Many thanks for the encouraging comments I received after the last time
I had a whine about “what am I doing out here?” I’ve just read them, and
they couldn’t have come at a better time. Today has been another one of
THOSE days. Lots of hard work for bugger-all results. I had retired to
the cabin in a thoroughly grumpy mood, but after reading the comments am
feeling much restored.
I’m sure this lack of progress is all very good for my spiritual
discipline of non-attachment. (Haha! The Thunderbird email app just
popped up an automated reminder, triggered by the word “attachment”,
that I need to remember to add the attachment. Not this time, Thunderbird!)
The concept of non-attachment, as I understand it, is that although it’s
good to care about things, it’s best not to be attached to them, because
everything is subject to change. So if you are attached to, say, your
looks or your house or your job, then eventually you’ll suffer because
one day you may lose them.
This morning I was attached to my goal of x number of miles of progress
today. But a sneaky west wind had other ideas. And so, I relinquish my
attachment to my goal. It was probably all ego anyway.
All the same, and despite all the encouraging comments, I do still
wonder why I felt the calling to do my campaigning through the odd
medium of ocean rowing. I’m sure there are other ways I could have been
at least as effective, without being put through quite such trials of
patience and perseverance.
Next time around, please could I be the supermodel-turned-campaigner, or
rock-star-turned-activist?
A quote for the day: Experience is not what happens to you. It is what you do with what happens to you. (Aldous Huxley)
Photo: just keep sticking the oars in the water…
Other Stuff:
The sunshine service was turned back on today. Good news! Enough sunshine to power the watermaker to replenish supplies after yesterday’s gloom.
I saw a container ship today, the first I have seen since I left the
Abrolhos Islands. I didn’t feel the urge to raise them on the radio. In
fact, I felt vaguely indignant that they were intruding on my ocean.
I finished listening to “Life” by Keith Richards. I ended up really
enjoying it. Now I’m back to some good old Maisie Dobbs, my favourite
psychologist/private investigator. This particular story is set in a
Cambridge college founded to advance the cause of world peace. If only.
Sponsored Miles: Scott McCarter (with birthday wishes for his daughter Anna), Kevin Hamilton and Judy Ebert.
Roz, you are amazing.
Awesome Roz….you are just awesome! You are an inspiration! Keep plugging! 🙂
Hi Roz, just went through all of your blogs on this trip and noticed that your tone is very different than the Pacific rows. Much more calm, even though the ocean is tossing you around quite a bit. Impressive! Especially since this is going to be the most grueling. Well, I think I’m going to shop at your store on ebay today! I already have about 5 Savage hats now. -Sindy
Ms Roz: I’ve been ‘lurking’ for a while and today’s message seemed to urge me to ask, “Why not you?” only because I’ve ‘been there done that’ and that was the question that dawned on me. When you ask that question, it leads to a WHOLE new perception.
Roz, quite fundamental this question, but why not,
when Ocean Rowing is one of the big challenges. It could be ‘flying in a human
powered airplane’ or a fully solar powered plane to trigger a rapid energy
switch, like others did. Rowing is your thing, what else could you do to be the
first (solo) woman to cross anything like the Pacific, being now solely your
ocean.
The other aspect is why campaigning by means of a big
challenge. That is to bring yourself and your goal into the minds of a mainly
indolent TV spotting public. When your initiative is authentic and deployed in
the real world, you are opening eyes. But when you only help one human being to
set a first step in changing circumstances with your initiative, you have
gained a prize in heaven; that sounds mystic.
Remains one question, can you bring this goal and the journey you
started in balance. We all believe in you, conquering splashings, backdrives,
doldrums and blue vacuums. What can you do more; the problem is what can we do
more. My advice to everyone: ‘going the extra mile with Roz’ and sponsor one.
Hear, hear … http://bit.ly/Sponsor_A_Mile
I’ve been lurking here for a while admiring your gumption and spirit. Your comment about why you chose to row was the spark it took to get me off my duff and comment. After reading your book, “Rowing the Atlantic” and a good number of your blogs from the last 8 years, I’d say you chose rowing because you “thought” it was in you comfort zone. It was a natural choice after you success with rowing at uni. You knew you could row and upping it a notch from a shell to an open ocean rowboat isn’t that big of a step – wrong as you now know – but at the time it was simple choice at the time.
Ocean rowing seemed it could be a familiar place yet still had the element of adventure you needed at that point in your life. I and hundreds of others think you made the right choice – especially for pushing the message. Who better to speak on climate and ocean change than one who has spent more than a year in raw, intimate contact with both.
Roz, row with spirit and in contemplation of the good we can do together.
Excellent assessment, Stan.
Couldn’t agree more!
