believe we should do everything to take care of the planet . . . but are
we really taking care of it? Or are we just making it better for
ourselves? I'm sure life would learn to exist on a planet with a sick
atmosphere, and some plants might die from cleaner air. Who knows. These
thoughts and stuff have been kind of confusing me for a long while, but
I've never been able to ask anyone about it. So, what's your take on
this? I don't know if it's a too complicated question or not, because I
honestly don't know that much about enviromental, er, stuff (good thing
I've found your blog, no?) so, answer at your own leisure!

A: This is a great question. I don't claim to be an expert in
environmental matters, but I think that the issue has often been clouded
by too much information. It's basically a very simple issue (although
not necessarily with simple solutions) that requires nothing more than a
bit of objectivity and common sense. Some of what I'm about to say might
be a bit controversial, but here is my humble opinion….

The eco-green-sustainability movement is usually assumed to be talking
about saving the planet, but the planet doesn't need saving. We humans
have made a right royal mess of it in the short time we've been here,
but the Earth has been through worse and survived. Give it a few
millennia and the planet will be just fine, the brief human infestation
just a bad memory.

Because Stormcloud, you're right – the issue isn't about saving the
planet, it's about saving humankind. At the moment we're killing
ourselves slowly, by a thousand million cuts. Why did we ever think it
would be okay to pollute and poison our natural habitat? When there were
just a few million of us, and all our waste was biodegradable, it didn't
matter too much what we did – our impact was still negligible. But now
there are 6.5 billion of us, consuming like crazy, and much of our waste
lasts a very long time. Our attitude to consumption has changed (more,
more, always more) but our attitude to disposal hasn't.

And it's coming back to bite us.

You ask – aren't we a part of nature too? Yes, we are, but we've been
given special abilities and inclinations – or at least an opposing thumb
and an extra-large brain – that set us apart from other inhabitants of
the natural world. And – most important of all – we have been given free
will that allows us to decide how we are going to use our special
status.

I believe this is the key to it: we need to use our unique ability of
self-awareness to step outside ourselves and see with clarity what we
are doing. Right now, our behavior suggests that we are short-sighted,
arrogant, and addicted to conspicuous consumption. But we can also be
creative, inquisitive, ingenious, and endlessly amazing. We have so much
worth living for, it would be a tragedy if we continue our path towards
collective suicide.

We need to rise to be our better selves, using our free will, our power
of reason and our inner wisdom to get ourselves out of this
unsustainable situation. We already have all the technologies we need to
create a sustainable future. We don't need to wind the clock back to a
pre-industrial age – better instead to forge ahead and create a new
style of living that combines the best of the old with the best of the
new, allowing us to live in balance with nature in a way that is
infinitely sustainable.

It's time we woke up to what we're doing and did something about it. My
interest in sustainability is utterly selfish. I want to live a long,
healthy life on a pleasant, clean, thriving planet. And I'm willing to
do whatever I can to help make that happen.

[photo: a lovely cloudscape during the best part of today's
ever-changing weather]

Other Stuff:

A mixed bag of weather today. I woke up to leaden skies and dismal rain
that looked like it wasn't in any hurry to go anywhere. But it did – by
this afternoon I had the sun canopy and was enjoying an amazingly varied
cloudscape. Conditions weren't conducive to major mileage, but I made
another 10 miles or so towards the Equator, and a useful bit of
eastwards too. Another squall tonight (so still no crescent moon
sighting – sorry, UncaDoug!), so the weather still has a few tricks up
its sleeve, but all in all, a good day at the office. (But uh oh, as I
write this I see I am being pushed north. But I can't row all night –
I'll just have to suck it up and deal with it in the morning…)

Eco Champ of the Day award goes to Steph, who is doing one of the BEST
things you can do to reduce the amount of plastic you use:
"I wanted to let you know you've inspired me to stop buying bottled
water, and use my own bottle instead."
I do this too, when I'm on land. I use a Brita water filter jug that I
keep in the fridge, and just top up my water bottle. Or get them to
refill it in the coffee shop or gas station. It's no hassle, and saves a
LOT of plastic.

Thank you to all the Rozlings for the wonderful comments. It's great to
see how many people are reserving their Larabar bookmarks. I'm doing my
side of the bargain by munching my way through 4 a day here – tough job,
but someone has to do it! I've got quite a bagful of wrappers
accumulating and when I get back to dry land we'll set to work signing
and laminating. Thanks also for all the words of encouragement,
environmental wit and wisdom, and everything else. I feel that I have
some true friends back on terra firma.

Sue the Psychlotherapist of Cirencester – lovely to hear from you. For
sure I will drop in the next time I am in your part of the world. Last
time I was so grateful for your warm hospitality – and the laundry
service!

Lorrin Lee – thanks again for the goodies you bought for me in Hawaii
just before I left. I found the spirulina crackers by Go Raw a couple of
days ago. They were SOOO good!

Quick answers to quick questions:

Q: Is there a reason you are not eating fish you can catch or squid that
land on the deck, for instance, to add to your diet (and diversity of
activities)? Are you a vegetarian?
A: No, I'm not vegetarian. But I would have defied anybody to find an
appetite for the roadkill squid! As for fishing, I just don't really
fancy it. Not until necessity dictates.

Q: What do you dream?
A: A lot of random stuff – often about food! And it's amazing some of
the people that pop up in my dreams, people I haven't even thought about
in years. Quite fun – like a trip down memory lane!

Weather report:

Position at 2145 HST: 04 07.862N, 175 04.296W
Wind: Mostly E, between 0 and 20 knots
Seas: 4-6ft E
Weather: rain, then sun, then rain again

Weather forecast courtesy of weatherguy.com:

Using last night's Feedblitz blog email (22 Jul), reported position was:
04 32N 175 19W as of 22Jul 1930HST. Your are still in the ECC which is
good because you might want to be at this latitude for as long as you
can.

As of Thursday, 23 July 2009. Wind predictions still uncertain while
in the area of the Equatorial region. According measured data, there is
SE winds 15-17kts over your area. To the SE (between 01N to 04N and
168W-170W) of your position, there was a patch of measured winds of
40-50kts in rainshowers.

It would appear you are almost through the southern boundary of the
ITCZ. According to satellite imagery, there is minimal convection south
of 05N. There is one exception.the patch of high winds to the SE. This
is associated with downdraft winds in convective cloud activity.

Movement eastward should be viewed as positive because south of the
Equator the prevailing E to SE winds will carry you westward with no
problem. If you are too far to the west already, potential landing spots
in the southern hemisphere might be missed. So just hang on for the ride
and take the Eerly current as long as it lasts.

Sky conditions: Partly to mostly cloudy. Isolated rainshowers, squalls,
and possible thunderstorms.

Forecast (low confidence due to extreme variability in Roz's position
and the fluctuations in wind direction/speed in the Doldrums)
Date/Time HST Wind kts Seas (ft) est
23/1800-25/1800 SE 12-17 3-7
25/1800-28/1800 ESE 10-15 4-6

Next Update: Monday, 27 July

If you pre-order Roz’s book, “Rowing the Atlantic” through Amazon, you will get a free Larabar wrapper bookmark signed by Roz. If you can think of another way to get a bookmark that rowed across an ocean, we’d like to hear it!

Buy Roz’s book now at:

Gregory asked me: Where do you see yourself in 15 years?

Well, if I'm not still in the ITCZ, which at the moment looks all too
likely, I'd like to imagine that my life would look something like this.
Adventure will still be my watchword, and I'll still be seeking out ways
that I can be useful to the causes that I care about – the raising of
consciousness, and working towards a sustainable future. But I suspect
that my ocean rowing days will be far behind me, and I'll have found a
different calling that is still in tune with my values. Or, in fact,
three callings.

First, if the resources become available, I'd like to create a
foundation to promote my causes. We've already started to sketch out
plans for this, but at the moment it has no source of funding. The
foundation would support people who feel they have a unique contribution
to make, and an award would involve mentoring and guidance as well as
financial support. It wouldn't matter what their project was, provided
that it played to their personal strengths, and that they were willing
to share with everybody the experience of pursuing their passion –
through a blog, book, documentary or other form. The emphasis would be
on the journey towards their goal – I know from first hand experience
how inspired people get when they see someone on a quest to make
themselves better people, and the world a better place – and I'd like to
help the foundation's beneficiaries reach as wide an audience as
possible to spread those ripples of inspiration.

Second, I suspect that in 15 years much will still need to be done
globally to create a sustainable future. I hope that much will have been
achieved, and that sustainability will have stopped being a cause and
started to be an intrinsic part of every aspect of human activity. In a
perfect world, every consumer choice, every architectural plan, every
journey, would be based on principles of sustainability. But in the real
world, I think there will still be work to do. And I'd like to be a part
of that work, in whatever way I can be of most service.

Third, I'd like to still be having my own adventures, although in my
mid-fifties they might be rather less strenuous than rowing across
oceans. I'd like to be traveling the world giving lectures,
presentations and book signings, and using those opportunities to
explore places I haven't yet seen. I'll be referring back to my list of
10 Adventures Before I Die (see blog for Day 23) – and in 15 years time
I'm sure I'll have a lot more ideas besides. There are so many different
ways to experience this world, and I'm greedy to try as many as
possible. I'd like to live in different countries and different
cultures, and soak up the sheer joyous variety of them all.

We live in uncertain times, and I have no idea what the world will look
like in 2024. But I feel well equipped for whatever the future may
bring. After many years of being rather confused about life, not really
knowing what my values and priorities were, I now have a much better
idea of who I am and what makes me happy.

So I'm confident that whatever I'm doing, I'll have found a way to make
sure that it's fulfilling – and fun!

[photo: absolutely nothing photo-worthy today. Not even a sunset due to
the grey weather. So here is a picture of the head of the whale shark as
I first saw him – from above the water. He's got a big black mark on the
back of his head – I'm not sure if this is a scar or just the way he's
made. Ideas?]

Other Stuff:

I never quite got the hang of today. I made some useful progress south,
now having achieved the most southerly point of the voyage so far (but
already being pushed north again), but it was slow progress against a
succession of squalls and showers and occasionally headwinds. This
morning was fine, but for most of this afternoon my bit of the Pacific
was dank, grey and dismal, with a steady patter of rain. Tonight is
pitch dark yet again. I can only just tell where the horizon is – the
sky is just one shade of black lighter than the ocean. I'm not out of
the ITCZ yet.

If my adventure has inspired you to have an ocean-going adventure of
your own, check out the Oceans Watch website at oceanswatch.org. I met
the OW folks when I was in New Zealand on a speaking tour last year, and
they are a great contact point for boat-based research projects in the
Pacific. Bon voyage!

A special hello today to Roz's Regulars, whom I don't always acknowledge
but I always look forward to your comments – notably Joan, Doug,
Antonio, Gregory and Sindy.

Joan – thanks for letting me know about the study that found that
cursing/swearing is good for your health. I must be very healthy indeed
these days then, as the ITCZ is giving me ample opportunities for a
"workout"!

Laurey Masterson – thanks for the lowdown on the literati of Asheville.
I really don't think we can fit it into the book tour this time around,
but I've got friends in NC so maybe we can arrange something for next
year. This brings me to the other part of your comment – yes, I am
already affiliated with 350.org, having met Bill McKibben at a
conference earlier this year, and the reason we have to cut the book
tour short is that I have to dash over to London in order to leave from
Big Ben to march to Copenhagen – leaving on the 350.org international
day of action, October 24. There will be more details coming soon on the
pulltogether09.org website on how people can come and join us.

Aquaphoenix – thank you for the lovely message. Wise words, and I
couldn't agree more!

Anna – great questions. Received them too late to answer today, but will
tackle them tomorrow. And I wish we WERE sat in a Leeds wine bar over a
glass or three! Sebastian in SF and stormcloud – have also saved your
question for a future blog.

Quick answers to quick questions:

Q: What time zone are you in?
A: I am in just about the remotest time zone there is. One hour behind
Hawaii, 4 hours behind Pacific Standard Time, 12 hours behind British
Summer Time, or 11 hours behind UTC. But hopefully in the next few weeks
I'll be crossing the International Date Line – and then I'll be in
tomorrow, and ahead of you all!

Q: What kind of medicine did you pack on the voyage?
A: Every kind! Honestly, my first aid kit is huge, as it has to cover
every eventuality. I've got antibiotics, bandages, burns dressings,
suturing kits, sprays, creams, ointments, pills, potions – everything
bar a stretcher! All put together by my good friend Dr Aenor.

Q: Is whatever you have for sun protection good enough and what do you
use?
A: Yes, it's excellent. Green People organic sun lotion. Seems effective
way beyond its SPF – and as I use so much of it I'm happy that what I'm
absorbing into my body is organic. I've used 4 x 200ml tubes so far
(200ml = 6.8 fl oz).

Weather report:

Position at 2200 HST: 04 18.835N, 175 11.719W
Wind: 0-20+ knots. Windy in the squalls, dead calm at other times. Wind
direction variable from S to E.
Seas: 4-6ft
Weather: morning sunny and fine, afternoon overcast with occasional
squalls and a few hours of prolonged rain.

Weather forecast courtesy of weatherguy.com:

Using last night's Feedblitz blog email (22 Jul), reported position was:
04 32N 175 19W as of 22Jul 1930HST. Your are still in the ECC which is
good because you might want to be at this latitude for as long as you
can.

As of Thursday, 23 July 2009. Wind predictions still uncertain while
in the area of the Equatorial region. According measured data, there is
SE winds 15-17kts over your area. To the SE (between 01N to 04N and
168W-170W) of your position, there was a patch of measured winds of
40-50kts in rainshowers.

It would appear you are almost through the southern boundary of the
ITCZ. According to satellite imagery, there is minimal convection south
of 05N. There is one exception.the patch of high winds to the SE. This
is associated with downdraft winds in convective cloud activity.

Movement eastward should be viewed as positive because south of the
Equator the prevailing E to SE winds will carry you westward with no
problem. If you are too far to the west already, potential landing spots
in the southern hemisphere might be missed. So just hang on for the ride
and take the Eerly current as long as it lasts.

Sky conditions: Partly to mostly cloudy. Isolated rainshowers, squalls,
and possible thunderstorms.

Forecast (low confidence due to extreme variability in Roz's position
and the fluctuations in wind direction/speed in the Doldrums)
Date/Time HST Wind kts Seas (ft) est
23/1800-25/1800 SE 12-17 3-7
25/1800-28/1800 ESE 10-15 4-6

Next Update: Monday, 27 July

Faith Miles is what I call the distance rowed that might not get me
closer to my destination, but it's putting me in a good position to take
advantage of helpful winds at a later stage. On the Atlantic, I had to
head south to pick up the trade winds that helped me over to Antigua.
The old sailing lore is "Sail south until the butter melts, then turn
west."

Leaving from San Francisco on Stage 1 of the Pacific row I spent 6 weeks
zigzagging down the California coast and actually wondered if I was
going to land up in Mexico, before I finally managed to break free and
pick up the trade winds that assisted me to Hawaii.

On both those crossings I got used to what Leo in our podcasts calls
"reverse progress". I spent a week going backwards at one stage on the
Atlantic, and several times got pushed back east between San Francisco
and Hawaii. But neither instance was too bad, because I knew I was
gradually being going to end up in the helpful trade winds.

This passage is rather different. I am under no illusions that I can get
across the Equator by waiting for trade winds to kick in. I don't have
that "Get out of jail free" card to play here. I keep getting pushed
around by winds and currents – north, south, east, west – and I'm just
not sure if I'm going to win through in the end.

A few times recently I've started to feel like, enough already. This is
my 61st day at sea, and there are still nearly 1,000 miles to go. I'd
rather be heading there (wherever "there" is) more directly. I'd like to
be able to predict an ETA and get things organized for landfall – like
where to store my boat, book flights for Nicole and Ian, sort out
accommodation and so on.

But that is the short cut to insanity. Whenever I catch myself thinking
about the ETA – whether optimistically or pessimistically – I bring
myself up short. At this stage it's just unknowable. I have to keep
myself purely in the present, and focus on the process. What is going to
get me there? Rowing. Not wishing, calculating, or yearning. Just
rowing.

Focus on the process, and keep the faith.

[Blogger's note: I feel like I ought to apologize for going on about my
navigational challenges. But there really isn't much else to report. No
more wildlife sightings, no exceptional audiobooks. If you'd like to
take advantage of this hiatus to ask me some creative and unusual
questions, then please do so! Just bear in mind that I am having to do a
lot of rowing, so time for blogging is more restricted than previously.]

[photo: Typical ITCZ. Today's video RozCast (see YouTube) was recorded
during a squall. With the reduction in resolution necessary to send
video, I don't know if you'll be able to see the rain dripping off the
bill of my baseball cap, but I can assure you it was most definitely
raining!]

Other Stuff:

Today I nearly, so nearly, got back to 4 degrees 30 North. I was within
half a mile when a thunderstorm overtook me and I decided it was
probably prudent to beat a temporary retreat to the cabin. As I write
the rain is still pouring and I am being pushed WNW. My direction of
drift is very difficult to predict – it seems to be a delicate interplay
of strength of wind vs strength of current. What appear to be very
similar conditions can produce very different results. This is why, even
with the best weather information in the world, ETAs are a totally
pointless exercise.

UncaDoug – sorry, no crescent moon sighting. The big black thundercloud
has blotted out everything. I can't see a single star, and it's darker
than a witch's armpit out there!

Eco Champ of the Day is Naomi in NY:
"Today I decided I'll wash out my plastic "take-out" container from the
office cafeteria and reuse it for lunch here every day from now on until
it falls apart. And the fork, too. I will not throw away another plastic
fork, spoon or knife. I've been getting these plastic take-out
containers and forks/spoons/knives virtually every day at the cafeteria
for years and throwing them away DAILY. Never again. (I met a guy on the
train a while back who told me that if we used just one less napkin a
day the impact on the planet would be profound.) Thanks for your videos
… where I learned that the overuse of PLASTIC is the number one threat
to Mother Earth. I actually "knew" this, but it is in seeing you and
hearing you as you DO this amazing rowing thing that it's finally gotten
through to me to the point of action."
Thank you Naomi! I am sure other people in the cafeteria will see what
you are doing and hopefully follow your example – and this is how we
change the world. I'd urge everyone else to think twice about using
anything that has the adjectives "disposable" and "plastic" applied to
it. You might dispose of the plastic, but the Earth can't!

Thank you to all my lovely Rozlings for the ongoing comments – comments
from regulars and occasionals are all welcome. Especially over these
tricky weeks ahead, I appreciate your support and encouragement all the
more.

Quick answers to quick questions:

A: Roz, Did you weigh yourself before stage 2? How much weight do you
expect
to gain or lose on your journey?
A: I weighed 137lb before I set out – which is more than I like to
weigh. I was having to buy roomier clothes. On the Atlantic I lost about
30lb, weighing 104lb when I arrived. Then regained it, of course.
Pacific Stage 1 I lost a little less, weighing 107lb on arrival, with a
bodyfat percentage of 10%. This time around – not sure. My feeling is
that I'm losing less weight, but it's hard to tell. I'll weigh in when I
get to Island X and let you know.

Q: How are your birdbrain friends doing?
A: See last week's blog for Day 56. They've gone.

Q: How deep is it where you are? Very?
A: Yes, very. Probably about 2 miles – but you're in a much better
position to find out than I am! I think the information is available on
the RozTracker. I can't access the internet from here, so I'll have to
leave it to you to research this question.

Weather report:

Position at 2125 HST: 04 30.675N, 175 11.731W
Wind: has varied from 0 to 20+ knots, but generally 20 knots E
Seas: 4-8ft E
Weather: Overcast at times, scorching hot sunshine at other times,
occasional squalls throughout the day

Weather forecast courtesy of weatherguy.com:

Using last night's Feedblitz blog email (22 Jul), reported position was:
04 32N 175 19W as of 22Jul 1930HST. Your are still in the ECC which is
good because you might want to be at this latitude for as long as you
can.

As of Thursday, 23 July 2009. Wind predictions still uncertain while
in the area of the Equatorial region. According measured data, there is
SE winds 15-17kts over your area. To the SE (between 01N to 04N and
168W-170W) of your position, there was a patch of measured winds of
40-50kts in rainshowers.

It would appear you are almost through the southern boundary of the
ITCZ. According to satellite imagery, there is minimal convection south
of 05N. There is one exception.the patch of high winds to the SE. This
is associated with downdraft winds in convective cloud activity.

Movement eastward should be viewed as positive because south of the
Equator the prevailing E to SE winds will carry you westward with no
problem. If you are too far to the west already, potential landing spots
in the southern hemisphere might be missed. So just hang on for the ride
and take the Eerly current as long as it lasts.

