It’s happened. I’ve finally run out of things to say. Or I’m just so brain-dead after a day of bashing my way across choppy waves that I can’t think of anything other than getting some kip.

So I’ll share with you an email sent to me by my literary agent, Taryn Fagerness. She thought I would enjoy it – and she was right. There is apparently a book called “How to Avoid Huge Ships” that has developed a cult following, not to mention a slew of sarcastic reviews on Amazon. These are my favourites:

“I bought How to Avoid Huge Ships as a companion to Captain Trimmer’s other
excellent books: How to Avoid a Train, and How to Avoid the Empire State
Building. These books are fast paced, well written and the hard won
knowledge found in them is as inspirational as it is informational. After
reading them I haven’t been hit by anything bigger than a diesel bus.
Thanks, captain!”

“Read this book before going on vacation and I couldn’t find my cruise liner
in the port. Vacation ruined.”

“This book really is one of the best huge ship avoidance references I’ve come
across, not just for the effective methods it teaches as to avoiding huge
ships, but also for exploding some of the huge ship avoidance myths that
many of us take for granted.
For example:
- Do not charge the huge ship at full speed in an attempt to scare it off.
This may work with coyotes, but it is less effective with huge ships.
- Similarly, do not roll your boat over and play dead. Unless the huge ship
is captained by a grizzly bear, this will not work.
- Do not attempt to go under the huge ship. This is typically not
successful.
- Do not attempt to jump over the huge ship.
Captain Trimmer presents a rather novel technique for avoiding huge ships -
move your boat out of the path of the huge ship. I know what you’re
thinking, this goes against conventional wisdom, but Trimmer presents
significant empirical evidence to support his theory. Indeed, over the long
run, moving out of the way will dramatically decrease the number of huge
ship collisions you will have to endure in your daily life.”

“I am a huge ship. Imagine having an entire book devoted toward actively
avoiding you and your kind. I have always been bigger than other ships – and
yes, I have endured years of being moored in the distance, never being able
to enter the shallower bays, requiring tugs to guide me in – but now THIS!
Mr. Trimmer, you sir, should be ashamed! Please do not be swayed by his
drivel. I ask that you judge me not by the size of my cargo hatch but rather
the content of my wheelhouse.”

“Much better than the sequel book, “How To Run Over Little Boats.”" (gulp!)

Just in case you’re wondering, huge ships are (so far) about the one thing I haven’t had to worry about on this voyage. I haven’t seen a single vessel since I set out from North Island nearly 3 months ago – large or small. Probably just as well. Given the way things have been going recently, I might have been tempted to ask for a bottle of whisky and a tow.

Other Stuff:

I saw a small orange mooring buoy today. Just bobbing around, many miles from anywhere. Going backwards as I do, by the time I saw it I was already past it and couldn’t get back to retrieve it. So it’s bobbing out here still, probably with an entire ecosystem growing on its underside.

Made a half-dozen miles today. Burned about 5,000 calories in the process. This is quite possibly the most inefficient means of locomotion ever invented.

It is now pouring with rain, and I am glad of an excuse to be hunkered inside my cabin to write this blog. The zip on my Marmot waterproof has rusted so badly it needs some WD-40 before it has any chance of working.

Thanks, Jay and Doug, for the, ummm, interesting information about barnacles. Who knew?! I shall look at them in a new light and all due respect from now on….

Quote for today: Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes. (Oscar Wilde)

Photo: encounter with a big ship during the Atlantic crossing – the Royal Navy’s HMS Southampton dropped by for a visit on Valentine’s Day 2006.

Sponsored Miles: Steve Maskell, Andrew Loughhead, Nick Perdiew, Alexandra Stevens, John Griffin and Diane Freeman. Thank you.

I am inching my way out of the navigational deadlock I’ve been stuck in for over a week. Today I made 10 miles of progress in the right direction, and have finally broken out of that tiny square patch of ocean that I’ve been criss-crossing for what feels like forever.

10 miles may not sound very much reward for over 12 hours of rowing, but compared with the sum total of 18 miles of progress during the previous 7 days, it’s positively supersonic. The wind and currents are still not helping me, but at least they are not hindering me as much as they were. I may yet make it off this ocean before I’m ninety years old.

As I was rowing, I was listening to “Galileo’s Dream” by Kim Stanley Robinson. It’s startling to think that less than 400 years ago (i.e. very recently in terms of European history) a man could be accused of heresy for saying that the Earth moves around the Sun, rather than vice versa. The powers-that-be at that time felt that the authority of the Bible, and hence their own authority, was threatened by this new theory, so in the face of all the evidence they forced him to recant.

Powerful authorities vehemently denying a theory even though it is based on strong scientific proof…. it could never happen nowadays, could it?

Other Stuff:

Rather a lovely night on the ocean, with flashes of phosphorescence going off as I dipped my oars, or as a dorado stirred the waters. Stars above, and stars below….

Many thanks to Helen Outen for the jokes. As a preacher’s daughter (or in fact, preachers’ daughter, as both parents were preachers), I appreciated them very much!

Jay – the Perseids hike sounds fantastic. If I could, I’d be there for the wine and cheesecake alone! Come to think of it, I don’t even like cheesecake, but right now it would just make a really nice change from the dried rations!

Hawk – teehee! Thanks for the smile. Good one!

Aimee – your joke was a classic. And how incredibly appropriate! In case other people didn’t see it, here it is again:

A guy gets shipwrecked. When he wakes up, he’s on a beach. The sand is purple. He can’t believe it. The sky is purple. He walks around a bit and sees that there is purple grass, purple birds and purple fruit on the purple trees. He’s shocked when he finds that his skin is starting to turn purple too. “Oh no!” he says. “I think I’ve been marooned!”

Quote for the day: “People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of their character.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Sponsored Miles: Thanks once again to Doug Grandt, and to an anonymous donor, for today’s miles.

Roz Speaking Out (Hawaii 2008)

Philosophy Friday…..

There has been some talk recently about individuals doing the right thing for the Earth is good, but it’s not enough. Little actions are important, but given the scale of the challenges that we now face, we all need to step up our efforts to a higher level. I tend to think of it as a “ladder of influence”. The bigger the action, the further the ripples of change will spread.

At the entry level we have the basic actions that anybody who has even a glimmer of environmental awareness will do – recycling, turning off lights, not leaving the tap running while you are brushing your teeth, etc.

Above that we have the second level; environmental actions that take place in public – using a re-usable grocery bag or water bottle or coffee cup, installing solar panels, choosing a super-compact or hybrid car.

On the third level, the individual is becoming more overt about their concern for the environment – not only are they doing the right things, but they are suggesting that their friends, family and colleagues do likewise. Within their own sphere of influence, they are starting to become a leader.

At the fourth level, they are starting to go outside of their existing sphere of influence, writing to customer service departments and their elected officials, demanding change at policy level – maybe asking stores to stop supplying plastic bags, or asking the mayor to impose a city-wide ban. They are connecting into communities of other concerned citizens, and galvanizing support around specific local issues, such as organizing beach clean-ups or protesting against a coal-fired power plant.

And at the fifth level, the individual has become a leader. They are out to make a big difference in the world. Environmentalism is no longer something that they DO, it is something that they ARE. It suffuses every aspect of their daily lives. It is their number one priority.

What does this mean in real terms? If you do nothing else, then please think about doing these:

1. Buy organic; don’t buy food that has been sprayed with poison, aka herbicide and pesticide. It’s just not a good idea. Buy local, from farmers who embrace sustainable practices. Or grow your own – if I can grow my own beansprouts on board a rowboat, then anybody with a windowsill has no excuse. Beansprouts are cheap, tasty, and pack a powerful nutritional punch.

2. Walk more, drive less – it’s good for your body and good for the planet. And good for your wallet too.

3. Never again use a “disposable” plastic object. Take your own reusable grocery bag, water bottle, and coffee cup.

4. Get active: find a local issue that means something to you – something good to support (like a communal organic garden, or a ban-the-bag campaign) or something bad to oppose (like the destruction of a woodland) – and use it as a focus to create an interest group. It doesn’t have to be a lonely experience trying to save the world – reach out to your community, and support each other.

5. Get political: find a bigger issue that concerns you, and write to your elected representative, or the head of the relevant company. Write to the local newspaper, or even a national one. Make your views known. Stand up and be counted – and urge your friends and family to do the same. “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” (Margaret Mead).

6. Make time to get connected with nature. Make time to get connected to yourself. Make time to get connected to others. It’s all about connection.

7. Finally, and most importantly, spread the word. Everybody reading this blog has a part to play. You are all spreading ripples in your communities. Everything you think, say and do, declares to the world what your values are, and casts a vote for the kind of future that you want. Use your votes wisely. Your world, your children, and even your future self, will thank you for it.

Forget public relations and public service announcements – word of mouth is still the most powerful tool we have at our disposal. What you say to your neighbour will have a greater impact on him or her than anything they see in the media or online. Your words have an immediacy and a reality and a natural authority that no other form of communication can match. So how will you use your influence? What will you do to spread the good green word, to raise consciousness, inspire action, and make this world a better place?

Other Stuff:

When I was preparing to record my blog with Vic today, I looked back through my logbook for the last week to see what had happened since we last spoke. I noticed, with a rueful smile, that in the last 7 days I have progressed a grand total of 18 miles. I have, of course, rowed further than that, but it has mostly been the same 10 miles being rowed repeatedly. I suspect a garden snail could go faster. Well, it could if it could swim. Today I made a little more progress, but at the time of writing I am yet again being blown backwards and sideways. I can only hope that the deadlock breaks soon – and meanwhile, eat-pray-row….

Danny, Bronwyn and Tabby – glad you are all enjoying the blog. I loved your story about Tabby seeing you off to work. That cat has more personality in the tip of his tail than ten ordinary cats put together. I do miss his antics!

David Tangye – thanks for the smiles!

Mariya – LOVED the piratey jokes. I laughed out loud. Especially enjoyed “They think, therefore they ARRRR!!!!!” Teehee! Woody is sitting here with me now. It he wasn’t 1/80th my size, I’d go on a date with him too. He may only have one leg and one eye, but he’s still the best-looking man hereabouts. And a great personality! Thanks to you and your mom (the Gold-en Girls?!) for the laughs!

Quote for today, in hopes of imminent happiness on board the good ship Sedna: Happiness is relief after extreme tension. (F Scott Fitzgerald)

Sponsored Miles: Richard Hyman, James Borleis, Curtis Zingg, Laura Prouty and Christopher Ellis – thank you, forward progress at last.

Today I listened to “Even the Sun Will Die“, an interview with the spiritual teacher and author of “The Power of Now”.

My present moment looks like this: I am being blown off course, having spent the whole day rowing against current and across wind to achieve a scant 6 miles. I am now approaching my seventh day caught in this particular oceanic mousetrap, and am in fact further away from my destination than I was 5 days ago.

So I'm doing my best to accept the present moment, exactly as it is. I am feeling a little more philosophical about it than I might have been without Mr Tolle's spiritual guidance. I am picturing my thoughts and emotions as clouds, drifting across the sky of my mind. I am watching them float by, rather than engaging with the feelings of frustration or anxiety.

But then I fall off the spiritual wagon, and can't help observing that a good brisk easterly would make the present moment considerably more acceptable.

Still, hey, if it was easy, everybody would be doing it.

Last night I had a squint at A Dip in the OceanSarah Outen‘s book about her Indian Ocean crossing, and notice that she looped the loop a couple of times hereabouts, which makes me feel marginally better. Not that her misfortune helps me, but somehow it’s reassuring to know that I’m not the only one to have wiggled and wobbled at this stage of the crossing.

Other Stuff:

Thank you so much for all the jokes. VERY much appreciated. Who knew there were so many comedians out there?! In fact, we were so overwhelmed by the response, and we didn’t want me incapacitated by mirth, that Aimee is going to ration out the jokes and send them to me one or two per day, along with the selection of your comments that she already emails to me on a daily basis.

Molly McCallum – your email about your skydiving had me in hysterics. What a fantastic mental image! I can’t wait to see the video, although it will be hard pushed to improve on the visual that my imagination has already produced courtesy of your description. Thanks for cheering me up in adversity, and I hope to see you and Roger in La La La Pine next time I am in the US.

Quote, apropos of my repeated attempts to row out of this part of the ocean: Insanity is doing the same thing while expecting a different result. (Albert Einstein)

On the other hand, I may as well keep rowing: Industry is the enemy of melancholy. (William F Buckley)

Sponsored Miles: Daniel Gallacher, Richard Hyman – encouraging Roz to regain some of those lost miles.

