Ocean Rowing: Roz Is Done!

As predicted last week, Roz Savage has completed her solo row across the Indian Ocean, arriving in Mauritius earlier today. By completing her 5000+ mile, 5 month long journey, she has become the first woman to row solo across the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.

Reaching this finish line will be particularly bittersweet for Roz, as she announced that she is hanging up her oars after this trip. She had very tentatively planned on rowing the Atlantic again, this time from New York to London, in 2012, but those plans have now been shelved in favor of other pursuits.

While Roz may have rowed her last ocean, something tells me we haven't heard the last of her. She is a tireless advocate of protecting the Earth's environments, especially the oceans, and I'm sure she'll continue to spread that message where ever she goes.

For now, I just want to extend a hearty congratulations to Roz on another amazing accomplishment. You have been an inspiration to us all and  I hope you are enjoying some relaxation back on land, good times with friends and family, and plenty of fresh food as well!

Ocean Rowing: Roz Nears The Finish Line

Today marks the 150th day on the Indian Ocean for Roz Savage, who set out from Australia in April and at long last is closing in on Mauritius, her finish line for yet another epic ocean row. She is expected to make landfall on Tuesday, October 4th, and when she does, she'll become the first woman to have rowed solo across the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.


While each of the three ocean rows has had its share of challenges, the Indian Ocean presented one that Roz hadn't dealt with before, namely pirates. Pirate activity in the region has increased greatly in the past few years, and for that reason alone she kept her course and location a well guarded secret. Those of us who have been following Roz's adventures over the past few years have been use to following her progress on the "Roz Tracker," but on this expedition that was disabled on her website, leaving us wondering where exactly she was out on all those miles of open water. That question was answered today with a press release posted to her website.

As of this morning, she has just 104 nautical miles to go until she's done. If conditions stay favorable, she should have no problems completing the row early next week as scheduled, and my guess is that its no coincidence that she's arriving in Mauritius, a place that is greatly threatened by climate change.

After spending all of those days out on the world's oceans, Roz has become a dedicated environmentalist, and has even launched an Eco-Heroes program to create grassroots efforts to take care of the planet. One of the places that could feel the effects of climate change the most is Mauritius, where rising sea levels will have an impact on the island nation.

Watch for an official announcement on Roz's arrival on land early next week and wish her well on the final leg of our journey.

Ocean Rowing: Roz Shares Her Top Five Ocean Moments

It has been awhile since I posted an update on Roz Savage, who is now on the 99th day of her row across the Indian Ocean. The famed ocean rower set out from Fremantle, Australia back on April 13th, and after working out a few issues with her equipment, she was soon off to conquer another massive body of water. According to her wonderfully insightful and well written blog updates, progress has been good, although there have been some rough days here and there. Strong winds and ocean currents can make these types of journeys very frustrating, and at times, Roz can row all day just to end up back where she started.

To celebrate her impending 100th day out on the water, Roz made a special post to her blog today. Having already crossed both the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, and now well into her Indian Ocean crossing as well, she has accumulated a lot of time out on the open water. During that time, she has also been witness to a lot of amazing things, which she shares in her "Top Five Ocean-Tastic Moments." The list includes such highlights as her encounter with "flying squid" on Stage 2 of her Pacific Row and close encounters with Whale Sharks on that same voyage.

At the moment, it is impossible to know how far along Roz is on her current voyage. In order to avoid pirates in the Indian Ocean, she has elected to not publish her GPS coordinates or report too much on her progress in general. You can read about her decision to do this in a previous blog post, and it makes perfect sense for her to play it safe in these dangerous waters. A few days back however, she did reveal that she is at the half-way point of the journey, which was a call for a small celebration at least.

Extrapolating from that piece of information, we can estimate that Roz will reach her final destination sometime in early November. She is expected to make landfall near Mumbai, India, where she'll enjoy a little time on dry land. At least until she's off on a planned second crossing of the Atlantic next year. Clearly this girl enjoys her time behind the oars.

Ocean Rowing: Indian Ocean Rower Rescued While Roz Stays On Course

The Indian Ocean has been the site of several ongoing attempts for rowers to cross that body of water, and while some are continuing to make progress toward their goal, others have come face to face with the harsh realities of life out on the water.

Take for example Irish rower Keith Whelan, who was forced to abandon his attempt last week after his boat was stuck by a giant wave off the coast of Australia. The 29-year old was below deck at the time, and fell, striking his head on a bolt in his cabin. The bolt cut the side of his head, and while he wasn't knocked unconscious,  he was worried about exposure and possible infection.

