Crossing the Pacific Ocean by Rowboat; Think Tank Discussion
Recently a man from France crossed the Pacific Ocean in a rowboat. He did so in 129 days, setting the world record, of course being the first to do it, he set the record and holds it. He was an expert rower, but how could he not be after accomplishing that after all even if he wasn’t when he started, that is the kind of crash course, which could give one an Expert Status, right? Actually he had crossed the Atlantic Ocean four times before attempting the World’s largest ocean.
Our think tank decided to see if were feasible to make that possible for a non-expert rower. One think tank member Swift stated; “Regarding traveling the Pacific by boat, I can see where I would take it to the extreme of comfort, which would probably defeat a lot of the purpose. It would be best to do it with as little interference in creature comforts, but keep the safety issues intact.”
Good points indeed and well you would need to make it the best you could, but that should never slow or stop your mission, as there is probably no way to paddle across the Pacific Ocean without breaking a sweat. Press on is how you win and build character and how you inspire a nation or species, do not ever forget that. Indeed it would be smart to make it as comfortable as feasible, but in the end you are talking a lot of paddle strokes in 18,000 miles and we must remember that risk is not an evil; the opposite can be however. Risk is something that is worthy to the forward progression of all humans. Battling the elements and the unknown.
Swift: “I have always found that the unknown is often worse in our head than what it truly is.”
Indeed Swift you are correct, as the unknown is what makes life worth living.
Swift; “The motion of the ocean might be able to be dealt with prior to the trip. If cyclists can train in wind tunnels to determine optimal placement of the body, perhaps the same thing could be done to train for the height and intensity of waves, especially when the lift of the boat would not be as intense as when it smacked down.”
All good points, as the waves are what will beat the athlete up on such a trip. Sure this is correct but much of this has already been done. And look if we are going to design ocean going surface unmanned robotic boats in the future then we ought to know if they can actually make it across the ocean; any ocean, water or other liquid. We must also know before we launch a man in a rowboat to do the seemingly impossible, even if it has been done the prior.
Swift; There would have to be some ergonomic position issues that would help a lot to ensure the success of the trip. Nothing worse than a sprained back out in the middle of the ocean.”
Very well put Swift and lets not forget the athletes mantra; “No Pain, No Gain!” In other words we cannot make it too easy or relaxing as the athlete must over come it. You deal with the pain, you press on. That makes it even better. What a test of human will. Be cognizant of such things, but never defeated. Of course food too is an issue, you can only eat so much fish for 129 days and it may take a regular athlete up to twice as long.
Swift: “I have eaten food from solar ovens when I worked in the park and one older male built one. He baked a pineapple upside down cake in it and there wasn’t even a crumb left over. It didn’t seem to take that long either. I think that’s the only time, I ever had food cooked that way. He did some meat a couple of times, but I was elsewhere and missed it. One thing I was thinking about today was the issue of sunburn and potential heat stroke with no covering over the rower.”
Yes those are issues and some of this will be part of the hardship and there may not be a lot we can do about it. And we cannot pick a wimp to be the rower all alone out there in the middle of the Planet’s largest ocean. If you have water and keep working the perspiration will cover your skin, but you will need some sun cr
Tags: Crossing Pacific Ocean, days, food, ocean, paddle, Rowboat, species, Think Tank Discussion, water