The Voyage: Roz Savage
Google Across the Atlantic
19 Apr 2007, Woodside, CA

A friend sent me this...

1. go to http://www.google.com

2. click on "maps"

3. click on "get directions"

4. type "New York" in the first box (the "from" box)

5. type "London" in the second box (the "to" box)

(hit get directions)

6. scroll down to step #23

... so then I tried "San Francisco" to "Hawaii" but it deadpanned back the message "We could not calculate driving directions between San Francisco, CA and Hawaii."

Too bad - guess I'll have to row then...

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Forgive Our Appearance
14 Apr 2007

To all those trying to browse my site this weekend, you will probably find that many of the links are not working. This is because my webmaster is moving my site from one server to another to improve future performance. Order should be fully restored by Sunday evening. If you find any broken links after then, please let me know using the contact form.

Apologies for any inconvenience, and thank you for your patience!

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Breathe
14 Apr 2007, Woodside, California

This week is turning into a blur. Just like the springtime buds on trees suddenly bursting into leaf, many of the possibilities that I've been developing over the last 9 or 10 months are opening up. Irons in fires and fingers in pies are bearing fruit and coming home to roost, and all other manner of mixed metaphors.

In short, I'm feeling quite punch drunk from all the rapid developments that have taken place in the last few days - it is hard to keep up with all the good news flying my way. I have to keep reminding myself to take a deep breath and stay calm.

I am dying to tell you about all of them right now, but I feel I should ration them out and break the stories one at a time, so I can do justice to each. So have patience and all will be revealed in due course.

It is an interesting thing that I have noticed since starting to organize expeditions - that I can work and work and work and nothing much seems to happen. Then in the space of a week or so EVERYTHING happens. I have to keep reminding myself of this when the going seems tough - that progress is not linear, but if I just keep doing the right things, with the right attitude, then all will come right in the end.

Keep watching over the course of the next couple of weeks as we finalize the paperwork on a number of deals, and I will tell all.

[image: progress is not always linear...]




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A Spooky Experience
10 Apr 2007, Point Richmond, CA

Today I sat in Sedna's cabin for the first time since I arrived in Antigua over a year ago, and had an eerie experience with the GPS chartplotter.

Her cabins had been sealed for insurance/security reasons during the trip across country, but to be honest, I had also been shying away from getting back into the cabin - I wasn't sure what emotions it would evoke. But today I needed to go over the boat and produce a To Do list of things to be done before my Pacific launch in July, so I could procrastinate no longer.

I was surprised to see that the battery monitor on my control panel was turned on, and even more surprised to see that both batteries were showing a healthy charge. I had expected them to be dead after spending so long in a container, where no sunlight could reach the solar panels to power them up.

So if the batteries were working, what instruments might also have survived? I removed the plastic cover from the chartplotter and turned it on. A map of the Caribbean appeared, with a round circle showing my position when the chartplotter had last been used - my position being English Harbour on the south side of Antigua. I stared at that spot, mesmerised, thinking back to that day, 13th March 2006, when I arrived in Antigua after 103 days alone at sea. While I was lost in my memories, the GPS coordinates flashed for a couple of minutes, indicating that the chartplotter was searching for a signal to pinpoint my new position.

Suddenly Antigua was gone, and the screen instead showed my new position on the east side of San Francisco Bay. The Atlantic was consigned to history, and it was time to move on with the next chapter in Sedna's travels...

[photo: the control panel - here showing the start of the Atlantic Rowing Race in La Gomera in the Canaries]

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