Sky conditions: Partly to mostly cloudy. Isolated rainshowers, squalls,
and possible thunderstorms.

Forecast (low confidence due to extreme variability in Roz's position
and the fluctuations in wind direction/speed in the Doldrums)
Date/Time HST Wind kts Seas (ft) est
23/1800-25/1800 SE 12-17 3-7
25/1800-28/1800 ESE 10-15 4-6

Next Update: Monday, 27 July

Another strange day in the ITCZ. No rowing this morning – the sea anchor
was out while the wind blew from the southeast. It's pretty boring being
on a rowboat when you can't row – there isn't a lot else to do. And
I didn't want to just sit and dwell on how many miles I was losing.
So after tinkering around a bit, writing a couple of emails, I decided
to take on a major challenge – to brush my hair.

If you've never tried leaving shoulder-length hair unbrushed for two
months, during which time you also take frequent swims in salt water,
toss and turn in a constantly moving bed, spend your days outdoors in
brisk sea breezes, and swivel your baseball cap around to try and shield
your face from the sun… then I don't recommend it. It leaves your hair
looking like a thatched roof and feeling like an oil slick. I had put my
hair in braids shortly after leaving Hawaii, but by now the two braids
were more like two dreadlocks. There is a very good reason I'm always
wearing a hat in photos.

It took me half an hour to persuade my hair that it was indeed made up
of individual strands rather than being just a solid mass of coagulated
straw. And having got that far, I thought I may as well go ahead and
wash it too. And condition it. And give it a lovely thorough rinse in
generous amounts of fresh water. By the time I had done all this, I had
quite satisfactorily managed to pass an hour, and felt like a new woman.
Clean hair is surprisingly good for morale.

By mid afternoon the wind had backed around to the East, so it was in
with the the sea anchor and out with the oars. It's slow going – the
wind still isn't exactly helping me – but I've managed to claw back a
few of the miles south lost over the last two or three days.

And having said that, I'm going to cut this blog short. The sun is
setting – I know that because my GPS has just this minute switched over
to its night-time color scheme – but I'd like to get in a bit more
rowing, so I must go. I have to take my chances while I can.

[photo: Scary. This is what was hiding under the baseball cap.]

Other Stuff:

We haven't yet had a chance to set up the email address for the Larabar
bookmarks – see yesterday's blog. I believe it is going to be set up
tomorrow when Evan gets back to the office in Hawaii. So patience
please, kind Roztafarians!

Laurey from Asheville, NC – I am absolutely all in favor of supporting
independent booksellers and local businesses. Unfortunately Asheville
won't be on my book tour – it's up to my publishers, not me, to decide,
and I believe that so far they are focusing on the big cities – New
York, DC, San Francisco, Portland OR, Seattle and Boston. Maybe LA. But
thanks for the reminder to think global, buy local!

Weather report:

Position at 2240 HST: 04 38.599N, 175 10.731W
Wind: 10-18 knots SE this morning, 20 knots E from mid-afternoon
Seas: 6-8 ft SE – E
Weather: sunny, slightly overcast, passing light squalls

Weather forecast courtesy of weatherguy.com

Using your position from Day 56 from Feedblitz blog email, you reported:
05 08N 175 29W as of 19Jul 2220HST. This is almost due east of your
position yesterday. It is interesting to note the wind direction is from
the NE, you are rowing south, and the current is heading east your
overall motion is towards the east.

As of Monday, 18 July 2009. Wind predictions will still be with an
added level of uncertainty due to the naturally occurring spatially and
temporally variable conditions in the equatorial regions. According
measured data over your area, there is NE winds 7-12kts 05N and north
veering clockwise to E 7-12kts to 03N, then veering to ESE 7-15kts south
of 03N.

You are almost through the southern boundary of the ITCZ. According to
satellite imagery, there is minimal convection south of 05N. The further
south you get the more accelerated the east flowing current will be up
to possibly one knot. Any progress eastward should offer a better line
up on potential landing spots in the southern hemisphere. However, at
some point, you should be making some southward progress.

Sky conditions: Partly to mostly cloudy. Isolated rainshowers, squalls,
and possible thunderstorms.

Forecast (low confidence due to extreme variability in Roz's position
and the fluctuations in wind direction/speed in the Doldrums)
Date/Time HST Wind kts Seas (ft) est
20/1800-23/1800 NE 7-15 2-4
23/1800-25/1800 E 5-10 2-4

Joan Rivers once said something like, "That's what I hate about
housework. You do it, and then six months later you have to do it all
over again." That sort of describes how I feel about 4 degrees 30 North.
I row through it, and the next day I have to do it all over again.

I very nearly got to it last night – just a third of a mile away. But by
this morning I'd drifted northeast, further away from it. I slogged into
a headwind all morning, making less than 3 miles in 5 hours of rowing,
but finally making it to the south side of the line.

But my sense of achievement was short-lived. This afternoon the headwind
strengthened until I had little choice but to put out the sea anchor,
and watched the GPS screen as my hard-won miles were slowly eroded away
until once again I was north of 4 degrees 30 North. My route for the day
looks like a big looping letter J, last seen heading northeast, directly
away from Tuvalu and back towards Hawaii. Sigh.

The day was enlivened, if not enhanced, by having to go over the side.
This was my first swim since the glom-fish now identified as a remora
attached itself to my right buttock a few weeks ago. I'd been none too
keen to renew his acquaintance, but I didn't have much choice. The
tripline to the sea anchor had got itself snagged on the towing eye on
the prow of the boat, where the main sea anchor line is permanently
attached. I managed to reach over and grab hold of the tripline from the
cockpit, so I would have been able to pull the sea anchor back in, but
my worry was that if I left it as it was the tripline would eventually
chafe through and break – and that would be very bad news.

So, in I went. And yes, I got glommed. Eugh. They seem to go for the
thighs and buttocks. Obviously not chest men. But whatever part of me
they target, I wish they wouldn't. It tickles in a rather sinister way,
and makes me feel quite violated.

As I write, I am still on the sea anchor, the wind still blowing hard
from the southeast and a succession of black squalls passing overhead.
I'm sitting in the cabin, listening to the rain drumming on the hatch
and watching the little arrow on the GPS screen. I am going the wrong
way, but for now, there is nothing I can do about it. Except maybe turn
off the screen.

In Alchemist-speak, I guess the next few degrees of latitude will be the
part of my quest where I am "sorely tested" (see yesterday's blog).
Unlike the boy in the book, I doubt I'll be able to talk the wind into
helping me. But what I can do is "master the lessons we've learned as
we've moved towards that dream" – in my case, not to build up hope
(leads to disappointment) or anxiety (leads to despair). I try not to
think ahead, as it tends to lead to thoughts of "How will I ever get
there?" but to focus on the positive, doing what I can, day after day,
to reach my goal, and trusting that I will get there – all in good time.

[photo: Last of the whale shark photos – appropriately enough, his tail,
plus his own fair share of glomming remora fish]

Other Stuff:

A ray of sunshine on a rainy day – a personal message from Paulo Coelho,
posted as a comment on yesterday's blog:
"Dear Roz
Nicole just wrote me about your adventure – in fact, a creative way to
raise consciousness. Congratulations for being who you are, and thank
you for your comments on my book.
Much love
Paulo"
Needless to say, I am totally starstruck. Overwhelmed. Gobsmacked.
Chuffed to bits. How weird and wonderful – this web of connections being
woven from a little rowboat currently sitting under a big black cloud in
the middle of the Pacific.

Nicole emailed me the first review of my book – and it's a goodie! "Bold
and invigorating" – great stuff! As blurbs and book tour take shape, the
book seems more and more real. I've derived so much pleasure, and
learned so much, from books, it would be wonderful to give something
back. I really hope that a few lives will be touched by my modest
contribution to the world of literature.

And, dearest Rozlings, I'd like to ask for your help. All copies of
Rowing The Atlantic that are pre-ordered on Amazon will get counted
towards the best-seller lists on the week of publication (October 6). So
if lots of people pre-order, there is a chance that I might get into the
Top 50 bestsellers that week – which in turn generates more sales. So if
you would be so good as to spread the word amongst your family and
friends, ask them to buy copies for themselves and as Christmas
presents, I would be most grateful.

As an added incentive, if you can email me your acknowledgement from
Amazon, I'll send you one of my special, signed Larabar bookmarks. I'll
probably munch my way through around 400 Larabars this voyage, so jump
in soon and reserve yours while stocks last! We'll set up a special
email address for this – I'll confirm it tomorrow.

Eco Champs of the Day – TUVALU! Committed to being 100% solar powered by
2020. If they're still here and not underwater.

Quick answer to quick question:

Q: Roz, it looks like you will be passing very close to Baker Island and
Howard Island, which are currently about 270 miles to your SSW, directly
between you and Tuvalu (you will obviously be closer by the time you get
this). They are both uninhabited, but if you happen to see one of them
by chance, would you consider making a stop just to go for a walk?
A: No, absolutely not. Nice in theory, but no way in practice. I doubt
that either island has a nice convenient jetty, so I'd have to beach my
boat. Too high a risk of damage. A walk would be nice, but not at this
price.

Weather report:

Position at 1930 HST: 04 31.922N, 175 18.972W (compare with position at
0730 this morning – 04 31.670N, 175 20.679W – yes, I'm going the wrong
way!)
Wind: 10-20 knots SE
Seas: 4-7ft SE
Weather:sunny and hot this morning, mostly squalls this afternoon and
into evening

Weather forecast courtesy of weatherguy.com

Using your position from Day 56 from Feedblitz blog email, you reported:
05 08N 175 29W as of 19Jul 2220HST. This is almost due east of your
position yesterday. It is interesting to note the wind direction is from
the NE, you are rowing south, and the current is heading east your
overall motion is towards the east.

As of Monday, 18 July 2009. Wind predictions will still be with an
added level of uncertainty due to the naturally occurring spatially and
temporally variable conditions in the equatorial regions. According
measured data over your area, there is NE winds 7-12kts 05N and north
veering clockwise to E 7-12kts to 03N, then veering to ESE 7-15kts south
of 03N.

You are almost through the southern boundary of the ITCZ. According to
satellite imagery, there is minimal convection south of 05N. The further
south you get the more accelerated the east flowing current will be up
to possibly one knot. Any progress eastward should offer a better line
up on potential landing spots in the southern hemisphere. However, at
some point, you should be making some southward progress.

Sky conditions: Partly to mostly cloudy. Isolated rainshowers, squalls,
and possible thunderstorms.

Forecast (low confidence due to extreme variability in Roz's position
and the fluctuations in wind direction/speed in the Doldrums)
Date/Time HST Wind kts Seas (ft) est
20/1800-23/1800 NE 7-15 2-4
23/1800-25/1800 E 5-10 2-4

When they hear that I row across oceans, people often ask me why. It is
a very valid question. Why would a woman in her mid-thirties (as I was
when I started down this path) give up husband, home and a London salary
to go and row across oceans?

I sometimes feel like the question could be best answered by handing
over a copy of Paulo Coelho's "The Alchemist". This classic quest tale
sums up absolutely why I couldn't carry on living the apparently perfect
life I was living, and had to go in pursuit of what Coelho calls my "own
personal legend". If you want to understand me, look no further.

Today I listened to the book again (available on Audible.com, superbly
narrated by Jeremy Irons), and it resonated more than ever – probably
because I am in the midst of a quest right now. For those who haven't
read the book, or even for those who have, here are a few of my favorite
quotes:

"If a person is living out his destiny, he knows everything he needs to
know. There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve:
the fear of failure."

"Before a dream is realized, the Soul of the World tests everything that
was learned along the way. It does this not because it is evil, but so
that we can, in addition to realizing our dreams, master the lessons
we've learned as we've moved towards that dream. That's the point at
which most people give up. It's the point at which, as we say in the
language of the desert, one 'dies of thirst just when the palm trees
have appeared on the horizon'. Every search begins with beginner's luck.
And every search ends with the victor's being sorely tested."

"When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us
becomes better, too."

I read The Alchemist at a very formative stage in my life, and it had a
profound effect on me. Its principles were absorbed into the new
approach to life that was evolving at that time, and I can absolutely
vouch for their fundamental truth.

Read it, try it, live it for a while and see what happens. It's
powerfully life-enhancing stuff.

[photo: Another pic of the whale shark I saw yesterday – from this
angle, just above his dorsal fin, you can see his lovely markings.

Other Stuff:

Apologies to anybody who has had difficulty accessing the RozTracker
and/or RozSavage.com recently. The problem seems to be linked to the new
release of Internet Explorer, as people who use alternative browsers
such as Firefox or Safari have not encountered any trouble. A short-term
fix, inconvenient though it is, is for you to download Firefox from the
Mozilla.com website. It's free. Meanwhile Evan, our geek superhero at
Archinoetics, is laboring to find a permanent solution. Personally, I
blame Microsoft.

Gremlins are also having their way with network coverage for my
satellite phone. This morning I was due to call Nicole for one of our
regular updates, but couldn't get a signal and wasn't able to get
through until this afternoon. I had been warned that this might be an
issue as I approach the Equator. All my communications – Tweets, phone
calls, blogs, and Solaradata position updates – go via the Iridium
satellite network. So if there is radio silence for a while, please
don't panic. It just means that I am going through a black spot. The
Solaradata position updates are most likely to succeed, as that system
automatically sends an update every hour. The other postings depend on
me having coverage at the time when I want it, i.e. 3 or 4 times a day,
and I'm not going to sit round for hours trying to get a signal when
there is rowing or sleeping to be done. So if blogs appear late, or
Tweets appear rarely, please don't worry. Everything is probably fine,
and I will be back and posting updates as soon as I manage to get a
signal.

Today was very un-doldrummy. I was able to make some good progress
south, although now as I type this, after dark, I seem to be drifting
northeast. The wind is coming from the east, so it would seem I am
drifting upwind – which is surprising. There must be a current at work.
If so, putting out the sea anchor won't help – it would only harness yet
more of the current. Hmmmm.

The stars have been phenomenal the last couple of nights. I wish I could
share this sky view with you somehow! Unfortunately unphotographable.

Joan – good to hear about your Stone Mountain excursion, Glad you
survived those 8-inch swells!

Abagale – welcome. Glad you're enjoying the blog.

Keli86 – hello Canada! Thanks for the cheers!

UncaDoug – I'll look out for the crescent moon. Will probably pass on
the eclipse, as I don't want to damage my eyesight and it's going to be
a bit challenging to make a viewer from what I have on board.

And thanks for all the other great comments. I'm feeling the love!

Quick answers to quick questions:

Q: Do you have a tattoo Roz?
A: No, I don't. I'm not against the idea – I just haven't felt strongly
enough about what symbol to put where to actually get it done. Right
now, if I was going to get one, it would be a small turtle, somewhere
discreet.

Q: New Zealand had an earthquake recently and it triggered a very small
tsunami.If a large tsunami came through your rowing area, would you even
notice it or just glide over it as over a very big swell?
A: You're right – I would probably just ride up and over it. I'm
probably in the safest possible place when it come to tsunamis!

Q: Just wondering if your book is going to be published as an audiobook.
Will you narrate it yourself??
A: Simon & Schuster don't have any plans as yet to publish it as an
audiobook – but of course I'm pushing for it. And yes, I would love to
narrate it myself, although I now have a very keen appreciation of good
narrators vs bad narrators – so I hope I'd be up to the job. At least
there wouldn't be too many different voices to do! (BTW, for newcomers
to the blog, my book "Rowing The Atlantic" is available for pre-order on
Amazon. It is published on October 6.)

Weather report:

Position at 2200 HST: 04 30.646N, 175 21.880W
Wind: 3-15 knots E
Seas: 2-6ft
Weather: mostly clear skies and hot sunshine, some cumulus cloud, clouds
thickening towards sunset with a short squall

Weather forecast courtesy of weatherguy.com

Using your position from Day 56 from Feedblitz blog email, you reported:
05 08N 175 29W as of 19Jul 2220HST. This is almost due east of your
position yesterday. It is interesting to note the wind direction is from
the NE, you are rowing south, and the current is heading east your
overall motion is towards the east.

As of Monday, 18 July 2009. Wind predictions will still be with an
added level of uncertainty due to the naturally occurring spatially and
temporally variable conditions in the equatorial regions. According
measured data over your area, there is NE winds 7-12kts 05N and north
veering clockwise to E 7-12kts to 03N, then veering to ESE 7-15kts south
of 03N.

You are almost through the southern boundary of the ITCZ. According to
satellite imagery, there is minimal convection south of 05N. The further
south you get the more accelerated the east flowing current will be up
to possibly one knot. Any progress eastward should offer a better line
up on potential landing spots in the southern hemisphere. However, at
some point, you should be making some southward progress.

Sky conditions: Partly to mostly cloudy. Isolated rainshowers, squalls,
and possible thunderstorms.

Forecast (low confidence due to extreme variability in Roz's position
and the fluctuations in wind direction/speed in the Doldrums)
Date/Time HST Wind kts Seas (ft) est
20/1800-23/1800 NE 7-15 2-4
23/1800-25/1800 E 5-10 2-4

From despair to delight – after yesterday's gloom and doom in the
doldrums, today was an absolute corker of a day. The highlight, without
any shadow of a doubt, was a close encounter with a whale shark.

I woke just before 7am, just as dawn was starting to lighten the sky, in
time for my regular Sunday phone call with Mum. I went out on deck for
morning ablutions and discovered that the wind was blowing briskly from
the north – very good news indeed. But the sea anchor was still out, and
would reduce my boat's speed as I was blown south. So I made a quick
call to Mum to tell her I'd call her back in about half an hour once I'd
brought the sea anchor in.

Mum was probably thinking I'd fallen overboard by the time I finally
called her back an hour later. "Mum," I said, "Sorry it took me a while.
Can you do a quick Google and tell me what a whale shark looks like?"
She did a swift search and said, "Wide mouth, flat head, spotted
patterns on the back…" "That's the fella!" I said.

I'd been out on deck and had just pulled the sea anchor on board. The
tripline was already coiled in its bucket, and as I started pulling in
the main line I became aware I was not alone. A big, blunt, speckled
head surfaced from the water just inches away from me. I glimpsed a
gaping, gummy mouth that took up most of the front of the head. A dorsal
fin. A pointy tail. The creature was about 8 feet long, with gorgeous
speckled markings on his skin.

I grabbed my video camera from the cabin and rushed back before he
disappeared, but I needn't have hurried. The gentle giant did lap after
lap of my boat, while I dashed from side to side in time with his
leisurely circuits, trying to film him. I didn't get any truly great
shots – I really needed a wide angle lens to capture him, because he was
just too close to me. My hand kept brushing his skin as he passed by. I
thought about jumping in – it was obvious from his lack of teeth that he
wasn't a shark of the man-eating variety – but I thought that a naked
woman suddenly dive-bombing him might scare him away.

To be honest, even if I had got some better shots from the front, a
whale shark's face is not his fortune. It's the kind of face only a
mother could love. The mouth takes up most of it, and it's less a mouth,
more of a cavern. He's a filter feeder so I suppose a big gob is part of
the job description. But it doesn't make him especially photogenic.

But photogenic or not, I was hugely, giddily, excited to see him.

I would like to thank the local fauna for making themselves so very
available for photo calls. I'm not the world's most observant person,
and it's not easy to spot wildlife from the low vantage point of a
rowboat, but the sea creatures seem to be making a point of coming up
very close so even I can't possibly fail to see them. And then they
cruise around me repeatedly while I ineptly try to catch a few shots of
them with my video camera. It's as if they're coming to visit and to
welcome me to their kingdom – and I appreciate their good manners and
hospitality very much indeed.

[photo: Sorry this picture is a bit blurry, but it's the best shot I
managed to get of his face. I've got some other pics that show off his
beautiful markings - I'll post one tomorrow.]

Other Stuff:

The day continued to deliver good things. While I was talking with Mum
on the phone there was a double rainbow. The northerly wind moved around
to the east where it stayed for the rest of the day, allowing me to make
some progress in a blissfully straight line south. I crossed over 5
degrees north – another milestone on the way to the Equator. The
afternoon was sunny, bright and glorious – a welcome change from the low
grey skies of the last few days. It's all good.

Quick answers to quick questions:

Q: How long does it take you to pull the sea anchor back onboard?
A: Normally about half an hour to get it back on board – of which about
5-10 minutes is retrieving the anchor and 20 minutes is getting all the
ropes stowed. But when there's a whale shark involved it takes a lot
longer!

Weather report:

Position at 2200 HST: 04 49.680N, 175 25.124W
Wind: 3-15 knots, N-E
Seas: 3-6ft, NE
Weather: sunny with high stacked cumulus clouds for most of the day, sky
clearing towards sunset.

