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FIRST ever video from a rowing race: "Breakfast with Flipper". |
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Atlantic Whollf TECH CHAMPS of ocean rowing
20:36 p.m. EST Oct 27, 2003
Whilst all our teams have made updates from the water, the ocean rowing team Atlantic Whollf were first out yesterday, Sunday with a picture straight from the ocean. A turtle came swimming right into our computer screens. Well guess what: Today the guys sent another awesome live pic and not only that - they even transmitted a VIDEO of dolphins playing around their boat.
This is a first (as far as we are aware) and we are so proud that the team used our Contact 2.0 for another expedition tech milestone. Additional thanks to our Contact 2.0 partner in UK; Jay Baxter at CorpsCommunications who has fought equally hard to make this happen.
The files were pretty huge and must have taken ages to transmit over the guys Iridium. Tech in extreme, lightweight expeditions is never an easy task. The teams in addition rowed straight into a solar storm, interfering with their data connections mid to end last week. The race organizers reported other problems today:
"Several of the rowing boats have made contact with the safety yachts by satellite phone, mostly reporting minor problems. Quite a few have power problems onboard...For instance Rowing Home were intending to send back emails and pictures, but have been unable to do so because of lack of power. Other boats that have reported some power shortages include Atlantic Wholff, Pura Vida and Team Altitude..."
Well, Atlantic Whollf believe they found the problem:
"...There have been other irritations too, culminating in the total loss of power yesterday, meaning that last night's rowing was done with a torch and a compass. We have narrowed down the culprit to the tracking device (!) used to plot our position so that is now switched off for good and we telephone our position twice daily to the safety vessel."
Sunday October 19, 2003 16 double handed teams from South Africa, New Zealand, France, the UK and the Caribbean (for the first time) set out from La Gomera in the Canary Islands for a 2,900 mile rowing race to Barbados on 24 ft boats made of marine plywood.
The record of 41 days was set by Rob Hamill and the late Phil Stubbs in 1997. The teams will, on average, row 18 hours a day. Any outside assistance will disqualify the teams. Tins of food would weigh the boats down so freeze dried food (7000kcal per day), featuring such delights as chicken curry and Spotted Dick, constitute their staple diets.
The organizers have arranged for tracking and daily logs (not yet active) on the main website. In addition three of the teams use ExplorersWeb's Contact 2.0 with daily pics, voice dispatches and updates on their own websites. Our teams are Atlantic Whollf, Bluebell and Team RowingHome (the Caribbean pioneers).
Image courtesy of Atlantic-Whollf.org
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