It’s that time of year in the northern hemisphere maritime climate areas, where many sailors put their boats to bed for winter and dream of next year’s adventures. Or maybe your sailing days are just youthful dreams or conversely all but over and you simply delight in the exploits of others, safely from your armchair!
I fall into the latter category these days and thanks to Johannes Boonstra he reminded me of the blog series I did about Doris and her adventures – plus the fact there’s also a film about her and the Coxless Crew available on Amazon and iTunes.
Got an armchair or just need to be awed – do watch LOSING SIGHT OF SHORE!
Synopsis
“LOSING SIGHT OF SHORE follows the extraordinary journey of four brave women known as the Coxless Crew that set out to row the Pacific Ocean from America to Australia unsupported. As they row over 8,000 miles during their nine months at sea, they face extreme mental and physical challenges they must overcome in order to go down in history. This is a story of perseverance, friendship, and the power of the human spirit. Everyone has a Pacific to cross.”
Trailer
Here’s the trailer to give you a taste, in case you don’t have immediate access to the streams above.
Statistics
Apart from the incredible tenacity of the Coxless Crew, here’s a few stats to put the challenge in perspective.
- First attempt aborted
- Doris is a 29ft, 1 ton rowboat
- 257 days at sea
- 8,579 miles rowed
Conclusion
Whilst the film has been around for some time, it seems worthwhile to remind folk of its existence and (now I know the details) to say why the initial attempt had to be aborted.
As you may recall from the blog series, Victron sponsored part of the solar system onboard and that system failed. It’s not that there was anything wrong with the components (Solbian & Victron), it was the installation itself that caused the system to stop working due to water ingress. That meant the Coxless Crew had to turn around to get it fixed in Santa Barbara, resulting in 16 days lost. It’s heart breaking stuff to watch, but thanks to teamwork everything was sorted and the girls set out once more across the Pacific.
This just goes to show how solar and battery power has become essential for sailors, especially in challenges and emergencies such as those experienced by the Coxless Crew and respectively the ongoing Golden Globe reenactment race.
The moral of this blog has to be – use the sailing off-season as yet another opportunity to check and double check your safety gear and systems – or maybe it’s time to upgrade old systems. If you do, all the latest kit in the world won’t help if it’s not installed perfectly in the first place!
John Rushworth