Weather forecast, courtesy of weatherguy.com – with special thanks to
Rick for this additional forecast at my request

As of Sunday, 18 July 2009. As mentioned in previous reports, wind
predictions will be with an added level of uncertainty due to the
naturally occurring spatially and temporally variable conditions in the
equatorial regions. Most forecast models are tuned to the mid latitudes
and do not handle the equatorial regions very will. There is also a lack
of real time, qualified ship observations that populate the models. To
mitigate the model uncertainty and lack of data, measured data from
satellites complement other forecast aids. There is still an increased
uncertainty which you are experiencing.

The good news is you are almost through the southern boundary of the
ITCZ. There is minimal convection south of 05N. The other good news is
as you cross 05N there should be increased easterly flowing current. Any
movement eastward is good for an equatorial crossing should you decide.
And a west wind also pushes you east for better line up on potential
landing spots in the southern hemisphere. I was pleased at your slight
movement eastward from Thursday's position.

The challenging news is the winds have been recently measured at Eerly
at 5-10kts. South of 05N, they are ESE 5-10 and south of 03N ESEerly at
7-12kts.

The combined affects of how variable wind direction and speed and ocean
current affect your boat remains to be seen. All you can do to keep your
chin up and row with extra determination and you WILL get through it.
You have been through worse before and came out on top. So I know you
can do it!

Sky conditions: Partly to mostly cloudy. Isolated rainshowers, squalls,
and possible thunderstorms.

Next Update: Monday, 20 July

I am not a big fan of the ITCZ. The blue skies, wispy clouds and brisk
breezes of the tradewinds seem a long time ago, and I have spent too
long already meandering around in this gloomy Equatorial belt of
lowering black clouds, fickle winds and frequent rain squalls. No wonder
the sailors of yesteryear used to dread the doldrums.

Today has been another day of frustrations.

6am: Wake to find that I have achieved my biggest ever overnight mileage
– in completely the wrong direction. Am now 15 miles further away from
Tuvalu than I was when I went to bed.

8.30am: Have spent two hours slogging into headwind for negligible gain.
Consider putting out the sea anchor for the first time this voyage. Have
morale-boosting breakfast of hot porridge.

10.30am: Fortified by porridge, had decided not to put out sea anchor
but to carry on rowing. Wind is backing from SW to SE, which is not
great but is marginally better.

1pm: The wind carried on swinging around to East, allowing me to make
some good progress south, but now a very big black squall has hit, with
rain and winds gusting over 30 knots. Retreat to cabin.

2.30pm: Squall over, but it has broken the wind, so to speak. Squalls
often leave very changed conditions in their wake. The wind has gone
from easy East back to sodding South. Resume the slog.

4pm: Another squall. Unfortunately it doesn't change the wind back
again. In fact, now there's no wind at all. But that's okay. Manage to
make some progress south.

7pm: Take break for dinner. Another hot meal – freeze-dried chicken pot
pie this time. Discover crunchy veg snacks Ellen gave me in Hawaii. Very
good indeed. Feel quite cheerful, but as I'm eating the wind rises
dramatically. There is nothing else for it – I'm going to have to put
out the sea anchor. Sigh.

Sea anchors and I have a bad history. If you've seen the video of me
clambering over the roof of the fore cabin, knife in teeth, that was to
deal with a sea anchor. I've also had sea anchors fray through their
line, twist themselves into all kinds of unfeasible contortions, and
generally cause me headaches and hassle.

So far this voyage I haven't needed to use the sea anchor, but I'm not
keen to repeat last night's fiasco. So out it went, just as the light
was fading. To my puzzlement and consternation, it has caused my course
to shift from NW to due north, now veering slightly around to the east.
I might even cross over the exact spot where I was about 4 hours ago.
This was not at all the intended effect. But there's not much else I can
do. Lord only knows where I'll be by tomorrow morning… back in Hawaii,
at this rate.

[photo: last turtle picture for now - with a closeup of the fish that is
prime suspect for the indecent assault on my derriere a few weeks ago.
Hunter – a wrasse on my ass, or a remora on my rump?! The wrasse
definitely rhymes better, and looking at this picture the suspect looks
quite wrasse-like to me. There was another one attached to my boat.
Maybe they've set up shop as a cleaning station right here under
Brocade?]

Other Stuff:

Birdbrain the booby bird has deserted me. Maybe he was fed up with the
doldrums too. This afternoon he flew a few circuits of the boat, making
as if to land but then skimming away again. Each time he passed over me
I looked up in trepidation, worried he might choose that precise moment
to release a poop bomb. But he didn't, and then he was gone. It's been
several hours now since I last saw him. I feel almost sad. Abandoned,
rejected, bereft. To remind me of his sojourn on board Brocade I have
only a few white streaks on the fore cabin … and a very bad smell.

For those not familiar with sea anchors (and why should you be, come to
think of it), picture a round parachute, about 10 feet diameter, on the
end of a 100-yard long rope. And that's about it. It's attached by the
rope to the bow of my boat, and is deployed underwater to grab hold of a
big chunk of ocean and stop the boat from being blown too far by the
wind. When I need to pull it back on board, it has a tripline attached
to the apex of the parachute. When I pull on the tripline (which is also
attached back at the boat) the chute collapses like an umbrella being
closed, so it can then be pulled back on board. That's the theory.
Reality sometimes differs.

Thanks, Kevin, for the latest Hawaiian lesson. This week's word is noke
– very apt for today. To persist, continue, repeat, persevere, keep on;
perseverance, persistence. I will, although it's just as well I don't
have any choice in the matter…

Roztafarians.
Rozionados.
Rozlings.
Rozaholics (Anonymous).
So now we're spoiled for choice!

Thank you, wm.spinks, and everyone else who is not only supporting me,
but is telling other people about what I am doing and why. I really
appreciate the word of mouth – it all helps to spread the message in the
most effective way known to humankind. And thanks also to the people who
have signed up to support my mission on a regular basis. You are very,
very kind, lovely people!

Hi, Jeremy Stuart – looking forward to catching up the next time I am in
the Bay Area.

Stuart Coleman in Hawaii – lovely to hear from you! Thanks for the words
of encouragement. Hope the new book is selling well.

Walt – thanks for all the info on turtles as totems. Great stuff. You
asked about my association with NOAA – I've had contact with many people
in the organization, but no kind of sponsorship arrangement as yet –
although I would be very interested to find out more.

Evan – I would LOVE to see a leatherback turtle. 9 foot across – wow!
I'd be tempted to lasso him and hitch a ride! (although if he's
endangered I suppose that would be frowned on). Thanks for the great
info about how to conserve these amazing creatures.

Joan – GREAT idea about the Buy Roz A Drink party! Boy, by the time I
get out of this ITCZ, I'll have earned it…!

Quick answers to quick questions:

Q: I know you have blogged that on this leg of the journey, the
temperature has been quite high, but I was wondering if hypothermia has
been a concern on any of your crossings. Do you have a way to warm up if
you should need to?
A: Leaving from San Francisco I got seriously cold – particularly after
the sun set. Fortunately I've got the world's best sleeping bag for the
ocean, from Ocean Sleepwear. It's lined with super-thick fleece, two
layers, inside a waterproof outer shell. I could crawl in there cold,
wet and clammy, and in a while I'd be all warm and toasty. Bliss!

Q: I am not an engineer but I have been wondering why the aft cabin on
rowing boats are larger than the fore cabin? If the fore cabin was
larger(like on a pocket sailboat) it would seem to handle a headwind
better and give a slight push with a tailwind.
A: I was wondering exactly the same thing myself, as I slogged my way
into a headwind today. I don't know, because I'm not an engineer either.
Maybe some advantage to having the weight (of a sleeping person) in the
stern, and the sleeping cabin needs to be higher?

Weather report:

Position at 2220 HST: 05 08.817N, 175 29.101W
Wind: 0-30kts, mostly S, sometimes W, rarely E, never N
Seas: 3-6ft from NE
Weather: Overcast, low cloud cover, occasional squalls

Weather forecast, courtesy of weatherguy.com

As of Thursday, 15 July 2009. Wind predictions will be with an added
level of uncertainty due to the naturally occurring variable conditions
in the equatorial regions. From satellite data, it appears enhanced
convective activity was centered along 170W extending past the dateline
to 170E. Winds mostly NEerly direction shift to Serly by 18 Jul
noontime, then back to Nerly by 19Jul0900HST. Speeds should be in the
5-10kt range with periods of calm. Seas 1-4ft.

Sky conditions: Mostly cloudy to overcast with low level clouds.
Scattered rainshowers, squalls, and possible thunderstorms. Wind speeds
in these systems 40kts.

ITCZ: The Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) has once again become
more active over your rowing area. Southern edge of the ITCZ axis trails
off at 180E/W and 00 30S.

Ocean Current: North Equatorial Counter Current (NECC). No change from
earlier discussions. You are approaching the northern boundary of the E
flowing current. Northern boundary is about 05 00N extending to the
southern boundary near 00 30S. Current speeds increases to Eerly 0.1 to
0.2, then builds to a maximum near 0.6 to 0.8kts from 02 30N to 01 00N
then fades to 0.1 to 0.2 near the southern boundary. There are periodic
fluctuations in these dimensions.

Forecast
Date/Time HST Wind kts Seas (ft) est
16/1800-17/0600 NE-E 5-15 2-4
17/0600-18/1200 E-S 0-10 1-3
18/1200-20/0600 S-N 5-10 2-4
20/0600-21/1800 N-S 0-7 1-3

Next Update: Monday, 20 July

At the end of today, after a hard day's rowing, I am further away from
my goal than I was at the start. This does not make for a happy rower.

This morning I was in fine fettle. I had come to a decision on Tuvalu vs
Tarawa. Tuvalu would undoubtedly put me in a better position to get to
Australia next year, and was starting to look increasingly do-able. I
did some calculations based on my progress through the northern
hemisphere trade winds, and reckoned that if I could cross the Equator
between 175 and 176 degrees West, then I had a pretty fair chance at
being able to reach Tuvalu if the southern hemisphere trade winds were
roughly the same strength.

And I am already between 175 and 176 degrees West, so all I needed to do
was row due south, and we'd be golden. Right? Wrong.

This morning was no problem. The wind was light, allowing me to make
some useful southerly progress. I was being pushed east, but that was
okay – all the better to line up for Tuvalu. But then a series of
squalls around lunchtime changed everything, and the rest of the
afternoon was very frustrating.

Part of the problem was that the wind was coming from the wrong
directions – anywhere between due south and due west, neither of which
were good. I can row with the wind. I can row across the wind. But I
can't row into the wind. This boat is too bulky and I just can't make
any headway.

And the wind speed kept changing, so I had to keep adjusting the rudder
just to stay pointing in the same direction. It made it very hard to get
any rhythm going, and as you'll know if you've tried running in a big
city marathon where for the first few miles you're having to duck around
people, speeding up, slowing down, it's far more tiring to exert
yourself when you can't find your rhythm.

So I got pretty cranky. I've definitely been spoiled. So far this stage
my progress had unusually predictable – a pretty consistent 30+ miles a
day. On the Atlantic, and Stage 1 of the Pacific, were very different
stories. I was often blown backwards, despite use of the sea anchor to
mitigate the effect of adverse winds. In fact, on Stage 1 of the Pacific
it took me 6 weeks and 3 attempts to break free of the California coast.
I kept crossing 124 degrees West, only to get blown back again. Out,
back, out, back, and then finally out and free. So today should be no
big deal for me really. But it's amazing how soon I'd started to think
of favorable conditions as a right rather than a privilege.

By tonight I was fed up with the whole charade, so I cheered myself up
by having my first hot meal of the crossing. I haven't wanted hot foot –
the temperatures have been sweltering. But today has been overcast and
almost cool by comparison, and I decided some comfort food was in order.
So I dug out the cook stove and kettle and boiled up some water to mix
with my freeze-dried chilli con carne. It may not be consistent with my
rawfood detox diet, but I have to say, it absolutely hit the spot. Funny
how much better life can seem with a bellyful of hot food.

[photo: another pic of yesterday's visitor, with his little entourage.]

Other Stuff:

Do you see the thin fish that has attached itself to the top right of
the turtle's shell in the photo? I think that's the same creature that
latched onto my bottom a few weeks ago when I was cleaning barnacles off
the hull. I'm not sure I'd pick him out in an identity parade, but I'm
pretty sure. Any idea what he is?

Nicole and I recorded our last podcast together today, before Leo
returns from his trip to China next week and we resume our usual
Thursday format. Nicole and I had a good chat about all kinds of stuff,
particularly the challenges of trying to land on a tiny dot in a very
big ocean. You can find the podcast (30 mins approx) via the RozTracker.

Speaking of the RozTracker, I gather it has a load of cool new features,
including latitude and longitude, and a streamlined way of presenting
the tweets, blogs etc. Thanks, Evan! I just wish I could see it too!
Can't wait to get back to dry land and get a decent internet connection.

You might be interested to learn (and Naomi in NY, I'm thinking of you
in particular, and your walk across England) that we are planning to
market the Tracker product to people who are planning their own
adventures, to enable them to share the experience through social media.
It's too early to be specific, but we hope it will be available from
early next year. I'll keep you posted.

Due to a technical hitch I haven't received the comments from
yesterday's blog. So I'm sorry I can't respond to any of them here – but
I'll try to catch up tomorrow. So I'll sign off for now, get an early
night, and hope that the weather has come to its senses by morning…

Weather report (I don't really want to talk about it, but if you really
want to know):

Position at 2100 HST: 05 06.243N, 175 44.780W
Wind: S-W, 3-12kts
Seas: 2-5ft
Weather: mostly overcast, some squally showers

Weather forecast, courtesy of weatherguy.com

As of Thursday, 15 July 2009. Wind predictions will be with an added
level of uncertainty due to the naturally occurring variable conditions
in the equatorial regions. From satellite data, it appears enhanced
convective activity was centered along 170W extending past the dateline
to 170E. Winds mostly NEerly direction shift to Serly by 18 Jul
noontime, then back to Nerly by 19Jul0900HST. Speeds should be in the
5-10kt range with periods of calm. Seas 1-4ft.

Sky conditions: Mostly cloudy to overcast with low level clouds.
Scattered rainshowers, squalls, and possible thunderstorms. Wind speeds
in these systems 40kts.

ITCZ: The Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) has once again become
more active over your rowing area. Southern edge of the ITCZ axis trails
off at 180E/W and 00 30S.

Ocean Current: North Equatorial Counter Current (NECC). No change from
earlier discussions. You are approaching the northern boundary of the E
flowing current. Northern boundary is about 05 00N extending to the
southern boundary near 00 30S. Current speeds increases to Eerly 0.1 to
0.2, then builds to a maximum near 0.6 to 0.8kts from 02 30N to 01 00N
then fades to 0.1 to 0.2 near the southern boundary. There are periodic
fluctuations in these dimensions.

Forecast
Date/Time HST Wind kts Seas (ft) est
16/1800-17/0600 NE-E 5-15 2-4
17/0600-18/1200 E-S 0-10 1-3
18/1200-20/0600 S-N 5-10 2-4
20/0600-21/1800 N-S 0-7 1-3

Next Update: Monday, 20 July

Day 54 – Day of the Turtle

Turtles are my favorite creatures. If I had a totem, I would want it
to be this. They seem like old souls, wise and wizened, serene and
gentle as they wing their way through the underwater world. I've done
quite a bit of scuba diving, and a turtle sighting always made a dive
special.

So I was very, very, VERY excited to see a turtle today.

After waking to a rough, grey morning with winds over 20 knots, once the
sun rose the conditions quickly calmed down until by mid-morning I was
well and truly in the doldrums. Through the calm surface of the water I
could see that there were a good number of mahi mahi swimming around my
boat so I decided to do some underwater filming. As I leaned over the
side to submerge my Xacti waterproof camera I came face to face with a
turtle.

He was small, only about 18 inches long, but very pretty, with gorgeous
markings on his head. He swam several laps of my boat, staying close to
the hull, a small entourage of fish following him like a gaggle of
pageboys attending on a monarch. He continued his circumnavigation of
Brocade for around for about 10 minutes in all.

I didn't do a great job of filming him – it's not easy from a rocking
boat to accurately aim a video camera at arm's length at a small and
moving target – and he also kept getting just too close, so I've got
some great shots of his eye but not many of his whole body. I'd be very
happy if he came back to visit so I can try again. I'll post another
picture of him tomorrow with his entourage of acolytes.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. The sky was overcast, the ocean
calm, the wind non-existent. Even Birdbrain the booby was
uncharacteristically quiet. As I type this the ocean is so silent that
all I can hear the occasional splash of a mahi mahi jumping. On a night
like this the ocean seems very large, and land very distant.

Other Stuff:

My course today has been rather erratic as conditions have changed. For
the morning and into the afternoon, such wind as there was came from the
SSE, which was not helpful. But towards the end of the day I was able to
resume my southwards progress.

Today's new video features Birdbrain the Booby and friend in a bit of
slapstick action on the poop deck. Do check it out on YouTube!

I've been pondering on the collective noun for my loyal blog readers.
Rozlings sounds nice, but I am a little embarrassed to have my name
included in the noun – seems a bit egotistical (that Yorkshire
upbringing again!). I thought of Rowsters – but is that too generic?

Other suggestions that I'm afraid I have to turn down:
Rozzers? In Britain that's slang for police. Not quite the connotation I
want…
Roz's Rooters? Really wouldn't work in Australia, where it means… well,
just not suitable. Trust me.
Booby Boosters? Sounds like a new kind of bra.
Roz's Roosters? Hmmm!
Rozcals? As in rascals. I didn't get it at first… might be a bit TOO
clever.
So maybe Roz's Rowsters?

Actually, looking through the most recent comments, Rozlings seems to be
catching on very quickly. And Joan, I know exactly what you mean when
you say it's reminiscent of Dame (!) Edna Everage and her Possums. So
maybe I'll just go with the flow on this one. Rozlings it is. Hello, my
little Rozlings!

Eco Champ of the Day!! A big green hello to Sharon in Toronto! She
posted this comment below, full of great ideas and inspiration. It
almost makes me wish that there would be more garbage strikes – it would
be a big wake-up call for a lot of people to be brought face to face
with their accumulated trash. When it is whisked hygienically away it is
easy to forget that on a finite planet there is no "away".

"Here in Toronto Canada, we are on day 24 of a garbage strike, which has
led to public parks and sides of the road becoming popular dumping
grounds. Determined not to add to the HORRIFYING impact all the sudden
garbage will cause at the end of the strike, my son and I have set out
use, reuse and vaporize what we can.

So far we've started a garden compost to take care of our food scrapes,
we're crafting daily, including an army of robots out of tin cans for
the neighbourhood kids, tote bags out of our dog food bags, recycled
newspaper for 101 paper mache crafts, a box to hold our old newspaper
made out of old newspaper, iPhone and iPod holders out of juice boxes,
chip bag purses and bracelets and the list grows. We are determined to
make this strike a chance for our family to grow green. So much so, that
we've informed all our family and friends that any gifts for occasions
this year will be homemade and recycled.

Reading your blog every day is an extra boost for those times when I
just want to toss an old egg carton, or when the thought of churning the
yucky mush that is becoming our compost makes me sick… I think… its
the least I could do for this planet that has given me so much.

Thank you SO much for opening up your adventure to help the rest of us
discover our own."

Naomi in NY – delighted to hear that I might have influenced you to
resurrect your dream of walking across England next year. Sounds
brilliant! And/or you could come and join us this October as we set off
to walk from London to Bonn, from where we take the train to Copenhagen
for the COP15 climate change conference. Although maybe not the ideal
time of year….! On second thoughts, maybe I'll come and join YOU next
summer for part of your walk – sounds like a much better/warmer idea!

Gregory – yes, women can be knighted, although instead of becoming "Sir
Whatever" women unfortunately get to be "Dame Whatsit" – which
immediately makes them sound like one of Cinderella's ugly sisters in a
pantomime. Anyway, I don't think that's going to be an imminent worry
for me! And Joan – I loved your idea about the Dames Directory. Wouldn't
that be cool?! Dame Judi, Dame Maggie, Dame Ellen (Macarthur) – and of
course my favorite, Dame Edna!

Robert – yes, currents do change all the time. See the latest from
weatherguy at the end of this blog for what I can expect to face in the
weeks ahead. Joan, you're right, it IS confusing. An easterly wind comes
from the east. An easterly current comes from the west. Don't ask me
why!

Susan – glad you're enjoying the Tweets. When I saw the turtle this
morning, I was so happy to be able to share the good news, hot off the
press!

