Farewell to Linda
Post written late on August 22nd
Day: 61 Odometer: about 2,039M
Position: N24 17’ W149 21’
Distance from start: 1,633M
Nearest land: Big Island of Hawaii 415M due 231T
Waikiki Yacht Club by my course: 507M due WSW
ETA: first week in September
RECORDS as running totals
Solo career total in days at launch: 845 now 906
Overall career total in days at launch: 928 now 989
Solo career total in miles at launch: 27,595M now about 29,634M
Overall career total in miles at launch: 31,083M now about 33,122M
==> Ralph Tuijn (NL) leads the last one with 35,635M
Actual distance rowed in miles until Waikiki will append to my existing career totals at launch in solo and overall categories; to become official, London based Ocean Rowing Society must adjudicate the supporting GPX files from my chart plotter and YB Tracker.
—-oOo—-
Before you carry on reading, a quick quiz:
When was the first time you realized that every “c” in “Pacific Ocean” was pronounced differently?
Now you may proceed :)
This morning I woke up at daybreak to the spectacular sight of the August blue moon setting to my west. It was a big round orb set over the bow of my rowboat, making me want to open the main cabin hatch and howl…
I saw my first Frigate Bird on Wednesday then more every day since. They can soar up to 600M away then return to their roost. Nearest land on Wednesday was Pepeekeo Point on the big island of Hawaii at over 500M. These individuals definitely liked pushing their perceived limits. The navigation skills of pelagic birds never ceases to amaze me.
On Monday the 16th as TS Linda kept marching toward my vicinity, Commander Mark Miller of our onshore team, reached out to USCG RCC Alameda and they redirected him to RCC Honolulu, their closest branch. Mark wanted to make sure that they could track my location and to advise on nearby vessels along with their respective times enroute. He made sure to convey that the call for assistance would come from me should I deem it necessary. This was an orderly evacuation plan put in place for the worst case scenario until we had more data.
Same day by 1800 PST, Honolulu responded that the nearest AMVER vessel was about 200M from my position at that time. That distance meant that help would be available within 24 hours. Honolulu then began tracking my rowboat and TS Linda. That Monday, the forecast for my location was 40 gusting to 50 knots when Linda would be in my vicinity.
To say that I am grateful for everyone’s diligence and concern about my safety would be an understatement.
After I took my rowboat back up to N25 latitude on Aug 17th, I spent a day lingering and trying to decide whether to row at all. I didn’t want to create a scenario where I would run too far west with soon to be enhanced winds, overshooting Koko Head and ending up rerouting around Kahuku Point at the north end of Oahu; I did not need the stress of having northeast shores of Oahu on my lee side threatening to chew up my rowboat. This could definitely be the case if another storm or more of those unusual southerly winds get between Oahu and me over the next couple weeks. In that scenario, I would aim for the difficult to reach Haleiwa Harbor on the NW shores of Oahu around Kahuku Point.
Kaneohe Bay on Oahu’s NE shores would not be a good spot to land if I insisted on relaunching from the same spot under my own power. I would then have to transport or to tow my rowboat around to Waikiki or Haleiwa for relaunch. To maintain the human powered designation of my journey, I could walk, jog or bicycle overland from my landfall site to the relaunch point… alas, too complicated.
In the end I decided that I would just let the boat run without rowing due west under easterly winds while towing the SoundTrap hydrophone to collect sound data for the Beaked Whale survey that NOAA scientist Dr. Jay Barlow is conducting. That tow slowed me down to around 1-knot speed which allowed me to wait for Linda to pass. As long as I could maintain N25 latitude that was ideal, serving both my athletic mission and my scientific duty.
The significantly weakened Linda paraded over the last three days due west without incident about 230M south of my location at around N20 40’ latitude with winds reduced to 30 gusting to 35 knots. Each forecast had routed this storm further south and faster west than the earlier estimates. Given Linda’s diminishing trend and the increasing distance, I received just about 15-20 knots of ENE winds on Friday. Forecast was for even worse with squalls that evening… NHC stopped issuing further forecasts on Linda later on yesterday.
