12 Aug 2007, The Brocade
This morning at 6:49 Brocade and I left the guest dock in the harbour of Crescent City, and set out for Hawaii. A small crowd had gathered to see me off, and there was a smattering of applause as I took my first strokes.
I rounded the corner, trying hard to look good.. And promptly ran aground on a sand bank lurking just under the surface of the water. The hazard of leaving at low tide. So ten minutes into my big adventure I was standing in shallow water with my leggings rolled up above my knees, trying to heave the Brocade off the sand bank. After a bit of a struggle I succeeded and we were on our way again.
It was perfect conditions for the start. The wind rarely blows offshore here, so the best I could realistically hope for was minimal wind - and that is what I got. All day the wind has been slight. I quickly lost sight of land in the fog that closed in around me.
The silence was broken only by the noises of a few marine visitors - all morning sea lions were surfacing around my boat, popping up from the water like gophers. They would arrive in posses of 4 or 5, snuffling and blowing and generally larking around. There were whales too - large dark finned lumps breaking the calm waters fifty or so yards away from my boat.
This afternoon I listened to an audio book of Robinson Crusoe, which seemed appropriate in the circumstances. It helped to listen to a story where everything happens at snails's pace - it takes him about month just to make a table - as it helped me lapse into the slower pace of ocean life.
Progress has been slow too. Although the wind isn't against me, it isn't helping me either. I've rowed for 10 hours already, and need to do several more if I am going to reach my target of 20 miles today.
Better go and get on with it.
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12 Aug 2007
At 3.45pm BST (GMT + 1 hour) today, Sunday August 12th, I received a position report from Marinetrack showing that Roz is now at sea. She is thus beginning the first part of her voyage across the Pacific Ocean. Now begins the time of watching and waiting . . .
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The Line of Death (aka the Line of Rainbows, Happiness and Rainbows, depending on whether you focus on this side or the far side of it) has now been redrawn for my new point of departure. This is how it now looks.
I have to try and cross this line as soon as possible - beyond it I can sleep well at night, but this side of it I am in constant danger of being swept onshore. Not good.
Ideally I would head due west from here, but it looks as if the weather may have other ideas. A bit of north, a bit of south, and a fair bit of rain are forecast.
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Last night I packed up my belongings into my trusty yellow truck, hitched the Brocade trailer to the towbar, and prepared to row into the history books....
...and then had to wait another 3 hours while my medic and my co-driver fought their way through rush hour traffic compounded by a car wreck on the I-880. At last, with first aid kit and Nicole finally on board, we set out at 8pm from San Francisco to drive 7 hours north to Crescent City. This small seaside town on the border with Oregon is the nearest civilisation to my official departure site of Point St George.
After driving north through beautiful redwood forests that made me lust for land even before I had left it, we arrived in a cool, damp, foggy Crescent City just after 3pm. We met with Rich Young, the harbour master, who pointed us in the direction of the launching ramp. We launched the Brocade and I paddled over to the guest dock, where my boat will stay until my departure at 6.30 tomorrow morning.
It all feels strangely ordinary. Crescent City is a friendly place, but has the air of an English seaside town in the off season. Our hotel receptionist claims to have modelled himself on Basil Fawlty. We are far off the beaten track. But I love it for its very mundane-ness. A quiet departure with no dramas is just what I want. Then, if I can manage to dodge the reef, evade the spells of stronger winds, somehow manage to stay clear of the California coast, and keep my head together for the next 2-3 months, I might have a hope of making it safely to Hawaii.
[photo: me and Nicole en route with the Brocade]
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