UncaDoug – GPS updates to the RozTracker are automatic. I'm puzzled when
you say that posts are delayed. What kind of posts? Blogs? Tweets? Or
all?

Weather report:

Position at 2140 HST: 05 17.425N, 176 01.534W
Wind: presently none, earlier light wind (5kts) from SSE
Seas: 3-4ft swell
Weather: rained most of the night. Overcast today, but no rainshowers.

Weather forecast, courtesy of weatherguy.com

As of Thursday, 15 July 2009. Wind predictions will be with an added
level of uncertainty due to the naturally occurring variable conditions
in the equatorial regions. From satellite data, it appears enhanced
convective activity was centered along 170W extending past the dateline
to 170E. Winds mostly NEerly direction shift to Serly by 18 Jul
noontime, then back to Nerly by 19Jul0900HST. Speeds should be in the
5-10kt range with periods of calm. Seas 1-4ft.

Sky conditions: Mostly cloudy to overcast with low level clouds.
Scattered rainshowers, squalls, and possible thunderstorms. Wind speeds
in these systems 40kts.

ITCZ: The Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) has once again become
more active over your rowing area. Southern edge of the ITCZ axis trails
off at 180E/W and 00 30S.

Ocean Current: North Equatorial Counter Current (NECC). No change from
earlier discussions. You are approaching the northern boundary of the E
flowing current. Northern boundary is about 05 00N extending to the
southern boundary near 00 30S. Current speeds increases to Eerly 0.1 to
0.2, then builds to a maximum near 0.6 to 0.8kts from 02 30N to 01 00N
then fades to 0.1 to 0.2 near the southern boundary. There are periodic
fluctuations in these dimensions.

Forecast
Date/Time HST Wind kts Seas (ft) est
16/1800-17/0600 NE-E 5-15 2-4
17/0600-18/1200 E-S 0-10 1-3
18/1200-20/0600 S-N 5-10 2-4
20/0600-21/1800 N-S 0-7 1-3

Next Update: Monday, 20 July

RozTracker junkies might have noticed that today I've dropped like a
stone, heading due south. Wind and currents were conspiring to help me,
so I've made the most of the opportunity. I'm keeping my options open
for either Tarawa or Funafuti, and heading south is the best way.

I asked Mum to do some research for me by reading through the blog of
Erden Eruc, who rowed from California to Papua New Guinea in 2007. He
didn't mean to row to PNG – he wanted to go to Australia. So if Erden
managed to miss something as big as Australia, you get some idea of how
difficult it's going to be for me to hit a teeny weeny little coral
atoll.

I read the extracts from Erden's blog that Mum sent me, and it was not
encouraging reading. He got to 7.5 degrees North in mid-November 2007,
at 159 degrees West, heading happily for the Equator. Then he ran into
the counter current. And the ITCZ. He crossed in the International Date
Line in late January 2008, still 3 degrees north of the Equator.

He finally crossed the Equator – wait for it – on May 8, 2008. SIX
MONTHS LATER! By then he was at 144degE, nearly 3,500 miles west from
where he first encountered the conditions that I am now facing. Eeek.
And that despite putting in some brutal 18-hour rowing days.

Of course, winds and currents are different every year. My boat is a
different design from Erden's so may hold its course better (or worse).
He may just have been really unlucky. I might get lucky (or unluckier).
Only time will tell.

Mountaineers say that climbing the mountain is the easy part – it's
coming back down safely that's the challenge. I'm starting to feel the
same way. Anyone can set out to row across an ocean (although funnily
enough, not many do) – it's making landfall that's the tricky bit. It's
going to take careful navigation, likely some hard rowing, and most
definitely an enormous amount of luck.

[Photo: Birdbrain booby getting in a flap on the poop deck]

Other Stuff:

I was really pleased I was able to make so much progress south today.
Problem is, I don't fully understand why! I thought it must be because
the wind from the East and the current from the West were equally
balanced so I could just kind of navigate down the middle. But now the
wind isn't blowing at all – dead calm out there – and yet I'm heading
SSW, which is good, but mystifying. Blows my theory about the
counter-current.

I don't like it when there's no wind. Whether on dry land or sea, I find
a good strong breeze bracing and energizing. Combined with the heavy
overcast and frequent showers today, the calm conditions feel rather
oppressive. Plus the wind carries away the pungent pong of the poop deck
– so without it the smell hovers in a cloud around the boat. Pheweee.

I shot some video of the boobies today, behaving in typical birdbrain
fashion. Rather amusing. Watch out for it in tomorrow's installment of
my Pacific RozCast on YouTube!

Mum is having problems viewing the RozTracker. Is anybody else having
problems, or is the gremlin infestation local to Cookridge, Yorkshire?!

I've got a lovely blurb for my Atlantic book (imaginatively entitled
Rowing The Atlantic) from the wonderful Lynne Cox, author of Swimming to
Antarctica. She writes:
"It's a grand adventure, mind boggling, inspiring, and a book that I
just couldn't put down. A fantastic read!"
Thank you Lynne! (The book is published by Simon & Schuster on Oct 6,
but is available now for pre-order on Amazon.com. Errr, hope I make
landfall in time for the book tour!)

UncaDoug – no wiggling westerlies today – just streamlined southerlies!
Alas, your idea about the wind generators is probably not practicable.
Great in theory, but they would have a bad effect on my boat's center of
gravity, and after my washing-machine simulations of 2007 I'm very aware
of keeping the Brocade bottom-heavy. Liked your thoughts on the
collective noun. Booby Nights made me laugh – but I'd rather be having
Boogie Nights!

Sindy – no, not scared by the squalls. They're just inconvenient as I
have to take down the sun canopy because of the strong winds they
generate. But at least they do wash the solar panels on the poop deck –
like going to the carwash!

Aquaphoenix – thanks for the Emerson quote. I hadn't heard that one
before.
And Gregory, thanks for the Churchill quotes. He's one of my very
favorite quotables! Didn't notice the tsunami, so I guess it must have
been not much more than a ripple by the time it got here…

Heather from Wiggly Wigglers – thanks for the comment, and the awwwwful
joke! Let me know if you decide to do a Wiggly Roz special. I would be
honored!

Ami – spooky! I was thinking of you just the other day too! NY – sounds
exciting! I'm probably going to be in Portland in October on my book
tour, but will be in NY too, so hope to see you in one or the other!

Rozheads. Rozrowers. The Roz Crew. Boobie Bunch. Rozlings. Rozettes.
Brocadaderos. Crew Roz. Savages. The Rozter. Rozcales. I like them all,
but Rozlings has a nice ring to it. Sounds like goslings though – does
that make me Mother Goose?!

Quick answers to quick questions:

Q: Are there any similarities between being a consultant (or a
solicitor, for that matter) and rowing across the Pacific?
A: I never practiced law, so I wouldn't know about being a solicitor. As
for management consultancy vs ocean rowing, the project management
experience is really useful in the preparation stages. I couldn't manage
without my spreadsheets to keep it all organized. But when it comes to
the rowing itself…. No, not so much!

Q: Roz- what do you do about storms?
A: Retreat to the cabin, hunker down, and wait for them to pass. But it
hasn't been an issue on this leg of the Pacific. Long may that last!

Weather report:

Position at 2010 HST: 05 37.080N, 175 54.689W
Wind: 0-15kts, mostly E
Seas: 3-6ft, mostly E
Weather: frequent showers, cloud cover, some outbreaks of sunshine

Weather forecast, courtesy of weatherguy.com

As of Monday, 13 July 2009. Wind conditions should be highly variable
the next several days. Winds may have shifted to slightly south of east
today. As of this morning, winds over your position were E 10-20kts.
There is a slight chance the wind could shift to light Nerlies, in the
next five days, which should assist in pushing you southward across the
equator. Wind speeds from calm to 15kts. Seas flat to 3ft.

Sky conditions: Partly to mostly cloudy with low level clouds.
Scattered rainshowers, squalls, and possible thunderstorms. Wind speeds
in these systems 40kts.

ITCZ: The Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) has been quiet these
last few days as indicated by the absence of convective clouds. Still
you are in the prime generation area for heavy squalls and
thunderstorms. Southern edge of the ITCZ is drifting between 02 to 03
00N.

Ocean Current: North Equatorial Counter Current (NEEC). Still looking
for the current to become ENE or Eerly flowing south of your position.
Northern boundary of the NEEC is about 05 00N extending to the southern
boundary near 00 30S. Current speeds increases to Eerly 0.1 to 0.2, then
builds to a maximum near 0.6 to 0.7kts from 02 30N to 01 00N then fades
to 0.1 to 0.2 near the southern boundary. There are periodic
fluctuations in these dimensions.

Recommendation: The light winds, lack of convective activity, and Eerly
flowing current provide and excellent opportunity to move eastward to
enhance an equatorial crossing. Suggest maximum effort to try to stay in
the Eerly flowing current as long as possible by rowing eastward. Or if
you have decided on Tarawa as destination, suggest rowing southwest
towards Tarawa to avoid the maximum NEEC current. You probably will have
an opposing current of about 0.5 kts.

Forecast
Date/Time HST Wind kts Seas (ft) est
13/1800-15/1800 E NE-E 5-15 1-3
15/1800-17/1800 E-NW 0-10 1-2
17/1800-19/1800 NW-N 5-12 2-4

Next Update: Friday, 17July

Today has been a day of mixed fortunes. I woke to find a) that it was
raining, and b) that most of yesterday's meager southerly progress had
been lost overnight. Wind and currents had pushed me back to the north.
It wasn't a flying start to the day, but what can you do? Just get out
there and start rowing.

And row, row, row is what I have done all day, trying to ignore the fact
that I have achieved little more than stemming the northwards drift. I
had got used to knocking off a degree of latitude every 3.5 days on
average. But I've now been struggling towards 6 degrees north for 5 days
already, and as I write I'm still not there.

Usually I look forward to the end of each rowing shift, when I update my
logbook with latitude, longitude, and miles achieved closer to my goal.
The last normally gives me a sense of satisfaction and achievement. I'm
used to doing about 2 knots while I'm rowing, so a 2 hour shift would be
4 miles, or a 3 hour shift 6 miles. But today I've been rowing 3 hours
to gain 2 measly miles, and the sigh of satisfaction has been replaced
with a sigh of resignation.

But, strangely, spirits are good despite the lack of forward progress.

I've found that the art of not going crazy on the ocean comes down
largely to thought management. Despairing thoughts of "am I ever going
to get there?" or "why is this so hard?" are not helpful. So I've been
deliberately diverting my thoughts in a different direction.

If I was some kind of enlightened being, no doubt I would do this by
using meditation. As it is – and this is rather an embarrassing
confession – I've been using Jeffery Archer.

For non-British readers who may not be familiar with Jeffery Archer, he
is a British author producing Grisham-esque novels. However, his
reputation is based less on his literary achievements and more on his
general notoriety. He is a former Member of Parliament with an
unfortunate reputation for exaggerating his own achievements. He was
exposed as having an affair (or was it that he slept with a prostitute?
Or both?) and spent some time in prison for something or other (look on
Wikipedia). He has gained and lost several fortunes, and originally took
to novels to write his way out of bankruptcy.

But he is actually rather a good writer, and "Prisoner of Birth" is a
real page-turner (of whatever the auditory equivalent is). It's the
first of his books that I've read, and I wish I had more. It's a chunky
hunk of a book that I just haven't been able to put down – and as the
rule is that I can only listen to audiobooks while I'm rowing, it's been
very effective at keeping me plugging away at the oars today through
thick and thin, earbuds in, northwards and southwards, fair weather and
foul.

Addicted to Archer in mid-Pacific. Who'da thunk?

[photo: this isn't Birdbrain - it's another booby who from time to time
tries to land on the poop deck. But Birdbrain is having none of it. This
bird is obviously further down the pecking order... and I'm somewhere
below that.]

Other Stuff:

There have been several downpours today. I try and row my boat into the
path of any approaching squalls, as they are very effective in washing
away booby bird poop. But the poop deck doesn't stay poop-free for long
- Birdbrain is still in residence, so there is a never-ending supply.
Our reluctant truce continues – it really is very Life of Pi – we just
ignore each other most of the time. He has his territory on the poop
deck and I have mine in the rowing cockpit. He poops, I row, and so life
goes on.

As I write the weather/current conditions seem to be improving, and my
direction of drift appears to be SW rather than NW. But I'm not taking
anything for granted just yet…

Thanks to the sheer chutzpah of my amazing friend and Lemon Lady Karen
Morss, Nicole is now in email contact with J Maarten Troost, the author
famous for his books about the islands and residents of the Pacific. He
has already contributed some very helpful input about potential
destinations – which is very much appreciated. Thanks, Maarten!

Thank you to all who have posted comments on this blog and on the
Facebook Page. I feel like I should have a collective noun for all you
wonderful people who are supporting me as I paddle, but inspiration has
deserted me. Any ideas?

Weather report:

Position at 2200 HST: 06 01.066N, 175 55.516W
Wind: 5-20+ knots, E-ESE
Seas: 3-8ft
Weather: 3 big squalls, sunny and hot with some cloud in between. You
name it, we've got it!

Weather forecast, courtesy of weatherguy.com

As of Monday, 13 July 2009. Wind conditions should be highly variable
the next several days. Winds may have shifted to slightly south of east
today. As of this morning, winds over your position were E 10-20kts.
There is a slight chance the wind could shift to light Nerlies, in the
next five days, which should assist in pushing you southward across the
equator. Wind speeds from calm to 15kts. Seas flat to 3ft.

Sky conditions: Partly to mostly cloudy with low level clouds.
Scattered rainshowers, squalls, and possible thunderstorms. Wind speeds
in these systems 40kts.

ITCZ: The Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) has been quiet these
last few days as indicated by the absence of convective clouds. Still
you are in the prime generation area for heavy squalls and
thunderstorms. Southern edge of the ITCZ is drifting between 02 to 03
00N.

Ocean Current: North Equatorial Counter Current (NEEC). Still looking
for the current to become ENE or Eerly flowing south of your position.
Northern boundary of the NEEC is about 05 00N extending to the southern
boundary near 00 30S. Current speeds increases to Eerly 0.1 to 0.2, then
builds to a maximum near 0.6 to 0.7kts from 02 30N to 01 00N then fades
to 0.1 to 0.2 near the southern boundary. There are periodic
fluctuations in these dimensions.

Recommendation: The light winds, lack of convective activity, and Eerly
flowing current provide and excellent opportunity to move eastward to
enhance an equatorial crossing. Suggest maximum effort to try to stay in
the Eerly flowing current as long as possible by rowing eastward. Or if
you have decided on Tarawa as destination, suggest rowing southwest
towards Tarawa to avoid the maximum NEEC current. You probably will have
an opposing current of about 0.5 kts.

Forecast
Date/Time HST Wind kts Seas (ft) est
13/1800-15/1800 E NE-E 5-15 1-3
15/1800-17/1800 E-NW 0-10 1-2
17/1800-19/1800 NW-N 5-12 2-4

Next Update: Friday, 17July

Today has been a hard grind at the oars. Everything has gone a
bit wiggly. Conditions are conspiring to push me north and west, when
I'm trying to head south. So the wind and I are in a tug of war. Every
time I stop rowing the wind and current take over and undo the
pathetically small distance I have worked so hard to gain.

Regardless of whether I am aiming for Tuvalu or Tarawa, it is important
to get south as quickly as possible. The southern edge of the ITCZ is
like a barrier running from east to west, but it is a barrier with
holes, so I will have to keep attacking it, probing it while the winds
push me westwards until I find a weak point in the barrier where I can
get through. The sooner I get to the barrier and start this probing
process, the greater my chances of finding an opportunity to get through
to the promised land beyond.

If I extrapolated from today's wiggly-line progress I would be in
despair and trying to arrange a welcoming committee in the Philippines.
But the one sure thing about oceans is that conditions change, so I can
just hope they change sooner rather than later and let me get back on
course. Wiggling is a lovely word, but wiggles on the ocean wave are not
welcome.

Meanwhile the good news is that the fragile truce with the boobies
continues. This morning was rather noisy, as two birds bickered over who
was top booby, but by this afternoon one of them had established
supremacy and spent the rest of the day quietly preening his feathers on
what is now known as the poop deck.

Once again trying to raise the tone of this blog from bottoms, boobies
and bird poop, I've started picking out some of my favorite quotes from
a list I compiled for the Atlantic row. I found the laminated sheets in
the Aquapac where I keep the ship's logbook and a few other documents.
Here are three goodies for you.

In honor of the boobies:
Endure what can't be mended.
(Isaac Watts)

In reference to trying to stay on course for a landfall this side of
Christmas:
The future depends on what we do in the present.
(Mahatma Ghandi)

And to remind me to try and hold it all together:
What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared
to what lies within us.
(Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Post Script: Since I started typing this blog entry my course has
moderated slightly from a very alarming NW tilt to a more westerly
course. I'm hoping nothing too disastrous happens overnight. So as
always, the only constant in life is change…

[photo: today's track on my GPS – looking rather like a chart of average
yearly global temperatures…]

Other Stuff:

Eco Champ for Day 50! Beverly G posted this comment yesterday, which
really gave me a boost.
"Roz, following your adventure has caused my family to make some life
changes to reduce our impact on the Earth. Along with the things we've
read about on your website like getting reusable shopping bags and water
bottles, we have also stopped using our electric clothes dryer. We now
dry our clothes on a line. I was shocked by how much we were spending to
run it. We now give the money we're saving to our 10-year-old son in
exchange for hanging the clothes on the line and taking them down. He
loves the extra spending money, and we love the outdoor-fresh smell of
our clothes, all while reducing our impact on the Earth. It's a
win-win-win solution. Thanks for opening our eyes to environmental
responsibility, Roz. We're spreading the word to all of our friends and
family."

Great job, Beverly, and hi to the rest of your family too. Tell Kevin
that in answer to his question we'll post photos of me when I arrive at
Island X and he can judge the size of my muscles for himself!

Congratulations to Mick Dawson and Chris Martin
(www.goldengateendeavour.com) on having crossed the International Date
Line. Their last blog showed their position to be 34d 7m 41"N 178d 26m
14"W. I was very sorry to hear that Mick's father lost his battle with
cancer yesterday. It must be very tough for Mick to be so far away from
his family at this time. My thoughts are with them all.

Thanks for all the helpful suggestions about my feathered foes. I had
already tried the water deterrent, but it was literally water off a
duck's back – not a blind bit of difference. Jack – loved the idea about
putting Rick Astley on the stereo! But of course I don't have any with
me… and wouldn't admit it if I did!

I doubt if I'll ever come to regard the smelly old boobies as friends,
but we have now achieved a reasonable state of acceptable co-existence.
As to naming them, the one most persistent resident is now known as
Birdbrain – which was the politest amongst the options that sprang to
mind. When there were the 3 of them, I considered naming them Dumb,
Dumber, and Dumbest ****ing ****er Ever. So Birdbrain is positively
affectionate by comparison, and a sign of my increasing acceptance of
the invasion of the boobies. I am zen(ish).

And finally, back on the subject of wiggling, if you're into eco stuff
and particularly composting, please check out the Wiggly Wigglers link
from my store at www.rozsavage.com. WW do a great range of eco products
including their signature product – the Can o Worms for adding to your
compost heap. Wiggle your way to a greener world! (BTW, they do a
fantastic podcast too – it's cult listening in the UK!)

Weather report:

Position at 2200 HST: 06 06.241N, 175 48.969W
Wind: very variable today. 5-20kts, E-ESE
Seas: 4-6ft
Weather: hot, sunny, some cloud, no rainshowers today

Weather forecast, courtesy of weatherguy.com

As of Monday, 13 July 2009. Wind conditions should be highly variable
the next several days. Winds may have shifted to slightly south of east
today. As of this morning, winds over your position were E 10-20kts.
There is a slight chance the wind could shift to light Nerlies, in the
next five days, which should assist in pushing you southward across the
equator. Wind speeds from calm to 15kts. Seas flat to 3ft.

Sky conditions: Partly to mostly cloudy with low level clouds.
Scattered rainshowers, squalls, and possible thunderstorms. Wind speeds
in these systems 40kts.

ITCZ: The Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) has been quiet these
last few days as indicated by the absence of convective clouds . Still
you are in the prime generation area for heavy squalls and
thunderstorms. Southern edge of the ITCZ is drifting between 02 to 03
00N.

Ocean Current: North Equatorial Counter Current (NEEC). Still looking
for the current to become ENE or Eerly flowing south of your position.
Northern boundary of the NEEC is about 05 00N extending to the southern
boundary near 00 30S. Current speeds increases to Eerly 0.1 to 0.2, then
builds to a maximum near 0.6 to 0.7kts from 02 30N to 01 00N then fades
to 0.1 to 0.2 near the southern boundary. There are periodic
fluctuations in these
dimensions.

