Preparations for Guam
Day: 118 — Position: N15 27’ E148 29’
Odometer since Waikiki: about 3,305M
Distance to Guam: 262M
Sea surface temperature: 82.6F - 28.1C
OCEAN ROWING RECORDS AS RUNNING TOTALS
Solo career total in days: 1,043 (New World Record)
Overall career total in days: 1,127 (New World Record)
Solo career total in miles by Waikiki: 22,173M now about 25,242M (New World Record)
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Overall career total in miles by Waikiki: 25,153M now about 28,222M
* Ralph Tuijn (NL) leads this with 35,635M
** Circumference of the Earth along the equator is 21,600M long
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Our weather and routing specialist Jason Christensen (https://racingthewind.com) is now double checking the storm potential through mid-April on the Philippine Sea west of Guam. He may have a go-nogo opinion which would influence my decisions. If the risks are acceptable, I will continue. If the conclusion is a no-go, then I should make landfall on Guam with or without a tow. Once on land, we can evaluate our options.
Jason’s findings about storms will help me assess risk about continuing this season.
If we can justify continuing and (A) if I make landfall or anchorage under my own power, I will regroup then relaunch, (B) else I will receive items at sea and continue nonstop. If the decision is a no-go this season and (A) if I make landfall or anchorage under my own power, we can perhaps store the boat on Guam then relaunch next season, (B) else I can receive a tow to Guam then tow out next season to the same spot before continuing; this last option is my least favorite. Let’s hope that it doesn’t come down to that.
Ideally I don’t want a tow by another vessel unless I am already inside the harbor or I have reached an anchorage outside along the reefs on the west side of Guam. If I were to come close to the reefs, there is supposed to be a narrow shelf at 75-foot depth just outside of which is a steep drop. This time of the year, we are told that the seas are sheltered and calmer on the west side with ubiquitous diving boats outside the reefs, and kayakers inside. If I can drop anchor somewhere along the NW coast of Guam, then I will have a marked starting spot for my relaunch.
Receiving a tow outside the harbor without first dropping anchor would take away the “unassisted” designation of my crossing. I can choose to arrange a tow back to the same coordinates where I hitched the tow and cross my inbound track, making this an assisted crossing. Whether this season or next, TBD
I just picked up a favorable current yesterday which I hope will not pull me off course as the ridge of islands nears. My ETA at Guam appears around Feb 10th.
We are trying to find an escort vessel for the final approach. If our decision is to continue this season then when said escort vessel launches, it will have on board my passport, my replacement VHF microphone and a new Iridium Go satellite modem (courtesy of Bill Hinsley, my friend and our Chairman of Board of Directors at Around-n-Over) which my high school friend Sandy Leipheimer will have received by then. I will ask Sandy to gather some basic staples like instant rice also. In this manner, in case I cannot make an anchorage, that vessel can hand over the items at sea so that I can continue nonstop.
Andersen Air Force Base is on the NE corner of Guam occupying the Pati Point. There is an entry prohibited live-fire exclusion zone north of there which extends quite far north into the ocean. I will avoid that zone by routing NW of it by approaching closer to the SE side of Rota Island then following a path due SSW to clear the NW extent of the shoals reported between Rota and Guam. I hope to tuck in just a couple miles west of Ritidian Point at the northern tip of the island.
As if live-fire and shoals are not making this dangerous enough, the currents will rip through that gap! Imagine the entire ocean rising from depths of more than 8,000 meters in the Mariana Trench over which I am about to cross in another 60M, right up to shoaling depths. In fact I will pass right over a depth marked 28,720 in feet or 8,760m (K2 is 28,251’ high, Everest is just over 29,000’) which is not the deepest in that trench.
The North Equatorial Current running east to west and any additional tidal movement of that immense body of water will squeeze through the shallow gap between those islands. The ridge on which the Northern Marianas Islands are outcrops, will redirect some of that current due SSW along the east coast of Guam. I am told to expect 1-3 knots of current when approaching from Rota to Guam. Hopefully that current will lead toward Guam and not across the gap due west — we are still trying to find out more details about the current and the shoals as I fast approach this daunting hazard. Unfortunately the electronic charts that I have only show an ominous “shoaling reported” note in that gap and no other specifics.
I have my tracking device posting my location information hourly at this time. When closer to Rota, I will change its position reporting to every 15 minutes then to every minute while I am near the shoaling area. If the signal disappears all of a sudden, everyone will know that my plywood rowboat was picked up by a swell then rolled and bottomed out in the trough of that same swell, broken to bits on the shoal. That is why I will row with my PFD in that stretch to which I attached a Personal Rescue Beacon which is essentially a small EPIRB.
As of this time, I don’t have confirmation about how far north the escort vessel will come to accompany me. A skipper on that vessel knowledgeable about the shoals and the currents, would be a huge safety bonus for everyone involved.
I always thought Luzon Strait was going to be treacherous; now it seems that I will face just as much objective hazard between Rota and Guam. Please keep an eye on my tracking page. This is promising to be exciting!
Erden