Barnacling

The trying times continue. I have now been stuck on the same small patch of ocean for the last 5 days. I advance a bit, the current pushes me back. I push again, the current pushes me back again. Repeat ad nauseam. I could use a good stiff breeze to help get me out of here. It will arrive eventually. But I don’t yet know when.

Meanwhile, I decided that if today was not going to be a good day for miles, maybe it could be a good day in some other ways. I donned face mask and snorkel and hopped overboard to scrub barnacles.

It didn’t really need doing, in truth. The rudder had a few outcrops of goosenecks, and there was a row of them along the chine (the pointy ridge that runs the length of the boat’s bottom), but other than that the hull was miraculously barnacle-free.

I shudder to think what noxious chemicals must be in the antifoul paint that was applied in Fremantle, as there have been many more barnacles in previous years. Or maybe it is just that we brought the line of the antifoul up higher above water level. After seeing my boat in the water, Ben the boatbuilder suggested that we could do with a few extra inches of paint. So we did. Could well have been $350 extremely well spent if it means I don’t have to go overboard very often. On a calm day like today I don’t mind, but in rougher conditions I feel very vulnerable.

Having got all salty during my dip, it seemed a good time to finally wash my hair. For the first time in nearly three months. I am not really a slob. There’s just not much point in washing it out here, and it’s a bit of a hassle. But oooh, it did feel good to sluice my scalp with cool fresh water, and wash and condition using Green People‘s lavender-scented organic baby products.

As I dried out on deck afterwards, the fishy chaps put on a show for me. The water was oily-calm, so their antics were easily visible. A school of at least twenty fish flopped around near the surface, about fifty feet away. I couldn’t see what they were, only their splashes. The mahi mahi put on an even better show. They have been a bit hyperactive the last couple of days – not sure why. They jump about six feet in the air, then belly-flop back down into the water. One leap today was so impressive I actually gave him a well-deserved round of applause.

And so, as the sun sets, I bob around out here, rather hoping that a nice brisk easterly will put in an appearance (can wind “appear”?). Miles would have been nice. But failing that, a clean hull and clean hair are better than nothing.

Other Stuff:

Thanks for the feedback on the theme of community (and for the jokes!). I’m having a few thoughts myself too. It’s all percolating…

Yes, Raven, I’m aware of the transition towns. It is indeed a move in the right direction, although from what I hear even in those towns they could do with higher levels of engagement from the citizens. Do you live in a transition community?

Stephen Stewart – where on the Columbia River do you live? I spent quite a bit of time in Hood River/White Salmon back in 2006-7, and still go there when I can. An absolutely gorgeous part of the world. I even did some rowing training on the Columbia in a smaller rowboat than this one. The Pacific Northwest seems to be an exceptionally “green” part of the world. Great to hear about all the projects underway there.

Don Lindsay – happy to hear that we have seen the beginning of the end of “highway jellyfish” (what a great phrase! aka plastic bags). Thanks for the good news.

Quote for today, from Joko Beck, Zen teacher – directed at myself and my present trying circumstances: “If we have been aware of the process of our lives, including moments that we hate, and are just aware of our hating – ‘I don’t want to do it, but I’ll do it anyway’ – that very awareness is life itself. When we stay with that awareness, we don’t have that reactive feeling about it; we’re just doing it. Then for a second we begin to see, ‘Oh, this is terrible – and at the same time, it’s really quite enjoyable.’ We just keep going, preparing the ground. That’s enough.”

Sponsored Miles: Thanks to Sylvia Wheeldon and Paul Taylor – Roz still reclaiming lost miles – another nine to go to get back to where she was a few days ago.

Latest Pocast now available.

Today was another day of much work for little reward, as I once again pitted myself against the relentless current that has thwarted my progress for the last few days.

This is where I almost wish I had a crewmate. Crews of two typically alternate shifts, each rower rowing for two hours while the other rests. It’s a brutal regimen, but it does mean that the crew can push on through a current because there is somebody always at the oars. I, on the other hand, go backwards when hunger or tiredness force me to take a break. And so I end up rowing the same piece of ocean again and again.

However, there was a little dollop of inspiration in the book I was listening to today – “Empire Falls“, by Richard Russo. One of the characters, a woman of indomitable character, does the same thing that I do when faced with an enormous task – she breaks it down into a multitude of smaller steps, and then each day composes a realistic To Do list and checks off those steps until the task is accomplished.

The phrase that stood out for me was used to describe what happened when things did not go according to plan. She would keep on going, “delayed, but not deterred”. I liked the mantra so much that I have written it up on the whiteboard in front of my rowing position.

I am most definitely delayed on the Indian Ocean. But not deterred. Well, only a little bit, sometimes. But I’m still here, and still rowing, one oarstroke at a time….

Other Stuff:

I’m tired after a long day at the oars, so this is your lot for today. I’m off to bed, and will get up early tomorrow morning to start rowing again before I lose too much ground.

Quote – a bumper- juicy quote to make up for the short blog:
“Furthermore, we have not even to risk the adventure alone, for the heroes of all time have gone before us. The labyrinth is thoroughly known. We have only to follow the thread of the hero path, and where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god. And where we had thought to slay another we shall slay ourselves. Where we had thought to travel outward, we shall come to the center of our own existence. And where we had thought to be alone we shall be with all the world.” (Joseph Campbell)

Photo: it’s a big, big, big, big ocean.

Sponsored Miles: 2 new sponsors to help Roz regain those lost miles. Thanks to Daniel Collins and Peter Lisker.

Joan – you are a genius. You have absolutely hit the nail on the head. Some levity is PRECISELY what I need right now. All this earnest save-the-world stuff, combined with getting my ass kicked by this Indian Ocean, has led to spirits being, if not low, then somewhere around sea level.

So some jokes or funny stories from my readers would be tremendously welcome. I could do with a few good belly laughs. Bring them on!

Here are a few smiles I found in a file on my laptop, just to get the ball rolling:

If at first you don’t succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.
For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism.
He who hesitates is probably right.
You never really learn to swear until you learn to drive (or row oceans)
The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifeguard.
A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.
Eagles may soar, but weasels aren’t sucked into jet engines.
99 percent of lawyers give the rest a bad name.
Honk if you love peace and quiet.
He who laughs last thinks slowest.
I wonder how much deeper the ocean would be without sponges.

I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, “Where’s the self-help section?” She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.

I’m sure you can do better than these. Please do!

Other Stuff:

Those of you who listen to my podcast will know that my co-host, Vic Phillipson, lives in Norway. I can let you know that Vic and his family are all safe and well, and have not been directly affected by the recent ghastly events. He mentioned the sad sight of the flags on their local city bridge flying at half mast, but reports that he is proud of how well organized, and generally un-flappable the civilian, military, and medical authorities have been, and continue to be.

Mileage today was again dismal. After struggling all day yesterday to make a measly 7 miles, I lost 6 of them overnight, and today have been banging my head against an adverse current with no wind to help me. And no improvement in the forecast at the time of writing. Sigh.

But I did have one triumph today. I did some electrical jiggery-pokery (and you know how much I dread having to do such things) and managed to resuscitate one of my gadgets. I was really rather proud of myself.

I don’t know what has got into the chaps downstairs. As I am writing this they have gone bananas. I can hear big fishy-sized splashes from outside every few seconds, meaning they are jumping backflips. Maybe they’re putting on a show to cheer me up? Nice try, chaps, but you’re hardly the Marx Brothers.

Thank you, Jay, for proposing a Roz Solidarity Sunset at the next full moon (Aug 13). That is a lovely idea. I will indeed be dining on miso soup and beansprouts, but if you’d rather have something more enjoyable and/or more nautical, I won’t begrudge you your wider range of options. I will sit out on deck to watch the full moon rising, and waiting to feel the force!

Tom – interesting point of view, that if we lived longer we’d have a clearer perspective on our global impact. Not sure what to do about that one. We’re already trying to fix environmental meltdown and world poverty here – now eradicating (or at least seriously postponing) death as well??! Just as an aside, I highly recommend the Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson -Red Mars, Green Mars and Blue Mars. The main characters in that have a lifespan of about 250 years, which enables them to witness the terraforming of the planet from red rock to Earth II. And they’re great books for provoking thoughts about how we might set up a new human civilization from scratch.

Cynthia – I agree that leading by example is the most powerful way to change the world – and to advertise what we are doing, and why we are doing it. Whether we are setting an example to our neighbours next door, or across the world, we should seize every opportunity to spread the word – by mouth, email, internet, TV, film, books, whatever. I’ve thought about writing to novelists to ask them if they could substitute re-usable grocery bags for plastic bags in their books, and never to allow a character to use styrofoam. Maybe they could even visit a farmer’s market rather than the supermarket. It all helps!

Karen Morss – I hope the bees are settling in well and getting to work. I love honey!

RGJ – teehee! I liked the quote, although I agree that your suggestion might have been more relevant!

Quote for today, in a similarly light vein: “Ever noticed that no matter what happens in one day, it exactly fits in the newspaper?” (Jerry Seinfeld)

Photo: a dramatic sunset tonight – red sky at night, rower’s delight?

Sponsored Miles: Discouragement: Roz has been swept backwards about 6 miles in the last 24 hours. Encouragement: Several new sponsors to help her regain those lost miles. Thanks to Charlotte Vick, Patty Elkus, Tom Hockman and Mark Clifton.

I’ve been trying, but I just can’t regard the chaps downstairs as dinner. Some of you have been suggesting that I should get the fishing line out while I have the chance and the mahi mahi are milling around beneath my boat, but I just can’t do it.

There have been at least five fish, possibly more, keeping me company today. Occasionally they leap into the air and do a backflip, but mostly they just mooch around a couple of feet beneath the surface. They are very pretty. I don’t know if mahi mahi can iridesce, or if they just catch the light occasionally, but sometimes they seem to glow with a silvery blue aura.

I remember reading Stephen Callaghan’s book Adrift: Seventy-six Days Lost at Sea, in which the poor guy is floating around in a liferaft for 79 days. A group of mahi mahi congregate beneath his raft, and he catches them with his harpoon gun. He said it was as if they sensed his desperation, and offered themselves up to him, even after they saw their fellow fishies killed by his weapon. They were his only food. I’m not in such dire straits, so I don’t feel I can justify the killing. Hypocritical, I know, as I was happy to eat mahi mahi when Marcus and Joel of the JUNK Raft caught one for our dinner party a few hundred miles east of Hawaii. But it’s somehow different when the death would be at my own hands.

On a different note, I wonder why Sarah Outen had pilot fish beneath her boat as she rowed across the Indian Ocean, but I’ve got mahi mahi. Her boat was a little smaller, but I can’t imagine that has anything to do with it. I saw a pilot fish or two early on, but the mahi mahi are my faithful followers.

It’s hard to explain, but it does give me some small sense of comfort, knowing the chaps are there. It’s not as if we have much personal contact – mostly they stay down there and I stay up here. But company is not easy to come by out here, and they are all I’ve got. Rowers can’t be choosers.

Other Stuff:

Progress today has been dismal. I’ve been rowing all day, but with adverse winds and currents have made only 7 miles to the good. But the other night I made 22 miles while I slept (or at least lay on my bunk) while big waves shoved me along. So I suppose it all averages out – but these slow days can be a bit challenging to the morale.

Cynthia Kruger – thank you for your factoid about the dominance of the big players in the food industry. Also a good point about fossil fuels being used in the manufacture of solar-capture equipment. But as Thom Hartmann suggests in “The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight: Revised and Updated: The Fate of the World and What We Can Do Before It’s Too Late, maybe that is exactly what we should be using our remaining oil for, rather than sticking it in our cars and burning it. At least it will help the transition to the new era pending our invention of a better way to produce durable materials as successors to plastic.

Michael – thanks for your input on the food debate. It brings us around to the sticky issue of population. If there were fewer of us, small scale farming would start looking more feasible. But that is a whole other topic…. I agree with your comment on actually doing something versus being seen to be doing something. I fear we mostly tinker around the edges, fiddling while Rome burns.

UncaDoug – your quote from Gus Speth: “Working only within the system will, in the end, not succeed when what is needed is a transformative change in the system itself.” reminded me of Einstein’s maxim that problems are rarely solved using the same thinking with which they were created (or words to that effect). We truly need some fresh thinking.