Recommendation: The light winds, lack of convective activity, and Eerly
flowing current provide and excellent opportunity to move eastward to
enhance an equatorial crossing. Suggest maximum effort to try to stay in
the Eerly flowing current as long as possible by rowing eastward. Or if
you have decided on Tarawa as destination, suggest rowing southwest
towards Tarawa to avoid the maximum NEEC current. You probably will have
an opposing current of about 0.5 kts.

Forecast
Date/Time HST Wind kts Seas (ft) est
13/1800-15/1800 E NE-E 5-15 1-3
15/1800-17/1800 E-NW 0-10 1-2
17/1800-19/1800 NW-N 5-12 2-4

Next Update: Friday, 17July

Am I overreacting to the battle of the boobies? I wondered to myself
last night as I tried to get to sleep, still very aware that my
uninvited houseguests were on board and speculating as to what state I
would find the boat in the morning. After all, I've endured much worse
things at sea. I've put up with injuries, capsizes, running out of water
and equipment failures galore. What's the big deal about an infestation
of large smelly, noisy birds?

But actually, I decided, my resentment of their intrusion was justified.
After all, this boat is my home. And how would YOU feel if three
complete strangers barged into your living room without so much as a
by-your-leave, and proceeded to argue loudly with each other, shoving
each other around and bickering endlessly. Oh, and these rude strangers
are also doubly incontinent, and relieve themselves copiously all over
your furniture.

I suspect that you wouldn't be too happy about the situation. And
neither am I.

This morning I was not much happier, as I scrubbed bird poop off the
deck, the strong ammonia smell making me gag. The situation was even
affecting my appetite – and normally nothing comes between me and my
food. But it's hard to work up enthusiasm for your breakfast when your
surroundings smell like a public toilet.

I was at my wits' end. It was clear that I was never going to be able to
get it through the boobies' thick birdbrained skulls that they are not
welcome. Repeatedly hitting them with the dustpan had no effect
whatsoever, other than a fleeting sense of satisfaction as I sent them
somersaulting into the ocean. But they just came back again. Nor do I
have any way to physically prevent them from landing on the boat, other
than what I had already tried with the ropes.

If I'd had a gun on board they might have been in real trouble. I
entertained dark thoughts about trying to shoot them with a marine
flare. I seriously considered trying to catch one and wringing its neck,
but eventually decided it was excessively harsh to kill them when they
are just too plain stupid to know any better. So I seemed to have run
out of options. Would I have to put up with their antisocial behavior
for the next 800 miles? I felt rather despondent.

But by this afternoon I had arrived at a more philosophical state of
mind. I realized that I can't get rid of them, so I either have to
accept the situation or drive myself crazy. So I've given up blatting
them away with the red dustpan. They only come straight back again, and
it sets off another round of rowdy squawking as they repeat their
jostling for prime position. The fore cabin is filthy, but I can't reach
it to scrub it. I'm even gradually becoming immune to the stink.

So I have more or less accepted that for the foreseeable future I will
have to tolerate my unwanted hitchhikers. It really is amazing what the
human animal can adapt to when (written with gritted teeth) she really
has absolutely no choice.

[photo: Booby completely oblivious to my anti-booby measures, standing
proudly in his own mess. Smart? I don't think so...]

Other Stuff:

Maybe my zen acceptance is partly due to my choice of audiobook for the
day – James Herriot's Vet in Harness.– beautifully told stories of the
travails of a young vet in the Yorkshire Dales in the 1930's. All very
earthy, with lots of muck and blood to put my current issues in
perspective. Also made me feel, unexpectedly, rather homesick. Resolved
to spend more time in English country pubs when I next have the
opportunity.

Made better rowing progress today. The wind spent some time in the
northeast, which was welcome. Got another email from Jason Lewis which,
while giving me invaluable information, also fed my lurking anxiety
about what might happen between 6 and 3 degrees North. But there's no
point worrying about it. It will be what it will be. At least the battle
of the boobies has provided me with some distraction from the rather
more substantial concerns that lie ahead.

As I write this blog there is a torrential downpour going on. I hope it
washes away some booby poop.

Karen Morss, you are a legend. So J Maarten Troost wrote back to you –
unbelievable!! Can't wait to hear what his thoughts are on Tuvalu vs
Tarawa – although ultimately it will probably be the ocean, not me, that
makes the decision.

Thanks for all the other comments – on boobies, plastic pollution,
everything. All much appreciated.

For those who have written to say you are giving up using plastic bags –
THANK YOU!!!! This is such a big win. If you check out the store at
rozsavage.com there are some super eco-friendly re-usable bags, made
from recycled plastic and themselves recycleable, and bearing the
inspiring message: IF WE ALL PULL TOGETHER, WE CAN SAVE THE WORLD.

Weather report:

Position at 2120 HST: 06 10.727N, 175 32.155W
Wind: 5-20kts, E-ENE
Seas: 3-6ft
Weather: mostly sunny and hot, some clouds. Towards sunset several
rainstorms visible around me.

Weather forecast, courtesy of weatherguy.com

As of Thursday, 09 July 2009. Expect widely variable wind speeds and
direction while in close proximity to the ITCZ. NEerly trade winds
continue around the 10-15 kts, but veer to ENE 10kts by tomorrow
morning, then back to NE 10kts by tomorrow night. Periods of lighter
winds. Seas to 2-6ft.

Sky conditions: Mostly cloudy with low level clouds. Isolated
rainshowers, squalls, and possible thunderstorms. Wind speeds in these
systems 40-50kts.

ITCZ: The Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) has heated up just
south of your present location. Convective clouds have increased
producing squalls and thunderstorms. The axis of the ITCZ is centered on
05 00N between 170W and 180E/W. The northern ITCZ edge is about 06 30N
and the southern edge near 02 00N. As of this morning, winds south of 07
30N to 03 00N were from the NE direction at about 7-22kts. In squalls
and rainshowers winds were 40kts.

Ocean Current: Still looking for the current to become ENE or Eerly
flowing at about 06 00N in the North Equatorial Counter Current. This
current extends to about 01 00N. There are periodic fluctuations in
these dimensions.

Forecast below is for a SWerly course.
Date/Time HST Wind kts Seas (ft)
09/1800-10/0000 NE 10-15 4-6
10/0000-10/1800 ENE 7-12 3-5
10/1800-11/0900 NE 7-12 3-5
11/0900-13/0000 E 2-7 2-4
13/0000-14/1800 ENE-NE 5-10 3-5

3

Picture the scene: a slightly crazed-looking naked woman is waving a red
dustpan in your face and yelling all kinds of curses, mostly ending in
"off" and none of them repeatable here. Which of the following would you
think is the most likely interpretation of her intentions?
a) you are most welcome to land there and poop all over my solar
panels
b) let's play fights – your beak against my red dustpan
c) go away and never darken my fore cabin again.

Sigh. I would have thought it was fairly obvious. But Birdbrain here
wasn't getting the message. He just squawked back petulantly, slithered
around a bit on the panels as I tried to scoop him away with the
dustpan, retreated beyond the reach of my arm + domestic implement, and
then went back to preening his feathers. After the first dozen times
this was getting a bit old. I obviously wasn't going to manage to train
him not to land here. I needed a better strategy.

Aha. I had an idea. I would string several strands of rope across the
roof of the cabin, from the cleat on the prow to the small raised
triangle of the sun canopy's support. The rope would be a couple of
inches above the solar panels and would prevent the booby from landing .

I lashed three lines together, with a large loop at the end. After many
failed attempts, I finally managed to lasso the cleat and tied off the
three ends of the line to create a cat's cradle of narrow triangles. As
I worked, the booby tried to kept trying to land on the roof. Another
booby turned up and the two of them squabbled loudly like disagreeable
children. I kept trying to shoo them away but they just weren't taking
the hint.

At last my booby trap was ready. I stood back and admired my handiwork.

The booby circled and landed, totally disregarding my deterrent. His big
webbed feet splayed across the rope, his weight pinning it down to the
solar panel. He pooped triumphantly. I turned away in despair, just in
time to see the other booby land on the roof of the other cabin, and
deposit a copious white puddle across the solar panels there.

Sigh. I swore, and went back to my rowing, trying to listen to "Dreams
From My Father" by Barack Obama, his chocolatey voice all but drowned
out by the squawking, pooping, pestilential vermin sitting on the cabin
behind me.

P.S. Since I first drafted this, a total of 3 boobies have now taken up
residence on my boat. I've taken the dustpan to them times beyond
number, but they just circle and come back again. They jostle noisily
for position on the fore cabin roof, balancing precariously between the
strands of rope. They do everything noisily, in fact. Every large wave
is accompanied by a commentary of discordant squawks, as if they'd never
seen a wave before in their lives. They just never shut up. It's driving
me absolutely nuts. Oh no, as I type this, one of them has just
discovered the cockpit. It is standing on my rowing seat. I hate to
think what stinking state the boat is going to be in by the morning. To
say that I feel intruded upon would be a gross understatement. Errgh, I
can smell their poop from here, inside my cabin. Forget intrusion, more
like violation. It's just not even funny any more.

[photo: my nemesis]

Other Stuff:

Slow progress today. When not taking swipes at boobies with a dustpan
I've been rowing hard, but have made a scant 20 nautical miles. I'm not
sure why progress is so slow – the wind has been fairly brisk and I'm
not aware of any adverse current here. Just one of those things. But at
least the miles have been in the right direction, which may not continue
to be the case as I get closer to the Equator.

Nicole tells me that today I was featured on bing.com's home page. Bing
is the new search engine from Microsoft, launched to compete with
Google, and apparently it's doing rather well. Today's homepage features
an image of a kayaker going over a massive waterfall. The image changes
every day and there are various spots on the image to click — if you
click on the kayak it says, "Some people row boats over waterfalls; Roz
Savage rowed one across the Atlantic. Click here to view videos of her."
and it takes you to a gallery filled with my videos. Cool!

Correction: I mistakenly said that Jason Lewis had a crewmate for his
pedalboat crossing from Hawaii to Tarawa. In fact he pedaled alone for
this stage of his circumnavigation.

A special hello to Sarah, Bill, Jack and Grace! From my big duck pond!!
And also to Anne and Pete – lovely to hear from you!

Quick answers to quick questions:

Q: Have you seen the green flash at sunset yet, or are you too low in
the water?
A: No, I haven't seen it, although I keep looking. Generally I'm too
low, and/or waves are too high, and/or clouds on the horizon get in the
way.

Q: Roz, do you sing, hum or whistle while you row?
A: No, not much. Although I might do when I get tired of audiobooks and
take to music instead. But believe me, 1000 miles from the nearest human
ears is the best place for me to sing. My singing would make the boobies
sound like Mariah Carey!

Weather report:

Position at 2100 HST: 06 32.073N, 175 18.054W
Wind: 10-20 knots E
Seas: 3-9 ft
Weather: sunny with clouds and short squalls

Weather forecast, courtesy of weatherguy.com

As of Thursday, 09 July 2009. Expect widely variable wind speeds and
direction while in close proximity to the ITCZ. NEerly trade winds
continue around the 10-15 kts, but veer to ENE 10kts by tomorrow
morning, then back to NE 10kts by tomorrow night. Periods of lighter
winds. Seas to 2-6ft.

Sky conditions: Mostly cloudy with low level clouds. Isolated
rainshowers, squalls, and possible thunderstorms. Wind speeds in these
systems 40-50kts.

ITCZ: The Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) has heated up just
south of your present location. Convective clouds have increased
producing squalls and thunderstorms. The axis of the ITCZ is centered on
05 00N between 170W and 180E/W. The northern ITCZ edge is about 06 30N
and the southern edge near 02 00N. As of this morning, winds south of 07
30N to 03 00N were from the NE direction at about 7-22kts. In squalls
and rainshowers winds were 40kts.

Ocean Current: Still looking for the current to become ENE or Eerly
flowing at about 06 00N in the North Equatorial Counter Current. This
current extends to about 01 00N. There are periodic fluctuations in
these dimensions.

Forecast below is for a SWerly course.
Date/Time HST Wind kts Seas (ft)
09/1800-10/0000 NE 10-15 4-6
10/0000-10/1800 ENE 7-12 3-5
10/1800-11/0900 NE 7-12 3-5
11/0900-13/0000 E 2-7 2-4
13/0000-14/1800 ENE-NE 5-10 3-5

Today I was listening to the audiobook of "Left For Dead" by Beck
Weathers, an amateur climber who was caught up in the infamous storm on
Everest in May 1996 when many climbers lost their lives. He was given up
for dead, but later staggered into camp alone, horrendously frostbitten.
He survived, although he lost both hands and his nose. Even as he was
being med-evacced from the mountain he'd quipped, "I knew this trip was
going to cost me an arm and a leg…"

What I found most interesting about the book was not the main drama
itself, but his motivation for adventuring. He'd always battled with
depression, and found an escape in the mountains – partly because of the
need for total focus, and partly because it gave him an external
standard by which he could measure himself successful.

But it came at a price – he neglected his family terribly. His wife had
been pushed beyond even her quite exceptional levels of patience, and
was going to give him an ultimatum when he returned from Everest. He
would have had to choose between her, or the mountains. As it was, the
choice was taken out of his hands (so to speak). Ironically, the
catastrophe probably saved his marriage.

This got me thinking about why people go adventuring. Some people, like
Beck, go to lose themselves. Others go to find themselves. Some
onlookers might think that adventure is all very well, but it's not real
life, is it? Others would say that adventure is as real and intense as
life ever gets.

I suppose, like any other kind of experience, an adventure is what you
choose to make it. Depending on your natural tendency, everything you do
can be a learning experience. If you're always on the lookout for ways
to be a better person, every little thing that life offers you can be an
opportunity. Or, if you're not so open to change, you could be climbing
mountains or rowing oceans and still not really learning anything about
yourself. .

Having adventures doesn't make you a better person. It's not the
experiences you have, but what you choose to do with them.

And here endeth the sermon!

[Editorial note: It's not my fault. Both my parents were preachers. I'm
now at that rather frightening age when not only do you realize that
you're turning into your parents, but you actually don't mind that you
are... With all due respect to my lovely mum!]

[photo: The Booby is Back. This guy has been making a nuisance of
himself the last couple of days. Landed on my fore cabin yesterday and
noisily resisted my attempts to shoo him away before he started pooping.
He also keeps landing on the water just where I'm about to put my oar
in. As Chris Myles commented, they really have to be the stupidest birds
on the planet - birdbrains indeed!]

Other Stuff:

Today has been rather discombobulating. It got off to a good start. I
woke early and started rowing under a bright moon and a sprinkling of
stars, then watched the sun rise in a blush of pinks. But the rowing was
hard going – a lot of work for little reward. My first 3 hours of rowing
netted me just 3 miles to the good. It was going to be a long day. The
situation wasn't helped by a couple of squalls. Both created strong
winds and downpours that had me diving for cover. In their wake they
left an unnatural calm, when the ocean felt more than ever like
molasses.

So this is the ITCZ. I'd better just get used to it, and win my
southerly miles where and when I can. Meanwhile, I've crossed over 175
degrees west. Just 5 degrees, or a tad under 300 nautical miles, before
I get to the International Date Line. Got to keep pushing south though,
through the labyrinth of currents, winds, and squalls that awaits me.

I recorded a new podcast with Nicole this morning. You can find it via
the RozTracker. We have a good old natter about the huge human impact of
rising sea levels. This is affecting all the Pacific islands – including
Tuvalu and Tarawa – as well as many other parts of the world.

Thanks for all the fantastic comments on the blog and Facebook – and for
the offers of accommodation during my writer's retreat next Jan-Feb.
I've had some very tempting offers, and of course I want to accept them
all, but in the interests of actually getting some work done had better
try and control my enthusiasm for travel. I will ponder as I row and
respond soon to all my wonderful would-be hosts very soon.

I'm also grateful for the updates on the G8 summit. I wish there was
better news on China and India. Hmmmm….

Thanks, Tawita, for extending a welcome to Tarawa. If/when I end up
there I very much look forward to meeting you and your compatriots!
Fraid I won't be much use as a lawyer, though – my degree didn't include
anything of any practical use. Happy to barter day trips on a rowboat
though!

Doug Grandt on FriendFeed – thank you for the Bimini Bobbity Boobity
Moon. Love it!!!

Quick answers to quick questions:

Q: Roz, do you ever see any passing boats or ships of any kind?
A: I haven't seen any for many weeks now. The last boat I saw was a
fishing vessel about 500 miles from Hawaii. Since then I've had the
ocean all to myself. Excellent!

Weather report:

Position at 2120 HST: 06 47.032N, 175 04.677W
Wind: 5-20+ knots, E-ESE
Seas: 5-8ft
Weather: all over the shop

Weather forecast, courtesy of weatherguy.com

As of Thursday, 09 July 2009. Expect widely variable wind speeds and
direction while in close proximity to the ITCZ. NEerly trade winds
continue around the 10-15 kts, but veer to ENE 10kts by tomorrow
morning, then back to NE 10kts by tomorrow night. Periods of lighter
winds. Seas to 2-6ft.

Sky conditions: Mostly cloudy with low level clouds. Isolated
rainshowers, squalls, and possible thunderstorms. Wind speeds in these
systems 40-50kts.

ITCZ: The Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) has heated up just
south of your present location. Convective clouds have increased
producing squalls and thunderstorms. The axis of the ITCZ is centered on
05 00N between 170W and 180E/W. The northern ITCZ edge is about 06 30N
and the southern edge near 02 00N. As of this morning, winds south of 07
30N to 03 00N were from the NE direction at about 7-22kts. In squalls
and rainshowers winds were 40kts.

Ocean Current: Still looking for the current to become ENE or Eerly
flowing at about 06 00N in the North Equatorial Counter Current. This
current extends to about 01 00N. There are periodic fluctuations in
these dimensions.

Forecast below is for a SWerly course.
Date/Time HST Wind kts Seas (ft)
09/1800-10/0000 NE 10-15 4-6
10/0000-10/1800 ENE 7-12 3-5
10/1800-11/0900 NE 7-12 3-5
11/0900-13/0000 E 2-7 2-4
13/0000-14/1800 ENE-NE 5-10 3-5

I realized, after I'd posted my blog last night, that I had done you a
disservice. I'd had a really nice day, and had not shared it with you.
Instead I'd chosen to focus on the one negative aspect of the day – my
worries over where I will land up. It was as if I felt guilty about
having a good time out here, as if adventure has to be hard work –
blood, sweat and tears – instead of sometimes just relaxing and enjoying
the ride.

So, slightly belatedly, here is my account of My Good Day At The Ocean
Office.

7am: Wake up at dawn. Rain is drumming on cabin roof. Decide to stay in
bunk and wait for it to pass.

7.15am: Get up. Update logbook while munching breakfast Larabar.

7.30am: Row

9am: Phone call with Nicole. Exciting updates and good news on our
land-based projects.

9.45am: Row. Finish J Maarten Troost audiobook. Really enjoyed that one.
Switch over to Wayne Dyer.

11am: Take break to video birds swooping at leaping fish

1pm: Lunch – Beansprouts with trimmings.

1.30pm: Siesta. Cabin is hot as hell, and the wind is light, so I put up
the sun canopy and snooze on deck in the shade, enjoying the breeze on
my skin. Only the third or fourth time it has been calm enough for me to
do this, so it's a real treat.

2.30pm: Row, taking a break at 5pm

8pm: Watch sun set while I brush my teeth on deck. Am surprised by a
fish swimming out from under my boat right under where I am crouching at
the side. Watch the fish as it does several laps, under my boat, out a
bit, back under the boat. Get rather mesmerized. Teeth get very well
brushed.

8.30pm: Retreat to cabin for blogging and emails. Write blog while
watching last vestiges of light fade colorfully from the western sky.
Find out about being Outside Mag Adventure Twitterer, plus other updates
and news. All good stuff.

10.30pm: Retire to bunk, feeling content. I may not be sure where I'm
going, but at least I'm having a good time getting there.

[photo: She knows not where she's going, for the ocean will decide. It's
not the destination, it's the glory of the ride. (adapted from Zen Dog)}

Other Stuff:

Crunch time turned out not to be quite as crunchy as I'd expected. I'd
thought I needed to make my decision before entering the No Man's Land
of the ITCZ, and if Tuvalu head south, if Tarawa head west. But on
re-reading Jason Lewis's blog, I saw that he'd cut south through the
ITCZ and North Equatorial Counter Current, and then skimmed along just
north of the Equator to reach Tarawa. So whichever I choose, for now the
plan of action remains the same – to push south.

