Conditions continue rough and windy. Still gusting 35 knots. But at least we managed to stay sunny side up last night (or should that be “moonlit side up”?). The lockers are all still leaking like mad, but I’ve decided not to pump out the ones that are now empty. Having that extra weight down low is helping Sedna stay upright.
I finally fixed the problem of how to attach a lanyard to the replacement bedpan after the old one got smashed to smithereens. My hand drill has seized up with rust so I couldn’t use that to drill a hole, so instead I used duct tape. I wrapped it several times around the bedpan base, and on one of the circuits I fashioned a loop out of the tape before continuing with the wrapping. Duct tape to the rescue once again! Marvelous stuff.
According to the forecast, I’ve got another night, day, and night of these conditions. Then it starts to calm down a bit. Phewee. The cabin is getting very damp and unpleasant. All my rowing clothes are wet. Water drips onto the foot of my sleeping bag. I haven’t had a hot meal for a couple of days because it’s simply unfeasible to juggle mugs and stove. And the constant roar of the wind is driving me a bit crazy. I can’t wait for some calmer weather so I can relax and dry out.
Other Stuff:
Susie – thanks for the mention on the Mutt Comics site. Appreciated!
Stephen Stewart – I met Dr Curtis Ebbesmeyer in Seattle a few years ago. Great guy. His work in tracking plastic bath toys and Nike sneakers taught us a lot about ocean currents – but unfortunately not how to make them flow the way I want them to!
Art Schiff – great to hear from you, gym buddy! Hope to see you in London in 2012 for the Olympics, if not before!
Quote for the day: “If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” (Martin Luther King)
Sponsored Miles: Thank you Dan Peschio and Gillian Colledge – as Roz continues to move forwards, about thirty miles since yesterday morning.
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Really feeling for you right now, Roz! It must be hard to stay positive at times like these. The only encouragement I can really offer is “hang in there”!! Will be praying for those calmer conditions, and favourable currents, for you! Trusting you get to enjoy the comfort of a hot meal and beverage soon!
stay dry and dream of hot fish and chips and a pickled egg:) hope thae “blow” calms soon. David Church
I would just have a screaming, ranting, raving 1/2 hour. Feel way better, and then plan for the sunny days coming soon when you can strip the damp things from your cabin. Just to get then into clean air will give you a lift. Keep your chin up Roz, it never was going to be a walk in the park – or we would all be out there doing it. I’m sure you stink rotten now, but I would still give you a hug!
After hours and hours of tedious/laborious searching, I found you a fabric that is hydrophobic, therefore completely waterproof as well as buoyant, silky and almost if not actually weightless. It is red. (I am sewing you a cape 🙂
I(we) have faith in you, and although it is very easy to say, due to the comfort of my(our) homes, we will not stop sending you good vibes until you make landfall, and then some…
Just a reminder… that comfort zone you once talked about continues to get larger and the uncomfortable zone you once clung to many years ago, now you fly over…
For duct tape/lanyard holder… take a length of duct tape, six inches should do. Midway in the length attach loop of lanyard by threading duct tape length through loop. Turn duct tape so that lanyard loop string is on bottom and sticky part of duct tape is facing up. Starting at the bottom at the lanyard, attach the duct tape onto itself for one or two inches securing the lanyard loop into place. It now looks like a “T” with the loop at the bottom. Attach the sticky part to the duct tape(the top of the T) to the bedpan. Re-enforce any areas as needed or with adequate supply of duct tape. If the lanyard is not long enough for a loop, tie a knot (so it does not pull through and thread through a hole in the bottom of the T and encase knot in duct tape. Re-enforce hole.
Good job in the independence, brilliant work.Keep making us proud.
Row Roz Row!
~Jay
An oldie but a good one:
An Irishman walks into a bar in Dublin, orders three pints of Guinness
and sits in the back of the room, drinking a sip out of each one in turn.
When he finishes them, he comes back to the bar and orders three more.
The bartender asks him, “You know, a pint goes flat after I draw it; it
would taste better if you bought one at a time.” The Irishman replies,
“Well, you see, I have two brothers. One is in America, the other in
Australia, and I’m here in Dublin. When we all left home, we promised
that we’d drink this way to remember the days when we drank together.”
The bartender admits that this is a nice custom, and leaves it there.
The Irishman becomes a regular in the bar, and always drinks the same
way: He orders three pints and drinks them in turn. One day, he comes
in and orders two pints. All the other regulars notice and fall silent.
When he comes back to the bar for the second round, the bartender says,
“I don’t want to intrude on your grief, but I wanted to offer my
condolences on your great loss.” The Irishman looks confused for a
moment, then a light dawns in his eye and he laughs. “Oh, no,” he says,
“everyone’s fine. I’ve just quit drinking.”
Hope you get into the calm of the storm soon!
So a young man joins the US Army and gets hustled through getting his uniforms issued and head shaved with hundreds of other privates. Then they sit him down to fill out a mound of paperwork. One of the papers asks for his religious preference. Feeling rebellious, he puts down “Druid, Reformed”. Sure enough a week later they issue his identification tags and stamped on the plates along with his name and Social Security Number is “Druid, Reformed”. Months later he applies for a four day pass to go camping with his new girlfriend. The Friday before the Company Commander cancels all passes. Thinking quickly, he protests to the Company Commander that, as a Druid, the full moon before the Summer Solstice is his religion’s high holy day and requests his pass be reinstated. The Company Commander demands to see his identification tags. Upon seeing “Druid, Reformed” on them he reinstates the pass. As the young Soldier departs, the Commander yells, “Hey, don’t Druids sacrifice goats?” Without missing a beat the Soldier replies, “No sir – that’s Orthodox – I’m Reformed.” and moves on out.