With that in mind, Whelan made the decision to end his trip, and called home to the U.K. to let his support crew know he was pulling the plug. They then alerted Australian authorities who put out a call for help, which was answered by a freighter passing through the region. He was then picked up and taken back to land.

Reportedly Whelan was quite upset that he had to end his journey early. He was rowing across the ocean to raise funds for the Keep a Child Alive organization, which works to assist children and families that are struggling with AIDS/HIV, and it was tough for him to give up on pursing that goal. Also, for some odd reason, he was making the row completely naked. Presumably, he put some clothes on before he was picked up by the cargo ship.

Meanwhile, Roz Savage is continuing her attempt to cross the Indian Ocean, despite the fact that her GPS chart plotter died on her last week. She has a back-up GPS device of course, but this one had been with her on most of her journey across the Pacific Ocean, and it was a constant companion that counted down the miles to the her final destination.

In true Roz fashion, she seems very upbeat and happy with her progress, although some days are more challenging than others. When the winds and currents are working against her, sometimes all she can do is row all day just to stand still. As of today, she is 41 days into her journey, and still has a long way to go, but this is old hat for Roz, who has already conquered two other oceans.

The four person crew aboard the Indian Runner 4 are also still out on the water and hoping to complete their objective of crossing the ocean in record time. They've now been rowing for 53 days, and the plann is to reach Mauritius in less than 68 days, which would establish the new record. With 884 miles still to go, that is going to be a tough hurdle to overcome, but it appears that the crew is well on their way to completing their epic Indian Ocean crossing.

Adventurers And Scientists For Conservation

Yesterday I received an excellent link in my e-mail that I thought might be of interest to a number of readers as well. It is for an organization called Adventurers and Scientists for Conservation, which promises to bring both communities together in a cooperative way.

The goals for the ASC are fairly straight forward and simple. The group looks to provide scientists with a way to attain unique and inexpensive datasets from a variety of places from around the globe by mobilizing a group of like-minded people from across the planet. They also hope to give adventure athletes a set of tools to help conserve the wild spaces that we all love so much, and dditionally, they hope inspire the general public to use those same wild spaces wisely and to protect them from harm.

The organization is the brainchild of Gregg Treinish, who falls into both the adventurer and scientist categories. He has worked as a wildlife biologist, backcountry guide, and more. He has also completed a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail as well as an epic 7800 mile (12,552 km) trek across the Andes that took 22 months to complete. That earned him the honor of being named a National Geographic Adventurer of the Year back in 2008.

Treinish is joined by some real heavy hitters in the science and adventure field. The ASC board has folks like Conrad Anker, Roz Savage, and Jon Bowermaster on it. Additionally, Their Mentors section has even more amazing folks that can be contacted for advice on how to launch your own expedition or contribute to the conservation cause.

Although this is a relatively new organization, Treinish says he didn't formulate the idea until late 2010, the website has already become quite a resource for adventurers and scientists alike. You'll find links to allow you to request datasets, lists of proposed projects, and ways to get in contact with men and women who are active in both the science and adventure communities.

Personally, I think this looks like a great organization. I've found that these two groups have more in common than it would seem on the surface, but both tend to have a deep respect and love for the natural environment and a desire to protect it for the future. It seems like a natural pairing and I have high hopes that the ASC will be helping to accomplish and promote great things in the future.

Ocean Rowing: One Indian Ocean Row Ends, Another Resumes

It seems the Indian Ocean is the source of all kinds of interesting news at the moment, with a couple of challenging rows just getting underway and another recently coming to an end. This is the season for those kinds of aquatic adventures on that great big body of water, where rowers scheduled their journeys around cyclones and monsoons.

We'll start with the fantastic voyage that ended last week, when Erden Eruç became the first person to row from mainland Australia to mainland Africa via the Indian Ocean. Erden reached Angoche, Mozambique on April 20th after setting out from Madagascar where he took shelter during the stormy season.

Successfully crossing the Indian Ocean is just the most recent step in Erden's great Around-n-Over adventure which is a human powered circumnavigation of the globe. He has been riding his bike and rowing his way around the globe since 2007, and has now crossed both the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Along the way, he is also climbing six summits as well. He has already knocked off Denali and Kosciuszko in Australia, and now that he has made landfall in Africa, he'll make his way to Kilimanjaro as well. Following that climb, he'll hit the road once again, crossing Africa on his bike before rowing the Atlantic.

