22 Jul 2008, The Brocade
(Picture: Graphic kindly provided by Rick Shema - Weatherguy - of Roz's route so far, and wind conditions. For a larger view, go to Roz's Smugmug gallery and click on Sea Scenes and double click on the graphic. To get to Smugmug, click the icon above right - the little black box with a green grin.)
When I am in London, I often stay with my friends Sam and Ella. I've known Sam for nearly 20 years now, since our days at Thames Rowing Club, and during that time he has excelled at all kinds of sports, including sculling (Diamond Sculls at Henley), marathons (sub 3-hours in this year's London Marathon), triathlons, 4-man luge, and motor car racing.
Near their front door, they have this poem hanging on the wall in a frame. I haven't actually asked Sam if it inspires him in his athletic endeavours - but I know it does the trick for me!
If you think you are beaten, you are. If you think you dare not, you don't. If you'd like to win, but don't think you can It's almost certain you won't.
If you think you'll lose, you've lost, For out of the world you'll find Success begins with a fellow's will. It's all in the state of mind.
If you think you're outclassed, you are. You've got to think high to rise. You've got to be sure of yourself before You can ever win a prize.
Life's battles don't always go To the stronger or faster man, But sooner or later the man who wins Is the one who thinks he can.
Obviously I'd prefer a more gender-neutral version, but then it wouldn't rhyme or scan. But the point remains that self-belief is an amazingly powerful attribute.
For my first month on the Atlantic I was beset by doubts. What on earth had I been thinking? What had made me think I could do this?
And then I realized that, despite all my doubts, I was 1000 miles into it and actually yes, not only COULD I do it, but in fact I WAS doing it.
And of course now, having done it once, I've got reason to believe that I can do it again.
My point is that the first time you do something new and challenging, it's a leap of faith. You've got no reason to believe you can do it, because you've never done it before. But there's only one way to find out if you can - and that is to try.
As we've already invented the word "justdoitiveness", maybe what I'm describing here is "justdoitosity"!
Other stuff:
Position at 2140 21st July Pacific Time, 0440 22nd July UTC: 24 34.231'N, 134 56.615'W.
This morning I crossed the halfway point. 1304 nautical miles down, 1304 still to go. For myself, I'll feel more like celebrating when I can cross off 140 degrees West on the list of numbers on my whiteboard. That will be the line of longitude halfway between San Francisco (122 degrees W) and Oahu (158 degrees W). Then I will really start to feel like I've broken the back of the journey.
I find it hard to believe that I am nearly in the tropics. For the last few days the weather has been overcast, windy and grey. But the good news about this is that it has reduced my water consumption, which almost doubled during the hotter, sunnier weather.
Even though the winds are now helping me, I need to push on, so am still rowing from 7am to 9pm every day. The rowing has been tough and rough, rowing across the waves, which regularly crash against the starboard side of the boat, splashing over me until my left side is encrusted with salt, and on occasions today eliciting some very bad language!
Thanks to all for the comments and messages. A special hello today to Noelle, Rob and Jasper in Australia. Thanks for spreading the word about my row, and I can't wait to see you in Oz. although I'm not due there until 2010, so we have plenty of party-planning time still left!
With love and best wishes to all.
Click here to view Day 59 of the Atlantic Crossing January 27 2006, Cheerfully Miserable.
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20 Jul 2008, The Brocade
Last night it was a full moon. Unfortunately I didn't get to see it, as it has been overcast for several days (and nights) now. I would have loved to have seen it - one of my favourite Atlantic memories is rowing along on a calm ocean under a full moon, admiring the stars and generally feeling at one with the world.
Rowing across an ocean really does give me a sense of my place on the planet, and that planet's place in relation to the sun, moon and stars. It's evident, as I head west and south, how the times of sunrise and sunset (when it isn't overcast) are shifting.
And although I don't have a sextant on board, I had to study celestial navigation as a prerequisite for the Atlantic Rowing Race, and I can still remember enough about the subject to conjure up an approximate image of the earth turning as it circles the sun and picture how it all fits together.
There is a quote I found today on a list of inspirational quotes I'd prepared before the Atlantic, which I think comes from a Michael Crichton book:
Modern city-dwellers cannot even see the stars at night. This humbling reminder of man's place in the grander scheme of things, which human beings formerly saw once every twenty-four hours, is denied them. It's no wonder that people lose their bearings, that they lose track of who they really are, and what their lives are really about.
This really rings true with me. In ordinary life on dry land, I get so wrapped up in the general busy-ness and bustle, and it's only when I get out on the ocean, or into the mountains, or otherwise into the wild, that I am reminded that in the overall span of time and space, my little life - although very important to me - is smaller than a grain of sand on a beach.