StinsonBeach – my mahi mahi don’t seem to be very solitary. There is quite a little club of them down there. Maybe Indian Ocean mahi mahi are just more sociable?! As to the “pure thought”, errr, wow. I will have to, errr, think (!) about that.

Quote for the day – from our friend Albert Einstein again: “A human being is a part of the whole, called by us ‘Universe’, a part limited in time and space. We now experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest, a king of optical delusion of our consciousness. This delusion is a prison for us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures an the whole of nature in her beauty.”

Photo: glow in the dark mahi mahi

Sponsored Miles: Grateful to Steve Maskell for sponsoring some of yesterday’s miles, as well as today’s.

… but only one per person, ideally. Otherwise it’s very difficult to find shirts to fit.

I’ve been pondering, but I’m a bit stuck, so I thought I’d put the word out to my network of informed, intelligent, creative blog readers to see if you can help me get going.

Further to our recent conversations about how best to effect movement towards a more sustainable future, the emerging consensus seems to be that community-based initiatives are the way to go. Individual efforts, though important, aren’t going to have a big enough impact on their own. And if we wait for our national governments to take action, we’re going to be waiting a very long time. So somewhere in between – the community – seems optimal.

But how to help this to happen? These are my questions:

- Do most community projects begin with an individual having an idea? Or do they begin with a problem or a challenge, and one or more people step up to take action in response to the situation? Or is there some other kind of trigger?

- When I say “community”, I am thinking of, say, between 500 and 5,000 people. This may be a village, or a neighbourhood within a city. Does this sound about right?

- Does the “community” have to be geographically based? Or could it be a virtual one? If virtual, how do these people find others with a common interest?

- What kinds of projects work best? We’ve heard about a local plastic bag ban, and a real food movement. What other projects have galvanised a community to pull together?

Any other input also welcomed. I don’t know how well this will work – having a kind of blog-a-brainstorm – but we’ll give it a try. If nothing else, it will be an interesting experiment in community-based thinking!

Other Stuff:

Calm conditions today, bringing a chance to dry out and clean up. Treated myself to a new seat pad for my rowing seat, and will have a freshly-laundered pillowcase tonight. Pippa – when you wondered how I have time for laundry, it doesn’t really take very long to give a few items a thorough dunking in a bucket of cold water. It’s not the most sophisticated laundry, and my whites certainly aren’t going to pass any “window test” (even if I had a window to hold them up to), but it’s better than nothing!

Greetings to Pauline Thornham (agreed! , Sam Jones (hope to see you for that beer!), Roger (aww, you’re a gentleman!), Eric (ah, if only I could get the hang of that Alchemist/wind thing!), Stephen (still looking out for the green flash, but no luck yet), Stan (thank you so much for raising that very good point about unsustainable irrigation) and HB (good for you! the letter-writing is as important as the individual action – and it ALL spreads ripples).

Jay – good idea about diffusing light through a bottle of water. Have you seen the “Lightcaps” from Simply Brilliant? They have a solar panel in the lid, and a lightbulb, and they screw onto a Nalgene bottle. Exactly the same idea as yours, but solar-powered. ( (Also obtainable through Roz’s Ebay)

And a very, very happy birthday to Joan Sherwood!

Announcement:

WWF (which now stands for World Wide Fund for Nature) is hosting an event in London, called “Blue Mile”. I got to hear about this because I am one of the sporting ambassadors for The BLUE Project, which stages these Blue Mile events to raise funds to protect rivers and oceans.

WWF is hosting a Blue Mile event at an outdoor reservoir in London on Sunday 4th September where participants can complete a challenging open-air one-mile swim. Other Blue Mile challenges include kayaking and stand up paddle boarding (SUP) and if you have the stamina, how about taking on all three events in the ‘Triple Challenge’?

Or you can organise your own Blue Mile events in or next to water throughout the summer. The money you raise will go directly towards WWF’s work with water – without which there would be no life on Earth.
Register to take part in The Blue Mile, download fundraising tips and find out more at WWF website

Quote for today: “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” (Henry David Thoreau)

Photo: A community effort: pupils at Southbourne Junior School hold a bake sale to sponsor ship’s passage across the Atlantic for Monty the school teddy bear in 2005′ (More about Monty and the Atlantic crossing in “Blogs from the Blue” on Roz’s Ebay.)

Sponsored Miles: Latest miles rowed have no sponsors.

Philosophy Friday #3…

People often – and kindly – send me good vibes across the globe, from their homes to my rowboat. I’ve wanted, and tried, to literally feel these vibes, coming at me across the waves. No luck so far, but I’ll keep trying. Maybe it’s like spotting fish, or the “Magic Eye”, and I just haven’t tuned into the right wavelength. It would be very cool indeed if I could feel the energy in the realest sense.

Why am I so eager to feel the force? It’s not just to help me through the day. It’s because I’m intrigued as to whether there are non-technological ways for feelings from one part of the world to be felt in another. And it relates to our urgent need for a shift in consciousness.

The question has been asked: even if the developed world wises up to the fact that we are trashing the Earth in a misguided search for happiness in material things, how do we convey that message to the developing world without looking like self-serving hypocrites? And how can we achieve the necessary amount of change within the time available before it is all too late anyway?

Despite my lack of success in picking up the thought waves across the ether, I believe it can be done. Everything – and everybody – is connected, and via those connections it might just be possible to achieve the shift in thinking that we need. You can interpret this any way you like – spiritually, psychologically, or via word of mouth, quantum mechanics, or the internet. A human being can change their mind in an instant. It is even possible for new ideas to arise spontaneously in more than one place at one time.

Maybe, rather than a massive and spontaneous outbreak of common sense, it will be a domino effect. We will reach a cultural tipping point followed by a cascade of new understanding. Who knows, but that billions of people already have a nagging feeling that things can’t go on as they are, and it will only take a final nudge to trigger a significant and global “a-ha” moment.

But human minds are the hardest, as well as the easiest, things to change. There are so many entrenched beliefs, and attachments to “business as usual”.

As the bumper sticker says, Shift Happens. The question remains, will it?

Other Stuff:

Another day of many seasons today, but I made good progress despite ongoing rough conditions and battling across steep waves. I am listening to “Solar” by Ian McEwan. I find his writing almost painful to listen to – he has such a vivid way of describing what goes on in a character’s mind, with all its idiocies and foibles. But it’s a great listen so far, and obviously the eco aspect of it grabs my attention too.

Rico – thanks for raising the importance of communities working together to resolve issues. I couldn’t agree more. Change is much more likely to stick when people support and reinforce each other’s efforts. Your description of Hardwick in Vermont reminded me of Modbury in Devon, which became the first town in the UK to go plastic-bag free. A woman who lived there (Rebecca Hosking) went with the BBC to make a documentary about the impact of plastic pollution in Hawaii. She was so shocked by what she saw there that when she came home she gave a presentation to all the shopkeepers and persuaded them to introduce the ban. So this is a perfect marriage of “one person can make a difference” with the need for a community to work together.

Martha – hemp is amazing! I remember meeting a hemp evangelist at an event in London. He was so persuasive that I bought a couple of bags of hemp powder to take with me on the Atlantic. Doesn’t taste great, but it’s okay mixed into porridge. Why is it illegal to grow it in the US? Even in Humboldt County?!

Cousin Juliet – good to hear from you! Much love to you and the family.

Joan – good to hear about the Attack of the Killer Tomato Festival. Sounds fun! And good to hear that public events are minimising plastic. It’s a really good way to set a good example for people to take home with them.

Jay – coffee and crumpets in the morning? tea and fruitcake at sunset???!!! just which luxury cruise liner do you think I’m on?!

Photo: time to embrace a new way of thinking. Portrait of Roz by Elena Zhukova at Half Moon Bay, California.

Quote for the day: It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you; it’s the things you know that ain’t so. (Mark Twain)

Sponsored Miles: Thanks go to Niland Mortimer, Anke Altermann and Stanley Miller.

It seems that with my blogs on the subject of food (one of my favourite subjects, in fact), I have opened a can of worms (very good for your composting bin). Lots of comments. Thank you for those.

I’d like to add a bit of clarification to what I was saying the other day. I wasn’t suggesting that the “nanny state” (is that a British term? or international?) should dictate what we can and can’t eat. I like my naughty calories as much as the next person, and am all in favour of personal freedom to choose.

What I was really talking about was not the range of foods available, but how the ingredients in those foods are produced.

John, you say that producers are responding to what consumers want. But did consumers say they would rather have high fructose corn syrup rather than sugar in their Pepsi? Did they say they would rather have GM than non-GM foods? Did they say that they would like their McDonalds burger to come from cows that have lived up to their ankles in their own waste in a feed lot, and been fed on an unnatural diet of GM corn, ground up animal parts, growth hormone, and antibiotics? I don’t think so. Yet the big food companies can get away with all kinds of dodgy practices because consumers don’t ask questions, and food regulators don’t argue with Big Money.

In most American restaurants, the protein choices are: beef (see comments above), chicken (even worse), farmed salmon (also full of antibiotics and colourings, and disastrous effects on local marine environment), and shrimp (extremely damaging fishing practices, basically bulldozing the ocean floor of sponges, corals, and other species). So that leaves me with the veggie options, but eggs and milk products are usually contaminated by the same unnatural inputs as chickens and cows.

I am not saying that other countries are above reproach. Maybe I am just better informed about the US food industry, as there is more information available in books and films and online. But I don’t think that the food industry in other countries is quite as rich, nor as powerful to influence food regulation, as in the US.

At the same time, the nutritional value of even unprocessed food is plummeting. Broccoli had 75% less calcium in 1991 than it had in 1940. Carrots lost the same percentage of their magnesium. Potatoes lost nearly half of their copper and iron. A Canadian study comparing 1999 with 1951 showed that potatoes had lost all of their vitamin A and 57% of their vitamin C, while oranges had their vitamin A content slashed to an eighth of its former levels. Pre-industrialisation, crops used to be rotated to allow the earth’s mineral levels a chance to recover. Agricultural practices evolved over the centuries to ensure the quality of the long-term food supply; what one crop took out of the soil, the next year’s crop would put back in. But intensive farming has swept away those centuries of accumulated wisdom in order to feed our ever-growing population – and to make a few fortunate people very rich indeed.

Just like the fossil fuel industry, we are robbing from the future to feed the present.

Other Stuff:

A mixed bag of weather today. A procession of clouds with legs (squalls) meant I was forever adding and subtracting garments and waterproofs. Fortunately the forecast 20-foot waves didn’t show up (yet). Two little techno-hurrahs:

1. As my 2011 iPod finally died (battery refused to recharge) I rather nervously retrieved my precious MacBook Pro from its waterproof case in the fore cabin and synced it to my 2009 iPod, so now I have all my audiobooks again. Hurrah 1!

2. On impulse, I decided to try my Sanyo Xacti video camera, which had been languishing in a Pelican case since the on/off button stopped working last month. And it worked! Hurrah 2!

Cynthia Kruger – thank you so much for your input on organic farming. Great to hear from somebody who (unlike me!) really knows what she is talking about from the sharp end of the farming business. I do hope that the tide is turning, and that one day very soon the infrastructure will be in place to make it viable for more farmers to go organic. What else is needed? Subsidies (or at least an end to subsidies for big agri-business)? Advice for aspiring organic farmers? Some other form of centralized support?

Claire in LA – thanks for the book recommendation. I have made a note of it and will look it up when ashore.

Stephanie B – good for you and the Relay for Life. I hope it went well. Who DO you send the lighters to from the beach cleanups?

John H – the ultra-nutritious potato sounds handy, although in fact we already have enough food to feed everybody. It’s just that about half of it goes to waste.

Julian Hapel – I’ve met Mark Lynas a couple of times. He also featured in the thought-provoking film, “The Age Of Stupid”. I would generally give him credence, as I know how thorough he is in his research. As to “Stress Down Day”, what a great idea. Stress is a toxin, and will affect health just as surely as the toxins I was talking about above.

My prescription for Stress Down Day: Live simply, eat local, and always look on the bright side of life!

Quote: “There is no duty we do much underrate as the duty of being happy.” (Robert Louis Stevenson)

Photo: my pre-Jetboil days: boiling up water in my little red kettle in La Gomera in 2005.

Sponsored Miles: Today we thank the following people: Mark Reid, Sam Miller, Wayne Batzer, Catherine Thomas, Bruce Gervais, Larry Grandt. Some of these people have waited a long time for their names to come up!

