I took this photo by mistake, but I quite like it. Roz with earbuds. In coffee shop, not Pacific.

Yesterday I received the good news that Audible.com are giving me 10 book credits. This certainly won’t be enough to get me all the way to Australia (or wherever), but it all helps. Leo Laporte is also giving me his latest selection of audiobooks, and I still have a few left from my last row, although I’ve listened to all the ones that looked good.

This is the message that I sent to Audible through their website contact form:

Hi Audible

I am a British ocean rower. In 2005 I rowed solo across the Atlantic, and I am now about to embark on the final stage of a 3-stage row across the Pacific, a total distance of 8,000 miles from San Francisco to Australia.

I couldn’t do what I do (at least with any shred of sanity left intact) without my audiobooks. Each of my ocean voyages takes around 100 days, during which time I am totally alone. The audiobooks are a fantastic diversion for me – they help me escape from the monotony of sea and sky, day after day. My imagination can take off into magical worlds of fantasy and sci-fi, or I can educate myself and expand my mind with works of non-fiction.

I have a rule that I can only listen to audiobooks while I am rowing. It helps motivate me to get back on the rowing seat for up to 12 hours of rowing a day. I listen to between 70 and 80 books on each crossing.

I hope you enjoy this glimpse of how much audiobooks mean to me.

With thanks and best wishes
Roz

My growing collection of book-loaded iPods. I put them in a waterproof Aquapac bag when in use at sea.

I received this response:

Thanks very much for writing to us about listening as you row. In the 14 years I’ve been at Audible, I’ve heard lots of stories about where people listen, but yours is the most exciting. I admire what you are doing and am glad that Audible can play even a small role to help.

So now I have to carefully consider how to spend my precious 10 credits. Last year I got 100 credits from Audible.co.uk (and am still hoping they will contribute again, but am still waiting to hear) which completely spoiled me. I didn’t need to be quite so selective. With just 10 credits to play with for now, I am considering how to get most bang for my buck.

My main criteria for an audiobook are:

1. Length: even if it’s a really great book, a 4-hour audiobook loses out to a 24-hour audiobook.

2. Escapism: edifying though non-fiction often is, on the ocean I’ve largely given up on edification. Life is hard enough already. When faced with yet another day of sea and sky and little silver rowboat, my imagination craves stimulation. Books that take me temporarily into a different time and/or place are a welcome escape from row-row-row-reality.

3. Quality of narration: the best book in the world can be ruined by poor narration. Most Audible.com readers are excellent, as I’ve really appreciated when I’ve listened to some readers associated with other audiobook companies. I have an iPod full of free audiobooks – free because they were written over 100 years ago so the copyright has expired, and because the readers are maybe less than professional.  Project Gutenberg and other volunteer organizations are digitizing thousands of public domain works.  I especially enjoy the bits that somehow missed the edit, e.g. in the midst of a Charles Dickens an unexpected aside like: “oh bugger, I messed that bit up – let’s try it again”. This would never happen on Audible.

I’m attaching my wishlists from Audible and Goodreads (Goodreads, incidentally, has a good iPhone app), and would welcome any comments or recommendations.

Audible Wish List

Goodreads Wish List

You can see the books I read on Pacific Stage 1 on my new Bookshelf page. It’s still under development – my wonderful, long-suffering mother has been charged with the unenviable task of posting the rest of the links to Audible and Amazon.

And yes, if you click through from my site to purchase, I do get a commission on the book and anything else you buy from Audible.com within 6 months. The Pacific II book list coming once I am in the same place as my logbook again – currently it is in San Francisco and I am in Oregon.

(And if you feel moved to contribute the price of an audiobook, please check out the Audible.com website to find out how much your book of choice costs, and use the PayPal button in the top right corner on my website. Thanks!)

Michael Palin (photogenic) and me (not photogenic) at the RGS today

I had a big day at the Royal Geographical Society today, speaking as part of their Explore seminar weekend, on “Journey with a Purpose”. The last time I attended Explore was in 2002, shortly after I launched myself into a life of adventure, when ocean rowing was not even a glint in my eye and I was getting ready for an archaeological expedition to Peru. I was the “sponsorship organizer” for the expedition, i.e. the muggins on the team who didn’t know just what a tough call sponsorship is!