Great MLK quote- Go easy with yourself out there, and safe travels. Thinking of you, your adventure and your message everyday.
tc
An Englishman, Scotsman and an Irishman walk into a pub. The barman says “Is this some kind of joke?”
I’m here all week. Thinkng of you out in the big blue Roz. That sunshine and flatish conditions are going to look great after this sustained choppness! Go well.
Thinking of you this morning and knowing, this, too, shall pass. It sounds as if circumstances are challenging at best and I can’t think of a thing to say that would make them any better for today. Just know, I send you the best and strongest of energy and along with it, hope that the winds/waves will stop just a bit earlier than predicted. Be safe and well…..
Duct tape, amazing stuff. I used it to reinforce a camera mount on top of the vertical fin of a WWII fighter so I know it works at 400 kts therefore it should handle your 35kts just fine.
Other uses you may not be aware of: covering large cracks in aircraft wind shields. Covering joints where parts bolt together on planes and racing cars. A special type is used to repair cracks in aircraft skins, really! Taping doors shut for a joke.
I am reading a book entitled: Walking Home, by Lynn Schooler. He extols duct tape and its many uses: “It is strong and highly adhesive and can be used to improvise repairs to leaky rafts, rubber boots, raincoats, and tents. I have also seen it used to provide first aid for heel blisters and to close open wounds, splint a broken canoe paddle, patch a torn sail, and close a tear in the fabric of a damaged airplane wing.”
Roz found it invaluable for making broken oars usable when crossing the Atlantic, repairing tears in her mattress cover – and now some new useful ways. A must-have for expeditions of any sort!
I find uses for it in my home – especially repairing the damaged spine of a well-used book.
I will have to read it. Actually Karen Morss’s husband is the master of duct tape, well, him and my father. I even got lessons on the proper use of duct tape while working on nuclear reactors… Not for fixing leaks though.
Roz, your descriptions of the conditions are powerful. A constant reminder of your commitment and passion, not to mention your perseverance and physical/mental stamina. For that I am in awe and thank you for being a role model. I just went back through the past few days of blogs. Between your reports and those of long-suffering mum Rita, it seems that, in spite of your struggle, you and Sedna are making steady positive progress. Without you, Sedna would be swept sideways, and without Senda, you would be, well … what … climbing mountain peaks perhaps? By the way, the wild flowers on the slope up to Mt. Dana was spectacular yesterday. Will post a few pix here for your viewing later on.
Row like a wild rose, Roz!
Well, DISQUS didn’t like multiple posts, and posted on its side, let’s try something else, enjoy! Oops! Hit save too soon :((
Let’s see if this works … looks like DISQUS hates pretty pix of wild flowers … at least in Reply mode.
Roz, HERE are four pix which you may enjoy when you get to dry land … (with a little luck from DISQUS)
One more attempt … here are the other two that failed to load. Anyway, the profuse foliage is a result of the abundant water from the record snowfall in the Sierra Nevada this year …
This is nutz … I posted two and four popped up … enjoy :))
And I hope the wind settles down for you soon, Roz :))
Thanks for the pictures UncaDoug, what a beautiful place.
Hang in, Roz. Dry days ahead I’m sure. Perhaps if you yelled “Wheee!” zooming down some of the waves it would help? No?
Thanks for your help in networking. Haven’t heard the news of what panned out yet.
Best,
Joan
Is Rita cast free?
No, Bill, not free yet. A different one was put on two weeks ago, with hinges at the knee, allowing me to bend it, but no weight-bearing yet.
As I said to Roz: we are each in a situation where we need two sticks to be able to get anywhere!
Stay safe and keep your morale high as you are such an inspiration for so many of us. You’ll hit the good weather soon to look back on these tough days.
Here is what wikipedia says about duct tape, I underlined what it is capable of, so no worries about your repairs. Cheers!
“Duct tape, or duck tape, is cloth- or scrim-backed pressure sensitive tape often sealed with polyethylene. It is very similar to gaffer tape but differs in that gaffer tape was designed to be cleanly removed, while duct tape was not. It has a standard width of 17⁄8 inches (48 mm) and is generally silver or black but also available in other colors. Permacel, formerly a division of Johnson & Johnson, originally developed duct tape in 1942 during World War II as a rubber-based adhesive tape with a durable fabric backing that resisted water[citation needed]for use as sealing tape on ammunition cases.[1] Because of these properties, it was also used to repair military equipment quickly, including jeeps, firearms, and aircraft.”
http://www.facebook.com/naturenoutdoors
Your are showing great courage my dear. Keep up the positive thoughts because we are all thinking about you and wishing we could relieve you if only for a day….
Tomorrow Roz will have spent more days solo than any other of her solo rows. 103 on the Atlantic and 104 on stage two of the Pacific… making tomorrow and all days forward, her personal best!
Wanna check out something cool? Go to TED, Ideas Worth Sharing home page, http://www.ted.com click on the left side column for “courageous” and see who pops up! 🙂
Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can’t practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage. Maya Angelou
Row Roz Row!
Hi, I saw you when you first launched your boat in crescent city,ca
my friends and I were going out scuba diving maybe you remember
seeing a boat with dive tanks on it.
I have followed your hard work ever since.
Tom