Grey Skies

It is now nearly 80 days since I last looked in a mirror, and it’s probably just as well. It would probably crack. I must be looking like the wild woman of the forest – or more accurately, the wild savage of the seas.

But the great thing is: I really don’t care. It really doesn’t matter. The fish don’t mind (or, if they do, they are too polite to say anything).

We generally live in a very looks-ist world, where we all, no matter how much we try not to, tend to judge on appearances. Well, I do, anyway. It’s hard not to, because when you first meet somebody that is all you have to go on.

And so many of us end up judging ourselves by appearances too. Am I having a bad hair day? Am I wearing the right clothes for the occasion? Does my bum look big in this? I know for sure that it affects me to some extent when I’m carrying extra pounds, as I tend to just before a big ocean row (see my TED talk for the evidence).

So it is tremendously liberating to be at least 1,500 miles from the nearest human eyeballs (assuming for now that the folks on the space station aren’t looking). It’s paradoxical, that although what I am doing out here is so very physical, I am less conscious of myself as a physical being, even when bits of me hurt. I feel almost like pure thought. Even the pain is something being perceived by my mind, rather than something that exists in the relevant part of my body. I can say that “my shoulders hurt”, but it is my mind that is bothered about it, not my shoulders.

Here, more than anywhere else, I understand the notion that our world is a manifestation of our thoughts, that what we think becomes reality. And that if we want to change our world, we have to start by changing our thinking.

Oh heck, how did I get onto this? This is Philosophy-Friday-type stuff. Today’s was meant to be a light-hearted blog about me looking like I’m being dragged through a hedge (or ocean) backwards – which, come to think of it, I am.

Other Stuff:

Just as I was finishing the above, the most almighty wave collided with the cabin wall, about half an inch behind my head, with a deafening din. My adrenaline is still pumping. No damage – it was all talk and no trousers – but bloody hell it was loud. Which reminds me that the waves are due to be even bigger tonight than they were today, so I had best get horizontal asap, as my bunk is by far the safest place to be.

In summary of today, grey and chilly and rough. Rowing across waves no fun at all – a very wet and splashy business. But decent progress made.

Pippa – a big mug of organic miso soup went down very well at the end of a hard day. Thank you for your magnificent shopping expeditions in Perth – very much appreciated.

Quote: “Act as if you were separate from nothing, and no one, and you will heal your world tomorrow.” (from Conversations With God”
Photo: grey skies today.

Sponsored Miles: Cynthia Ford – thank you!

Waikiki 2008

I felt I had to respond to John Kay’s comment on last Philosophy Friday’s blog. Maybe he voiced what other people were thinking. Or maybe not. Anyway, it raises a couple of interesting points.

He says: “No, we don’t need economic growth, but without it we wouldn’t have ipods or cell phones, or any sort of phone for that matter. No computers, either. It’s economic growth that gives us the leisure to follow you on your adventures and allows you to go on those adventures.”

John, with all due respect, I am afraid I have to disagree with you. Our techno-toys may well be the product of the old growth-driven economic model, but that does not mean to say that no growth = no innovation in the future. I am no economist, I confess, so maybe I am missing something here, but I see no reason why companies cannot be driven to do things better rather than do things bigger. Stability does not have to mean stagnation.

As to leisure, it has been calculated that hunter-gatherers spend (or spent) about 17 hours a week doing their “work” of obtaining food, leaving plenty of time for leisure. When I was part of the world of paid work, as a management consultant in London, I was working around 60 hours a week, with an hour’s commute each way, leaving enough time to make a quick supper and collapse in front of the TV. So I am not at all convinced that economic growth leads to more leisure. As to my adventures, pilgrims went on their pilgrimages long before the start of the industrial age. So again, I don’t see the connection to economic growth.

To hear from somebody who knows better than I what they are talking about, I would highly recommend Tim Jackson’s inspiring and convincing lecture on “Prosperity without Growth “. John goes on to say: “We (at least some of us) know what the problem is. What we don’t know is what solution would work, how to implement it, how soon we could tell whether it actually works and what to do if it fails and makes matters worse.

“Sorry to seem pessimistic, but it’s hard to find any example of a major change implemented successfully without causing other problems – the Mongol invasion of Western Europe, French Revolution, China’s “Great Leap Forward”, Hitler’s solution, India/Pakistan partition, European Union….

“I’m always on your side, Roz; just trying to be realistic. Arousing people’s interest in the problem – as you do so well – is a good start but leaves us frustrated about what we can actually do apart from demanding that someone else does something.”

Again, I’m going to refer to minds superior to my own, with these two quotes:

“Let people accomplish your objective their way.” (Clark Johnson)

“I wanted to change the world. But I have found that the only thing one can be sure of changing is oneself.” (Aldous Huxley)

I agree with you, John, that demanding that somebody else do something rarely succeeds. I was in Copenhagen for COP15, and came away with grave doubts that the tough decisions we need will be made by democratically elected leaders.

My philosophy is very much that we each have to live consciously and responsibly, and spread ripples of change by encouraging (but not telling) other people what we are doing and why.

I have a firm policy of not telling people what to do. I may say what I would do, or ask them to do something, but I have enough difficulty running my own life without trying to run other people’s as well.

But if I were in your shoes, John, I would be very grateful to be living on a nice-sized plot of land with a few helpful relatives on hand. I would figure out how I can be as self-sufficient as possible – in energy and food – and put my land to good use. And I would tell people about what I am doing, knowing that although I can’t personally change what people in China or India or Brazil are doing, everything I do has the potential to spread ripples of change.

You can’t go wrong with this course of action. It can’t make matters worse. It may well make them better. If the worst comes to the worst, you and your family will be insulated from the worst effects. And if nothing else. it will keep you so busy you won’t have time to be frustrated about the state of the world.

Other Stuff:

This blog is plenty long enough already. but a few quick hellos, and a reminder that our latest podcast episode, “Farmer in the Waves” is now live at the Roz Roams website. Oh, and an update on the rowing: still rough and splashy-bashy rowing across the waves, making slow progress.

Tom – great question on free will. To be pondered and cogitated upon!

Karen Morss – congrats on deciding to go solar! Makes great sense for you in Emerald Hills. I am enjoying a jar of your plum jam at the moment. Goes great with my cashew-and-cranberry rawfood crackers!

Shana – so sorry, didn’t mean to be rude about your iPod comment! But penance in form of sponsored miles very much appreciated – thank you. I am trying to find a way that I can post some info about progress without giving too much away. I’ll keep you posted.

Rich Raistrick – Nicola mentioned your trip to the Azores. I sailed there from Cape Verde in 2005. Gorgeous! How are the hens doing?

Inky – so sorry to hear about your mother’s passing. She sounds like a very special lady, brave and resilient. I will be honoured to row the miles sponsored in her name.

Thanks for the IDs on the mahi-mahi, Bob and Jean Francois!

And finally, the quote for the day: “Any activity becomes creative when the doer cares about doing it right, or doing it better.” (John Updike)

Photo: spreading ripples – arriving in Waikiki, 2008

Sponsored Miles: Thanks to Doug Grandt for more miles sponsored.

Food continues to preoccupy my mind. This is not unusual for me while at sea. Mealtimes are the punctuation marks in a day of rowing, and the anticipation is almost as enjoyable as the eating – in fact, sometimes more so.

My foodie thoughts today have been fueled by “Eating for England“, by Nigel Slater. I hadn’t quite finished “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” – I had got past his temporary conversion to vegetarianism, and he was just about to go out and shoot his hunter/gatherer dinner, when the iPod battery went flat and refused to recharge. So I’ve had to abandon Michael Pollan to his hunting in the wilds of northern California, and transfer my attentions to the cuisine of my home country.

Some people might think that “English cuisine” is an oxymoron, and admittedly thirty years ago much of our food was pretty bad, with a well-deserved reputation for school-dinner stodge, overdone beef and soggy vegetables. But we’ve come a long way, and English food at its best – or even at its most nostalgic – can be superb.

Nigel Slater’s book is an entertaining dash through the best and worst of English food, laced with personal anecdotes,
with an emphasis on nostalgic favourites, especially biscuits and sweets (US translation: cookies and candies), along with some less appetising traditional dishes such as tripe and faggots (erm, again, something may be lost in translation here, faggots in the English sense being a kind of meatball made from offal).

He made my mouth water with some of his descriptions – of scones with clotted cream, boiled eggs and soldiers, full English breakfasts, fish and chips, and other goodies not easy to come by in the middle of the Indian Ocean. I really shouldn’t listen to this kind of gastronomic pornography while at sea – most nights I have at least one dream about food, and now I’m daydreaming about it too. A big portion of (sustainable) fish and (organic) chips, with malt vinegar and salt, NOT ketchup, and wrapped in paper, would go down extremely well right now.

Whatever you’re having for dinner tonight, please enjoy it extra-much as a tribute to me, as I tuck into my rawfood crackers…. (see photo)

Other Stuff:

Today was rough, splashy and bashy, as I rowed across the waves. But I’m gradually making my way across the adverse current, and have now regained the ground that I lost over the course of the last few days.

I had technical problems with email last night, not succeeding in uploading my blog until this afternoon, and I haven’t yet been able to download incoming messages. So I haven’t yet seen the latest batch of comments, kindly sent to me each day by Aimee. I’ll catch up with them when I can.

Quote for the day: There is no love sincerer than the love of food. (George Bernard Shaw)

Latest Podcast now available. “Farmer in the Waves.”

Sponsored Miles: Louise McHale, Podcast Connect, Cynthia Ford, Louis Girard, Barbara Henker – thanks for sponsoring a good number of miles!

Kettle

Food has been very much on my mind today. I’ve been listening to more of “”The Omnivore’s Dilemma“” by Michael Pollan. A very good book. If you’re short on time, just read the section about Polyface Farm (that is how it sounds, excuse me if misspelled). It is a beautiful example of how human and beast and land can co-exist harmoniously to the benefit of all. Well, the chickens and pigs and cows and rabbits end up in the pot, but they have happy, natural lives up until shortly before that.

But seriously, do read it. I learned a LOT about how natural systems work, from soil to grass to trees to grazers to manure. I now have a new appreciation for the lowly blade of grass, which plays an essential part in the intricate and interrelated system of converting sunshine into food. By using intelligence rather than chemicals, it is perfectly possible for humans (at least in farmer-friendly climates) to feed ourselves without trashing the Earth.

The farm reminded me of a retreat Mum and I went on over Christmas a couple of years ago, at the Gaia Partnership in Herefordshire in England. Elaine Brooke has organized her home and her two acres to maximum eco-efficiency. Nothing goes to waste, the house benefits from passive solar energy, and she grows most of her own food. There is a composting toilet and male guests are encouraged to pee on the compost heap. She has demonstrated that you don’t need a whole farm to be just about self-sufficient in food. And the more I learn about agribusiness, the more I would like to know exactly where my food is coming from.

Speaking of where my food is coming from – food has also been on my mind in a more immediate way today. I’m not too concerned yet, but I’ve taken an inventory of what food I have on board. This voyage is taking longer than expected, and there was some spoilage due to those leaking lockers. So I’ve figured out what I can eat each day from now on. I should be okay, but I need to be a little careful. Or it will be out with the fishing line….

Other Stuff:

Speaking of food, during my reorganization yesterday I got out my trusty little electric kettle (see photo). It guzzles electricity like nobody’s business, and takes nearly half an hour to come to a boil, but when I have oodles of sunshine it’s a handy alternative to the Jetboil. I also got out my second Jetboil stove, as the igniter on the first one had long since ceased to work. The igniter on the second Jetboil worked once. And then stopped. Pathetic. A shame that such a great bit of kit is let down by this one substandard component.

Made better progress today. The wind rose, and although it’s not from the ideal direction, it is giving me a bit of a helping hand across the current.

There is an interview I did with the Ocean Conservancy, now online here. It is also highlighted on the homepage of their Keep the Coast Clear website (which focuses on marine debris): http://www.keepthecoastclear.org

Quote for the day, dedicated to any readers of this blog who think I am too idealistic: “Idealism increases in direct proportion to one’s distance from the problem.” (John Galsworthy) – which entitles me to be very idealistic indeed!

Sponsored Miles: Diane Freeman, Shana Bagley, David Cameron, Nick Perdiew, Simon and Eve Ringsmuth, Jeffrey Green, Cynthia Ford. Many thanks for your support in this venture.