I think being famous for being famous doesn’t give you credibility, you just get more media time. Reminds me of children yelling for Moms attention. What you are doing is inspirational and making a lasting difference. That someone has the passion to put thier life on hold for months at a time to further a cause shows commitment and courage and that is the person worth listening to.
I’ve done things for fun but never for a cause, kind of belittling really. Keep being inspirational, it works.
There are some pretty amazing Rozlings too! Thank you for participating in these comments, and an extra special thank you to those who continue to sponsor Roz’s miles. Many more names to come as the days and miles go by.
And Rita, as so many Rozlings are sort of touching on here, Sponsor miles, AND, Pick What YOU Want To Do For The Environment – Start A Community Compost, Stop Using Plastic Bags, Recycle EVERYTHING that you can from home and work, and AT home and work, whenever possible – You do NOT have to Row Around The World… BUT, You DO have to DO something… Talk, Support, Money WILL NOT “Do It” on its own – This is the Lazy Man’s Answer To Everything – Lets throw more money at it… Pretty soon that money will become part of the environmental problem too…
That kind of question “Why Me” begs another question “Who Else”. How many other people are rowing the oceans to bring attention to the planets ecology? 0? Someone needed to do it and you did it. Thank you for speaking up for the planet.
Now having said all that, I am going to sit in the hot tub on this cold rainy California morning.
My daughter once asked me “What should I be when I grow up?” And quite by accident I replied, “A verb, and not a noun.”
Perhaps this is why I enjoy being a part of this story… Roz is not just an ocean rower, not just an environmental campaigner. She is a verb. Leading, inspiring, challenging, evolving, questioning, caring, supporting, blossoming, doubting, uplifting, encouraging, growing, remembering, emphasizing, rising, defying, teaching and learning. Roz is all these and more. They are words in action. Nouns are quite easy to follow. Predictable and void of detail, nouns are easy to categorize and made to fit into ones preconceptions. On the other hand verbs are in motion. They are dreamers.
Keep rowing Roz
Wow – totally love that concept of being a verb not a noun! I am going to put that on a post it note and stick it to my wall. Thanks for sharing!
*Clapping*
It is now automatic for me to bring my grocery sacks to the store, but some others are fighting back: https://www.facebook.com/BagtheBan?sk=app_122973807779217
Roz, this is a quote by Emile Zola that I find helpful when asking myself the what and why questions: “If you asked me what I came into this world to do, I will tell you: I came to live out loud.”
You are most definitely living out loud! Row, Roz, row!
Roz, seventeen months ago you tweeted: http://bit.ly/874uei “we used huge amounts of creativity, ingenuity & adaptability on energy upslope; we can do the same on downslope” [http://bit.ly/RozTwit7Jan10]
That url link no longer works, but I believe the Transition Oxford page conveys the same “content” … http://bit.ly/TransOxford2Pts
The reason I repeat your tweet is the irony that I just now realize as I read the section of your post about “attachment” and “non-attachment.” Last week I realized that I am becoming more and more “attached” to the idea of “transition” and I fully intend to pursue an “encore career” promoting Transition Town concepts [TransitionUS.org]. I now envision taking it on the road, to expand my influence locally beyond my own local sphere if possible, since my connections through TheClimateProject.org reach beyond belief.
My trip to New England was the first step on my “1,000 mile journey” which will stretch 10,000 miles … with a little help from my friends.
Why me? If not me, who?!
Why now? If not now, when?!
I am joining you in your plight, my comrade, my sensei, my muse, ;-D
Row-ah MUSE-ingly, Roz!
“Next time around, please could I be the supermodel-turned-campaigner, or
rock-star-turned-activist?”
Their lifestyles are “war against the planet”; yours is not (until u get ‘jet-setting’) As i live humbly in a wilderness, I would prefer to be preached to by someone who shares my lifestyle values. “Rock-stars” do not! And to me rock , is anti-Spirit-Nature music. (but probably good to row to!)
“A quote for the day: Experience is not what happens to you. It is what you do with what happens to you. (Aldous Huxley)”
Another good quote from an ‘enlightened writer’ Thank you…Everything is about how we react… which reminds me, wasn’t so long ago u wanted some calmer weather, no? U got it under that big subtropical High…
Later, Mike in FL
Roz, I’ll tell you one reason why I think your rowing is the only way for you to raise consciousness about the ocean and it is this: in in this fast paced go-go world, with its image-a-second media, and attention spans that last until the next email/text/IM/chat pops up, you are an enduring, daily presence that reminds us that there is something infinitely strong and fragile out there that need attention and protection: you and the worlds oceans.
I think you are perfect metaphors for each other and what better fusion than for you, the person, to toil upon and be awed by it, the oceans.
