A few weeks ago, as I was towing my boat from Washington State to Colorado, I did an interview in Salt Lake City that has since been broadcast on NPR.
Click here to listen to the 4-minute feature.
And yesterday I was on the CBS Early Show. I didn't see it, as I'm still in Canada, but it seems to have generated a lot of website traffic and some fantastic messages of encouragement.
And boy, am I going to need that moral support. I have just one week now before I go on standby to depart. I had secretly hoped the weather might force a slight delay to give me more time to get ready, but at the moment it looks as if I may launch on July 11, as scheduled.
And still SO much to do! But I know it will all come together in time - with a lot of determination, hard work, and eternal optimism...
Click here to find out more about the factors that will affect my departure date.
[photo: filming with Phil Keoghan of CBS - with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background. This is where it will all start - and maybe soon]
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Comments [0]
02 Jul 2007, Leeds, West Yorkshire
In 2005 before Roz set out to row the Atlantic Ocean, I was able to spend two weeks with her in La Gomera, helping with preparations. I feel a bit helpless now, being so far away from San Francisco. I wonder whether she has remembered to fill her water ballast bottles? Where has she stowed her favourite snacks? And so it goes on . . . .
There are tasks that I can do for her though - dealing with her mail, relaying messages - as indeed I will be continuing to do while she is at sea. One recent letter was from an organisation in the UK called "Women of the Year". For over 50 years the annual lunch has brought together outstanding women from all walks of life. Each guest has to be individually nominated by their Council, and is considered a 'woman of the year' because of a special contribution to society or the workplace. Roz has been nominated as a woman of achievement. Further information is available on their website: www.womenoftheyear.co.uk.
I have watched the video on their site of the awards given in 2006 and what those award-winners have done is truly AWESOME.
Roz and I both hope that she will be able to attend the lunch, which is in the middle of October. It all depends on the winds and the waves of the Pacific allowing her to reach Hawaii in good time.
Meanwhile people here stop me and ask where she is now, when is she departing, or remark about having seen us on TV in March.
As a proud mother, I anxiously watch and wait!
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If you're into text messaging - maybe you get a notification every time Arsenal score a goal - you may well be interested to know that you can sign up for SMS updates on my Pacific row. A typical daily text might look like this:
"Good progress today. Actual miles travelled: 36. Miles made good towards Hawaii: 30. Miles from San Francisco: 250. Miles to go: 2240. Weather sunny and warm. Waves 3-5ft. Saw pod of whales (or some other overview of day's news). New info and pics/podcast/video at www.rozsavage.com".
To sign up, just click on the button on the right - the one with the cute little phone on it - and follow the instructions. It takes about 30 seconds to subscribe.
This service has been provided through the generous support of Agile Communications.
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It was all remarkably painless. Compared with my previous interview in London (6 hours of queues - queuing to join a queue to have an interview to join another queue to have another interview) - this was incredibly swift. My appointment was scheduled for 8am, and even with a certain amount of obligatory queuing, I was out of there by 9am, and my passport will be ready for collection tomorrow.
In fact, the official was too busy asking me about ocean rowing - what I ate, how I slept etc - to focus properly on the job at hand. But in any case it is all resolved, and I can now row out from San Francisco confident that if I don't make it into Hawaii, it will be due to forces of nature rather than the forces of US Immigration.
Thanks to all who have helped along the way - Deb and Michael Follo who drove me to the airport yesterday, Victor Ferreira and all the staff at the Delta Hotel, Ottawa, who have provided me with a lovely room, and all the others who offered help, advice and contacts.
All's well that ends well.
Or... not quite. I am now trying to get an earlier flight back to San Francisco, but the Travelocity phone number isn't working, and their email form seems broken, so for now I am still stuck in a hot and humid (but very friendly) Ottawa.
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