Curious as to how Charlie Pitcher is doing, I did a bit of
Googling to come up with the latest news. He now has a new website* devoted to
his planned solo row around Great Britain. So far I have not seen a definitive
map showing the proposed route. All I know is that he plans to make a last-minute
choice whether to row north or south after exiting the Thames estuary.
Apparently this will be decided after studying the weather forecasts at the
time to gain maximum advantage of likely wind systems.
Tides he can do nothing about. If he chooses to row around
Kent and down the English Channel he will most likely find himself rowing
against the prevailing SW wind, and he will also have to row against twenty
minutes or so of adverse tide twice in every twenty-four hours. If he chooses
to row north up the east coasts of England and Scotland and the wind is offshore,
he could keep closer inshore than normal to take advantage of smoother water. The
problem is finding time to sleep, and of course there are many obstructions such as
wind farms, gas and oil platforms, fishing boats, coastal traffic and
headlands.
I do not know if he plans to row north of the Shetlands,
which technically he should if he wants to actually row around Great Britain,
but if he does, he’ll most likely have to make a very good offing to the west
after leaving the Islands before heading southwest and south to be well
offshore to safely keep clear of the Outer Hebrides and the western coast of
Ireland.
The Round Britain Race starts at Plymouth and the course is
clockwise, which makes a lot of sense, because the prevailing wind is from the
SW, so that when the yachts are sailing west of Ireland and the Outer Hebrides
the wind is from behind or on the quarter. If Charlie were to take a similar
route he would also have this advantage. This would also be better for rounding
the Shetland Islands. Later, he could take advantage of being in the lee
of Scotland and England.
Charlie will have no doubt whatsoever that his planned
adventure will be the most challenging to date. I still rate his
chances of doing it non-stop at 50/50, but I wish him success. If anyone will
do it, Charlie is that man.
Incidentally, a new challenger has arrived on the scene,
Sarah Weldon. She plans to be the first woman to row around Great Britain and she will attempt to do so in 2016.**
Links
*Charlie Pitcher Rows Great Britain
Charlie Pitcher talks rowing solo around Great Britain
Big Change
Felsted adventurer Charlie Pitcher aims to do
first ever solo row around Britain
Rowing Adventure.com –
The Ocean Rowing Company
Charlie Pitcher
Charlie Pitcher: Founder at Rannock Adventures Ltd
Linked in
Momentum Adventure Guide -
Charlie Pitcher Rowing Atlantic World Record
How to Cross an Ocean
Solo rower breaks Atlantic rowing record
**Sarah Weldon: Circumnavigating Britain by Rowing Boat
**Solo Row around Britain Oceans Project (Sarah Weldon)
http://www.oceansproject.com/
http://www.oceansproject.com/
**Watch: Row around Britain (Sarah Weldon)
I admire and affirm just about any interaction with our beautiful oceans - but rowing long distances is not for me - sculling or rowing my dinghy is fun and pleasantly relaxing, but not day after day - far better to sail!!
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