Yesterday - Thursday 23rd May - at around 3PM in Japan, Charlie Martell rowed out of Choshi Marina bound for the USA. Woohoo!!! This is Charlie’s 2nd attempt to row the North Pacific along the same route I will row next year. In his first attempt, Charlie departed Choshi, Japan on May 12th 2012 and [...]
It sounds like the beginning of a contentious joke, but next month is set to be an exciting month in ocean rowing. Two individuals - both of whom have rowed oceans before - are planning to set off from the US west coast bound for Hawaii. Part 1 - Man from China - Ruihan Yu [...]
I owe a debt of gratitude to the following individuals - Don Bekins and the SFYC David Holscher of Night Train Swimmers David McGuire of Shark Stewards Dr Dave Birznieks Also a special thank you to Danielle Sellwood of FindItFilm for continuing to collaborate with me on the making of these films and to all [...]
Click here for Part 1. The Coast Guard arrive. Their boat is big and steel and this concerns me. There are three crew plus the driver. The crew are busy readying fenders and without any radio communication the boat veers towards me. They can not be wanting to come alongside, says the voice in my [...]
Wednesday was going to be THE DAY for my 2nd attempt to set a new record rowing around the Farallon Islands. Then it wasn't THE DAY, so I committed to moving a sailboat. Wednesday, 7AM I wake up and instantly know there is no wind. Except I have committed to moving a sailboat... We move [...]
I looked out my kitchen window at 6AM and saw fog. This wasn’t unexpected. The weather was, essentially, unstable. The forecast for the Farallon Islands was good, great even. The question was, could I get away from the clutches of land to take advantage of it? My row to the bridge was more arduous than [...]
Tomorrow - Tuesday 24th April - I will venture out the Golden Gate and head for the Farallon Islands, to set what could be (subject to ratification) a new Guinness World Record. Paul Chinn from the San Francisco Chronicle will be at the San Francisco Yacht Club at 7AM to photograph my departure. The weather [...]
“WAIT!” A man hurried down the dock towards me and my boat. I looked around, but there was no one else on the dock. “You’re leaving too soon!” he said. I was 30 minutes from departing to row to the Farallon Islands. The man, who introduced himself as David Holscher fished out his phone and [...]
Tomorrow I will depart from the SFYC in Tiburon and row towards the SE Farallon Island... and back. This is not the world record attempt (Golden Gate Bridge > round the Farallons > back to the Golden Gate Bridge), which is pending approval from the Guinness World Record Association. But a warm-up. A 24-30 hour [...]