I am very excited that I have just managed to post my first blog. Sorry it didn’t come through last night. I was having some technical difficulties with the new equipment. That will teach me to set out without having fully tested it all first!

Anyhow, that is one problem now solved. But blogs may still be somewhat intermittent – the satellite connections here at the Equator seem to be very flakey. So please don’t be concerned if my communications are a little erratic. I will do my best, but there’s not much I can do to control the orbit of the satellites.

And at the moment there doesn’t seem to be enough I can do to control the course of my boat, either. I want to go south, but the currents and winds seem to have other ideas. I’m heading west, and a tiny bit north. Not so good. But I’m sure I’ll end up somewhere.

To be honest, I have probably not been contributing as much as I should to the boat’s direction today. I have been feeling very under the weather. It is most unlike me to be off my food, but today I’ve managed one snack bar, a tin of sardines, and a cup of miso soup. And even those have been an effort, due to the heat of the day and the queasiness of my stomach. But I have to keep my energy up. From past experience, I know that it takes me a couple of days to get used to the movement of the boat, so I expect that tomorrow will be better.

No wildlife sightings as yet, apart from a couple of distant birds. Not sure what they were but they definitely weren’t boobies. Phew.

So in the absence of any real news from the Brocade, I’m going to make a book recommendation. My first audiobook was “Adventures in Time and Space with Max Merrywell” by Pat Murphy. Excellent. Page-turner of a story – kind of murder mystery, sci-fi and love story, with a liberal sprinkling of quantum mechanics and mind-bending considerations of parallel universes and infinite possibilities. What more could I ask for from a book?!

I wonder if I can manage to conjure up a parallel reality in which the Equator is a heck of a lot cooler? If only…

From there it seemed a natural progression to Alice in Wonderland – which followed on nicely, both logically and alphabetically!

13 Comments

  • You are so freakin’ cool. Looking forward to seeing you after this one to touch base on where we’re both at then* Lots of love, aloha, energy, and equator coolness to you. Aloha-Mariya

  • Great progress for just a couple days, Roz. I guess there will be some slogging to get through the equatorial countercurrent. Did you ever consider making Japan your final destination instead of Australia?

  • Quote: “I’m sure I’ll end up somewhere” !!

    Whether you end up in Australia, Papua New Guinea or the Philippines, you’ll still have crossed the Pacific! Wishing you fair winds (from the North-East), calm seas and a cooling breeze, Roz, and hope you get your sea-legs and sea-stomach soonest. Bon voyage, Caroline

  • Roz, lean to starboard … visualize Antarctica ;-D
    A master of understatement, U R my haiku inspiration:

    I want to go south …
    currents … have other ideas.
    I’ll end up somewhere.

  • Thanks for the update and the reco’s. We are rooting for you. My wife thought that if you could row across the Pacific alone she should be able to run the Boston Marathon yesterday. Funny. But hey, she did. Thanks for the lift.

  • Good luck, Roz! We’re excited to follow your progress on Stage 3! We’ll be rooting for you. Thanks for all you do!

  • Roz,

    Glad to hear that sore butt’s are part of the deal. I got one yesterday and I was only on the rowing machine a half an hour. How do you do it lady? You are an inspiration!!

    So you’ve had some difficulties technical and otherwise. Isn’t that why you are out there?

    Rooting for ya.

    Stan

  • Hi Roz,

    Many blessings for this leg of your journey. Looking forward to your posts, as they come, and to following your journey through the summer.

    Rozta’ bill

    PS: thx for the lara-bookmark from last years’ leg.

  • So there she is again. The cause will or will not be won by this effort. I believe more in the strangness of her story than than this. Will she ever see her pedicament? Sense or nonsense she is where she is, as are we all. And this is indeed an adventure. A curiousity in the security and effort of the Atlantic, and many others with her. Toward Hawaii was nature and annual perserverance and an amazing threading the needle through those straights. Across the equator and back was a mistake, a shortfall toward the Solomens. But so do we all. Now, a barrier confronts her. No less than the geology of the Earth. Where she will end up is finally a bit of a mystery. It takes a lot to trust in the world. And each moment reveals an honesty. Each and every stage of her journey is a step deeper into that mystery. I have no idea who this being is that plays the world so. There may be some to dislike but more to like about this character she plays. She may only ever tweek the actions of this world. But like the motion of her ship that she is almost a slave to, moment by moment, and week by week, she passes beyond the physical to something else. It is hot, and it is hard, and I wonder, what truely beckons you?

  • Hey Roz,
    Hope your feeling better soon!!!
    Looking forward to the video blogs and photos, as you can.
    Your still and always will be a great inspiration to me and so many others.
    Wishing you good health,pleasant dreams, fair winds,good weather,seas and currents…
    “Keep doing what your doing to keep causing what your causing”!!!
    Your ocean loving friend and supporter in central CA.,
    Dana

  • Wow, onward! Unca Doug, leaning to starboard will take her north, not south! Roz, lean to port! 😉 Glad you are off on the final leg (don’t loose too much weight!), best to you and 6 leagues under your keel! AWESOME, have fun! (Also thanks for the bookmark, it is in your wonderful book).

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