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The elusive lights of Coruna
15:48 p.m. EDT Oct 8, 2003
Ocean Rowing Society's website is back up again with Maud's position.
In addition a mail arrived from Chantal, Maud's mom: "Maud will arrive tonight or tomorrow morning (8 pm local = 3 pm EST) in the town of La Coruna. After that, she will take a plane to Paris ( Friday at 8 AM ) for a press conference at 11 AM in the House of Radio France.
Maud has been out for 116 days. She is currently 5 miles from the coast, it's dark but she can clearly see the lights of land. Earlier today, Maud rowed to a point just above Coruna. "She was so close she could touch the rocks" her webmaster told ExWeb in this hour. However, her support team advised her to instead row further to Coruna, where they would rent a yacht to tow her safely to land.
Well, by the time she arrived there the night fell. As the coast line is very dangerous at this part, the tow boat Captain now refused to go out in the dark. Maud is thus adrift at this point just outside off the Spanish coast, and a bit grumpy as her support crew is running around Coruna trying to charter a braver tow boat Captain.
The trouble is that the wind is shifting as all this is taking place - and Maud is drifting back out on the Ocean!
Nevertheless, Maud is very happy and relieved that her journey will finally be completed. She is impatient to meet again with all the people she loves.
She finds it difficult to describe her feelings right now though; "It is hard to believe that the moment that I have dreamed of for so long is finally here. It's like dreaming of a Prince Charming - you know that he doesn't really exist - and then the dream comes true".
French rower Maud Fontenoy set out from St. Pierre et Miquelon, Canada on June 13 in an attempt to become the first woman to row across the Atlantic West to East.
Image courtesy of www.PuertoCoruna.com
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