Maud: Shark!
Mar 2, 2005 18: 35 EST
Here goes, straight from the horse's mouth:
"Shark! Pétula sat up stiff in the back cabin. It was just past midday, and the sun burned hard. I was leisurely finishing one of my freeze-dried "delicacies" of ham and mashed potato - when - to my surprise, the small aluminum bag containing my meal made a leap out of my hands."
Not a sound
"The fish approached gently without making a sound. My breathing accelerated, as I tried to remain in my seat as quietly as possible. I didn't take my eyes of it once. Pétula ran to coil by my feet, the boat didn't move. Then, in a giant water splash, I distinguished the threat: A brownish blue-grey body. I think it must be the school of dolphin below the boat that attracted it."
Small, evil eyes
"It must have measured short of two meters (7 ft). It had small, evil eyes. With the sight of its muscles of steel, I was delighted not to have refreshed myself in the water at that moment. Like a wolf, it circled us in silence, then it disappeared as smoothly as it had appeared. Only then did I first fully realized that I had been attacked. Kisses from a still trembling Maud"
French rower Maud Fontenoy set out from St. Pierre et Miquelon, (French) Canada on June 13, 2003 in an attempt to become the first woman to row across the Atlantic West to East. 117 days and an arduous journey later, she reached that goal on October 9th, 2003.
She had been drinking sea water, fought off sharks, and tumbled in 30 feet waves. In the final weeks she was caught up in endless circles in the North Atlantic. Cargo ships brushed pass her like giant, frightening ghosts in the night. Injured and badly beaten she pushed hard towards east, but the strong wind and the waves took her south without mercy. She arrived at the rocky coast in agitated seas and darkness, where not even the tow ship would go out to get her. But she never gave up and she stole the heart of hard core explorers for her fighting spirit, and her romantic messages in the midst of brutal storms.
This time, Maud plans to row solo from Peru to French Polynesia, mid-Pacific to follow the route of Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl's 1947 Kon-Tiki expedition. She left from Callao January 12, 2005 at 17h40 (22h40 GMT).
Images of Maud courtesy of Bennoit Tessier?MAXPPP, Jean-Christophe L'Espagnol.
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