Roz Savage, the Brit who aims to become the first woman to row solo across the Pacific, is back on land for the first time in nearly 100 days and is marking a milestone.
She arrived in Hawaii on Monday morning, completing the first of three legs of her journey across the Pacific Ocean. That's after setting off from San Francisco in her 24-foot rowboat known as the "Brocade" just before midnight on May 24. In all, she rowed about 2,600 miles.
Roz Savage arrives in Hawaii after nearly 100 days of rowing solo across the Pacific Ocean.
(Credit: Courtesy of Roz Savage )Savage was met by family, friends, other well-wishers, and the media. After she landed at the dock of the Waikiki Yacht Club, one of the first things she did was hug her mother, Rita.
"It's taken me about a million oar strokes to get here from California," Savage said, according to a story in the Honolulu Star Bulletin. "If I just said, 'One little oar stroke isn't going to make any difference,' I'd still be standing in San Francisco. What I really wanted to do was let people know they can make a difference. Every action counts."
On the ocean for 99 days, Savage relied on a number of gadgets to keep her on course and keep herself entertained. She chronicled her journey with daily blog postings, a semiweekly podcast series, and Twitter messages.
In an interview via satellite phone last month, she talked about having what she calls "a ha" moments during her time on the water. "You never regret being ready sooner rather than later," she said in August. There's a flip side too. "You'll never be 100 percent ready." But, as Savage said, "I've managed."
Now back on land, Savage said she most looked forward to taking a shower and getting some rest on a bed that doesn't rock back and forth, according to her representative.
As part of her historic quest, Savage aims to raise awareness about the effects of pollution--in particular, plastic--in our oceans. Her trip is a project of the Blue Frontier Campaign, whose focus is on "seaweed (marine grassroots) efforts" surrounding ocean and coastal conservation.
Dan Basta, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, said in a statement: "Roz's steadfast determination reminds us that we must connect our everyday actions to protecting the ocean."
It is her second attempt to become the first woman to row solo across the Pacific. Last summer, Savage set off only to be foiled by bad weather some two weeks into the trip. She was rescued by the Coast Guard about 90 miles off the California coast.
Early next year, she plans to row another 2,600 miles to Tuvalu. In all, she expects to travel more than 7,000 miles, ending up in Australia in 2010.
Roz Savage rows near Diamond Head in Hawaii on Monday.
(Credit: Courtesy of Roz Savage )Updated 8:45 a.m. August 13 to correct the model of Sinclair computer. It was a ZX81.
Ask Roz Savage what her favorite gadgets are aboard her rowboat and she's quick to answer.
"The ones that are still working."
The 40-year-old Brit has set out to become the first woman to row solo across the Pacific Ocean, and she passed a milestone recently: She's now halfway to Hawaii. That's after setting off from San Francisco in her 24-foot rowboat just before midnight on May 24.
Roz Savage set off from San Francisco more than two months ago to row across the Pacific Ocean. Here, she's seen early in her voyage, near the Farallon Islands.
(Credit: Roz Savage )With under 1,000 miles left to go on the first leg of her voyage, she took time out late last week to talk via satellite phone. Her location? Somewhere in the Pacific. More precisely, around 140 degrees west.
So what's still working?
"The TomTom GPS is working. I consult that six times a day," said Savage, adding that she's been using it to update the ship's log. She got the TomTom GO 720 last year for her car. (Savage wrote in a photo caption on her blog: "The TomTom GPS from my car is rather confused to find itself in the middle of the Pacific.")
She also has a handful of iPods onboard, but she said she's only used one so far: the one that TWiT.tv's Leo Laporte loaded up with more than 300 audio books. (Laporte checks in with Savage a couple of times a week for the podcast series "Roz Rows the Pacific.") A few of the titles that have stood out so far include the fantasy novel A Game of Thrones and the nonfiction work A Crack in the Edge of the World, which covers the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
She has two laptops onboard, a MacBook and Panasonic Toughbook. Savage sends updates for her Web site via her satellite phone. (She also has a spare phone this time. When Savage rowed across the Atlantic Ocean in a race a few years ago, her satellite phone went dead about a month before she arrived at the finish.)
One gadget Savage is relying on is her TomTom GPS device. As she quipped in a photo caption on her blog, 'the TomTom GPS from my car is rather confused to find itself in the middle of the Pacific.'
(Credit: Roz Savage )What's not working? Her energy-efficient Spectra desalinator that was capable of producing 25 liters of water an hour. "It's totally corroded." But she has reserve water supplies and a hand-pump water maker. Her onboard chart plotter also isn't working, so that's where the TomTom comes in. (In a blog posting Monday, Savage wrote: "The death toll on electronic components continues." Over the weekend it seems chargers for her satellite phone and iPod conked out. Luckily, she's got backups.)
Even so, as Savage has said, her boat is a little model of self-sufficiency. She has solar panels and a wind generator providing the power for her electronics. She is growing her own bean sprouts. So what could this mean for the world at large?
"Sustainability is rather limitless," said Savage. While she doesn't currently have a home, Savage knows what she would do if she did. "I would very much want to make it energy-efficient, self-sufficient." She said she finds value in being an example to people in different ways, and one aspect of that is embracing green energy.
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