Today I got a great email from Jason, packed full of helpful information
about how to navigate the ITCZ and into Tarawa – but in it he sounded a
note of warning about the challenge that lies ahead: "Getting down to 5
or 6N shouldn't be too bad. It's punching out of the southern edge, 6N
to 4N, where the water funnels up from the southern hemisphere, that it
gets tricky. It's when you're asleep that you lose ground, of course
(can you just not sleep ." Hmmm, interesting times ahead.

I posted my new weekly RozCast video today. Probably by the time you
read this Dawn will have edited it and posted it to YouTube. Look out
for it via the RozTracker!

A special thank you – because it's been a while since I said it – to
TeamRoz. Mum, Nicole, Laureen, Sinead, Daisy and Dawn – thanks for
keeping the show on the road. And thank you too to Hunter, Traci and
Evan at Archinoetics for the incomparable RozTracker – and I'm looking
forward to working with you in the future. And to Dr Aenor for her
ever-alert medical radar. An ocean rowing gal couldn't wish for a better
support team – thank you!

Thanks also to Karen Morss for writing to J Maarten Troost on my behalf.
Karen, is there anybody in the world whose email you can't lay your
hands on?! I take my hat off to your enterprising spirit. You don't
happen to have Johnny Depp's phone number, do you??!

Thanks for all the comnments, and especially the Tweets about my Outside
Magazine ranking. Made me laugh! Also for all the input about Tuvalu vs
Tarawa. Weatherguy and I are in discussions….

UncaDoug – Re the ideas about stopping the sun canopy flapping – yes, I
do have the means to secure the canopy to the spare oars. Stops it
flapping. Works a treat – except that then there isn't enough headroom
underneath it for me to row! Don't concern yourself over it – I know
what I have on board, and I'm pretty good at improvising. If it was
possible I would do it. If not, I have a plan for Stage 3. Thanks for
the good news from G8 – that is really encouraging! 350ppm gets my vote.

Sindy – love the t-shirt!

Special hello to Sue at Green People. I'm now on my fourth tube of
SPF22! Great stuff – the suntan is coming along nicely. Thanks for the
excerpt from the Blogger blurb. Wow! I do actually feel quite famous!

Michelle U – I'm embarrassed to admit that I wouldn't recognize the
Pleiades if they punched me on the nose! I know they're the seven
sisters, but not quite sure how to pick them out. Sorry!

Meg – thanks for the prediction. I hope you're right!

Quick answers to quick questions:

Q: Are you able to try to hit the Equator and the International Date
Line at the same time? That would be one heck of a feat, and something
interesting to see on the GPS receiver!
A: It would indeed be interesting – but not sufficiently interesting for
me to make that detour and blow my chances of making landfall!

Weather report:

Position at 2115 HST: 07 01.350N, 174 43.949W
Wind: 5-20kts, E-ESE
Seas: 5-8ft
Weather: extremely variable. Mostly sunny and hot with clouds, but wind
all over the place. No showers today.

Weather forecast, courtesy of weatherguy.com

As of Thursday, 09 July 2009. Expect widely variable wind speeds and
direction while in close proximity to the ITCZ. NEerly trade winds
continue around the 10-15 kts, but veer to ENE 10kts by tomorrow
morning, then back to NE 10kts by tomorrow night. Periods of lighter
winds. Seas to 2-6ft.

Sky conditions: Mostly cloudy with low level clouds. Isolated
rainshowers, squalls, and possible thunderstorms. Wind speeds in these
systems 40-50kts.

ITCZ: The Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) has heated up just
south of your present location. Convective clouds have increased
producing squalls and thunderstorms. The axis of the ITCZ is centered on
05 00N between 170W and 180E/W. The northern ITCZ edge is about 06 30N
and the southern edge near 02 00N. As of this morning, winds south of 07
30N to 03 00N were from the NE direction at about 7-22kts. In squalls
and rainshowers winds were 40kts.

Ocean Current: Still looking for the current to become ENE or Eerly
flowing at about 06 00N in the North Equatorial Counter Current. This
current extends to about 01 00N. There are periodic fluctuations in
these dimensions.

Forecast below is for a SWerly course.
Date/Time HST Wind kts Seas (ft)
09/1800-10/0000 NE 10-15 4-6
10/0000-10/1800 ENE 7-12 3-5
10/1800-11/0900 NE 7-12 3-5
11/0900-13/0000 E 2-7 2-4
13/0000-14/1800 ENE-NE 5-10 3-5

It's crunch time. I need to decide which way to turn: Tuvalu or Tarawa?

Originally I set my sights on Tuvalu – mostly for environmental reasons.
It is one of those unfortunate countries being most impacted by rising
sea levels, and has already started to relocate its population to New
Zealand. What better way to illustrate the impact of climate change?

But unfortunately Tuvalu has significant drawbacks apart from the
obvious one that it is disappearing. With a population of only 10,000
and limited infrastructure, it is difficult to get to or away from, and
the chances of finding anywhere satisfactory to store my boat are
minimal.

Tarawa, on the other hand, while hardly a seething metropolis, does have
reasonably good flight schedules, and rather more in the way of
infrastructure. It is also where Jason Lewis and his crewmate dropped in
on their way from Hawaii to Australia, which gives me some faint
reassurance that winds and currents might allow me to get there.

Because this is the deciding factor: which is the safest option
navigationally? Both are tiny targets in a very, very big ocean, and if
I miss landfall it's a long way to the next possible pitstop. The worst
situation would be to dither and procrastinate and end up falling
between two atolls. That would be just plain embarrassing, not to
mention extremely inconvenient.

It would have been nice to get south of the Equator on this leg, but at
1 degree and change north of the Equator, Tarawa is at least below all
the tricky stuff of the ITCZ and the counter current – just about –
hopefully leaving me a clear run for Stage 3. So I may just have to
celebrate crossing the International Date Line on this leg, and leave my
Equator crossing until next time around.

So hopefully by this time tomorrow, after a final round of consultation
with weatherguy, I will have a decision.

[photo: This morning a load of these fellas were chirping noisily near
my boat, swooping for fish. I see them most days, and I've never yet
seen one catch anything. But they seem to be having a good time anyway.]

Other Stuff:

Today was a slightly odd day weatherwise. I was woken by the sound of
rain pounding on the cabin roof, and treated myself to a lie-in while
several showers passed by. I don't mind if a shower soaks me once I'm
out and rowing, but it's not nice to be on a wet seat cushion from the
get-go. For most of the rest of the day there was barely a breath of
wind, and when it revived it was coming from a new direction – northeast
rather than the east. This was rather disorienting – I've got so very
used to the east trade winds.

It was this that focused my mind on the Tuvalu/Tarawa decision. If I'm
about to enter the mysterious world of the ITCZ, I need to be absolutely
sure which way I want to go. If the weather is going to be all over the
place, somebody around here needs to know what's what.

Quick bit of blowing my own trumpet – Nicole tells me that in this
month's edition of Outside Magazine (American publication, very popular
with all kinds of outdoor enthusiasts) I have been chosen as one of the
Top Five Twitters, alongside the likes of Lance Armstrong and Michael
Phelps. Honored, I'm sure.

But don't worry – I won't get big-headed. Two things keep stop me
growing out of my hats.
1. My Dad. He died 5 years ago, but I can still hear his voice.
Like any true Yorkshireman he was never over-impressed with anybody's
achievements, his own or anybody else's. Or not that he let on, anyway.
2. The ocean. The Pacific couldn't care less about Adventure
Twitterers, 8-time Olympic gold medal winners or 7-time Tour de France
winners. To the ocean, we're all just flotsam.

Eco Champ of the Day:
Ocean Girl: "Our household had been on reduced plastic bag but after
following your blog, we moved to NO plastic bag completely."
FANTASTIC!! Thanks, OG. Let's hope after reading this a few other people
will do the same.

Joan – thanks for the tips on viewing the eclipse. Hmmm, the arts and
crafts locker – let's see!

And thanks for all the other great comments and gruesome grub stories –
all very entertaining!

Quick answers to quick question:

Q: What is your degree from Oxford in Roz?
A: Jurisprudence (aka Law). But in fact I really specialized in rowing
and drinking beer.

Q: Any insects out there?
A: No – bliss!

Weather report:

Position at 2115 HST: 07 29.366N, 174 24.380W
Wind: 5-8kts E this morning and afternoon, 5-20kts NE this evening
Seas: 5-8ft
Weather: variable – see above

Weather forecast, courtesy of weatherguy.com:

As of Monday, 06 July 2009. The easterly trade winds have turned more
northerly still around the 15-20 kts range with periods of lighter
winds. Wind speed gradually abates beginning 08July to become 5-12kts by
10July. As the winds abate they shift to ESE-SEerly direction, which may
make it harder to row southwards in headwinds. Seas abate to 3-5ft.

Sky conditions: Mostly cloudy with low level clouds. Isolated
rainshowers.

ITCZ: The Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) has quieted since last
report so maybe the passage through will be less dramatic. Convective
clouds have become fewer. The northern ITCZ edge has become diffuse but
the axis is along 170W to 180W between 03 00N and 04 00N. As of this
morning, winds south of 08 30N to the Equator between 170-177W were from
5-17kts with only isolated rainshowers of moderate strength.

Ocean Current: Still looking for the current to become Eerly flowing at
about 06 00N in the North Equatorial Counter Current. We will see how
this can aid your passage across the Equator.

Forecast below is for a SWerly course.
Date/Time HST Wind kts Seas (ft)
06/1800-07/1800 ENE 15-20 6-8
07/1800-08/1800 NE 15-20 6-8
08/1800-09/1800 NE-E 10-15 5-7
09/1800-10/1800 E-SE 7-12 4-6
10/1800-11/1800 SE-E 5-10 3-5

Next Update: Thursday, 09July

It's crunch time. I need to decide which way to turn: Tuvalu or Tarawa?

Originally I set my sights on Tuvalu – mostly for environmental reasons.
It is one of those unfortunate countries being most impacted by rising
sea levels, and has already started to relocate its population to New
Zealand. What better way to illustrate the impact of climate change?

But unfortunately Tuvalu has significant drawbacks apart from the
obvious one that it is disappearing. With a population of only 10,000
and limited infrastructure, it is difficult to get to or away from, and
the chances of finding anywhere satisfactory to store my boat are
minimal.

Tarawa, on the other hand, while hardly a seething metropolis, does have
reasonably good flight schedules, and rather more in the way of
infrastructure. It is also where Jason Lewis and his crewmate dropped in
on their way from Hawaii to Australia, which gives me some faint
reassurance that winds and currents might allow me to get there.

Because this is the deciding factor: which is the safest option
navigationally? Both are tiny targets in a very, very big ocean, and if
I miss landfall it's a long way to the next possible pitstop. The worst
situation would be to dither and procrastinate and end up falling
between two atolls. That would be just plain embarrassing, not to
mention extremely inconvenient.

It would have been nice to get south of the Equator on this leg, but at
1 degree and change north of the Equator, Tarawa is at least below all
the tricky stuff of the ITCZ and the counter current – just about –
hopefully leaving me a clear run for Stage 3. So I may just have to
celebrate crossing the International Date Line on this leg, and leave my
Equator crossing until next time around.

So hopefully by this time tomorrow, after a final round of consultation
with weatherguy, I will have a decision.

[photo: This morning a load of these fellas were chirping noisily near
my boat, swooping for fish. I see them most days, and I've never yet
seen one catch anything. But they seem to be having a good time anyway.]

Other Stuff:

Today was a slightly odd day weatherwise. I was woken by the sound of
rain pounding on the cabin roof, and treated myself to a lie-in while
several showers passed by. I don't mind if a shower soaks me once I'm
out and rowing, but it's not nice to be on a wet seat cushion from the
get-go. For most of the rest of the day there was barely a breath of
wind, and when it revived it was coming from a new direction – northeast
rather than the east. This was rather disorienting – I've got so very
used to the east trade winds.

It was this that focused my mind on the Tuvalu/Tarawa decision. If I'm
about to enter the mysterious world of the ITCZ, I need to be absolutely
sure which way I want to go. If the weather is going to be all over the
place, somebody around here needs to know what's what.

Quick bit of blowing my own trumpet – Nicole tells me that in this
month's edition of Outside Magazine (American publication, very popular
with all kinds of outdoor enthusiasts) I have been chosen as one of the
Top Five Twitters, alongside the likes of Lance Armstrong and Michael
Phelps. Honored, I'm sure.

But don't worry – I won't get big-headed. Two things keep stop me
growing out of my hats.
1. My Dad. He died 5 years ago, but I can still hear his voice.
Like any true Yorkshireman he was never over-impressed with anybody's
achievements, his own or anybody else's. Or not that he let on, anyway.
2. The ocean. The Pacific couldn't care less about Adventure
Twitterers, 8-time Olympic gold medal winners or 7-time Tour de France
winners. To the ocean, we're all just flotsam.

Eco Champ of the Day:
Ocean Girl: "Our household had been on reduced plastic bag but after
following your blog, we moved to NO plastic bag completely."
FANTASTIC!! Thanks, OG. Let's hope after reading this a few other people
will do the same.

Joan – thanks for the tips on viewing the eclipse. Hmmm, the arts and
crafts locker – let's see!

And thanks for all the other great comments and gruesome grub stories –
all very entertaining!

Quick answers to quick question:

Q: What is your degree from Oxford in Roz?
A: Jurisprudence (aka Law). But in fact I really specialized in rowing
and drinking beer.

Q: Any insects out there?
A: No – bliss!

Weather report:

Position at 2115 HST: 07 29.366N, 174 24.380W
Wind: 5-8kts E this morning and afternoon, 5-20kts NE this evening
Seas: 5-8ft
Weather: variable – see above

Weather forecast, courtesy of weatherguy.com:

As of Monday, 06 July 2009. The easterly trade winds have turned more
northerly still around the 15-20 kts range with periods of lighter
winds. Wind speed gradually abates beginning 08July to become 5-12kts by
10July. As the winds abate they shift to ESE-SEerly direction, which may
make it harder to row southwards in headwinds. Seas abate to 3-5ft.

Sky conditions: Mostly cloudy with low level clouds. Isolated
rainshowers.

ITCZ: The Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) has quieted since last
report so maybe the passage through will be less dramatic. Convective
clouds have become fewer. The northern ITCZ edge has become diffuse but
the axis is along 170W to 180W between 03 00N and 04 00N. As of this
morning, winds south of 08 30N to the Equator between 170-177W were from
5-17kts with only isolated rainshowers of moderate strength.

Ocean Current: Still looking for the current to become Eerly flowing at
about 06 00N in the North Equatorial Counter Current. We will see how
this can aid your passage across the Equator.

Forecast below is for a SWerly course.
Date/Time HST Wind kts Seas (ft)
06/1800-07/1800 ENE 15-20 6-8
07/1800-08/1800 NE 15-20 6-8
08/1800-09/1800 NE-E 10-15 5-7
09/1800-10/1800 E-SE 7-12 4-6
10/1800-11/1800 SE-E 5-10 3-5

Next Update: Thursday, 09July

Ferocious tropical sun, roaring wind, steep breaking waves. Today was
not an unusual day, but nor was it my favorite kind of day for rowing.
It was too windy to put up the sun canopy, which in wind speeds over 20
knots flaps around and biffs me around the head. So without the canopy I
was exposed to the full force of the sun. And the steep contours of the
waves made it difficult to get a good connection between oar and water,
exacerbated by a strange phenomenon: The sound of the wind and waves
seem to send a message to my limbs, saying – bad rowing conditions,
hence bad rowing.

I've found from experience that on days like this the best way to avoid
rowing like a moron is to insulate myself from the elements as much as
possible, ignore what the conditions are doing, and put my body on
autopilot. It rows much better without my brain interfering.

I do this by making like a teenager. I pull my baseball cap down low and
stick the earbuds in and plug myself into my iPod. Apologies to those
purists who would have me commune with nature in all her moods, but in
present circumstances I feel justified in doing whatever gets me through
the day.

Today, my choice inspired by podcast partner Leo Laporte's vacation
destination, I chose the audiobook of "Lost on Planet China" by J
Maarten Troost. And he has thoroughly put me to shame. I absolutely take
my hat off to him as the champion of intrepid eating. He succeeded where
I wimped out and failed. When faced with a potential squid dinner oozing
to death on my deck, I discarded the notion as too gross to contemplate.
Not Troost.

Throughout his travels in China he struggled with the language barrier,
especially in restaurants. On one occasion he finds himself presented
with a bowl full of 10 live squid. He contemplates his lively dinner. He
asks the waitress what he is supposed to do. She tells him. He braces
himself, wondering if he can do it. Yes, he can. One by one, he takes
the live squid out of the bowl of water and pulls their heads off, then
dips their bodies in vinegar and eats them. Every last one. Leaving just
a pile of squid heads on the side of his plate.

Wuuuhhhuuuuu. Eeeewwwww. Eeeeessssshhhh. I thought I was a brave eater,
pickled jellyfish being probably the weirdest thing I've ever eaten. But
raw live squid absolutely trumps that.

He also packs a lot of interesting facts into the book. Such as:
- 1 in 40 Chinese have a car, vs 1 in 1.25 Americans
- The Chinese burn as much coal as the USA, Japan and the whole of
Europe combined
- In 2005 they built enough new power stations to power the whole
of the UK. In 2006 they built enough new power stations to power France
- One third of the particulates polluting the air in California's
Central Valley comes from China.

This makes for sobering reading. It's clearly essential that any global
initiative on CO2 emissions needs the buy-in of China and the other
rising industrial superpowers. But that is going to require some
seriously impressive feats of diplomacy in Copenhagen this winter. Can
it be done? I think it can, but will need an approach that shows empathy
with China's economic goals. I am no diplomat or politician, but it
seems to me that all countries need to find a vision of a sustainable
long-term prosperity based on sustainable long-term energy sources. It
would be challenging, but very impressive, if the developed countries
can hold hands with those still developing, and move together towards
that vision of the future, working with them to solve the problems that
affect us all.

An afterthought on J Maarten Troost. Now there is a man I'd like to get
on the end of the phone right now. He knows all about the islands of the
Pacific, having lived on several of them, including Tarawa and Tuvalu
(presumably Funafuti). If anybody in the world can tell me which of my
potential destinations has the best beer, I'm sure it would be him – and
probably a wealth of other more essential information besides. One of
his earlier books was called "Getting Stoned With Savages". I wonder if
he'd be amenable to Getting Phoned By Savages …

[photo - earbuds in, and the "ocean feral" look]

Other Stuff:

Today I was rowing straight down the pink line – the line on my
chartplotter that leads from where I am now to Tuvalu. But as I get ever
closer to the ITCZ and the NECC, things could still change. We're busy
researching all aspects of our options right now.

Sandy – thanks for the mention in the blog roll. Not often I find myself
in a list alongside Demi Moore and Angelina Jolie!

Michelle – thanks for the offer of the house in Hood River. It might be
a bit too tempting to socialize instead of write, but otherwise that
would be perfect. Can I let you know nearer the time?

Special hello to Sandra and Ian Williamson in Oxford – glad to hear
you're well and Facebooking! Ahhh, happy memories of college days,
especially the beer cellar!

Quick answers to quick questions:

Q: What brand electric watermaker would you recommend on an ocean
crossing?
A: I use the Spectra Ventura 150 – still the same one I used for the
Atlantic voyage. I run it for about 45 mins a day and it produces enough
to fill a 10 liter jerrycan and a bucket. Works great.

Q: Why are you a Mac on land and a PC at sea?
A: I prefer the Mac, but when I did the Pacific Stage 1 I needed a PC to
interface to the Iridium satphone so I could upload blogs. There is now
a product called OCENS that allows a Mac to talk to Iridium, but I'd
still rather trash a PC than risk my precious Macbook!

Q: Do you see many airplanes overhead?
A: No, none at all.

Q: If you had a can or bottle of beer couldn't you attach it to a line
and sink it a 100 feet or so to chill it? Would the water temp 100 feet
down or more be much colder than the surface water temp?
A: Oh, I'll just go hop over the side and check….

Weather Report:

Position at 2110 HST: 07 49.416N, 174 03.477W
Wind: 20+ knots E
Seas: 6-9ft E, choppy
Weather: rough night last night – probably roughest yet. Hot and windy
day.

Weather forecast, courtesy of weatherguy.com:

As of Monday, 06 July 2009. The easterly trade winds have turned more
northerly still around the 15-20 kts range with periods of lighter
winds. Wind speed gradually abates beginning 08July to become 5-12kts by
10July. As the winds abate they shift to ESE-SEerly direction, which may
make it harder to row southwards in headwinds. Seas abate to 3-5ft.

Sky conditions: Mostly cloudy with low level clouds. Isolated
rainshowers.

