The first 500M are behind me
Day: 13 — Position: N21 10.5’ W167 10.2’
Odometer since Waikiki: about 525M
Distance to Northern Marianas: 2,696M
Water temperature: 80.6F (27.0C)
OCEAN ROWING RECORDS AS RUNNING TOTALS
Solo career total in days by Waikiki: 925 now 938 (New World Record)
Overall career total in days by Waikiki: 1,009 now 1,022 (New World Record)
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Solo career total in miles by Waikiki: 22,173M now about 22,698M
Overall career total in miles by Waikiki: 25,153M now about 25,678M
**Ralph Tuijn (NL) leads this with 35,635M
The numbers by the time I reached Waikiki are as recorded in the Ocean Rowing Society database. ORS will adjudicate the additional time and distance that I will have rowed to my point of landfall on mainland Asia then append those to my career totals.
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It is 1 a.m. local time. am putting the finishing touches to this update under the bright light of a full moon. I don’t need a headlamp to operate. I have had plenty of sleep already as I was asleep soon after sunset. Conditions are mellow, my cabin door open. I am laying on my back with my head toward the door. My knees are bent as the cabin floor is cluttered toward the stern with dry bags containing lighter clothing items. I had pulled these out of the holds under the mattress then loaded heavier food packets in their stead. As I consume the food, the dry bags will disappear back into the same holds.
I have made steady westerly progress since my launch from Waikiki on Oct 7th. The seas have been in my favor so much that I had to look for ways to slow my pace in order to time my arrival at the Marianas during the first week of January. All systems on board are working well. I changed my email system to a more reliable one which OCENS provided called OneMail. It is a joy to connect to mail servers without timing out or seeing various process errors.
My replacement charger for the higher bandwidth BGAN Explorer terminal works this time. So I hope to be able to post some images to my Instagram feed, cross posting to Facebook and Twitter as well. I am already posting short text updates on Twitter by using inReach. Please look for and like @erdeneruc on Instagram and on Twitter. Sharing this website and my social media feed is totally cool if you would!
A couple days ago, I passed about 150M south of French Frigate Shoals, which are part of the Hawaiian Wildlife Refuge Islands National Reserve established just over a decade ago. Midway Islands atoll is 670M due WNW from there. All of these land masses rising from the ocean floor, Midway to Kauai to Big Island of Hawaii, form the Hawaiian Ridge.
As the Pacific tectonic plate moved WNW over a hot spot on Earth’s mantle, underwater volcanoes formed, which over time built up to a cone of over 16,404 feet (5,000 m) height to break the surface — that is the deepest contour that I found on the chart near the Big Island. Considering that the tallest volcanoes are an additional 14,000 feet (4,550 m) high on the Big Island, it is difficult to imagine the immense volume of volcanic discharge.
An atoll typically is an extinct volcano the crater of which has collapsed leaving an obvious rim. This chain of shoals, atolls and islands were formed one by one over eons. Kauai at the west end with its lush flora, is the oldest one of the inhabited islands in this chain; it takes time on a geological scale for quality soil to establish and for an ecosystem to take root. Last one on the chain is the Big Island which is the youngest one. There is still volcanic activity on the younger Hawaiian islands and more islands will emerge SE of Big Island after humans are long gone.
Once my pace dropped below 30M/day two days in a row southwest of Kauai, I began rowing to maintain my 35M/day target. It feels good to exercise again. While I row, White Tipped Sharks are pacing with my rowboat as grey silhouettes in the water, occasionally revealing a white speckled dorsal fin or tail. These and other shark species are essential apex predators. They are necessary for the health of The Ocean; yet they are under threat from industrial overfishing as by-catch and from the demand for “shark fin soup” in Southeast Asia. Imagine the cruelty of fins and tail of a shark being cut off and the body tossed back in The Ocean; wasted like a child with its arms shorn. All this for a bowl of soup considered a delicacy for some… Shark fin trade is illegal for good reason.
We as humans are doing untold damage to Mother Earth. We pollute The Ocean with plastic garbage and our rivers with industrial wastewater. For many communities, streams are convenient conveyor belts to take away untreated sewage and unwanted litter. We are a cruel and selfish species, wiping out entire ecosystems and driving multitude of creatures to extinction. We are the only one that I know which kills for pleasure.
I have always argued that we must clean up our act, showing intent to become conscious stewards of this planet and not remain pests that are slowly destroying their host. For those who may believe in Judgment Day, imagine being told that we were given Heaven on Earth and that we destroyed it, that we had Heaven during our lifetime and proved unworthy of the trust and intelligence bestowed on us as caregivers…
Leaving this rock to live in space and to colonize other planets are distant fantasies and the stuff of science fiction. I am afraid that long before relocation becomes a reality, we will have trashed the only planet where we know for certain that life exists. There is no Planet B for now.
Business as usual will not work. Humans are consuming faster than we can regenerate and trashing more than we want to clean up. The solution will involve a systems change and behavior modification on a massive scale. It is time for action. What will YOU do about it? How will YOU change your ways?
Erden.