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Atlantic West to East Rowers Update
Jul 5, 2004 12: 36 EST
There is a strong current in the North Atlantic right now. It roughly heads from Maine to Spain in the direction that several rowers are heading. Wave height seems to be average right now but the weather is definitely not cooperating. Winds are pushing towards the west and precipitation has been hitting all weekend; looks like even the rowers don’t get a break from the rain. Be sure to check out the links for up to date Ocean weather reports, charts, and live forecasts.
Anne Quemere left Chatham harbor (Cape Cod, USA) on Thurday June 3rd under cloudy skies and heavy swell aiming for the coast of Brittany, taking the North Atlantic route. She has just recovered from her second back-loop, after weathering a storm that dregged her back nearly 50 miles!
The latest from Anne: “Powerless against 10 to 15 Kts westerly winds, I am horrified by the compass showing my backward course. For how long yet? Is it true that the wind will turn South during the night? Shall I be able to get going again? Impatient, like a little girl waiting for Santa Claus, I fear the time when I shall reconnect the GPS and really know how much ground I lost!”
Jean Lukes (France) left Chatham Saturday, June 26, 2004 at 14:23 GMT in his boat 'Sojasun' bound for France, in attempt to row the Atlantic West-East, this is his fifth attempt. According to his last report on July 1st, he was rowing in clear skies.
Pink Lady Atlantic First left St John’s, Newfoundland on June 30th aiming to arrive off the Isles of Scilly in 35-40 days, and then immediately set a course for Falmouth. The current position by GPS is 46degrees 41.04N, 49 degrees 18.28W. While much forward progress has been hampered by adverse wind and sea direction the crew have managed to avoid losing much ground.
Yesterday the team rowed until 21.30Z and then streamed the Para anchor until 04.00Z when they rowed for another 6 hours. Pink Lady is currently riding to her sea anchor again and behaving impeccably in a 2 meter swell and a force 5 wind from the SE. It is important that no distance is lost to the N over the next few hours until there is a more favorable wind direction. Preliminary consideration of the data suggests that this is likely to be later tomorrow (Mon).
Emmanuel Coindre (France) plans to row Atlantic W-E from Chatham, Cape Cod (the scene of the blockbuster movie ‘The Perfect Storm’) to Cape Ouessant, France, to become the first person to row an ocean 4 times; twice in both directions. Departs July 2004. He will leave on July 12th.
Andreas Rommel (Germany) will leave Chatham just hours after Emmanuel in a bid to row the North Atlantic solo West to East from USA to the UK and therefore become the first German in history to row an Ocean. He will row to the Bishop Lighthouse in the UK - a distance of 3000 nautical miles. This expedition will take a minimum of 3 months, with Andreas rowing between 12 and 14 hours per day. No man has ever completed a transoceanic solo row from the USA to the UK – in fact, 6 have died trying.
Jean Lukes, French, departed in June of 2001 and was retrieved by the Coast Guard after just nine days at sea; that was his third attempt to row from West to East across the Atlantic. Dr. Nenad Belic, a Chicago cardiologist, left from Chatham that same day and was never heard from again. He is presumed lost at sea.
Local Coast Guard officials shook their heads at Coindre's attempt. "The sea is an inherently dangerous place," said Capt. James Murray, commander of Coast Guard Group Woods Hole. "We are recommending against anyone who would try a single trans-Atlantic in a boat that size."
Only three soloists have made the West to East row from America and only four from Canada (Tom McClean did it twice). One of those W to E rows was done by the French woman, Maud Fontenoy – the first lady to row West to East across the Atlantic in what was an epic row of heart-wrenching proportions.
Already this season four more rowers will make the West to East attempt; statistically only half make it across and about 1/5 never return from the sea.
Andreas’ boat, Lady Georgia (named after his daughter), is outfitted with 4 high-tech weatherproof cameras, recording every inch of this unique expedition – set up and installed by the guys at Extreme Tech. Be sure to check out his website for continuous updates, video and more.
Image of currents and wave height courtesy of the NOOA
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