What a difference a day makes. Yesterday, dead calm. Today, anything but. Back to 20 knot winds, coming at me out of the south, which is not really what I want at this stage. So I’ve been busy rowing, but to remarkably little effect.

The rougher water meant I haven’t seen any fish today, apart from an acrobatic leap by one individual about twenty feet away from my boat. Yesterday it was so calm that looking down into the water was like looking into an aquarium. I could easily see these three chaps mooching around slowly and serenely down below.

So now I need another ID. If the handsome chap last week, with the distinctive yellow dorsal fin was (duh!) a yellowfin tuna, then what are these? Are they also tuna, but of a different variety?

Other Stuff:

Today I finished “The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency (Book 1)” by Alexander McCall Smith. Very different from “Corduroy Mansions”, being set in Botswana rather than Pimlico, but equally good. Lovely characters, and a gentle little slice of Africa.

Now I’m onto “The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals“, by Michael Pollan. After this, Fast Food Nation, Food Inc, and Supersize Me, it will be a miracle if I ever manage to find anything in America that I can eat without the deepest suspicion. The sooner we all wise up and start growing our own, and/or supporting farmers’ markets, the happier I will be.

Seems to me that when reconsidering our relationship with our planet, food is as good a place to start as any. While there are many things it is hard for us to control, we can (with very few exceptions) control what we eat. And if we all made well-informed decisions, we would reap huge benefits – both for our health and the health of the Earth.

Cynthia – the books you recommended, by Derrick Jensen, sound excellent. I have made a note of the titles and will follow up when on dry land.

Pippa – thanks for the good news about the Aussie carbon tax, and for the stern looks directed current-wards!

David Tangye – good to hear from you. Not so good to hear the general reaction to the carbon tax. Given Australia’s recent bumper crop of “natural” disasters, I thought there might have been more support.

Gloria in Iowa – thanks for the words of encouragement. And welcome to my blog!

Michael – you’re right that we humans have been predicting the end of the world for almost as long as we have been in existence. However, many factors have changed quite dramatically in the last 40-50 years, and I cannot see how our current path can be sustainable. Maybe the time has finally come for the man in the sandwich boards!

Thanks, Stephanie, for the order of the Diana Gabaldon books. Looks like I have books 1-4 and 7, but not 5 and 6. Doh! And you say laird Jamie “disappears”? There’s a tease! Thanks for not spoiling the ending for me!

Quote for the day: “I have developed a new philosophy – only dread one day at a time.” (Charlie Brown)

Sponsored Miles: James Borleis, Megan Lutz, Paul Nordquist and some anonymous miles. Thanks to you Roz has regained lost ground and is further west than she had been before the current swept her backwards.

I promised I was going to talk about shifting consciousness this Philosophy Friday, but I’ve realized there’s something else I need to talk about first, namely, what is consciousness?

I don’t claim to be a philosopher. I’ve never studied it, nor even read very much about it. I just think a lot. Quite possibly there is a proper philosophical definition of consciousness, but if there is, I don’t know it, so please forgive my ignorance.

I would define “consciousness” as self-awareness, or the way that we perceive ourselves, or the stories that we tell ourselves about who we are. And I believe that this can change.

As an example, there is my personal story. I used to believe that I could never be an adventurer. Adventurers were almost a different species, those steely-eyed, square-jawed bearded men who sailed around the world, conquered mountains and trekked to north and south poles. I was short, unathletic, and not particularly brave. And not a man.

Then one day my story changed. I met a woman who had rowed across the Atlantic Ocean, completing it alone because her six-foot-five, athletic husband was unable to cope psychologically with ocean life and had to be rescued from the boat just two weeks into the crossing. This woman was no taller than I was. Suddenly it dawned on me that the size of my physique mattered less than the size of my self-belief. My internal story changed.

What about our collective story? There are things that we humans tell ourselves about who we are and what we need that may not necessarily be true. Some of these ideas that we have absorbed into our collective self-concept used to serve us well when times were different – for example, that we need to have as many children as possible – but are now ripe to be re-evaluated.

Another example is the belief that we need constant economic growth, but is that really true? If we are not sure whether or not it is true, let’s take a different tack; does this belief serve us well? Does it make us happy? Does it make the world a better place? If not, then would a different belief serve us better?

We are often afraid to let go of the “old” way of doing things, because that is all we have ever known. We act as we do because we don’t realize we have a choice. But we do. We have free will. We might feel trapped by the myth of perpetual economic growth, or the perceived need for more stuff, more money. But these are all things that we have created. And we can un-create them. We have built our own cage, but we also have the key to the door. It is a leap of faith to try a new world order – but starting is the hardest part. Once we’ve taken that first step, and tested it to see if it works, subsequent steps will become easier.

Examples already exist of ways of living that don’t focus on materialism. At the time of writing I am directly south of Bhutan, famous for its concept of Gross National Happiness. Now there’s an idea worth spreading…

…which brings me on to how we get everybody to buy into the new consciousness. But that’s for next week.

Other Stuff:

Another day on the Indian Lake today. While waiting for the wind to help me across the current, I finished the general rearrangement and reordering of the boat. Sedna is now as shipshape as it is possible for a ship to be, without recourse to a chandlery. I feel more than ready to start rowing again now, just as soon as the wind shows up. Hello? Wind? Anybody there?

Thanks for the great comments on my state of dishevelment. Thankfully I now feel much more hevelled. We have hevelment in abundance. I was especially encouraged by the comments from Rico, Matt and Anna.

Doc Klein – good to hear from you! I kept thinking of Asheville when I was listening to “Drums of Autumn”, as it was set in North Carolina. Happy memories. Best wishes to you and your niece.

Dan – your adventure in South America sounds amazing. Very “Motorcycle Diaries”.

Stan – I know what you mean about “Eaarth”. I enjoyed its honesty. No sugar-coating. Just “here’s how it is”, followed by “and here’s how best to deal with it”. Some people might find it depressing, but I quite relish the prospect of change. For sure, we need it!

Photo: Getting shipshape on the Indian Lake

We must believe in free will. We have no choice.
(Isaac Bashevis Singer)

Sponsored Miles: Thank you Christopher Senn for helping Roz to claw back some of her lost miles. Roz is now just six miles short of her previous best distance.

Currents

Faced with an adverse current, I rowed all morning and only made two miles. I don’t know quite how that works, as I would have thought I could out-row a 0.5kt current by more than that, but anyway, such is ocean life.

So, this afternoon, rather than continuing to bang my head against the figurative brick wall (the nearest literal brick wall being some 1,500 miles away), I decided to wait for the wind to increase to help me across the current, and to treat myself to an afternoon off. The conditions were the calmest they have been since I left from Fremantle a lifetime ago, so it was a perfect opportunity to do a few more domestic chores.

It took me an hour or two to hang my sleeping bag out to air, do my laundry, sort out my recycling from my rubbish, and brush my hair for the first time in 70 days. Then I sat down to figure out how to end world poverty, which took me a little longer.

Seriously, though, I did spend a while thinking about it. And Vic and I had a chat about it when we recorded our Roz Roams podcast” today. We had a poor satphone connection so I couldn’t hear all that he said, but I think we made a good start on putting the world to rights. We may not quite be on track for the Nobel Peace Prize, but we’re doing our best.

So, as today draws to an end, all is quiet on the Indian front. The ocean is silent, just slapping and gurgling around Sedna’s hull. The last time I looked, a couple of my yellow-finned friends were milling around “downstairs”, under my boat. The sun has set and the sky is almost clear, with just a few cumulus clouds blotching the western sky, like disappointed groupies hanging around after the rock star has left the building.

And on that poetic(ish) note, I shall bid you goodnight. I have a chance of a good night’s sleep, with my freshly-aired sleeping bag, freshly-laundered pillowcase, and the waves on best behaviour. The other great joy of a calm night is that I can sleep with the ventilation holes open, which means I don’t wake up with a stuffy head and feeling as if someone is sitting on my chest. In fact, the only bummer is that I will wake up tomorrow even further away from my destination, but no doubt conditions will change soon enough.

Other Stuff:

Vince and Scott – Thanks for the ID on my fishy friends. Yummy though sashimi would be, I think I would be a bit squeamish about preying on my companions. Friends are few and far between out here.

Shana – easy for you to say that a buggered iPod is no big deal! I spent 103 days alone on the Atlantic with no iPod. Been there, done that, and no urge to do it again. I’m going with Eric’s view that “morale” is the primary power source of my boat. Luckily the iPod is still staggering along, and a couple of the reserve team iPods are also showing good vital signs.

John H – Omega Point Theory sounds very interesting, and I have made a note to follow up on that when I reach dry land. However, I do find it rather scary to consider the possibility that humanity could be the pinnacle of the universe’s achievements. I suspect it could do a lot better if it tried. I would have a few recommendations for Humanity 2.0.

Quote: There’s only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.
(Aldous Huxley)

Sponsored Miles: No forward progress, but thanks to new sponsors covering some of the miles that will need to be rowed again – Kathleen Miritello, Richard Baguley, John Herrick, Laura Prouty and Joseph Kwiatkowski.

Calmer Ocean: Atlantic 2006

I finished listening to Bill McKibben’s Eaarth“. The next book on my iPod was “The Ecotechnic Future“, and the one after that was “Doomsday (Endworld)“, but I felt I’d had enough apocalyptic reading matter for now, so am listening to Alexander McCall Smith’s “The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency“.

I enjoyed the end of “Eaarth”, in which Bill presents some ways to cope with life in our uncertain new world. It boils down to “live local”, which embraces everything from farmers’ markets to rebuilding a sense of community. And he advocates the use of the internet (ideally running on your domestic solar-powered electricity) to cushion the landing from our current over-stimulated lifestyles, and to save us from going nuts at the neighbours. All seems very sensible to me. Best of the old with the best of the new.

In fact (apart from the internet bit, although that could be included in “community”) it echoes the words of the Hopi Elders, which led to my own awakening in 2004. I’ll quote them here:

“You have been telling the people that this is the eleventh hour. Now you must go back and tell the people that this is the hour. And there are things to be considered:

Where are you living?

What are you doing?

What are your relationships?

Are you in right relationship?

Where is your water?

Know your garden

It is time to speak your truth

Create your community

Be good to each other

And do not look outside yourself for the leader.

This could be a good time!”

Wise words. Not much I can add to that. So I won’t.

Other Stuff:

Today was the calmest conditions I’ve seen in a while, so I seized the opportunity to do some boat maintenance. Various lockers have now been mopped and cleaned, and rearranged so that precious food supplies are kept well out of harm’s way, i.e. out of saltwater’s way, at least as much as is humanly possible on a rowboat where nothing is more than inches from ocean.

I even tackled the dreaded hot chocolate locker. Not just one, but two, bags of hot chocolate had disgorged themselves. It took several bucketfuls of water liberally laced with eco-friendly detergent to clean the chocolatey goo off all the bags and jars of food, and to clean the locker itself. By the end I, too, was liberally coated in chocolate. Not as much fun as it sounds, given lack of suitably attractive partner (or any partner, come to that) to lick it off for me.

Mileage was dismal. Adverse current sent me 10 miles backwards last night. Valiant rowing failed to recover much of the distance lost. And tomorrow the wind will also be against me. Boo. Still, at least I have a clean boat.

Thanks for all the great comments, covering everything from solving world poverty to chocolate-cleaning techniques. The poverty question is an interesting one. I will ponder.

I found another Diana Gabaldon book on my iPod, “An Echo in the Bone“, but I suspect there is a book that comes after “Drums of Autumn” and before this one. Can somebody please confirm for me?

Quote: “Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace” (Amelia Earheart, quoted by Karen Morss on marmalade jar label found in hot chocolate locker today)

Sponsored Miles A number of miles from an anonymous donor.

Today was one of those good news, bad news, sagas.

Good news that the wind is finally dropping.

Bad news that at the very same time I ran into an adverse current, and without the wind to help me, I am going backwards.

Good news is that the ocean is becoming calmer so I can engage the oars better.

Bad news is that my shoulders are still feeling the after-effects of my mishap a week ago, so I can’t row as strongly as I would like.

Good news that I was listening to a fascinating, well-written, well-researched book, and I agree with the author’s conclusions.

Bad news is that the book was Bill McKibben’s “Eaarth, which describes how we human beings have altered our planet to the extent that it is becoming unable to support civilization as we know it. To an already marginally unhappy rower, this maybe wasn’t the ideal reading matter to uplift the spirits.

