Ninety days already. Or ninety days – seems like forever! I’m not sure which I feel. On the one hand, now that I am well into my daily routine, weeks seem to whizz by. But when I think back to my departure under the Golden Gate Bridge at midnight on May 24, it seems like forever ago.
And now the end is drawing near. But how near? That is becoming an interesting question.
My ETA – with the emphasis on the E – is still August 31. It had started to slip towards September 1, but today has been a good day with conditions helping me along towards a better-than-average daily mileage. It would be nice to finish in under 100 days. But still anything could happen.
When, on the Atlantic, my satphone stopped working on Day 79 severing all communication with land, I thought I had just a couple more weeks to go. Those two weeks ended up taking me nearly a month. The wind dropped away to nothing and I slogged along in relentless heat for what felt like an eternity – about ten days. It felt like I would never get to Antigua. My poor mother was waiting there for about 10 days before I eventually showed up.
And one of the other crews rowing the Atlantic got within 180 miles of the finish (the total crossing is about 3,000 miles) when they capsized. Their boat refused to self-right and they had to be rescued. So near and yet so far. On this Pacific row I still have to face the dangers of the infamous Molokai Channel, where wind speeds of 30 knots are fairly typical. We are preparing and planning carefully, but it will be challenging nonetheless, and is increasingly on my mind.
And then there is the matter of actually hitting Hawaii. The winds are different every day, and it is rarely easy to make a straight course. Up a bit, down a bit, constantly adjusting my latitude, because if I miss the islands. well, missing the champagne celebrations would be the least of my worries.
So I now know better than to make any assumptions about when or if I will arrive safely. This is still far from being a done deal, and I won’t truly relax until I have my feet firmly planted on dry land. And if that dry land happens to be in Waikiki, and happens to be on August 31, then that is a bonus.
Other stuff:
Position at 2100 22nd August HST, 0700 23rd August UTC: 22 17.290’N, 152 46.041’W.
Hi to Karen Morss (am just about surviving lemon-less, but looking forward to a citrus resupply!), Nave, Will, Holly H, and all the regulars.
And thanks to Texino for his kind words – seems they are not easily won!
And a special thank you to Joan in Atlanta, who posted this lovely comment: I’d like to suggest that all the readers who wish they could be in Hawaii for the landing celebration hit that Donation link above and send along the monetary equivalent of the bottle of champagne or round of drinks you’d happily buy if you could be there. A generous bit of funding for the next leg of the crossing is the best congratulatory gift we could give. I’m sending along a magnum donation.
If you live in the UK and wish to make a contribution to Roz and don’t wish to use Paypal, send a message from the Contact area of this website for details
Click here to view Day 90 of the Atlantic Crossing 28 February 2006: Stripped Down – a recounting of all the items that Roz has lost en route.