We who follow you cannot turn away and so for a few minutes every day, the plight of the oceans and your wellbeing are in our thoughts and consciousness.
You are a pioneer. Please dont forget that and also remember that for everyone who posts comments to your blog there are scores of us who are content to read your posts and the comments and reflect on what a magnficiant gift you are to humanity and the oceans, and what a magnificent gift the beautiful oceans are to the world.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has” – Margaret MeadRock on!!
Sally in DC
I am awed and inspired by you Roz. The goals that you have
set are both a test of mental and physical endurance. You are one oar stroke away from finishing,
one night closer, and one blog post closer.
“Continuous effort – not strength
or intelligence – is the key to unlocking our potential” ~ Winston Churchill
Attachment to things can extend beyond their existence, as it can with people. I lost my first wife (to cancer) over 20 years ago but the attachment to her memory is still as strong as ever despite my having married again. Likewise I still have an attachment to the home we had together although that, too, is long gone. I have a strong attachment to a few people who have influenced me in some way. Some are now deceased, others (such as Roz) will outlast me. I doubt that Roz will ever lose her attachment to Sedna, simply because of the time they have spent together. It’s our attachments that make us who we are.
Hello Roz,
I just wanted to reach out after following you for some time. A few months back my father handed me a Newsweek article about you and said something like “to assure you you are making the right decisions now.” After graduation three years ago with an arts degree I moved to the big city and started working for big company at an even bigger TV station. I soon decided it wasn’t for me, left the money behind me and have been foraging my way since, living job to job and couch to couch. I am also an environmentalist working towards sustainable energy. You continue to inspire me and all young women and men across the globe. Thank you. I hope you find the sun shining and the wind at your back for the rest of your journey!
Sarah
How many ‘supermodel-turned-campaigner, or
rock-star-turned-activists’ get your speaking fees?
You know you will have mastered non-attachment when you no longer have ‘grumpy moods’ because reality did not conform to your desire. I’m guessing you are familiar with the ‘three mental poisons’ or ‘three encumbrances’ might be a better phrase. They are the heart of dealing with the human challenge of pain and suffering.
Somehow I find myself am attached to you 😉
Love ya, Roz, just keep rowin’
Our hearts are with you, glorious woman!
Love,
Mars
Whether you gain miles or not, your journey both personally and for the environment surges forward…..the fact that you can have the bad days and get through it, shows why you are held so highly in our esteem…you do not give up, you do not quit……you ride the wave back to beating all those odds. Come on girl….
Tim Scarrott7 minutes ago Hi Roz- I am working offshore Nigeria at present- following your tale with wonder – return to Perth, WA on Friday and will be thinking of you, 35000ft below the Emirates flight between Dubai and Aus Coast (Friday pm) – hope the crew will give you mention and send some good vibes down ! — can you give rough long/lat to make it more real for us spoilt buggars ! ? All the very best -fine effort and keep at it- Tim Scarrott.
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Michael O’Hara9 hours ago
Hi Roz, Stumbled on your blog when i clicked on a tiny icon perched upon a big blue nothing in the Indian Ocean. What a surprise to find not only a great, big adventure but also an interesting discussion thread. Well done for keeping that up while you are dipping those oars so incessantly into the deceptively malleable water. Maybe the rock-star celebrity pathway is still an option but regardless, what you are doing is a valuable method for spreading your word – and testing your own willingness to find sufficient value in it to keep those oars moving. i am deep into the mid-section of a doorstop book “The Shield of Achilles” by Philip Bobbitt. In amongst some fairly heavy reading on international strategy and constitutional conflict is a suggestion that the global political process of the last 500 years has moved from state-nations to nation-states, and we are currently entering the market-state driven world. Not a very good distillation of a 900 page book but the point the author drives at is that the system that delivers the greatest choices to its constituents will triumph. Or something like that. After reading what i just wrote, my point seems a bit tenuous… but the idea is that in a market driven world celebrity points count, and by the choice of rowing, your efforts will most likely reach a rather different group than those attracted to the rock star or the super-model. So you are actually doing more, in a sense, through your efforts on a small boat than you would achieve by adding 1 to the current number of rock stars and supermodels. I say that even though my male inclinations are to encourage more to strive for supermodel status. Nothing like being a slave to your gender. Was very interested to read your pondering the Big Questions, and tentatively tip-toeing across the religion/spirituality pathway. Politics and religion are twin dangers, so i’ll simply include a link to my own thoughts. http://www.stillthinking.org/p…No problems if you never get around to looking at it – the post is just my own attempt to come to grips with some of the basics surrounding the first step in “finding God” (don’t worry, i didn’t find anything). It is hard to imagine just what multiple days in a small boat would be like – especially a row boat. My own paddling has been limited to a wave-ski off the coast of Perth. Mind you, i can always see the land on the horizon, and know that there’s a warm shower and a comfy bed a few hours away, so it doesn’t even allow me a brief glimpse into what you are doing.. but it does poke a bit of admiration into my thinking of your efforts to promote your cause. As for a fantasy day off – i love the idea of your day off including a 15 mile hike!