Explore was an amazing induction into the life of adventure –an intense series of talks from all kinds of luminaries of the world of exploration, sharing the benefit of their accumulated wisdom. I can still remember some of the presentations now – and my memory isn’t usually that good, so they must have made an impact.

And now, 7 years on, I was there again. All those years ago I would never have dreamed that I would one day be hearing Shane Winser, the esteemed and universally respected doyenne of the Expedition Advisory Centre, describing me as “one of the foremost female explorers” or some such thing – incredibly high praise, coming from someone who has seen more than her fair share of adventurers. In fact, I wasn’t sure how I’d live up to the generosity of her introduction.

But it all seemed to go pretty well. I only had a few minutes, which happily restricted the amount of nonsense I could talk. My theme was how to use an expedition to serve a greater purpose – as an advocate for a cause. I was extremely happy when Shane asked me to speak on this subject, as this year has seen a big evolution in me finding my voice as an environmental advocate, and condensing that learning experience into a 10-minute talk in an attempt to share with others such things as I may have learned was a very good process for me.

And I must have made some sense, because many of the members of the audience came up to me afterwards to say that my words had resonated with them. Different people picked up on different things that I had said, so even if not every person found everything useful, at least most people found something useful.

So that was very cool. Also extremely cool was getting to meet Michael Palin, the new President of the RGS. He gave his talk just after me, and I bagged him outside the coffee room to thank him for the wonderful audiobooks that kept me entertained for so many hours at the oars this summer. My favorite Palin books:

1. Around the World in 80 Days

2. Full Circle

3. Himalaya

4. Michael Palin’s Hemingway Adventure

5. Sahara

He was most gracious, and agreed to be photographed with me. He also asked if I would like to lecture at the RGS. Yes please – was my most emphatic reply! So maybe one day….I also confided in him that one day I want his job – to be paid by the BBC to go travel the world and write books about it. Would be amazing if that dream came true.

In case I got too carried away with my big dreams, tonight I decided to put things in perspective by going to the movies for a dose of disaster – 2012, which was released yesterday. But I’m tired now, and back to the RGS early in the morning for some lectures on expedition technology. Although I reckon I know a thing or two about it, there’s always more to learn. So review for 2012 coming tomorrow.

P.S. An afterthought – I was only able to stick around for a few of the other lectures today, as I’m in the thick of organizing our Big Ben to Brussels walk, but of the other ones I heard, all seemed to include some element of advocacy or research – often relating to environmental issues such as extinction of species or climate change. So now that “adventure” is what so many travel companies are selling – and it still baffles me how you can sell a prepackaged and prescheduled “adventure” – maybe the people that we would once have called adventurers are now classified as expeditioners to differentiate them from the tourist-adventurers. And explorers? Do we have anything left that can feasibly be explored? Or are explorers now also an extinct species – or at least on the endangered list?

I had a wonderful month in early 2004 when I retreated to a small cottage on the west coast of Ireland for a period of reading and reflection. When I first decided to row across oceans, one of my hopes was that the solitude would give me a further opportunity to think about the meaning of life, the universe, and everything.

To an extent my hopes were fulfilled on the Atlantic – although I spent too much time feeling sorry for myself, which is not conducive to thinking big or constructive thoughts.

This time around has been more successful – partly because I have wasted less mental energy on self-pity. Another factor has doubtless been the wonderful audiobooks donated by Audible.com via Leo Laporte. It was a random selection – his choice rather than mine – but it has been an excellent assortment and some of the books have stretched my mind in new directions. Some people – like Henry David Thoreau on Walden Pond – may be able to go into the wilderness and arrive independently at fundamental truths, but personally I find it helpful to get some input from outside sources to stimulate the thought processes.

I’ve come to regard my little rowboat as my own personal floating nun’s cell – a place for quiet contemplation. (In fact my existence generally has been quite nun-like: Poverty and chastity are pretty easy out here – but I’m afraid obedience is not my strong suit, no matter where I am!)

