Sarah has just sent me a message and asked me to post it to the web:
DAY 3 ACE.top surfing spd 10kts.got soakd lots!all gd.
Sounds like things are going swimmingly!
I have also posted some of the photos she sent back during her last attempt and the departure for her second.
The winds seem to be quite fresh over the last 24 hrs (in Yanchep anyway) hope they keep favouring you Westerly Sarah. Must be you are about 70 miles off shore now and going strong! At 10kts (per hour) I reckon you should arrive on the 20th of April at the latest!
Hi Sarah,
I am Rene from Mauritius. Remember i am following you and hope you reach paradise island sooner than expected.
All my best wishes to you “Sarah Out There”
Rene
wow that ocean looks calmer than the North Sea in June hoping it stays that way so you can make good progress Love the Albatross.
I have no bird recognition at all except for the drunken kind in Northbridge Perth, which I pick up every Friday and Saturday night as drunken bums.(I am a Perth metro paramedic). But that looks like a seagull to me!
I might add, if it is an albatross, I apologise and add the furthest off shore I have been is to go body boarding with my son. What you are doing is awesome!
Hey Sarah, keep going sweetheart, keep the wet side down and enjoy the Mars Bars!! I travelled with Sarah on the Personal Everest Project, brave, determined, I am sure she will succeed. Sarah just remember that tough route we took up Crib Goch to the top of Snowden in the fog, this should be a walk in the park!! Still think you should have taken an engine though!! Ha ha. Keep going youngster, I know we said do something that scares you every day, but you win!!
Lots of Love Andy
Looking good, looking good. Enjoy your snooze and happy rowing tomorrow.
Mum
You look great – as does the albatross…enjoy your mad experience and eat eat eat (what an excuse!) x Mel, Neil, Daisy and Paddy
Amazing that something so ungainly on land can be so accomplished when airborne. Still, enough about me. With Andy C calling Sarah “youngster”, I suddenly feel more creaky than the Ancient Mariner himself.
Great to see current progress Sarah. I’m glad ‘your’ Albatross has appeared. They are masters of dynamic soaring and so uplifting to watch cruising the waves so effortlessly.
If you read Jonathan Seagull (Richard Bach’s book, not the rubbish film), you can get inside the Albatross’ head.
Lots of good vibes are with you. In for the long one now – steady but sure. Go girl !
😎
Hey Graham (#4) – one would think a Perth ambo would have a better taste for women than the ones you say you chase on a weekend!
definitely not an albatross. Youll know an albatross when you see one-much much bigger. Cant recall ever seeing one that far north and close to coast. Possibly you might see one mid ocean that far north. not sure what the correct name is for that but we called them mollyhawks.
So happy that you are doing so well Sarah! don’t know much about the ocean! just got up and am already on the computer to check your tracker. Like someone else said, there are good vibes!!!! photos look awesome….. albatross or not!
fish….mollyhawks are albatross I believe. (ref: my Dad). There are many different albatross, not just the large Wandering Albatross of the Southern Ocean. Looked in my book and this could be a Black-browed or maybe Grey-headed Albatross as they are only little ones,80-90cm and the colouration esp. of their bills changes are they mature. I really want it to be an Albatross so hope I am right. So many beautiful sunsets this week Sarah. What a wonderful start.
Hi Sarah!
You’re getting quite a symbolic support crew together here of man and beast!…..you have The wisdom, seamanship and humour of the grounded Ancient Mariner, the sketchy Salty Seadog and the spirited Freethinker, and the kind of guiding Jonathan Livingston Seagull frendship of the albatross…..thats not to mention all the other ‘new’ crew that have joined your ‘ship’!
cheers! heres to keeping the inspiration alive!
love
Juliet.x.
p.s. fab photos btw! 🙂
Hi Sarah great to heard you are going great i hope the
Birds will be still coming to keep you company??
all the best Ati.
The Albatross debaters would be wise to remind themselves that Sarah has a degreee in Marine Biology, a 1st Class degree I seem to recall. What she says “goes”, by me.
Rowing the Indian is “getting immersed in your subject” with a vengeance ! With good fortune, Sarah will get to see many of the occupants of the deep domain while she paddles across.
With the exception of the Great Southern Ocean Albatross, the flyers usually go under one common name to most seafarers. 🙂
Hello Sarah.
Great going.You now have three Mauritians following you and numbers will increase believe me.
Just looking at the Tracker projection line. it lands in Mauritius in Mahebourg which is in Vieux Grand Port (Old Grand Port), the most historical part of the island where , some believe, the Phoenicians landed some 2500 years ago. Later the Arabs came , followed by the Portugese and the Dutch who were the first settlers before the French took over until december 1810 when the British – your mob – came and stayed until 1968 when we got independence. Old Grand Port is the scene of Napoleon’s only naval victory (august1810)and we are celebrating the bicentenary next year. All this history to come to the point I want to make.
Why don’t you come in Old Grand Port, following the Tracker line (the Racers leaving from Geraldton are coming in further north near Grand Bay). By coming into Mahebourg you will gain at least 12 hours as you will have to go over to the west side to reach Port-Louis.
Charles Baudelaire, the Famous French Poet (infamous for some)visited Mauritius and he has written a beautiful poem on the ALBATROSS. I’ll get a copy for you.
Cheerio
(In case some of you guys don’t know, I am Sarah’s representative in Mauritius…and President of her Welcoming Committee!!!)
Hi Sarah, hope all is going well and you are seeing plenty more wildlife, please find something other than an albatros so we can move the conversation on!! Remember the Basking Sharks on the west coast of the UK and the Gannets at Bass rock? I am sure that you will see even more exciting things. And of course Spike and myself are available at relatively competitive rates if you need any help down there! I will be thinking of you tomorrow when I am out on the Solent in Scarlet doing 50 knots!! We must finish those powerboat lessons so that you dont have to row everywhere! Seriously youngster I am truly impressed, head down, get the job done, you know how it works. big kiss X
ummmmm, I see AM and SSD (alias Spike and Andy) continue to be on top form regarding their humour! …..always an essential I say, especially when challenged in whatever form that takes!
Continue to enjoy the amazing beauty and wonders of this planet you star…..what a privilage!
Think I better hit my slumber now, race sailing a new n sexy black trimaran tomorrow!
nite, or morning, or whatever time it is with you! 🙂
love, Juliet.x.
Mollymawk is a type of albatross, mollyhawk is a southern black backed gull, quite a bit larger than your run of the mill scavenging seagull.
Sarah-if you watch carefully around the full moon, especially in the calm before bad weather, you will possibly see swordfish hanging around for a look.
It is looking good Sarah!
Each moment sacred in my shell.
The moon shares secrets I’ll never tell.
But Dawn will rise, and I must go.
She broke the spell, my moonlit row.
-Margaret Gregory
Thought the above is quite appropriate, hope you getting some shut eyes.
cheers, think about the “Green island and the coconut punch” I will make sure Marcel has one ready for you!!!!
African Mollyhawk or European? Doesn’t look big enough to carry a coconut. (although if two of them had a piece of string and ….) Sarah, please find a turtle, anything!
Great progress and welcome reports. You could always let us know when you have caught a fish – that would give Geoff something else to ponder !!
(Tee hee)
hey sarah
i have moved down to somerset to work at millfield school but thinking about you lots sorry not written anything yet!!!good luck going damn those currents
lots and lots of love alxx