Eaarth keys into last week’s Philosophy Friday post, and some of the comments that resulted. Rico and Michael – I think you, especially, would find Eaarth an interesting read if you haven’t read it already.

We seem to be rather spoiled for choice as to just what might cause the downfall of human civilization. Rico is going for “global economic collapse”. Bill McKibben is going for climate change. And there is a multitude of other possibilities, many of which have been the subject of books I have listened to recently, mostly fiction, but none the less convincing for that. How about this list for starters?

- worldwide plague (The Brief History of the Dead“, or The City, Not Long After“)
- dramatic decline in fertility (that PD James book – is it The Children of Men“?)
- catastrophic wipeout of all technology, possibly as a result of a solar flare (Dies the Fire)
- or maybe a GMO with a terminator gene running rampant leading to major food shortages
- or a superbug resistant to all known antibiotics
- or even aliens resembling Keanu Reeves coming to save Earth by wiping out humanity (was it The Day The Earth Stood Still, or The Day After Tomorrow? – they all start sounding alike)
- or all kinds of 2012 theories

For me personally – and I take the state of the planet very personally – I fully expect to see significant changes within my lifetime. I already have. I was born just before the end of 1967. In that year we had 322 parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere. There were 3.5 billion people on the planet. As I write this, at the age of 43 in 2011, we have close to 390 parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere, and there are nearly 7 billion people on the planet. By the time I am nearing the end of my life (say), aged 82 in 2050, who knows? 43 years ago scientists would not have predicted our current situation (although the Club of Rome came close). From where we are now, we cannot accurately predict what we will face in 2050. We can only hope that our present rate of exponential growth does not continue. That would mean the kind of world that I would not be happy to live in. Overcrowded, hot, with intense competition for increasingly scarce resources.

Something’s gotta give. It is time we became our better selves – the mature, wise, evolved beings who understand it is worth sacrificing immediate gain for long-term survival.

We have a choice to make. We can recognize the seriousness of our situation, accept responsibility for our past mistakes, and take the tough, even humiliating, but essential decisions needed to ensure our continued existence. Or we can continue to be distracted by the very same man-made artifices that got us into this mess in the first place – the all-conquering supremacy of high finance, rampant consumerism, and the myth of infinite economic growth – until we have dithered and procrastinated so long that we end up doing too little, too late (if it’s not already).

I have some notions on the feasibility of such a seemingly miraculous shift in consciousness. But I’ll save those for Friday.

Ah, nothing like a bit of global catastrophe to cheer me up at the end of a hard day….

Other Stuff:

From global catastrophe to minor personal catastrophe. I found today that my Larabar locker has leaked. This locker is beneath the sleeping cabin and has always been as dry as a bone. I cannot for the life of me figure out how water has got in there. Can water penetrate an intact carbon fibre hull?!

Latest podcast now live at Roz Roams: Anfangen Sind Schwer (German saying, meaning “beginnings are hard”)

Will Stockland – great to hear from you. Hope to see you next time I am in Oxford for some in-person debate over a glass or two of vino.

Pippa – good news! On further investigation I discovered that the pillow itself is not mouldy – just the pillowcase and the white pillow cover. I have washed them as best I can, so they should at least smell better.

Pam Longobardi – the ocean would certainly have a right to be angry with us. I just wish he/she wouldn’t take it out on me! Keep up the great work you are doing for the oceans.

Geoff and Janet – 25 knots? Is that all?! Wusses! It’s been 25-30 around here for the last 10 days. Today was the first day I didn’t have to stick my nose right into my porridge mug to stop my food blowing away en route from mug to mouth. Glad you’ve been having a great time. Sail safe and enjoy!

Quote for today: “Prosperity is only an instrument to be used, not a deity to be worshipped.” (Calvin Coolidge)

Photo: logo from 2009′s “Pull Together” initiative in the run-up to Copenhagen’s COP15 conference

Sponsored Miles: On a day when Roz has been carried by a current in the wrong direction, thanks go to Steven Huysseune to encourage some forward progress, and to Matt Ellis and family, who contributed so that Roz and her mother can talk for a bit longer on the phone tomorrow.

Today was a rough day – literally and figuratively.

As I have done so many times before in trying circumstances, I called my dear old Mum. It was good to share. She and I are going through very similar emotions at the moment – me with the ocean, she with her broken leg. We are both in uncomfortable, occasionally painful, situations. We are both feeling frustrated and impatient for this phase to end. We both know that this too shall pass – eventually. And we both have (very approximately) another 2 months to go.

The big difference is that I volunteered for mine. She didn’t. And another difference is that her leg is mending, while here it feels like everything is breaking.

Maybe that is a little over-dramatic. Not quite everything is breaking, but after ten straight days of high winds and high seas, both Sedna and I are looking decidedly dishevelled. I can’t speak for Her Royal Purpleness, but I for one am very much looking forward to some calmer weather (due to start tomorrow, for a day or so) so I can get hevelled again. A bit of hevelment would most definitely have a restorative effect on morale. I would, indeed, revel in some hevel. Ideally on the level.

And on that decidedly nonsensical note, I shall shut up before I embarrass myself further.

Other Stuff:

It occurred to me today, while in this rather melancholy mood, that maybe this is how it feels to suffer from a degenerative disease, or to suffer effects of old age. One after another, things cease to function. Most things you learn to manage without, some you miss. There is a general feeling of decline, and a nagging anxiety as to what might go next. I am fortunate, in that I am only suffering the loss of creature comforts and a few electronics. But it did make me feel compassion for those suffering irreversible physical or mental decline.

Hoping my iPod lasts out long enough for me to listen to the next book – “Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet“, by Bill McKibben. He is quite a hero of mine.

RGJ: relieved to hear it was a wind-up. Just like undergraduate days. Me rowing, you winding up. Plus ca change.

Thanks to Doug and Aimee for the info about “An Open Letter to All Humankind”. It sound fantastic. I very much look forward to seeing it when I get back to dry land. http://bit.ly/tommoletter

Jay – my 430th day at sea? Yes, I had lost count. Wow, that’s a lot of days. I really am a glutton for punishment. Today’s quote in honour of your “failures” story.

Quote: If you want to succeed, double your failure rate.
(Thomas Watson, IBM)

Photo: looking forward to being on the level – note angle of boat to horizon (photo taken on Atlantic in 2005)

Sponsored Miles: Thank you Curtis Zing.

ID Fish Face?

ID Whole Body

One of the troubles with oceans is their reluctance to yield their secrets. It is just so hard to get a good look at the creatures of the deep.

For example, within the space of half an hour today I saw a grey dorsal fin slicing the surface of the water. Then I saw a large fishy shape, about 6 feet long, under the water. Then I saw a tail, shaped like a whale tail, i.e. horizontal relative to the fish’s body, rather than vertical, but couldn’t see the rest of the creature. Then I managed to get these shots of a fish – or possibly two – who swam repeatedly underneath my boat.

But how many of these fishy body parts belonged to the same critter? Obviously the whale tail must belong to somebody else. But what about the fin? And I thought the chap(s) in the photos was about 4 feet long, but it was very difficult to gauge how far underwater he was, and hence his size.

No wonder sailors of old imagined up the most bizarre sea monsters. A bit of this one and a bit of that one, and soon enough you end up with something quite surreal. And then, of course, sometimes the something surreal turns out to be entirely real.

Can anybody give me an ID on the chap in the photo? I was quite intrigued by the distinctive dark band across his face, and the series of yellow markings between his dorsal fin and tail. I’d love to know who he is!

Other Stuff:

I had a bit of a low point this evening, just after sunset. My iPod refused to recharge, and I thought I would have to resort to one of the other 6. But when I opened their “waterproof” container, I found it damp inside, and the entire squad was showing the effects of corrosion. I was suddenly very weary of this ongoing battle of attrition against seawater. No matter how careful I am, it gets everywhere – into lockers, food, clothes, bedding, and electronics. Okay, so a wet iPod is not exactly a Mayday situation, but it can certainly sap morale. Eventually I found a solution – using the inverter and AC recharger worked where the DC recharger had failed – but by then I was thoroughly grumpy with that big blue salty thing outside.

Anna Farmery – first class honours?! You girly swot!! Seriously, I’m impressed. I know enough about law exams to know just how much hard work and intelligence that takes. I was delighted to scrape a 2:2. Fantastically well done, my dear, and I will row as fast as possible towards that celebratory beer!

Sarah Watson – UBS and Liverpool St certainly do seem a lifetime ago. We’ve come a long way, baby! (“Baby” being more the operative word in your case! Hope to see you in CT for a catchup. It’s been too long!

Delta – thanks for the info on wave height. Very interesting. I think that was mentioned in the book “The Wave” which I rather foolishly listened to while rowing between Fremantle and Geraldton. From my perspective, waves hereabouts are certainly more than big enough!

Quote: “The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.” (Tolstoy)

Sponsored Miles: Rob King, Cynthia Kruger, Terry Jones, Larry Grandt – grateful thanks for “your” miles.
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Ventilation Holes

I like the hot chocolate made by Wilderness Family Naturals. I like it plain. When on land, I like it spiced up with a tot of something interesting. I even like eating it in its powder form. I am considerably less enthusiastic about it when it is liberally coated all over the inside of one of my lockers, and all the contents therein.

This was today’s rather discombobulating discovery. A locker on the port side of the deck, which like all the other deck lockers leaks like a sieve, was found to be full of unpleasant brown liquid. Swishing my fingers through the opaque waters, I found amongst the swimming contents an empty hot chocolate bag.

One of the really good things about WFN hot chocolate is that it contains none of those evil, unhealthy trans fats that are in most hot chocolates (look on the label for “partially hydrogenated” oils). It consists of cacao, coconut sugar, dehydrated coconut milk, and Himalayan salt.

One of the really bad things about WFN hot chocolate is that coconut milk, when at Indian Ocean temperature, is a solid fat, so the powder has formed a gunky, slimy, congealed, lumpy coating all over everything – one of those coatings that is impressively good at transferring itself to anything it touches. Also, it is dark brown, which is not a good colour to have smeared all over one’s decks, clothes, skin etc.

For now I have let it be, to be dealt with when conditions calm down. This gives me time to consider how I am going to clean up the contents, pump out the brown water, and clean up the locker, preferably without my boat looking like the scene of a dirty protest.

I told myself it could be worse. In her book, Jessica Watson (the 16-year-old Aussie who sailed solo around the world) describes the aftermath of a knockdown and having to clean up the “dunny”. The brown stuff she had to deal with wasn’t hot chocolate.

Ah, the romance of life on the ocean wave!

Other Stuff:

Conditions today were the calmest they have been so far this month. The wind has been good for progress, but it would be nice to have a few “drying days” so I can air the cabin. The Purple Palace is getting rather fusty and damp, both from wet clothes coming in (although I minimize this as much as I can) and because I have this unfortunate habit of breathing in my sleep. It has been too rough even to have the ventilation holes open (see photo).

Sierra Sage – you’re very welcome. Of course, you realize you HAVE to be careful and stay safe now, because if anything bad happens I will feel awful for having encouraged you to get back on your horse. Good luck and ride safe!

Rico – yes, I do have arnica. But I’m over my nerves now. As Sierra will find out, the hardest part is the first minute. After that it gets easier all the time.

John Kay – thanks for the comment re Tiger Balm (not containing tiger) and Baby Cream (??!). Made me laugh! As did the comment from Marks the Spot. LOL!

Quote: I dread success. To have succeeded is to have finished one’s business on earth, like the male spider, who is killed by the female the moment he has succeeded in his courtship. I like a state of continual becoming, with a goal in front and not behind.
(George Bernard Shaw) – plenty of “becoming” still ahead of me before I’m in any danger of success!

Photo: the ventilation holes are those two smaller holes below the hatch to my sleeping cabin. They have screw-in covers to keep water out, and a protective scoop-shaped partial cover on the outside.

Sponsored Miles: Grateful thanks to: Zan Janiszewski, John Miller, Ian Jefferson, David Tangye, Steve Maskell, Courtney Elwood, Tamara Fogg, Karen Morss, Jennifer Bester and Kamas Industries.

Philosophy Friday… I warned you!

This last week’s rather challenging conditions have reminded me that there is nothing like twenty-foot waves to let you know that, as far as nature is concerned, we are just another animal.