ITCZ: The Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) has quieted since last
report so maybe the passage through will be less dramatic. Convective
clouds have become fewer. The northern ITCZ edge has become diffuse but
the axis is along 170W to 180W between 03 00N and 04 00N. As of this
morning, winds south of 08 30N to the Equator between 170-177W were from
5-17kts with only isolated rainshowers of moderate strength.

Ocean Current: Still looking for the current to become Eerly flowing at
about 06 00N in the North Equatorial Counter Current. We will see how
this can aid your passage across the Equator.

Forecast below is for a SWerly course.
Date/Time HST Wind kts Seas (ft)
06/1800-07/1800 ENE 15-20 6-8
07/1800-08/1800 NE 15-20 6-8
08/1800-09/1800 NE-E 10-15 5-7
09/1800-10/1800 E-SE 7-12 4-6
10/1800-11/1800 SE-E 5-10 3-5

Next Update: Thursday, 09July

Wildlife sightings have enlivened this voyage much more than my last two
ocean crossings. And here I'm talking about wildlife where it's supposed
to be – in the water rather than on my deck or on my backside.

On both my previous voyages I enjoyed very rare visits from whales and
dolphins, and a couple of times on the Atlantic I was visited by my
favorite creature of all – a turtle – but most days I saw nothing but a
few flying fish, and those usually dead on my deck.

This time around, though, the ocean is a much more populous place. Birds
wheel around my boat, skimming low over the waves or flying higher and
calling to each other as they swoop and dive. Today I saw a school of
flying fish zinging across the waves at low altitude. Most days I'll see
large fish doing a few backflips, sometimes jumping as high as 10 feet
clear of the water. And more often than not I'll see shadowy figures
passing beneath my boat – fish about 2 feet long with yellow tails. I'm
not quite sure what they are, but I've taken to calling anything that
size a mahi-mahi, for the sake of argument.

It's strange to think of all the other life that must be going on down
there. Hunters and hunted, large and small, pretty creatures and ugly
monsters. When I see the mysterious beings swimming beneath my boat it
reminds me of the ghosts in The Sixth Sense – existing in another
dimension, visible but not clearly, glimpsed through the confused
surface interference of the water that sometimes hides, sometimes
reveals.

I sometimes think about what lurks further down, way down in the
unexplored depths where the sunlight can't penetrate. I'm guessing the
ocean is about 20,000 feet deep here, and it amazes me that there are
creatures can withstand that kind of water pressure and constant
darkness – jellyfish that fluoresce like disco lights, creatures that
hunt by smell alone, animals that look more like monstrous aliens than
citizens of Planet Earth.

'Tis a weird and wonderful watery world indeed.

[photo: what lies beneath... pilot fish under my boat]

Other Stuff:

Firmly back on dry land – I'm on the lookout for somewhere to live
temporarily in January and February next year while I write my next
book. Does anybody have a vacation home or similar that they might be
able to put at my disposal for at least part of this time period?
Ideally it would be:
- self-contained
- have high speed internet access
- be within 4 hours of an airport
- within striking distance of a gym
- and, errr, free of charge, or at a very modest rent.
I'm not very social while I'm writing, so I am really NOT looking for a
guest room in a house. I need more personal space than that, so I really
need a place to myself. I am well house-trained, and will leave it in at
least as good order as I find it. As to location, it can be anywhere in
the world. I don't mind how out of season it might be. I'd love it if it
was somewhere I've never been before, somewhere new to try. If you can
help, please either post a comment.or use the Contact form at
rozsavage.com. I hope to hear from you!

After yesterday's jag south, today has been back to business as westerly
usual. Yesterday's opportunity must have been due to a random current,
or more likely the fact that the winds were slightly lighter than usual.
Today, as yesterday and every day before that, I have been pointing the
boat SSE, but due to the wind have ended up going SW. So I'm glad I made
the most of yesterday's chance while I could.

Within the next couple of days I should start to encounter the ITCZ. I
wait with eager anticipation to see what will happen next…. Check out
today's new weather forecast at the end of this blog for more.

Thanks for all the great comments, particularly the ones following my
blog on sustainable energy sources. Loads of good thoughts, helpful
ideas, and positive suggestions there. Great stuff! I'd especially like
to pick up on the theme of living mindfully – and realizing that energy
is used in almost every aspect of our lives, including the energy cost
of manufacturing and transporting the goods we buy. For example, I've
been told that the CO2 emissions of transporting a gallon of gasoline to
the pump are greater than the CO2 created by the gallon itself. But we
often overlook those "hidden" or embedded eco-costs. Yet another good
reason to wean ourselves off our addiction to fossil fuels that have to
travel half way around the world.

Special hello to Sky. Hope to see you and Steve in WA in the fall.

Quick answers to quick questions:

Q: Roz have you seen any Rays or Skates thus far?
A: No. Only Rays of Sunshine!

Q: What person has inspired you the most on the ocean rowing chapter in
your life?
Harbo and Samuelson, the first two ocean rowers of "recent" times in
1896 when they crossed the north Atlantic. "Tiny" Little, friend,
publican, and solo Atlantic row in 2005. Rosie Swale-Pope, epic runner.

Q: Do you ever see any ships out there? What sort of feelings would you
get if you happened to see one?
A: I did see ships on Stage 1, but no large ones on Stage 2 so far. If I
saw one, I'd go into stealth mode. Especially if they are oil tankers or
container ships. See comment about hidden CO2 emissions above! But if
they're a sailboat I'd get on the VHF and say hi. And ask them if
they've got any cold beer!

Weather report:

Position at 2130 HST: 08 12.679N, 173 35.368W
Wind: 15-20+ kts E
Seas: 6-8ft E
Weather: Couple of brief showers. First rainbows of the voyage. Cumulus
clouds, with sun brutally hot and bright between cloud shadows.

Weather forecast, courtesy of weatherguy.com:

As of Monday, 06 July 2009. The easterly trade winds have turned more
northerly still around the 15-20 kts range with periods of lighter
winds. Wind speed gradually abates beginning 08July to become 5-12kts by
10July. As the winds abate they shift to ESE-SEerly direction, which may
make it harder to row southwards in headwinds. Seas abate to 3-5ft.

Sky conditions: Mostly cloudy with low level clouds. Isolated
rainshowers.

ITCZ: The Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) has quieted since last
report so maybe the passage through will be less dramatic. Convective
clouds have become fewer. The northern ITCZ edge has become diffuse but
the axis is along 170W to 180W between 03 00N and 04 00N. As of this
morning, winds south of 08 30N to the Equator between 170-177W were from
5-17kts with only isolated rainshowers of moderate strength.

Ocean Current: Still looking for the current to become Eerly flowing at
about 06 00N in the North Equatorial Counter Current. We will see how
this can aid your passage across the Equator.

Forecast below is for a SWerly course.
Date/Time HST Wind kts Seas (ft)
06/1800-07/1800 ENE 15-20 6-8
07/1800-08/1800 NE 15-20 6-8
08/1800-09/1800 NE-E 10-15 5-7
09/1800-10/1800 E-SE 7-12 4-6
10/1800-11/1800 SE-E 5-10 3-5

Next Update: Thursday, 09July

Following my blog about my ocean detox diet, Christa posted a comment
with this question: "I was wondering about what other opposites you have
from water to land. You said as far as your eating goes that you are
more of a 'opportunivore' on land. What are some other aspects of your
life that change when you reach land?"

Good question, and I will try to give a good answer.

What aspects of my life change? What aspects DON'T change? In so many
ways my two modes of life are like chalk and cheese, night and day,
Laurel and Hardy (?!).

Hectic life on land vs simple life on boat
Sociable vs solitary
Late nights vs early nights
Enjoying a few glasses of wine vs teetotal
Living out of a constantly-moving suitcase vs living out of a boat
Every day different vs most days pretty much the same
Serendipity galore vs predictable routine
Clothed vs naked
Hair and make-up vs the "ocean feral" look
Mac vs PC (seriously!)

And there are more subtle differences too. When I decided to row the
Atlantic, one of the things I really wanted to find out was how strong
and self-reliant I could be. I'd struggled for many years with a lack of
self-esteem, and I decided it was time to put myself to the test.

I struggled psychologically on the Atlantic crossing, but not so much
because I lacked the qualities I was looking for. No, the problem was
that it took me a while to realize that I already had those qualities.
All I had to do was relax and let those attributes shine through. The
resulting effect on my self-esteem was amazing. I started to respect
myself.

But I was concerned that when I got back to dry land after the Atlantic
crossing, I would revert to being the same insecure person I'd been
before, held back by my fears of being inadequate. I was worried that
once I got back to the familiar situations on dry land, I would fall
back into the same old life scripts.

So I worked hard at it, to figure out how to integrate that stronger,
more capable ocean-going, ocean-rowing version of me into the land-bound
version. It's taken time and effort, but I think I'm getting there.

So although I live this weird life at two extremes, I would like to
think that I approach both lifestyles with the same inner compass that
guides me through each day. I hope that I do the right things for the
right reasons, regardless of where I am, on land or at sea.

As a final thought, would I say I prefer one over the other? Life on
land is certainly a lot more comfortable and, on the whole, more fun.
But I appreciate it all the more for the contrast with this strange
ocean life. I no longer take things like running water and fresh food
for granted.

And now that I am more comfortable in my own skin, I'm pretty happy
wherever I am.

[Photo: to make a change from sunsets…. Here is a sunrise. OK, not a
radical change. But it gets a bit challenging finding new things to take
photos of out here…]

Other Stuff:

Close watchers of the RozTracker might notice that my course today has
taken a sharp turn for the southerly. This is good news – the more south
I can get, the easier it will be for me to make landfall. I'm just a bit
puzzled as to why it has been possible, as there has been no apparent
change in the winds. The explanation may possibly lie in this clue,
gleaned by Nicole from the blog of Jason Lewis, a fellow Brit and the
first person to complete a human-powered circumnavigation of the world
(in a whistle-stop tour lasting 13 years…). He traveled across the
Pacific in a pedal-powered boat with a crewmate.

June 13, 1999

Hawaii to Tarawa Voyage, Update #42

Day 41. Sunday 13 June 1999 0255 GMT
Wind E 3-4. Heading 220M.
Latitude: 07deg 08.333N
Longitude: 176deg 30.618W

According to my calculations we are just shy of 2/3rds of the way,
which means if the progress continues like it has, we could be making
landfall in Tarawa in three weeks (original estimate 65-70 days). The
main unknown at this time is how easy it will be to punch through the
south side of the ITCZ – whether the current runs north from the
southern edge like it seems to be running south from the northern edge
(I should know the answer to this within the next 6 days). Then once
we're south of 4 degrees north we should under the influence of the
southern equatorial current (running west) and the southeast trades
which will gently assist in cranking out the remaining few hundred
miles to this far flung island of dreams.

Jason Lewis,
The Moksha motor

So maybe I have crossed over the northern edge of the ITCZ, although
that wasn't predicted to happen until I get to 7deg 30N – still a degree
of latitude away. Anyway, whatever the reason, I'm a happy rower
tonight!

Thanks for all the comments on my last blog – particularly to UncaDoug
for offering constructive suggestions on how to overcome the lobbyist
effect. I'd like to add my endorsement to his words, and urge those who
care to speak up and make their voices heard.

If we all pull together, we CAN save the world!!

Weather report:

Position at 2115 HST: 08 34.833N, 173 08.203W
Wind: 12-15kts E
Seas: 6ft E
Weather: mostly sunny, but high cirrus and stacks of cumulus too

Weather forecast, courtesy of weatherguy.com

As of Thursday, 02 July 2009. The easterly trade winds have turned more
ENE still around the 20+kts. Expect brief periods of lower winds to
around 15-18kts, then abating to the 15kt range on July 6th. Seas abate
to 6-7ft. Winds south of the ITCZ are E to ESE 10-12kts or less.

Sky conditions: Partly to mostly cloudy with mostly low level clouds.
Isolated rainshowers. Convective clouds begin about 07 30N and that
means vertical development extending to 30-50,000ft. Increased chance of
rainshowers and thunderstorms.

ITCZ: The most active part of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ)
is now along 170W to 180W between 2N and 7 30N. There remain widespread
areas of wind 30-40kts in heavy rainshowers and thunderstorms. However,
last 24hrs, the ITCZ has become less active, but you will likely
experience squalls and thunderstorms.

Ocean Current: You are currently in a west setting current of about 0.2
to 0.3kts so that is not helping your southerly progress. The good news
is the current changes direction at about 06 00N to eastward flowing at
about 0.4 to 0.5kts; ie the North Equatorial Counter Current. That
should help in hindering your westward movement. The NEEC extends to
about 00 30S. In the lighter winds south of the ITCZ, it may be possible
to row/drift eastward. We don't quite yet know the full impact of the
current and the opposing wind on your boat, but hopefully it will
benefit your goal of getting south of the Equator before Tuvalu.

Forecast below is for a SWerly course.
Date/Time HST Wind kts Seas (ft)
02/1800-04/0900 ENE 17-22 7-9
04/0900-06/0000 ENE 15-20 6-8
06/0000-08/1800 ENE 12-17 6-7

Next Update: Monday, 06July

Happy July 4!

Today America is celebrating Independence Day, and although as a Brit I
don't celebrate July 4, I have been celebrating my own version of
independence. One of the things that gives me the most satisfaction
about my ocean-bound existence is the feeling of having everything that
I need, right here, within the confines of my little 23-foot boat.

I've got my food – plenty enough to last me for months to come, if need
be. I've got my watermaker, an electric unit that uses reverse osmosis
to convert seawater into drinking water. And I have unlimited supplies
of electricity, thanks to my solar panels and more sunshine than I know
what to do with.

For the techies, here is the geeky low-down: On the roof of my aft cabin
I have 4 x 60W panels, and on the fore cabin 2 x 40W panels. They charge
two marine batteries, one in each cabin – about 52Ah each. And those
batteries power my entire electrical system – as well as the watermaker
there is a bilge pump, VHF marine radio, Lazarus the temperamental
stereo and a cabin light. Everything else runs off a bank of 6 cigar
lighter sockets. The GPS and the Solaradata tracker are permanently
plugged in, and I plug in other things (cameras, laptops, satphone etc)
when they require rechargingI have a 150W AC inverter for the gadgets
that won't run off 12V DC.

So far (touch wood) the solar panels have worked flawlessly. They are
the only components of electrical kit that have survived since the
Atlantic crossing in 2005. They just sit there, sunbathing and churning
out electricity to charge Brocade's batteries.

So here I am, all self-contained and self-sufficient. It's a good
feeling.

So to now extrapolate wildly – and maybe a little disingenuously – from
this example… I have a question: why would anybody resist moves towards
renewable energy – like solar?

Let's for a moment put aside the whole issue of climate change. Just
park it. Put it out of your mind. Whether it's real or not, caused by
humans or not – all irrelevant for now.

And let's consider these questions:

1. Would you rather get your energy from clean sources or from
polluting sources?
2. Would you rather get your energy from infinitely renewable
sources (wind, solar, tidal etc) or from sources that, whichever way you
slice it, will run out at some point in the future?
3. Would you prefer that people – particularly children – are
afflicted by asthma, autism, and other pollution-related diseases, or
not?
4. Would you prefer that America leads the world in the emerging
energy and transport technologies, or that it gets overtaken by other
countries?
5. Would you rather that your country is self-sufficient for its
energy needs, or dependent on oil imported from some very questionable
foreign trade partners?

For me personally, I like being self-reliant. I like to know that I am
in control (weather aside) of my own destiny. I like knowing that the
key to my future is in my own hands. And for me this is a strong
argument (amongst many) in favor of renewable energies. Most of them can
be generated within the country in which they are needed.

To me, it is baffling that anybody would want to live any other way.
Self-sufficiency in any sense, whether it relates to energy sources, or
even physical and emotional self-sufficiency, is very empowering. Why
would anybody deliberately choose anything else?

[photo: the solar panels on my fore cabin – now thankfully washed free
of the booby bird poop that my feathered friends deposited on them in
the first couple of weeks of my voyage, threatening to seriously reduce
my electricity supply...]

Other Stuff:

Today was a good day at the oars. Some days (most days!) motivation is a
challenge, but today was a little easier than most. There is no
particular rhyme or reason to it. It's just the way it is. I used to
beat myself up for not being super-motivated every day. But hey, when
you're out here for 100 days at a stretch, there are bound to be good
days and not-so-good days, and I've learned to accept each as it comes.

Oooh, just picked up the email from my Mum passing on your comments –
and the good news that in the 24 hours before she sent the email I had
covered 44.5 miles. That IS a good day – yippee!

Thanks for all the great comments from my team of landlubbing
cheerleaders. I really appreciate the moral support. You're great!

Thanks also for all the interest in the Larabar bookmarks. I'm glad the
idea is catching on! When I get back to dry land we'll sort out the
arrangements and put them in the eBay store – and announce them on the
website. So stay tuned!

Thanks, UncaDoug, for the song lyrics. Made me laugh!

And thanks to the folks who have sent details of when and where I might
see the Space Station. I will look out for it tomorrow night. Will it be
looking out for me?!

Quick answers to quick questions:

Q: What University did you attend and were you on the row team?
A: Oxford University. Yes, I rowed for the University twice, in my
second and third years.

Q: How does ocean rowing compare to running a marathon?
A: Hmmm. I ran marathons because people told me I would learn things
about myself in the last few miles of a marathon. The main thing I
learned was that running 26.2 miles hurts like hell and makes your
toenails drop off. So maybe I needed a longer challenge, and a more
independent one. Ocean rowing is a lot more free-format. There is no
particular mainstream way to train for or complete an ocean row. It is
less of a race, more of an adventure into the unknown. And if you think
better of it part way through, you can't catch the bus to the finish
line!

Q: Does your body get use to the rigors of ocean rowing?
A: Yes, the body does. And eventually so does the mind. I am a firm
believer that human beings can adapt to almost anything – if they are
sufficiently motivated.

Weather report:

Position at 2135 HST: 09 02.238N, 172 50.563W
Wind: 12-20kts E
Seas: 6-9ft E
Weather: brief shower this morning, otherwise hazy overcast with breaks
of hot sunshine

Weather forecast, courtesy of weatherguy.com

As of Thursday, 02 July 2009. The easterly trade winds have turned more
ENE still around the 20+kts. Expect brief periods of lower winds to
around 15-18kts, then abating to the 15kt range on July 6th. Seas abate
to 6-7ft. Winds south of the ITCZ are E to ESE 10-12kts or less.

Sky conditions: Partly to mostly cloudy with mostly low level clouds.
Isolated rainshowers. Convective clouds begin about 07 30N and that
means vertical development extending to 30-50,000ft. Increased chance of
rainshowers and thunderstorms.

ITCZ: The most active part of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ)
is now along 170W to 180W between 2N and 7 30N. There remain widespread
areas of wind 30-40kts in heavy rainshowers and thunderstorms. However,
last 24hrs, the ITCZ has become less active, but you will likely
experience squalls and thunderstorms.

Ocean Current: You are currently in a west setting current of about 0.2
to 0.3kts so that is not helping your southerly progress. The good news
is the current changes direction at about 06 00N to eastward flowing at
about 0.4 to 0.5kts; ie the North Equatorial Counter Current. That
should help in hindering your westward movement. The NEEC extends to
about 00 30S. In the lighter winds south of the ITCZ, it may be possible
to row/drift eastward. We don't quite yet know the full impact of the
current and the opposing wind on your boat, but hopefully it will
benefit your goal of getting south of the Equator before Tuvalu.

Forecast below is for a SWerly course.
Date/Time HST Wind kts Seas (ft)
02/1800-04/0900 ENE 17-22 7-9
04/0900-06/0000 ENE 15-20 6-8
06/0000-08/1800 ENE 12-17 6-7

Next Update: Monday, 06July

I'm taking a question from the floor today – or in fact, 8 questions,
all about my boat. I'd love to illustrate this blog with some pictures
of Brocade, but to get an external shot I would have to go into the
water, and since the episode with the mysterious slimy thing attaching
itself to my right buttock I have not ventured back into the waves. So
I'll invite you to mouse on over to my website at rozsavage.com and take
a look at the gallery. Loadsa photos there. OK, onto the questions.

1) are supplies securely stowed low? In the stern only?
Supplies are indeed stowed low, in the lockers below deck level
throughout the boat, beneath both fore and aft cabins and also the
cockpit.

2) or are supplies somehow stowed floor to ceiling?
Nope. No need.

3) can supplies tumble around from wave motion or capsize?
Nope.

4) does Brocade have ballast to right itself from a capsize?
Yup. After 20-foot waves caused me to capsize 3 times in 24 hours in
2007, resulting in the abandonment of that attempt, we installed 200lb
of lead in the bottom of the boat, and increased the depth of the keel.
I also have water ballast stored in Dromedary bags – about 100 liters –
which double up as an emergency water supply that came in very handy
last year when both my watermakers broke. As I used up the water, I
replaced it with seawater to maintain the ballast.