Other stuff:
Position at 2130 20th July Pacific Time, 0430 21st July UTC: 24 40.470'N, 134 19.458'W.
Within the next few hours I should cross the halfway point of my journey. I will have rowed 1304 nautical miles, and will be the same distance from Hawaii. Now that I am in the trade winds, the second half should go faster than the first half. I have to confess - I very much hope this is so!
Conditions today have been grey, cold and rough. Not really the sort of day that makes me yearn for more of the same. Thanks for all the positive vibes heading my way - either through messages, comments, or just positive thoughts!
A special note to Tim: I've been using my "positive, energetic, enthusiastic" mantra here on the boat, too. It's a bit harder doing the hand gestures here though. I like to do it this way:
I am positive (fling arms out to sides) I am energetic (shoot arms forwards) I am enthusiastic (stretch arms up overhead)
And I tend to do repeat it several times, in an increasingly silly voice (especially on enthOOOOsiastic!) which at least puts a smile on my face at the start of the day!
Click here to view Day 57 of the Atlantic Crossing 26 January 2006: Sad Day on Sedna Solo - Roz finishes her favourite food.
Sedna was the name of the boat before Brocade became the main sponsor - the boat is now called Brocade.
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19 Jul 2008, The Brocade
I don't know the answer to this question - and I won't put it to the test, because although I'm sure the kangaroo skin parts would disappear quite quickly (seeing as they're half disappeared already), there are other parts of the glove like the Velcro, made from man-made materials, that would last much longer.
This got me thinking about how long it takes other items to biodegrade. As luck would have it, I happen to have here a leaflet from NOAA's Marine Debris programme that gives some information on this very subject.
Paper towel: 2-4 weeks
Milk carton: 3 months
Plywood: 1-3 years
Cigarette filter: 1-5 years
*Plastic bag: 10-20 years
*Plastic cup: 50 years
Aluminium can: 80-200 years
*Plastic soda bottle: 450 years
Disposable diaper: 450 years
Monofilament fishing line: 600 years
In connection with the items I've marked with an asterisk I'd like to clarify something. This is represented by NOAA as a Degradation Timeline. This is not the same as BIO-degradation. Plastic items do break down - but they only break down into smaller and smaller pieces, and even when microscopically small these pieces still enter the food chain. In fact, they can then enter it at a lower level, so accumulate to higher levels further up - which is even worse.
The truth is that plastic is still too new an invention for us to know just how long it takes for it to disappear entirely.
This is why I (and many others) regard plastic as Public Environmental Enemy #1, the nastiest of all nasties. We just don't know what its ultimate environmental impact is going to be, and in the meantime we continue to churn it out at prodigious rates.
Don't get me wrong - plastic is not an evil in itself. It has many useful purposes and enables useful items to be made at affordable prices.
But it is really, really NOT a great choice for "disposable" items.
So I'll be putting my old gloves in with the rubbish to be brought back to dry land. Especially as, unlike any of the occasional bits of food that sometimes go overboard, I can't imagine that any of the fishies would have a use for a worn-out pair of golf gloves. (no bad jokes about fish fingers, please!)
Other stuff:
Position at 1900 19th July Pacific Time, 0200 20th July UTC: 24 56.085'N, 133 43.830'W.
Sometime in the next couple of days I should pass the halfway mark, at 134 30'W. At that point I will have rowed 1304 nautical miles, with 1304 still to go. And in theory the second half should be significantly faster, now that I'm in the trades. As my weatherguy says, from here on it's downhill all the way!
Conditions very rough today - big rolling swells and winds over 20 knots. I've been rowing, but it hasn't been much fun. I don't enjoy seeing a big curling wave bearing down on me and knowing I'm about to get a drenching, but the thought of that halfway mark has helped keep me going.
Thanks for all the messages, from newbies and regulars alike! Thanks also to those who joined us for the Leo Laporte podcast this morning. As usual on Saturdays, it was our Q&A session, when you can ask me questions live on Twit TV (meaning is rather different in the US than in the UK!). So if I haven't answered your question in my blogs, you might want to join us next Saturday at 1700 UTC, at twitlive.tv.
Special hi to Jez at the Royal Navy's FWOC - thanks to you and the guys for the support and the words of encouragement. Too bad the RN won't be able to drop in for a visit this time around!
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Click here to view Day 56 of the Atlantic Crossing 25 January 2005 "Zen and the Art of Ocean Rowing" with a message about hope.
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