I realize I’m very lucky to have this opportunity to ponder and reflect – but I think it’s possible, given enough determination, for most people to find opportunities for reflection. I’ve got a friend who runs a business and has two young children, and she manages to find the time to go away on retreats to pursue Journeywork (a process of self exploration).

Another option is to find a few minutes each day to try and put aside all the more mundane tasks and preoccupations that all too easily take over everyday life, and focus on questions of a more spiritual nature.

Or my favourite way – which I am sorely missing at the moment – is to retreat to a coffee shop with my journal to spend some time thinking and writing. And having a caramel latte and a bran muffin. Somehow the indulgence seems justified by it being part of my spiritual ritual. Well, that’s my excuse, anyway!

I guess that many people just don’t feel the need to do such things. But my perception is that a lot of people have feelings of unhappiness, isolation, dissatisfaction or dis-ease, which may well be rooted in having neglected the spiritual side of their life. Speaking from personal experience, I can say that when I started to think about life more deeply, I started to feel more connected to other people, and this in turn brought me greater energy, happiness, and a sense of purpose.

And isn’t that what, ultimately, we all want?

Other stuff:

Position at 2100 21st August HST, 0700 22nd August UTC: 22 23.975′N, 152 05.886′W.

I’ve been keeping a close eye on my progress across the degrees of latitude. Since I crossed 130W I’ve been averaging about 1.7 days to cross one degree. But the last 3 degrees have taken 2 days each. So my ETA in Hawaii may slip back a day – but with weather, anything can happen, good or bad. So we’ll just wait and see.

The wind really kicked up late this afternoon, which made for some character-building rowing after it got dark. The stars were hidden by clouds and the moon doesn’t rise for a couple more hours. Imagine being tossed around on mountainous seas when you can’t see a thing apart from the red glow of the compass. Quite glad to be in my cabin now!

Thanks for the great messages – especially Sandi, John, Chris, Eric, Roger et al.

Thanks to Ken for the info about Iridium satellites. I would have hoped, if I am seeing the sun reflecting off satellites, that my reception might be better. It seems to be getting worse as I get closer to Hawaii.

Interesting comment from Roger about the need for some more masculine reusable grocery bags. Not sure what to suggest for that. Maybe the Chico bags, which scrunch up so small that nobody knows you are carrying them at all? Or maybe you just need to be more secure in your masculinity/eco-friendliness. Say all together now: I’m green and I’m proud!

Click here to view Day 89 of the Atlantic Crossing 27 February 2006: Will She or Won’t She? – could Roz reach Antigua in less than 100 days?

And then there are days like today.

Maybe I tempted fate this morning when I was recording the podcast with Leo and he asked me about motivation. I breezily said how much easier I’m finding it this time around, having the audiobooks to keep me entertained, and also having had the Atlantic experience that has given me a number of tools in my psychological toolkit for when the going gets tough.

Well (sigh) I was really put to the test today. The conditions were the roughest they’ve been in several weeks, which made it impossible to row neatly. It was a case of bashing along and trying to stick a stroke in where I could – and this always makes the time drag.

But there was more to it than that. I put it down to having just passed the big milestone of 130 degrees West, and just after a success is often the hardest time to get motivated. You’ve been all excited about your achievement, and there’s a bit of a post-success slump when you have to set yourself a new goal to aim for, but the new one seems so distant when compared with the immediacy of the one you’ve just passed.

I had fallen into what Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance calls a “gumption trap”. I felt weary, and bored, and demotivated. I was totally gump-less.

So I pulled out the old Atlantic psychological toolkit. I bribed myself with extra rations. I changed the edifying audiobook 1491 for the escapism of a novel. I took a post-lunch siesta. And I set myself a more immediate, interim target that I should be able to reach within the next few days.

And it pretty much worked. I didn’t row quite as many hours as usual, but I achieved about 80%. And most importantly, I’m not beating myself up over it. There are bound to be days when I feel like this. Any challenge is, well, challenging, and gumption traps happen.