5) or is it designed to right itself without ballast?
Yes, it would self-right without ballast. But I can say from first-hand
experience that capsizing is absolutely no fun, and best avoided.
Imagine being in a giant washing machine being thrown around with
various hard objects and you get the picture.

6) do you get water of any consequence in the bilge?
I don't exactly have a "bilge" other than the storage lockers. I wish I
could say they are all watertight, but despite our best efforts the
lockers under the cockpit leak a bit. The ones under the cabins stay
pretty dry.

7) are supplies at risk of damage from water in the bilge?
Nope, not now. I've learned the hard way that there is no such thing as
"100% waterproof" so anything that can be damaged by water is thoroughly
sealed. The FoodSaver vacuum seal machine is my friend!

do you have a bilge pump or manual access to bail?
There is a footwell just outside the hatch to the aft cabin, where lives
my liferaft, water can, and bucket. That is the only area that really
needs regular pumping, and I have an electric bilge pump. But I know
from past experience that a bucket works just as well!

Mick Dawson taught me all I know about ocean rowboat safety while he was
working for Woodvale, organizers of the Atlantic Rowing Race, and he
impressed upon me the importance of stowing low, a) to reduce risk of
capsize, and b) so that if the boat does still capsize, chaos and damage
are minimized. Mick is currently on his own expedition across the
Pacific, from Japan to San Francisco (see goldengateendeavour.com). He
and crewmate Chris Martin are about 10 degrees west and 25 degrees north
of me right now. Hello guys! Can you see me waving?!

Between Mick's tuition and my own hard-learned lessons, I mostly manage
to stay the right way up, and keep important supplies dry. But the
bottom line is that, with boats, water gets into all kinds of places it
has no right to be. And anything that can go wrong, will. And that's
just the way it is!

[photo: there have been some questions about how far away I can see
weather coming at me. I don't know the answer in terms of miles, but
here is a photo from this morning showing some big black clouds heading
my way…]

Other Stuff:

Rough stuff out on the ocean today. Rowing technique was of the
bish-bash-bosh variety – just stick the oars in when you can. Not very
refined, but I managed to bludgeon my way a few miles further south
towards the mysterious world of the ITCZ, now about 120 miles away to
the south.

I've had lots of people asking how I will celebrate crossing the
Equator, but I refuse to answer that question yet. Rower Erden Eruc had
enormous problems trying to get into the southern hemisphere, so I'm not
going to tempt fate by starting to plan any parties just yet. In any
case, it's still over 550 miles away, on the other side of the ITCZ, and
I'm just taking it one day at a time…

Kathy – thanks so much for telling me about the 100-year-old lady still
weight training and throwing the hammer. Don't we all hope to be like
that at her age! Nicole (my program director) has the most awesome
granny – 85 and still going to the gym. It really does seem that some
people are only as old as they choose to be.

Lesley – thank you so much to you and all at the CCC for the
contributions. Sorry to hear that times are tight – so I appreciate your
financial support all the more. And I hope to sample your brownies next
time I am in the area! (I'm sure you'll have then down to a fine art by
then – no more burned ones!)

Jadielady – cheers!

Christa – thanks for the link. Will store for future reference. And
thanks to Richard Cort in Texas who suggested using laminated Larabar
wrappers as special, limited edition bookmarks – great idea! I think
that one is the front runner right now.

And well done to Andy Murray for getting so far at Wimbledon. Better
luck next time – and at 23, still many more years to come back and try
again!

Quick answers to quick questions:

Q: Tom Hanks had "Wilson". Have you considered traveling with a cat,
parrot or other carbon-based life form?
A: I did consider getting a ship's parrot, but was told it would be
cruel to the bird. Bad enough for a human…

Q: Have you tried rigging up a hammock on your deck?
A: No, although if I had one I would.

Q: Roz, do you see sharks fins? Whales? Other large/intimidating
animals/fish? And, how big would you say the biggest swells are that
you've experienced so far?
A: No, not on this voyage – no sharks's fins, or any other large
critters so far. Just small ones, mostly of a slimy nature… but I did
see whales and dolphins on both the Atlantic and between San Francisco
and Hawaii. Biggest swells on this voyage, only about 10 feet. In the
past, 20+ feet, which is plenty big enough for a 23-foot boat!

Q: Is there a possibility of getting struck by lightning?
A: Yup – same as anywhere else!

Weather report:

Position at 2115 HST: 09 23.649N, 172 19.984W
Wind: 18-20+ knots E
Seas: 8-10ft E
Weather: brief downpour this morning, otherwise mostly hot and sunny,
some cloud

Weather forecast, courtesy of weatherguy.com

As of Thursday, 02 July 2009. The easterly trade winds have turned more
ENE still around the 20+kts. Expect brief periods of lower winds to
around 15-18kts, then abating to the 15kt range on July 6th. Seas abate
to 6-7ft. Winds south of the ITCZ are E to ESE 10-12kts or less.

Sky conditions: Partly to mostly cloudy with mostly low level clouds.
Isolated rainshowers. Convective clouds begin about 07 30N and that
means vertical development extending to 30-50,000ft. Increased chance of
rainshowers and thunderstorms.

ITCZ: The most active part of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ)
is now along 170W to 180W between 2N and 7 30N. There remain widespread
areas of wind 30-40kts in heavy rainshowers and thunderstorms. However,
last 24hrs, the ITCZ has become less active, but you will likely
experience squalls and thunderstorms.

Ocean Current: You are currently in a west setting current of about 0.2
to 0.3kts so that is not helping your southerly progress. The good news
is the current changes direction at about 06 00N to eastward flowing at
about 0.4 to 0.5kts; ie the North Equatorial Counter Current. That
should help in hindering your westward movement. The NEEC extends to
about 00 30S. In the lighter winds south of the ITCZ, it may be possible
to row/drift eastward. We don't quite yet know the full impact of the
current and the opposing wind on your boat, but hopefully it will
benefit your goal of getting south of the Equator before Tuvalu.

Forecast below is for a SWerly course.
Date/Time HST Wind kts Seas (ft)
02/1800-04/0900 ENE 17-22 7-9
04/0900-06/0000 ENE 15-20 6-8
06/0000-08/1800 ENE 12-17 6-7

Next Update: Monday, 06July

Even in the Bible they only go off into the wilderness for forty days
and forty nights at a time. Yet here I am, in my watery wilderness,
forty days in and in all likelihood more than another forty to go.

Someone asked if time seems to pass more quickly when I am at sea – or
more slowly. It's hard to say. It's not so much a question of whether
the time is fast or slow. It's just different, very different.

Ashore, there is so much to do – a typical day in Hawaii before I left
would include maybe some email exchanges with my editor in New York,
planning for speaking engagements, a conference call with an
environmental organization, a media interview, some fundraising activity
for either the expedition or film project, a meeting with a local
technology company, as well as trying to keep my email inbox under
control.

On the ocean, I row, eat, sleep, and blog. And not a great deal else.
It's a very different tempo, liberating in its simplicity. I can't
totally leave behind the cares of shore life – I'm still in daily
contact with Nicole, who is keeping everything ticking along in my
absence, and we discuss our plans for the rest of the year – but mostly
my world is sea, sky, and a little silver rowboat.

On the Atlantic, my first ocean row, I struggled to shift into this
different rhythm. I was desperately impatient to get to Antigua, and my
impatience nearly drove me crazy. My mind was racing ahead, yearning to
be back on dry land, while my boat crawled along at 2 knots.

To save my sanity, I had to learn to take it one day at a time. No point
thinking about all the miles ahead. I could only row one mile at a time,
and that was the next one. Just keep knocking off the miles, and
eventually I'd get there.

Now I often think back to that lesson when I feel daunted by the scale
of a task. I can only do the next step, then the next, then the next.
The biggest fundraising campaign starts with the first phone call.
Writing a book starts with the first page. And, of course, the longest
journey starts with the first step. Or oarstroke.

[photo: as a postscript to yesterday's blog – a photo of my onboard
vegetable patch, the beansprouter]

Other Stuff:

This morning I crossed into single digits – I am now less than 10
degrees north of the Equator. There has been quite a bit of weather
today – a couple of sharp rainstorms this morning – but I don't think
that these are symptoms of the ITCZ, as I still seem to be in the
consistent trade winds, blowing from the East, at 15-20 knots. So life
goes on. Winds blowing me west, I'm aiming south, and so we have a
strange kind of right-angled tug-of-war. A very interesting forecast
from weatherguy.com today – see the bottom of this blog.

Today's video (click on the latest YouTube icon on the RozTracker) is
about food. Following on from yesterday's blog, I show the contents of
the food lockers in my cabin. Enjoy!

Thanks for all the great comments. Mum is now home from hospital and
recovering well from her hip replacement and emails them through to me.
She has to send them before she goes to bed in England, which is a few
hours before I post my blog, so I might not get the later comments until
the next day. Just so you know! A few special mentions:

Frank, wife and daughter – thank you for your kind and eloquent message.

Re the children's book – I have a draft of one, but it's really not my
area of expertise. I've got a couple of options of proper children's
writers who might take on the project. To be pursued when I get back to
dry land.

Christa – Things to make from Larabar wrappers – the idea would be to
auction off the item on eBay (as Karen Morss correctly guessed), so I
don't really mind what it is. Maybe a small purse? Or bracelet? Or
several bracelets even? I'll keep munching away and figure something out
when I get back to dry land.

UncaDoug – thanks for the entertainment and the New Moon update.

LeAnn – will be sure to take you up on the offer of dinner if/when I'm
in Houston. Thank you!

Lesley Ewing – great to hear from you. Thanks for the bake sale
fundraiser – and the donation. You're great!

Nancy – thanks for calling The Ellen Show on my behalf. Would be great
to put in an appearance!

Russell – haha!

Marcus and Anna – well done on finishing your epic JUNK bike ride! It
was great to be able to see you off from Vancouver. Wish I could have
been there to welcome you into Mexico. Hope you had a great time, and
I'm sure you had a huge impact in raising awareness of plastic pollution
in the oceans. See you again soon!

Hi Mariya!!!

Quick answers to quick questions:

Q: Wondering what your sleeping arrangements are like? Is there a door
you can shut to keep out stray waves? But doesn't it get too hot? How
much headroom is there inside the compartment?
A: Enclosed cabin with waterproof hatch. Just about high enough to sit
up in. Yes, it gets darned hot during the day, which is why despite the
heat I still prefer to row in the day and sleep at night. Trying to
sleep in here during the day would be a very sweaty experience.

Q: When you arrive, what happens to your boat? is it flown back, or
perhaps put on a container ship and sent back to where you need it?
A: Where I need it is where I finish this stage of the row. In other
words, Stage 3 will start where Stage 2 ends. So the boat will stay
there. If I had unlimited budget I would ship the boat back to Hawaii or
over to Australia for refurbishment, but shipping is horrendously
expensive. In fact, I doubt it's even possible to send large cargo from
tiny sandspits in mid-Pacific…

Q: On the ocean, with a day of good visibility, how far away can you see
distant weather events, like storms? For instance, could you spot a
storm in the ITCZ when you're still a full degree of latitude away from
it?
A: Interesting question, and maybe weatherguy.com can help. I can
certainly see big black clouds about 5 miles away, but am doubtful I'd
see them from a full degree (60 nautical miles) away. In fact, I often
look to the East to see what's heading my way – not that I can do much
about it!

Weather report:

Position at 2130 HST: 09 43.584N, 171 48.655W
Wind: 15-20kts E
Seas: 6-8ft E
Weather: occasional outbursts of rain this morning, sunny and hot this
afternoon with occasional clouds

Weather forecast, courtesy of weatherguy.com

As of Thursday, 02 July 2009. The easterly trade winds have turned more
ENE still around the 20+kts. Expect brief periods of lower winds to
around 15-18kts, then abating to the 15kt range on July 6th. Seas abate
to 6-7ft. Winds south of the ITCZ are E to ESE 10-12kts or less.

Sky conditions: Partly to mostly cloudy with mostly low level clouds.
Isolated rainshowers. Convective clouds begin about 07 30N and that
means vertical development extending to 30-50,000ft. Increased chance of
rainshowers and thunderstorms.

ITCZ: The most active part of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ)
is now along 170W to 180W between 2N and 7 30N. There remain widespread
areas of wind 30-40kts in heavy rainshowers and thunderstorms. However,
last 24hrs, the ITCZ has become less active, but you will likely
experience squalls and thunderstorms.

Ocean Current: You are currently in a west setting current of about 0.2
to 0.3kts so that is not helping your southerly progress. The good news
is the current changes direction at about 06 00N to eastward flowing at
about 0.4 to 0.5kts; ie the North Equatorial Counter Current. That
should help in hindering your westward movement. The NEEC extends to
about 00 30S. In the lighter winds south of the ITCZ, it may be possible
to row/drift eastward. We don't quite yet know the full impact of the
current and the opposing wind on your boat, but hopefully it will
benefit your goal of getting south of the Equator before Tuvalu.

Forecast below is for a SWerly course.
Date/Time HST Wind kts Seas (ft)
02/1800-04/0900 ENE 17-22 7-9
04/0900-06/0000 ENE 15-20 6-8
06/0000-08/1800 ENE 12-17 6-7

Next Update: Monday, 06July

What do I eat?

This is, without a doubt, my most FAQ, and just goes to show that at the
end of the day we all, no matter what we do for a living, all have to
eat, sleep and perform other bodily functions, and it is our shared
experience of those functions that most unite us. The Queen of England,
Cameron Diaz, the Dalai Lama, peasants, priests and ocean rowers –
everybody has to eat. So why what I eat should be of especial interest
I'm not sure… although I suppose I do have a few unusual constraints, as
obviously the food I bring on board has to be compact, relatively
un-crushable, long-lasting without refrigeration, and nutritious enough
to support unusual physical demands. So here goes.

While at sea, my diet is 99% raw, mostly organic, and very nearly vegan.
Eeek, that sounds horribly virtuous. So I would also like to add that
what I eat on the ocean and what I eat on dry land bear very little
resemblance to each other. If only they did, I would probably be much
healthier and live much longer. But I wouldn't have nearly as much fun.
I tend to look on my ocean time as a chance to detox and undo some of
the damage that I inflict on my body (especially my liver) while ashore,
where I indulge in – well, pretty much anything and everything. A true
opportunivore.

So here's how it breaks down – and I think you'll find it's actually a
lot yummier than it initially sounds. In fact, I find these foods a lot
tastier and more satisfying than many restaurant meals ever manage to
be.

Larabars – fruit and nut bars made in Denver, available in most
wholefood stores in the US. No added sugar, unprocessed, raw, non-GMO,
gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, vegan and kosher. And very good. My
favorites are Peanut Butter Cookie, Pecan Pie, Banana Bread, Apple Pie,
Ginger Snap and Jocolat (Chocolate and Chocolate Coffee flavors). I'm
saving all my Larabar wrappers from this trip [see photo] and we're
trying to think of something creative to make from them.

Rawfood crackers – these were made for me by Marlene Depierre, a friend
of a friend who lives on Maui. Rawfood crackers are made by germinating
grains such as buckwheat, sunflower seeds, or nuts. These are then
whizzed in a food processor with whatever you fancy to make different
flavors – herbs, spices, sundried tomatoes, the pulp you have left over
after making your carrot juice, whatever. The mixture is then spread on
trays and "baked" in a dehydrator, a low-temperature method of cooking
that keeps the enzymes alive. Marlene has given me 9 or 10 varieties,
all beautifully vacuum packed and labelled. My favorite amongst her
creations are the walnut pumpkin crackers, and sweet crackers made with
buckwheat, dried fruit and chia seeds. (Chia is the latest superfood, of
Mexican origin.)

Beansprouts – I grow these in a Sproutamo pot that I keep in a string
bag in a shady corner of the cockpit. I got 3 different bean mixes from
Sproutpeople in San Francisco – their Beanie mix, Peasant mix, and San
Francisco mix. Sprouting is dead easy – just soak the beans for 8 hours,
rinse, and water a couple of times a day. After about 2 days you've got
beansprouts. I like to mix them with some tamari almonds or sunflower
seeds, tahini, and some nama shoyu sauce. Rich in enzymes, vitamins,
minerals, protein and fiber.

Dried fruit and nuts – I get through tons of these. The nuts were
provided by Wilderness Family Naturals (and a few additional treats from
Living Nutz – their Bodacious Banana Bread Walnuts are especially good).
I chose these suppliers because they soak the nuts and then dehydrate
them at low temperatures – as with the rawfood crackers, this kicks off
the germination process which makes the nuts extra-nutritious, and also
easier to digest.

I've also got some emergency rations, in case my voyage takes longer
than expected. I didn't want to spend much on these extras, as I hope
not to need them. So I've got a load of quinoa and two bottles of olive
oil (extra virgin, cold pressed). It might not make for the most
exciting diet, but if that was all that stood between me and starvation
it would be very adequate, quinoa being high in protein. I also brought
a few cans of sardines and kippers, just in case I get major protein
cravings. I used a few cans in the first couple of weeks, but haven't
felt the urge since.

I've also got some rations left over from Stage 1 of the row, that I
brought along for lack of anything better to do with them – sachets of
oatmeal and dehydrated expedition meals. In fact, some of the expedition
meals date from the Atlantic. But they last forever and are handy for
backup rations.

I do have a cooking stove on board, but I haven't used it so far. The
weather has been way too hot to even think about cooking hot food. But
it would be useful if I needed to use the expedition meals or oatmeal.

And of course a few treats. Chocolate syrup from Wilderness Family
Naturals (made with organic cocoa beans and organic agave nectar) and
some Meyer lemon marmalade made by my friend Karen Morss at Lemon Ladies
of Emerald Hills, CA. Both are good with the sweet rawfood crackers.

Even though this diet is much more nutritious than what I eat on dry
land, I've got multi-vitamins and minerals, supplied by Biocare, just to
be sure I've got it all covered.

And that's about it. Before the Atlantic row (my first) I carefully
compiled spreadsheets of daily rations broken down by carbs, protein and
fat, and calculated every meal down to the last calorie. Now I take a
much more relaxed attitude to it, and just eat as much as I want to,
when I want to. I eat frequently throughout the day – 7 or 8 snacks
during breaks in rowing shifts.

All this food is nutritionally very dense, so it doesn't take up much
room. I could easily have fit twice as much food on board – probably
more. I could in theory live on this boat for over a year without
resupply. In practice, though, I wouldn't want to. I'm quite looking
forward to getting back to dry land and enjoying that other essential
food group – cold beer!

[photo: my collection of empty Larabar wrappers so far. Any creative
ideas for some piece of memorabilia we can have made with them?]

Other Stuff:

Yesterday's calm conditions were clearly a One-Day Special Offer only.
Today the trade winds are back in business at 18 knots or so, and
pushing me west again. As I approach the single digit latitudes I'm
intrigued to see what's going to happen in the ITCZ…

No attacks from the local wildlife today. Phew. Thanks for all the
sympathy and ribaldry at my expense. I hope there will be no further
unwarranted intrusions upon my person. By my posterior is not how I wish
to be remembered for posterity.

CG – love the suggestion of the bootie-fish. Made me LOL! Also good to
know about Bikini Atoll. Still hope to get further south though.

Hi Tanya!!!

Thanks, Lily, for your comment. Nice to know you're there and following!

Hi Jen. I can't wait to find out what you're plotting. Will row faster
in anticipation…

Weather report:

Position at 2115 HST: 10 05.283N, 171 18.589W
Wind: 18kts E
Seas: 6-8ft E
Weather: mostly sunny, overcast towards sunset

Weather forecast, courtesy of weatherguy.com

As of Monday, 29 Jun 2009. The easterly trade winds 20+kts hanging on
a little longer. Expect a brief period of lower winds then back to
20+kts. Seas abate to 8-9ft.

Sky conditions: Partly to mostly cloudy with multilayered clouds of low
to mid level. Very isolated rainshowers.

ITCZ: The most active part of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ)
has drifted westward to 175W between 2N and 8N. There are widespread
areas of wind 30-40kts in heavy rainshowers have been measured. These
systems are often times accompamied by thunder and lightning. You may
observe these conditions. There are some holes in this activity of
lesser conditons.

Forecast below is for a SWerly course.
Date/Time HST Wind kts Seas (ft)
29/1800-30/0600 ENE-E 17-22 8-9
30/0600-30/2100 ENE-E 12-17 6 -7
30/2100-04/1800 ENE-E 17-22 8-9

Next Update: Thursday, 02July