For much of the Atlantic voyage, my first ocean, I took it terribly personally that the ocean was being so mean to me. Winds would blow me backwards. Waves would tip my boat this way and that, and occasionally right over. Currents would whisk me off course. These things happened so often that I couldn’t believe it was just bad luck. There seemed to be a malevolent will at work.

I tried to figure out what the ocean was trying to teach me, but eventually I realized that the ocean was not rearranging the laws of physics just for my benefit. It is not a sentient being. It was not trying to teach me anything. It was simply doing what oceans do.

This has been one of my lines of pondering recently – where environmentalism meets morality. Given what we are doing to the planet, do we “deserve” to survive?

My considered opinion is that whether humankind will survive or not is not a moral question. Nature does not recognize right and wrong, deserving and undeserving. Our survival is a simple question of practicality. We are fundamentally changing the ecology of Planet Earth. We evolved to survive and thrive in Environment X, but through our own actions we are turning it into Environment Y. And we will get our just deserts, not in a moral sense but as the inevitable consequence of those changes that we ourselves have wrought.

Darwin introduced us to the concept of “survival of the fittest”. It occurs to me that “fittest” is a usefully ambiguous word. It doesn’t necessarily mean fastest, or strongest, or hardiest. It could be interpreted to mean “those that FIT IN best with the conditions prevalent at the time”, i.e. the species that can co-exist best with other species in the climate and atmospheric composition that prevail on a particular planet at a particular time. If you fit in well, you thrive and endure.

But if the prevailing conditions change, for whatever reason, you probably will not thrive or endure any more.

We like to think that we are special, and to an extent we are, but nonetheless we are still a part of nature, and we need to recognize our interdependence with the animals, vegetables and minerals of the Earth. Nature does not exist solely to serve our needs. We currently labour under the delusion that we can continue exploiting it indefinitely, but this take-take-take relationship cannot last. Nature operates on a give-and-take basis. Ultimately, the balance will redress itself.

And that “balance” can be achieved the easy way (from the human perspective)…. or the hard way.

Other Stuff:

Having to pump out all the lockers every morning is getting a bit old. My sleeping cabin, relatively speaking the driest, safest place on the boat, is filling up with refugee objects from swampy lockers – cookstove, gas canisters, foodstuffs, and so on are temporarily stowed here until things calm down a bit.

Hi via Facebook to Alun Rees (kind lender of vehicle in UK) and Ken Scott (kind lender of vehicle in Oregon). Thanks for the messages of support, and I hope to see you both again later in the year. And possibly your vehicles!

Hi also via Facebook to Lara Avisov. Great to hear from you. I’d love to meet up when I’m back in SF and we can talk Appley things!

Speaking of Appley things, my iPod has been on best behaviour today. All functions working. At least temporarily. So I have continued to enjoy the company of Jamie Fraser via “Drums of Autumn” by Diana Gabaldon. He and Claire are currently establishing their new home at Fraser’s Ridge in North Carolina in 1768. It’s making me nostalgic for a simpler era – or at least it did, until mention of the outhouse reminded me that the 21st century does have certain benefits – like plumbing!

It’s been too challenging to cook in these conditions, so I’ve been living off Larabars and nuts. Lots of them! Looking forward to some calmer conditions, forecast for a few days from now – and much as I love Larabars, also looking forward to some variation in my diet!

Photo: Conditions and boat currently about as different from this as it is possible to be! Sculling in Leeds.

Quote: Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Sponsored Miles: Thank you Kenneth Eddings and Aimee Divine for sponsoring some of those missing miles; also thanks to Kenny Runnderduck, Doug Grandt, Jeffrey Blatt, Andrew Loughhead, Leslie Layton, Alexandra Stevens and Bruce Gervais. Rough weather has the advantage of good mileage!

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Again, making this a quick blog. Conditions remain windy and rough for a couple more days. After that hopefully I can be a bit more chatty.

All well here. Good miles today, but wind still around 30 knots and conditions correspondingly rough. Had to pump out all lockers today. Sure I’d be going a lot faster without all this extra weight!

Just wanted to quickly respond to a few recent questions and comments:

Thanks for the encouraging words on my more philosophical postings from the Purple Palace. More coming up tomorrow for Philosophy Friday!

Thanks to my dear old Mum for sending me this little excerpt from the British comedy classic “Last of the Summer Wine”: One of the characters announces that he is going to row the Atlantic.
Another old chap: “When?”
“On Tuesday.”
“The forecast says it will rain on Tuesday.”
“OK, Wednesday then.”

Mum is doing okay-ish, after breaking her leg in the last minute of the women’s soccer World Cup Final (or getting on a bus, take your pick). She went to Leeds General Infirmary for a consultation on Monday, and they have given her a lightweight cast. She has avoid putting weight on the leg for another 8 weeks. A long time. It will be touch-and-go who reaches the end of their confinement to quarters first – her or me.

RGJ: you ARE joking, right? An Oxford education, and that is the best question you can come up with: What do I eat? I will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you are just winding me up. I suppose, having known me for 25 years (argh!) you’re entitled. It worked. But if you’re not, see FAQ #1, under “About” on my website.

Gregory: I loved Tiny Little’s film. Seemed he was always finding an excuse for a cold Guinness! He’s a really good bloke. Sold me my first sea anchor, and gave me the “beginner’s guide” on how to use it, in La Gomera, too. In answer to your questions, I did have a solar shower when I did the Atlantic, but only used it once because:
a) difficult to find somewhere to hang it high enough so you can get under it
b) a solar shower gives you hot water during the day, but when you REALLY want the hot shower is at the end of the day’s rowing, to get the salt and sweat off before you go to bed, and by then the water has cooled
c) and bucket and sponge seem just fine to me!
Re the fridge, obviously he didn’t keep it plugged in all the time, as it uses a lot of power. So he only plugged it in to chill his alcoholic beverages. And I don’t bring alcohol with me. So although I tremendously admire Tiny’s style, I’ll stick with what I’ve got, thanks!

Rodney – great quotes. Thank you.

Joan: Loved the “Sex Lives of Cannibals” – although I don’t think it did many favours for the Kiribati tourism trade! Read it, loved it, met the author. Re your unwanted hitchhikers after visiting farms, am listening to another Diana Gabaldon book at the moment (subject to problems listed below) and it mentions a novel way to get rid of full-to-bursting ticks, involving chewing on some seeds with water and then spitting the mixture at the tick. Hmmmm….!

iPod update: I think it may be in its death throes. Today the buttons stopped working, and the only way I could get it to play was to unplug the earbuds and then plug them in again. Then it developed a high pitched background noise. Then both problems fixed themselves. But I feel its days are numbered. Lucky I have another six!

Quote: From “Drums of Autumn” by Diana Gabaldon, on the difference between a Brit and an American: “A Brit thinks 100 miles is a long way. An American thinks 100 years is a long time.” !!

Photo: Mum and me after my arrival in Antigua in 2006

Sponsored Miles: Roz is making steady progress westwards, being carried a bit south, and the next 320 miles have no sponsors. Many more after that are sponsored.
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Headband

Written in haste – just to let you know that all is still well on board the good ship Sedna, although conditions continue rough and squally. Sedna is performing admirably, tipping around but staying upright in even the most intimidating-looking of waves. All due precautions being taken – leash when on deck, strapped to bunk when in cabin. Blogging (while relatively unsecured) is probably the most dangerous part of my day!

Thanks to all who suggested various solutions to iPod problem. I had been holding the earbuds in place, some distance from my eardrums, using headband so kindly given to me by Sybille just before I left Fremantle (see photo). And regularly cursed bloody Steve Jobs and his aversion to buttons. But have now reset the iPod as suggested, and wheel control now working again. Hurrah!

And that’s all for now, folks. More when I’ve regained an even keel.

Quote: “An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.”
(G K Chesterton)

Sponsored Miles: Stephanie Batzer, Jeffrey Green, Courtney Elwood, Larry Grandt, Linda Leinen, Tom Pollack, James Malone, Leslie Fish, Anne Dare. Thanks for sponsoring these recent miles, rowed in tough cirumstances.

Dear Sierra Sage,

What I know about you is that you are 14 years old, you love whales, you are an EcoHero, and that a few days ago you had a bad head injury at a horse riding event. Your mother tells me that you are doing well now, and that one day soon you will need to get back on the horse. She thought maybe I could say something useful to you about courage and perseverance.

To be honest, I’d feel a bit of a hypocrite writing to you about overcoming fear, as I’m having a bit of a struggle with fear myself at the moment. In fact, you may not be scared at all of getting back on a horse, as younger people don’t suffer from many of the fears and anxieties that adults manage to create for themselves. So this letter is at least as much for my benefit as for yours.

I headbutted the wall of my cabin yesterday, when a huge wave struck. Not as bad a head injury as yours, but it still hurt like hell as the impact travelled down my spine into my chest and back. And I’m a long way from the nearest ER. Luckily for me, I don’t need the ER.

I wish I could say that, like any truly rufty-tufty adventurer, I immediately set my jaw, stiffened my spine, and went back to the oars, but I would be lying. I spent last night in my cabin, strapped to my bunk, feeling rather sore and flinching every time another big wave clobbered my boat.

However, today I am feeling better and a little braver. After all, there’s only one way to get to the other side of the ocean, right? And it’s the same ocean, and the same boat, and the same me, as before my mishap. The only thing that has changed is how I feel about it. Before mishap, not scared. After mishap, scared. So I can go back to “not scared”, just by choosing to adjust my mindset. But that’s sometimes easier said than done.

So I’ve thought up a little trick to give me extra resolve. Writers often talk about the smell of fear (probably not a very nice smell) but I’ve never heard of the smell of courage, which probably smells better. So I’ve decided to fill this niche in the market. The smell of courage is (cue roll of drums)…. Tiger Balm.

I was rummaging through my First Aid kit yesterday, and found a little pot of it amongst all the more sophisticated medications. It’s a very pretty pot, glass with a metal lid (no plastic!), with an oriental design featuring a tiger and Chinese characters. On the label it says it is “Effective in relieving headaches, stuffy nose, insect bites, itchiness, muscular aches and pains, and flatulence. Apply gently on the affected area.” (Wondering what the “affected area” for flatulence would be – suggestions?!)

I rubbed some on my neck, shoulders and back, massaging it in well, as they had absorbed the impact of the headbutt and were very sore. I don’t know what the balm has in its “secret herbal formulation”, but don’t worry, it doesn’t have tiger-derived ingredients. It is named for its inventor, whose name in Chinese means “tiger”. It smells good. Not the kind of fragrance you’d want if you were going on a date, but clean and invigorating.

Even just inhaling it makes me feel better. It seems to clear my head and make me feel calmer. Maybe you can get some, too. You don’t have to put it on – just take a good deep breath of it before you get back on that horse, and remind yourself that it is the smell of courage. Your mother could probably do with a hefty lungful of it too – I think she will be more nervous than you are.

Good luck with the horse-riding. Be careful, Be courageous. The world needs you, and so do the whales.

All very best
Roz x

Other Stuff:

Conditions continue extremely rough. I took the day off from rowing today to allow the bump on my head and the ache in my shoulders to ease. It’s dangerous to be out on deck with such big waves on the rampage, so I’ve mostly been in the cabin. Very stuffy in here, and the air now heavy with the scent of Tiger Balm. Phewee!

Will keep this blog short(ish), as don’t want laptop and self to go flying across the cabin again. Sooner we are returned to the safety of Pelican case and bunk respectively, the better.

Quote: “There are very few monsters who warrant the fear we have of them.”
(Andre Gide)

Photo: Keep on keeping on – the Atlantic

Sponsored Miles: Thank you for contributing: Tom Pollack, James Malone, Leslie Fish.

I was going to write a special Independence Day blog about food independence – i.e. growing more of our own food (like my on-board beansprouts!) in order to avoid genetically-modified Frankenfoods, excessive food miles, and supporting environmentally damaging agribusiness.

However, I feel like I am taking my life in my hands by writing this blog at all, so I’m going to keep it very short, and leave it to you to make up your own Food Independence Day resolutions.

Further to the big wave that coshed me last night while I was writing my blog, conditions have continued much the same. I cut my shin on a seat runner this morning when a boatfiller well and truly got me. Then, this afternoon, I decided it was too dangerous to be outside and retreated to my cabin.

I am minimising time spent anywhere other than safely strapped to my bunk. To where I am now returning.

Happy Independence Day to my US readers.

And to my British readers, thank heavens we got rid of those darned colonials….!

