Tentative launch date is Tuesday June 22

I have been monitoring the weather forecasts for a launch window out of Crescent City, CA. A low pressure system will nudge itself along the California shores to disrupt the typically strong northerly winds which dominate the waters by Cape Mendocino, just 80nm south of my launch point. It is looking like Tuesday June 22nd will be the day that I would commit to this huge crossing across the Pacific Ocean.

It has been written on this website and elsewhere that this row will bring me records and historic firsts. We have to keep in mind that I am rowing to mainland Asia in order to reach the summit of Everest by human power and this crossing will be a first step in that journey. Records will have to be set if I should reach Everest.

While we may wonder the immensity of my endeavor, we also must understand that this will not be trivial, with calculated risks taken to achieve it. The Pacific Ocean is so immense that if we spin the globe just right to look down at it, the Pacific stretches from the eastern horizon to the west with hardly any mainland in sight. The time that it will take to row nonstop across this body of water means that one has to avoid hurricanes on the east side and typhoons on the west.

After I launch from Crescent City, my plan is to pass through the Molokai Channel before I settle at 20N-21N band of latitude toward Luzon Strait between the Philippines and Taiwan. We are looking at delivering an empty external drive to my rowboat out of Waikiki in return for one that I will have populated with sound data until there. That data will primarily be used in determining the range of Beaked Whales. The high frequency hydrophone must be removed from my rowboat north of Saipan unless we can arrange a pickup further west.

Underwater sound recording requires a special permit from each host country the EEZ of which I would transect and I do not have a permit from China. To satisfy the sensitivities of Chinese authorities, we will have removed the hydrophone from my rowboat by the time that I cross Luzon Strait.

I carry the logo of Peter Bird on my rowboat, who was lost at sea in 1996 trying to row from Vladivostok to California. Climbing Everest then Elbrus and Aconcagua will complete my dedication in memory of Göran Kropp whom I lost while rock climbing together. I am well aware that what I do has inherent risks.

I would be remiss if I did not mention those that our small tribe of ocean rowers lost in their quest to row from North America due west on the Pacific Ocean. Paralympic athlete Angela Madsen launched from Marina del Rey in California early in May 2020. She was recovered on June 22. Her goal had been to row to Hawaii. The Chinese rower Ruihan Yu had intentions of reaching Australia but had to call for rescue north of Majuro Atoll on Nov 27, 2019 after his rowboat capsized. A USCG rescue attempt was not successful with diminishing daylight; the next day his overturned rowboat was nowhere to be seen, which washed up on Philippine shores months later along with his remains. You can be certain that the vision that these rowers had of standing on faraway shores will endure with every stroke that I take.

Erden.