While Erden's great Indian Ocean adventure has come to an end, Roz Savage's is continuing. As I mentioned last week, Roz was towed into Geraldton, Australia for a few minor repairs and adjustments to her boat before she hits open water, where small issues can become BIG problems. Eager to get back underway, Roz set out from Geraldton again on Saturday and made good progress on her first few days back on the water. Yesterday however, she noticed an issue with her solar panels charing the onboard batteries, which in turn power the boats electronic devices, Roz's laptop, sat phone, and so on. So, she once again elected to pull into shore for a very quick fix. This time, it would be at the very last port of call before facing 4000 miles of open ocean.

With the latest repairs taken care of, Roz can now get down to what she does best – rowing oceans. Hopefully the next time I post an update, she'll be well on her way to adding another big body of water to her resume.

Ocean Rowing: Roz Back On Land, Hopes To Resume Soon (Updated!)

Ocean rower Roz Savage had to put a temporary halt on her attempt to row across the Indian Ocean a few days back thanks to an equipment failure. She is back on dry land at the moment, and hurriedly working to correct the problem, with an eye on returning to the ocean by as early as this weekend.

While Roz had rowed some 350 miles, due to ocean currents and winds, she was still just 100 miles out form her starting point in Fremantle, Australia, when her automatic desalinization unit malfunctioned. That device is an ocean rowers lifeline, making fresh water daily while out on the ocean. Without it, she faced a very long trip during which she would have to use her hand pump to clean the water manually, which would take upwards of two hours per day. Not a great proposition when still have more than 4000 miles and months at sea to go.

In her twitter feed, Roz says things are back on track, and the weather is looking good, for a weekend re-launch of the expedition. Repairs to her boat are nearly complete and it looks like she should be ready to hit the water, this time setting out from Geraldton. Hopefully, this time everything will go as expected.

Update: Just a quick update to this post to correct a simple mistake. I heard from Roz directly last night, and she told me that her desalinization unit hadn't malfunctioned just yet, but that the locker in which it was kept was taking on water a bit too regularly. She indicated that her return to shore was a preemptive move to fix the problem on her boat, and seal the locker more fully, before heading back out onto the water. She also mentioned that she hoped to get back underway at 10 AM local time Saturday morning.

Good luck Roz, we're all pulling for you!

Ocean Rowing: Roz Caught On Video Prior To Launch

A few days ago, Roz Savage set off on her next big ocean adventure, this time taking on the Indian Ocean on a 4+ month, 4000 mile long journey. She's been at sea for a few days already, and for the most part, it is going as planned. Today was a bit of a struggle, with the high winds pushing her backwards, but by using her sea anchor and paddling to make up lost ground, Roz ended up back where she started, which is all you can ask for on some days out on the water.

Before she left Freemantle for the open ocean, Roz filmed a video, which you'll find below. It shows the start of the journey, with Savage meeting with local press and receiving well wishes before she rowed out of the harbor and started the very long, and difficult, journey to Mumbai, India. The video does a great job of showing you what it is like on the boat, just how big it is, and the challenges of getting it moving. For anyone who hasn't seen Roz in action before, this is a good place to start.

Ocean Rowing: Roz Prepares To Row Another Ocean

After conquering the Atlantic and the Pacific, ocean rower and environmental activist Roz Savage is preparing to hit the open water once again. This time she has set the Indian Ocean as her goal, which when successful, would give her the triple crown of ocean rowing.

If all goes according to schedule, Roz will set out from Fremantle in Australia on Wednesday morning local time, and turn her boat towards Mubai, India. The route is roughly 6300km (3914 miles) in length and will take an estimated 4.5 months to complete, with the notoriously rough seas of the Indian Ocean working against her.

That isn't Roz's only concern however. She faces the very real threat of pirates in the Indian Ocean, which isn't deterring her in any way, although she is taking steps to remain safe. For instance, on her other rowing adventures she used a tracking system so that we could follow her progress along the way. No such system will exist on this journey, and she's remaining mum on her final landing destination to help keep the pirates off her track.

One thing that hasn't changed with her Indian Ocean adventure however is Roz's determination to get her environmental message out to the masses. Spending nearly a year of her life out on the ocean has made her keenly aware of the health of those waters and of the planet in general. That has made her a tireless advocate for protecting our planet and doing what ever we can to aid the environment. She even launched her Eco-Heroes initiative as a grassroots way to get people involved.

Even after adding the Indian Ocean to her resume, Roz won't quite be done rowing just yet. Her website lists another Atlantic crossing, from New Jersey to London, as part of her plans for 2012. Beyond that, we'll have to wait and see, but clearly there she loves a good challenge!