Quote for the day, relevant to me retreating to the Purple Palace: “Better a live donkey than a dead lion.”

Sponsored Miles: Special Appreciation to Wolfgang Stehr, Mary Kadzielski, Curtis Zingg, Nick Perdiew.

I wonder what it’s like to surf a wave from the inside? This thought
occurred to me today, as I spotted quite a few large fish silhouetted
inside waves as the swells rose and broke around my boat. It must be
really quite beautiful inside a wave, white and frothy at the peak, with
a band of crystal aqua blue….

Blimey. I was just typing this when my sleeping cabin was clobbered by
the most almighty juggernaut of a wave. There is now that strange hush
that descends immediately after the ocean has struck. No sound of wind
or waves. Just the sound of water dripping off the surfaces of my boat,
and a gentle sloshing as my boat rocks in the aftermath. It takes a
couple of moments of silence before the usual sounds come back, as if
the ocean is slightly abashed at having assaulted me so rudely.

…. anyway, as I was saying, waves are jolly pretty when they’re not
busy bashing you over the head.

As well as relating to fish, I’ve also started imagining myself as one
of the storm petrels that entertain me every day, skimming low over the
waves towards my boat, then soaring up, right on the edge of control.
They have moments when they look as if they might have pushed their luck
too far – turning on a wingtip, I wonder if they’re going to flip over
onto their backs and stall in mid-flight. But they never do. They always
recover, flatten out, and zoom down the wind with skill, grace, and
sheer joie de vivre.

I don’t know if I believe in reincarnation, but if it exists, I wouldn’t
mind coming back as a storm petrel.

Definitely better than a booby, June 2009

Other Stuff:

I wasn’t sure if I was going overboard (so to speak) with my
philosophical musings. I haven’t received any negative comments, but
wondered if I was spending just a bit too much time on my soapbox. I
might confine my commentary on the state of the world to “Philosophical
Fridays” so that those who prefer to hear about other things know when
it’s safe to venture onto my blog. Although occasionally I may break my
own rule….

I am also hoping to have a few guest bloggers drop in from time to time.
I’ve got a list of unwitting victims, I mean, contributors, and will be
inviting them to write a few words to give you a break from me, and to
offer a new perspective.

Joan – your comment on Mum’s broken leg had me laughing out loud! Not
that it’s a laughing matter, of course, but the image of Mum tearing
around a soccer field had me in stitches!

Thanks to Pamela and Jim for the assorted good news on plastic bags.
Great to hear the word is spreading – from LA to Thailand!

Bruce – I have absolute belief that the world will survive, and recover.
In places where marine protected areas have been established, it has
mostly been impressive how quickly the marine life returns (with the
exception being some fish stocks, which have not recovered). It would
just be quite nice if we were around to see the recovery, rather than us
having to become extinct before it can take place.

Kenny B – I’m sure your motor home is a LOT more salubrious than the
Purple Palace! This has started to feel less like camping, and more like
vagrancy, with mould, damp, and trashed equipment galore. And yes, strip
mining is brutal. Have you seen what is happening with the tar sands in
Canada? We have trodden so very heavily upon this Earth.

Thanks, Alex, for the quote by Dee Hock from Birth of the Charodic Age.
Very inspiring, so I am going to share it again here: “It is far too
late and things are far too bad for pessimism. In times such as these,
it is no failure to fall short of realizing all we might dream – the
failure is to fall short of dreaming all that we might realize. We must
try.”

I also appreciated the quote from Bill Savage, which he attributed to
Pasty H Sampson, but I think the name might be Patsy?
“Human successes, like human failures, are composed of one action at a
time, and achieved by one person at a time.”

One oarstroke at a time….

Photo: freedom of the open skies – a storm petrel

Sponsored Miles: Laura Prouty, Doug Grandt, Wolfgang Stehr, Mark Butler. Thank you for your support.

One of the motivations behind me taking to the oceans was the hope that they would provide me with the opportunity for some kind of spiritual experience. Another was that a good long row would help me lose weight.

To an extent ocean rowing does achieve both these objectives, but overall I wouldn’t recommend it. For losing weight – check yourself into the most expensive health spa you can find. It will be easier, cheaper, and a hell of a lot more relaxing. For your spiritual quest, maybe a nice quiet monastery up a mountain somewhere.

Not that ocean rowing is a complete bust as far as retreats go, but it does leave quite a lot to be desired.

At the time I took up this rowing malarkey, I was very influenced by Aldous Huxley (The Perennial Philosophy), Henry David Thoreau (Walden Pond), and other writers who had pursued their spiritual quests in solitude and wilderness. Well, okay, Aldous Huxley also pursued his in psychedelic drugs (The Doors of Perception), but that seemed a rather risky avenue to take. (Risky? As opposed to rowing alone across vast tracts of ocean? Well, I suppose we all have different definitions of risk!)

So, in my romantic view of the ocean, it seemed to offer the promise of spiritual fulfillment. But I overlooked a few basics.

On Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, basic human necessities like water, food, shelter, companionship and security all have to be taken care of before an individual has the emotional bandwidth to start thinking about needs of a more spiritual nature. On my rowboat, supply of these basic needs is far from certain. Failing watermakers, diminishing rations, leaking cabins and lockers… there are many mundane matters to distract me from higher thoughts.

Then there is the discomfort. If I were on dry land, I could light a candle, sit cross-legged, quiet my breathing and contemplate life. On board, the only place I can be anywhere close to comfortable is in my bunk, and lighting a candle is out of the question.

I feel closest to nature, and hence closest to my spiritual self, when I am out for a walk and can admire the way the world is put together – the trees, sunbeams, flowers, leaves, birds and insects and animals. So much to look at, and marvel at.

At sea…. not so much. There is a lot of water, and some very pretty clouds, and of course the stars can be amazing if it’s a clear night, but most of the life is microscopic and/or hidden below the water. I’ve found that my form of spirituality depends very much on awareness of the living things around me, and I miss the richness and the visibility of life when I am on the ocean.

Despite these caveats, the ocean does offer a chance to step off the world and see it more clearly. But I don’t think that it is necessary to go to sea to do that – all it takes is an inquiring mind and a reasonably functional b/s-ometer. You know what I mean.

Spending months alone on a rowboat also makes me very much more appreciative of things that most people would take for granted. I sometimes feel like life on my boat is akin to spending time in a developing country – I no longer take access to potable water, adequate food, and bathing facilities for granted, and feel greater compassion for those humans who live their entire lives in this way.

So, yes, the ocean does confer some spiritual insights. But so does land. Spirituality is less about where you are than who you are. I may spout forth from my purple palace, but you could do just as well from your bedroom, no doubt. The truth is all around us – in the world, in books, from teachers and leaders. And most importantly of all, truth and wisdom are inside us – which is often the last place we remember to look.

Other Stuff:

Today was a rough day, in every sense. The wind has been 25 to 30 knots, and the waves big and bullying. The good news is that I tried out my Smartwool accessories (ankle-warmers or arm-warmers, not quite sure which) and they were a great help. Now I just wish I had one big Smartwool body stocking!

My iPod Aquapac headphones expired, so I switched over to another Aquapac with new headphones. But this brought the discovery that the old headphones must have been on their way out for a while, so the volume on my iPod was cranked to the max. And the control wheel on my iPod is kaput. So now I am stuck with max volume, which is deafening. All very trying….

It looks like it’s going to be another rough night. I’m expecting juggernauts to clobber me noisily at intervals, giving me a vicious shake for good measure. Don’t these waves know I need my beauty sleep?!

Anderz – well done for having gone a month with no TV. During my disrupted sleep last night I had a horrible dream. I was being forced to watch TV. When it got to the ad break I made my excuses and tried to go, but invisible hands grabbed me around the neck and started strangling me, telling me I HAD to watch the adverts. It was awful, and I was very relieved to wake up!

Stan – you’re right, we’re not the first generation to think we face a unique challenge. But things really do seem to be reaching a breaking point… or a tipping point. Time will tell.

Bill – thanks for the RMI recommendation, and the quotes. You’ve got me thinking about that insect in the bedroom/garden. If that’s a reference to me, I hope I’m buzzing in the appropriate place!

I’m going to pass along Bill’s quote here as my quote for the day – it certainly made me stop and think.

It makes all the difference whether you hear an insect in the bedroom or in the garden. (Robert Lynd)

Photo: I finally got a photo of the elusive storm petrel. Not easy at all, as they’ve been whizzing around like jet fighters on these strong winds today! Sorry it’s really just a silhouette, but I hope you can make out some of the markings.

Sponsored Miles: Gratitude to Tom Pollack, Richard Gerber, Cassandra Wilson, Carl Jones, Thurman Jamison, Judith Tillson, Percept Group, David Cook, Thomas Ward and Courtney Elwood for miles sponsored.

Today (July 1) is the birthday of a dear friend of mine, Dr Aenor Sawyer – also my expedition medic, veteran of the 2008 Sedna salvage mission, and healthy bones advocate. So this gives me an excuse to plug two new ventures, one hers and one mine.

First, Dr Aenor’s venture. Dr Aenor is passionate about bone health the
way I am passionate about the environment. I still have one of her “Make
It Or Break It” bone-shaped stickers in my boat’s cabin. She is starting
a skeletal health program at UCSF, in a multi-disciplinary way for all
ages.

In the book I was listening to a few days ago, “Don’t Eat This Book”, it
mentioned that youngsters used to drink more milk than soda. But now it
is the other way around. Milk (amongst other things) makes for healthy
bones. Soda doesn’t. In fact, I think I am right in saying that soda
reduces the ability of the body to absorb calcium, but feel free to
correct me if I’m wrong. So the world needs Dr Aenor’s program, and
others like it, if the next generation isn’t going to suffer from
osteoporosis as well as obesity, diabetes, ADHD, and the other evil
side-effects of a “modern” diet.

Oh, and by the way, we’re lucky Aenor is around to do this. She very
nearly died of cancer, and then metastatic cancer. But either life
wasn’t ready to let her go, or she wasn’t ready to let go of life. Or both.

Second, my venture. Well, not really a venture, more of a book, and a
future, currently-non-existent book at that. I just thought you’d like
to know that I spent a chunk of last winter writing a book about my
Pacific crossing, particularly focusing on the environmental stories
that I encountered en route – plastic pollution and the JUNK Raft, sea
level rise and the effect on small island nations (like Kiribati), and
my walk from Big Ben to Brussels for the COP15 UN climate change
conference. I’ll be doing some revisions to the draft when I get back to
dry land, and I hope to have the book out next spring, although no
definite book deal as yet. My literary agent is working on it.

Lookout: Roz and Aenor

The book also features Dr Aenor and a couple of other friends in the 2007 tale of how we salvaged my boat, left abandoned and drifting a hundred miles off the California coast when I was unwillingly airlifted by the US Coast Guard after twenty foot waves had capsized my boat 3 times in 24 hours. I’d met Aenor for the first time only a few weeks before I’d set out on the voyage, but in my time of need she offered to come help in the mission to find my boat.

I hope my book makes it into print so you can read the full story – it
was one of those episodes that was immensely stressful at the time, but
makes a great salty sea story afterwards – drama, humour, romance (well,
the ending of one, actually), and a life-affirming tribute to the value
of friendship.

Thanks for everything, Aenor, good luck with the new program, and happy
birthday!

Other Stuff:

Today was pretty productive. The wind is backing to where I want it, and
increasing in strength. The next few days will be a bit bouncy, but
should see me make a few good miles.

The electrical system gave me a momentary heart stoppage this afternoon,
but I disconnected everything and reconnected it, and we seem to be back
in business. For now.

I’d just like to say a quick thank you to the good folks at Wilderness
Family Naturals. The bountiful goodies you sent me continue to be
highlights in the day. Current favourite is the coconut cream in jars. I
quite happily eat it by the spoonful, just as it is. Deeelish!

Quote for today, sent to me by Mariya Gold: The Dalai Lama, when asked
what surprised him most about humanity, answered “Man. Because he
sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money
to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future
that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not
live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to
die, and then dies having never really lived.”

Photos: Aenor the Bone Doctor, Aenor the Boat Spotter

Sponsored Miles: Grateful thanks for miles sponsored by: Megan Lutz, Stanley Miller, Sally Phillips, Rolando Cuadrado, Chris Ferreira, Wayne Batzer, Anny Wildy. Special thanks to Melinda Griffith for sponsoring miles in honour of Aenor Sawyer’s birthday today.