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Bruce1 day ago
I emphatically identify with male authority figure discomfort (unless the authority figure is genuinely benign and philanthropic). I see our patriarchical society and the predominance of male authority figures as one and the same. Patriarchy is a relatively new invention, showing up with the agricultural revolution about 10,000 years ago. Before that most societies were matriarchies. (good read: Beyond Power by Marilyn French.) At that time increased populations made possible by increased calorie-per-acre yields resulted in stratified societies, basically a few “haves” and many “have-nots.” The agrarian groups basically swallowed non-agrarian groups whenever they came into contact, a trend that continued up to the middle 19th century in North America. The switch to agriculture from nomadicism brought lots of headaches for humanity, including environmental problems, crowd diseases and class elitism. Prior to 10,000 years ago human societies were without individual property, almost entirely egalitarian, longer-lived, better fed, healthier and had much more leisure time. The switch to farming ultimately brought us all the things we love: books, space shuttles, gummy bears, Labrador retrievers, purple rowboats, I-Phones.. It also brought us our problems: overpopulation and overconsumption which together are resulting in a very serious biological extinction event and cascading interconnected environmental problems. The question is, Can we have our cake and eat it too? I believe the Earth can support our folly if we get our act together–stabilize population growth (that’s coming in the next few decades), and consume more efficiently and a whole lot less (this one just doesn’t fly well with most people.) How did I get that out of a discussion on religion? Not sure! -Bruce
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Michael1 day ago
Why bother with Hawaii when you can have Yorkshire in the rain?Even better than the Lakes (which are after all on the wrong side of the pennines) ;)That said, when you get round to having that fantasy pub meal try the Fountain Head in Branscombe (since you were on about Devon), I have a week of being forced (completely against my will you will understand) to live just down the road from it this summer.Sunshine is on back order but will be delivered as soon as; maybe even before you make landfall.
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Outsidejay1 day ago
Go visit Hawaii! ***If you are from California or the mainland, watch the sunrise on the summit of the volcanoes on day one of your visit. The locals have to get up at four in the morning to drive up to the top to see the sunrise. Since you are on CA time, then it’s like waking up at seven for you! Watch the sunrise then take a nap on the beach and wake up on Hawaii timeJ ****The wet season is from November thru March. (more waterfalls) The Hurricane season is fromJune thru November (cheaper fares and larger discounts) The whale migration season is from December to April. The “tourist season” is from December thru March. Prices increase during this “peak season” for tourists. Best times to go based on weather alone is September and October, April and May.(but less waterfalls on the road to Hana) Tourists from Japan usually visit Hawaii the last week of April and the first week in May.(A cultural holiday for them…kinda like our summer break from school, called “Golden Week”) Waves are bigger November thru March and smaller June thru September. So it depends on how good of a surfer you are or if you are trying to learn. ***If you are from California or the mainland, watch the sunrise on the summit of the volcanoes on day one of your visit. The locals have to get up at four in the morning to drive up to the top to see the sunrise. Since you are on CA time, then it’s like waking up at seven for you! Watch the sunrise then take a nap on the beach and wake up on Hawaii timeJ ****Watching the sunset from the mountain top is very sketchy as the sun warms the humidity and often forms a cloud layer to obstruct your view. But sunsets from the beach are absolutely perfect! Google the “Green Flash” phenomenon. It’s pretty dang cold up at the summit at sunrise so go to a thrift store here on the mainland, buy a cheap winter parka, watch the sunrise in Hawaii , then donate your cheap parka to a thrift store in Hawaii . Another tourist will buy it from thereJ. Plankton follow the light (of the moon at night). On a no moon night, they head towards the lavish hotels we have built close to shore. The hotels have many lights pointed directly into the ocean. The Kona Surf Hotel is the one I like in particular.Giant Manta Rays feed off plankton. On a no moon night, they migrate towards the hotels too (so they can scoop up food more easily). Go to Jack’s Diving Locker and dive shop and shell out a whopping $145 to go to a “beach” fifty five feet under water under the silhouette of the Kona Surf Hotel. Turn on the massive flashlight that they provide for you and you will have the GREATEST underwater aerial show imaginable!!! Giant Manta Rays have wingspans between 12 and 15 feet long! This information can all be googled!www.outside-365.blogspot.coma blog to share in exchange for supporting Roz!Row Roz Row!
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