Slashdot Mirror
Rowing Across the Atlantic
An Anonymous Coward writes: "Wired News has an article about 68 men and women who are rowing across the Atlantic. "All 34 boats in this year's race are equipped with Global Positioning System (GPS) devices, and practically all the rowers have satellite phones and other wireless gadgets with Internet access.""
What's the purpose of starting in winter? Or are they rowing in the Southern Hemisphere? Even so, this seems like a stupid idea.
/., but that's another story.
Rowing over a major ocean during the end of storm season through winter is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of. I wish they would think before they do stuff like this.
But I suppose the contestants, I suppose that's what you'd call them, get some sort of rush out of doing crap like this. I just don't understand what kind of rush it is.
Furthermore, I don't understand why sporting news belongs on
The race began Oct. 7 at Los Gigantes Harbor in Tenerife, Spain, and ends in Port St. Charles, Barbados.
Is there a good reason they're rowing against the gulf stream and the prevailing winds?
As if rowing across the atlantic isn't hard enough already
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According to the article, some of the rowers are opting to just toss their gadgets into the sea to reduce weight. I guess that says something about their actual utility.
They'll need OnStar if they want ads to notify them of all the great sites around the Atlantic.
The original trans-Atlanitc rowing record (Canary Islands to Barbados in 41 days) was set by two New Zealanders, Phil Stubbs, and Robbie Hamill back in 1997. Their fully-laden boat weighed over 2000 pounds. Stubbs later died in a plane crash.
It sounds less impressive when you consider this guy did the same thing, only swimming.
if you're interested in this sort of thing, I suggest you head over to OceanRowing.com. I worked for the director of the Ocean Rowing Society, Kenneth Crutchlow, for a year compiling metric assloads of data about every single ocean rower who ever attempted a crossing. It was definitely one of the strangest jobs I've ever held, but after spending so much time surrounded by this close knit community of people who want to test the limits of human endurance, you begin to understand what drives someone to want to do this. Every rower has their own personal drama to tell, and it is a riveting experience to hear them describe their lone rowboats amid 50 foot swells in mid-Atlantic hurricanes or having to jump out of their boat to spear fish when food runs out halfway across the Pacific.
I can't wait to eat that monkey...
I can see it now:
"Hey, why aren't you rowing?"
"I'm posting to slashdot!"
I know that my phone and other "electronic gadgets" tend to last a week with light-to-moderate usage. Either these folks are carrying some rather long extension cords, or have something else to recharge all their batteries.
Either way, I can see why people are opting to toss stuff overboard, as I can't even begin to imagine the additional weight all those chargers would be adding...
"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." --H.L. Mencken
While the rowers say they are grateful for the wireless perks like GPS and satellite phones, Vose says the gadgets are not giving the rowers an unfair advantage.
Both Wired and Slashdot seem to emphasize the technology. This is an amazing, grueling physical trial. The tech is for us to follow them and rescue if necessary. Their main tech tool is the business end of an oar.