June 5, 2010 - Last March Katie Spotz, a 22 year old college student from Ohio had just completed rowing solo across the Atlantic from east to west. Jessica Watson, 16, was 1/2 way across the Indian Ocean headed for completion of her non-stop sail around the world in Sydney Australia. And Abby Sunderland, also 16, was two months into her solo-circumnavigation. Here's what's happened since:

Jessica Watson - After 210 days at sea Jessica Watson arrived to a hero's welcome in Sydney Australia on May 15th. As she entered Sydney Harbor her 34-foot sloop, Ella's Pink Lady, was surrounded by hundreds of racing yachts, tiny sea kayaks, dinghies, ferries, powerboats, water police vessels and one bright red tugboat that sprayed water over everyone. To the list of celebrated solo-circumnavigators, men such as Joshua Slocum, Sir Francis Chichester, Robin Lee Graham and Jesse Martin is now added the name of Jessica Watson, the youngest person to have ever sailed around the world alone. More...

Abby Sunderland - Back at sea, after a pit stop for repairs in Cape Town, South Africa, Abby Sunderland encountered rough seas as she now entered the Indian Ocean. Her goal is to finish her voyage at a younger age than Jessica Watson so she can claim the title of "youngest." More...

Roz Savage - Last Thursday  Roz Savage became the first woman to row solo across the Pacific. The 42-year-old British national rowed over 8,000 miles from San Francisco to Papua New Guinea. Her 250 day trip was broken into three legs: San Francisco to Hawaii; Hawaii to Kiribati; Kiribati to New Guinea.  More...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

May 19, 2010 - Three Jacksonville residents survived three days at sea by clinging to a large Coleman cooler after their 20' motorboat capsized and sank.   32-year-old John Nevarez, 31-year-old Elias Nevarez and 28-year-old Rebecca Sullivan were found Tuesday by a private boat passing through the area. They suffered severe sunburn, jellyfish stings and fatigue. They were taken to a hospital for evaluations, but their conditions were not released. The three took off on Sunday morning for a deep sea fishing trip. Their boat, "Problem Child", overturned after it was unexpectedly hit by two waves and then sank. 

Officials said they possibly ran into stormy weather with winds gusting to 45 mph and 4' waves.  Prior to the rescue the Coast Guard had searched for for 68 hours over more than 11,000 square miles.  Capt. Andy Blomme, commander of the local Coast Guard base, said the survivors told him that a first wave swept over the boat's stern, killing the engine and all power. A second one hit moments later, flipping the boat and preventing those on board from getting their life jackets.

Here's the full story from Jacksonville.com

 

 

April 12, 2010 - Recent storms have uncovered part of the wreck of the HMS Somerset III from the sand at Dead Man's Hollow near Provincetown.The Somerset was last uncovered in 1973 and may be covered again soon. The National Park Service is taking advantage of this moment and having the wreck “digitally preserved’’ using three-dimensional imaging technology. The 70-gun British ship of the line supported English troops at the battle of Bunker Hill and was immortalized in Longfellow's poem of Paul Revere's ride:

Then he said 'Good-night!' and with muffled oar

Silently rowed to the Charlestown shore,

Just as the moon rose over the bay,

Where swinging wide at her moorings lay

The Somerset, British man-of-war;

A phantom ship, with each mast and spar

Across the moon like a prison bar,

And a huge black hulk, that was magnified

By its own reflection in the tide.

 

The Someset was wrecked in a storm off Cape Cod in November 1778.  Twenty of her crew drowned while the others were saved and  exchanged for American prisoners of war. Here's more from Stefanie Geisler at the Boston Globe.

March 21, 2010 - In January we looked in on three young women who were in various stages of ocean going voyages. 16 year old solo-circumnavigator Jessica Watson was about to round Cape Horn in her 34' sailboat. Abby Sunderland, also 16, was about to set off from Los Angeles for a round-the-world voyage in a 40' sailboat. And Katie Spotz, a 22 year old college student from Ohio, was ten days into rowing across the Atlantic from east to west.  Here's where they are today:

Jessica Watson is in the home stretch. 1/2 way across the Indian Ocean with roughly 5,000 miles to go. She hopes to reach Sydney by the middle of May. In her most recent gale she had 15-foot seas and 40 knots of wind. With over 1 million people following her blog each week she has achieved fame. Observers such as Phil Lutton of the Sydney Morning Herald are already counting the money she'll make in sponsorship opportunities when she returns home.  She's sailing a solid but slow 1974 Sparkman & Stephens 34. Read Jessica's blog here.

Abby Sunderland, is in the 58th day of her voyage off the coast of southern Chile. Leaving Marina Del Rey in Southern California she's been heading due south toward Cape Horn. She was off the coast of Chile during the recent earthquake and the tsunami-that-wasn't passed under her keel.  Her boat is a finicky and fast Open 40 racing sloop. Read Abby's blog here.

Katie Spotz completed her transatlantic row on March 17th landing in Guyana after setting out from Senegal 2.5 months earler (image from her website above). Here's her account of her landing:

“Welcome to Guyana” – a sentence I’d been waiting to hear for 70 days, 5 hours and 22 minutes!

It appeared as darkness fell, starting as a soft glow on the horizon. As the night progressed, it turned into dotted lights and, by the morning, had turned into trees and buildings. Even hearing new sounds that I hadn’t heard for two months was a revelation. As relieved as I was to see land, I didn’t allow myself to become too excited until my feet were planted on terra firma, as I knew these final miles could be the most treacherous.

When I got to within four miles of the end, I immediately realized it was a different day to the rest of them when a helicopter appeared overhead and, the best thing of all, a boat full of friendly faces, including my dad and brother. But that wasn’t the end of the challenge, as the final approach into the Demerara River proved as difficult as any other. It started to rain, at times I was rowing as hard as I could just to stay in the same spot and, worst of all, I was having to make sure I looked like I knew what I was doing for all the interested onlookers!

Eventually, I found myself rowing up to the landing spot. However, the relief of hitting land was quickly replaced by fear, as I spotted my final obstacle: a ladder.

I questioned whether this was really the best place to land, as I was expecting to not be able to walk, at least straight, once on land. As I crawled my way out, I was faced with one final battle, finding my way to a desperately wanted, long-awaited watermelon amidst a mob of media. As tempting as it was to karate-chop my way through the masses, I patiently waited for my moment. And there it was. Sweet heavenly watermelon. More...