Even as Linda was approaching on Friday, I was anxious to turn my rowboat to port tack, i.e. receiving the winds from my port side to begin my run due SW toward Koko Head. I observed the sea state until noon to account for all the arriving southeasterly waves set in motion by Linda. Then I gathered the hydrophone and rowed all afternoon at a good 2-2.4 knots clip.. That evening, squalls on Linda’s periphery passed south of my location making the seas lively.
Today on Sunday, I am receiving easterly winds trailing Linda and the incoming SE waves from Linda continue to attenuate. The NE trade winds will reset soon to bring favorable wind waves and ideal rowing conditions along my course. The last of Linda’s squalls passed overhead this afternoon then the sky cleared. That there will be a full moon and no rain, encourages me to row tonight.
Linda was yet another storm that we negotiated in style but the constant storm watch one after the other was getting tiresome. At this point being far enough west, I no longer have the luxury of lingering at N25 latitude for storm avoidance, so I committed my course toward Koko Head as of Friday. I need to reach Waikiki soonest before my luck finally runs out. Two weeks of a storm break is all I need. But don’t tell Marty (the next named storm).
Jason Christensen wrote: “There were three really unique things with Linda. It took a long time to initially form and as it was forming, the mid-latitude jet pulled really far north, pulling the trades north with it eliminating the shear that had affected Kevin; then Linda became an annular hurricane. Annular with no shear, is how it became so long lived and is the primary reason for it changing direction so significantly to the west.”
He also noted that the jet pulling north has happened twice over this summer. The one in June was very extreme which created a strong coastal trough that hugged the west coast of the US with extreme land temperatures versus cooler water temps.
This is the reason why I had such difficulty breaking free of that coastal flow and why my course over ground featured such a pronounced bend near Point Conception. That was a difficult episode on this crossing — I was within 24 hours of making a permanent decision to give up and to turn toward San Diego or Ensenada in Mexico before we recognized the likely to succeed path forward, though it required five consecutive 18-hour rowing days.
Then last week I had the unusual southerly wind spell in the middle of the NE trade winds zone!!!
The northerly jet shift in June and over the last week both brought very high temperatures to the Pacific Northwest as Nancy can attest, trying to cool Buddy 1,883M away at home in Gig Harbor with a fan and a wet towel over him. This is indeed a rare summer: 2020 had already closed with an all time extratropical low and an all time high in the northern hemisphere: “And the year ended with a bang, setting a new North Pacific low-pressure record of 921 mbar as a powerful extratropical storm hit Alaska on the last day of 2020. While just a day earlier, a new world record for high-pressure has been set in Mongolia, 1094 mbar!"
See: https://www.severe-weather.eu/global-weather/record-extratropical-storm-bomb-cyclone-alaska-pacific-mk/
Call this climate change or a chance series of events, one must observe the trends as they impact our daily lives and the brilliant plans of the few.
An able coach and a competitive ultra runner, my friend Becky Rogers who had been training for a long time toward an all-time-FKT (Fastest Known Time, man or woman) attempt on the Pacific Crest Trail, decided to postpone her attempt as of a week ago. She had begun her quest at the border with Mexico before my launch. Southern California then became a drag on her mission after many detours due to drought, forest fires and toxic smoke that could sear one’s lungs. There were reports of hikers dying around her along the same trail due to exposure. After reaching Reno, she decided instead to skip ahead to leisurely walk the Oregon section then to attempt an unsupported FKT across Washington State this autumn between the respective borders with Oregon and Canada. She can always return another year for her FKT push on the complete PCT.
Erden.
NOTE: AMVER stands for the Automated Mutual Assistance Vessel Rescue System. Established in 1958, ships register for AMVER and they are tracked consistently so when a mariner is in need, USCG and other SAR organizations can quickly identify ships in the area.
For more information: https://www.amver.com