The thing is to carry on doing my best – and to accept that on some days my best will be better than on others. And tomorrow’s another day.

Other stuff:

Position at 2130 17th July Pacific Time, 0430 18th July UTC: 25 21.109′N, 132 22.819′W.

All kinds of weather today – sun, rainclouds (but barely any rain), rainbows – and lots of wind, fortunately coming from the right direction.

I saw my first flying fish today – a tiddler of about 1 inch that hit me in the side of the head while I was rowing. I would have taken a photo, but I wanted to get the poor little fellow back in the water asap, just in case he had any chance of survival. He didn’t look too lively though. Maybe he was scared to death – either by whatever creature had induced him to fly out of the water, or by unexpectedly finding himself on the deck of a small ocean rowboat.

SIGN UP FOR THE NEWSLETTER! We now have a facility for you to sign up for a newsletter. At the moment it goes out once a week, on Thursdays, and after a short message gives you a list of links to the week’s blogs. In the “off-season”, while I’m not on the ocean, it will go out every couple of months with any important news or a general update. If you’d like to sign up, go to my Home page, and down at the bottom you’ll find a box labeled: “Sign up to the Roz Savage newsletter, just enter your email address:”

Hello and thank you to all who write in and/or lend their support to my venture – today especially to Sindy Davis. And to Chris Martin for the laugh! John H – I watched the movie Deep Water last year – made me cry. Fascinating story, and well told in the film. Comments on my visor – a gift from my friend Mariya, courtesy of the Kailua Canoe Club. I may not be there yet, but I’ve got the headgear already! Hi to Greg K. Thanks, Chuck, for your concern about my weight – but I really don’t think I’ve lost any. Those chubby cheeks are still there!

Owww. Must go. I need somewhere more comfortable to sit to write my blogs! Like a nice dry study somewhere..

BLUE PLEDGES

Some extracts from a press release by BLUE Project:

Sport met environment at the launch event of the BLUE Climate and Oceans exhibition at Westminster yesterday as Olympic Minister, the Rt. Hon Tessa Jowell MP and the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP both made pledges to be BLUE.

The exhibition which was attended by ministers, sustainable energy business leaders, Olympic representatives and sports ambassadors focused on how sport can be a mechanism to engage with people to actively care about sustaining our water environments.

One of the big project ideas to engage our communities that was showcased at the exhibition called The BLUE? Mile, is a mass participation event designed to bring together our coastal communities in the UK on a huge scale to celebrate our natural resources. Inspired by the need to leave a wide-spread environmental legacy from the Olympic and Paralympic Games, it is hoped that this event will become part of the Cultural Olympiad towards 2012.

Speaking at the launch event Hilary Benn said: “It’s astonishing what you have achieved, with initiatives like this that get people involved we have a better chance of making sure that we live in harmony with the Earth, whether on the green of the land or the blue of the sea.”

Tessa Jowell said: “By 2012 this has the potential to be engaging 100,000′s of children all over the world and I feel privileged to witness the beginning. It’s such a pleasure to be here today and I’m looking forward to competing my BLUE mile next year.”

Rob Gauntlet, youngest Everest climber and 180 Degree Pole to Pole adventurer said: “This project is young, fresh, ambitious and adventurous. Instead of just discussing the issues, the project gets people directly involved.”

Click here to see Day 54 of the Atlantic Crossing January 23, 2005. Questions, Questions – and some answers.

I’ve just published my first ever iMix to the iTunes Store. Music is pretty important when you’re spending hours and days on a rowing machine preparing to row an ocean, so I became quite a connoisseur. This playlist is my selection for high-energy workouts rather than the slow-and-steadies.

Sadly, my amplifiier packed up just after New Year, about 5 weeks into my 103-day crossing, so after that I had only my own thoughts to keep me occupied. I’d never have thought I could row an ocean without music, but it’s amazing what you can put up with when you have no choice, and eventually I even grew to relish the peace and quiet.

For the Pacific, AudioBooksForFree have given me 600 audio books to listen to, plus I’ve bought a CD of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – no let-up in the quest for self-improvement!