Much has happened to me since I last wrote, and much has happened to my boat since I last saw her.
Last night I arrived back in San Francisco at 5pm. First stop, a meeting and dinner with the guys from Landfrog - who are keen to get involved with my Pacific row, despite being Landfrogs not Seafrogs.
Then this morning I met up with Perry Dillon from Davis Instruments to take delivery of a Vantage Pro weather station, which will gather weather data while I am on the Pacific, to be fed back to my website and also to the Royal Navy to help improve the accuracy of the weather forecasts that they are providing.
I met with Perry at the workshop where Sedna is now living. I hadn't seen her since I dropped her there a month ago. It is rather salubrious - mostly used for the maintenance of helicopters, the workshop is immaculate. You could eat your dinner off the floor.
It has two extremely good things in its favour:
1. It is being provided free of charge by Bob and Kelly, a very kind couple who as a result of my Woodside fundraiser are providing the use of their workshop as a form of sponsorship
2. That sponsorship includes the services of their helicopter engineer, Rich Crow, who in my absence has buffed Sedna to a shine not seen since pre-Atlantic days, repainted her decks, and is refurbishing her damaged rudder.
Time is now getting very short - just 7 or so weeks to go until launch (actual date to be determined by the weather) - but with Rich's help I am confident that Sedna will be ready... despite the fact that she is now on the road again. I am driving her north to presentations in Oregon, then in Colorado, before returning to San Francisco at the end of the month for the final countdown.
[photo: Perry Dillon of Davis Instruments delivers the Vantage Pro weather station]
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On Monday, at Geoff Holt's launch, I got to meet one of my personal heroes - Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, who in 1969 completed the first non-stop circumnavigation of the globe.
Just a week ago, at the age of 68, he finished another circumnavigation, as a competitor in the Velux 5 Oceans race.
Sir Robin reacted the way that most sailors do when they hear what I've done, and am planning to do. "You're mad", he declared. I, on the other hand, cannot see why anybody would want to face 50 knot winds and freezing temperatures in the Southern Ocean, on the kind of boat that seems utterly vulnerable to dismasting or ripping a mainsail.
Evidently sanity is a relative concept....
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Yesterday I watched the launch of one of the bravest adventurers I have met - Geoff Holt, a quadraplegic, is bidding to sail solo around the coast of Great Britain. The unique danger that he faces in this, , as a man paralysed from the chest down, was highlighted at his launch when things didn't go quite according to plan.
Geoff had successfully launched his tiny, frail-looking trimaran from the Royal Southern Yacht Club, and set out across the Solent surrounded by a phalanx of media in a fleet of RIB's. The wind was blowing briskly - abougt 20 knots - and he was flying along. One of the RIB's, carrying a camera crew from Meridian TV (and me) moved across to get a better camera angle, and disaster struck.
Geoff's trimaran hit the wake of the RIB, one of the side hulls lifted up off the water, and Geoff tipped out into the waves.
"He's face down!" gasped the TV reporter. For what seemed like a very long time (probably about 30 seconds) to us, and must have seemed like an eternity to Geoff, he lay helpless face down in the water, before his support crew were alongside and plucked him to safety.
He seemed unfazed by the experience, smiling and giving a cheery thumbs-up to the onlookers. He and his boat returned to the Yacht Club so he could dry out and warm up after his dunking.
I suspect it will take a lot more than this to deter Geoff from his goal. Good luck to Geoff, and to Ian Clover, Sarah Outen, and the rest of the support crew as you set out on your big adventure, your own Personal Everest.
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Probably the most horrifying report on marine plastic debris that I have ever read.... making it clear that it is not an issue "over there" in the oceans - it is an issue that is affecting our metabolism, our reproductive capability, our future as a species.
I am not seeking out this information on the internet - it is coming at me from correspondents and the news headlines. Be aware, be VERY aware....
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