 [ Mead's Earthrace Blog ]
Closing thoughts on May 1st, 2007
After a good snooze on the plane I began to review the events of the last 5 weeks. My ego had me concerned that my friends and family thought I had failed them by raising the issue over using petroleum diesel during the race, and that I had not finished what I had set off to do. However, given the circumstances, I would do the same again, and again. I am glad I chose to do this, and I am proud of what I have contributed. I would absolutely do it again, but only if I was calling the shots. There is no doubt it can be done.
All in all it was an epic adventure. I saw some amazing things and met some outstanding people. But most of all, what I have learned from all of this is that I have some pretty fine friends and family. They have been supporting me all the way. Sending emails and text messages, offering to help with whatever they could. That is the coolest part of this whole experience. So I must say thank you to everybody who followed along and I hope you all stay tuned to the race.
In closing this event I need to give a few shouts to the people who went out of their way for me. Alphabetically now, so not to offend:
My Barta family in San Diego, whose legions have been there for me in force from the second I stepped off the plane... Cameron, my personal council making sure I don’t do anything stupid. David Andrews, offering it up from Boise could be a new song coming out. Eric Barry and the team from 1Degree making sure my blogs were on time. Rob and Mo Lowe had my back throughout, and located my tickets home. Sean & Stephanie Roach who have been minding my business on Orcas, and booking those charters all month. Seth Ybarra has been making sure the island has plenty of biodiesel. Scott Lancaster who, by the way, is partially responsible for this, has been a great sounding board, and in full support with his crew at Island Supply. My mom Peggy and my dad Ray Mead whom only had to say he was proud to make it all worth it. Finally, my beautiful wife Christine who was waiting for me with loving arms at the airport when I arrived.
April 30th, 2007 Next stop Manila
I hung out the rest of the day with the locals I had befriended and went to an awesome Indian restaurant for dinner. The owner knew the crew I was with and recognized me from the newspaper. (I got my mug up a few times in the local publications.) So he gave us some special treatment which made it a great going away meal. My flight out was supposedly leaving at 3 am. Check in then would be at 2ish and, had I looked at my ticket, I would have realized that it was a 4 am check in and a 6 am departure so I got what I deserved: 5 hours hanging out at the Palau airport with no chairs to sit let alone a place to lie down.
Except for an old wooden desk in the middle of the terminal, I was the only one there so I stretched out for a bit. I woke up to all kinds of commotion, a bunch of chubby little Filipino kids gawking at me and people talking about getting security; apparently I was lying on the immigrations desk. Cool thing was security thought I was a celebrity and told them to conduct business around me. Because I needed my sleep. I love the Palauans, I was already awake and it was just in time to check in. The gal at the security pat down let me keep my toothpaste - what a sweetie. A true testament to the kindness of the people. The flight to Manila was pretty painless, it stopped once, they shuffled us through the terminal and back on the same Plane.
When we landed in Manila it was nothing short of chaos. They dump you on the tarmac and you’re pretty much on your own at that point. Walking under planes in between fuel trucks, dodging service wagons. I was just keeping an eye on a guy that got off ahead of me, trying to follow him and not get hit. Inside I grabbed my bag and headed for the line at the door. When I stepped out of the airport it was craziness. Thousands of people trying to get somewhere - it was pedestrian gridlock. There was a line of people waiting to get into the one entrance to the airport just to check in. I had visions of the line to get into the Vatican to see John Paul. I asked someone how long the wait was they had been in line for 3 hours, just to check in. Holy crap. And it is at least 95 degrees. This is going to take all day.
I asked a guy sweeping the street if this was the only way in. After a brief conversation, it turns out this is the domestic airport and I need to get to the International airport, where the lines aren’t too bad. Perfect. Now to the cab line that is a good 50 yards long. Being a foot taller than everyone else and holding a cobalt blue dry bag I caught the attention of an opportunistic cab driver named Reggie Edroso who had a feeling I might pay a bit better than the Filipinos waiting in line. At the end of the line you get what you get and the cabbies have to take it. So the locals will wait all day if need be to get the lowest rate possible. After a bit of banter with Reggie I figured we could communicate well enough, Tagali is the native tongue. It’s a combination of Spanish, Chinese and English - the older the person the more Latin is infused in the speech. We made a deal that for 5 bucks an hour he would be my personal tour guide. That’s pretty good wages for PI, I was too tired to keep negotiating, and he has two kids to support.
He took me to the historical Fort Santiago, through the business district and the slums for a bite to eat. All my gear was dirty so he took me by the mall to get a new shirt for the ride home. He knew of a decent place for me to relax for a minute and get showered up. Then on the way to the airport, we stopped by the beach to watch the sunset. Reggie and I swapped some stories over a beer, I got him talked into an email address. I explained to him how us travelers like to have stuff like this arranged in advance. And he could really build a business from it. So if any one is traveling to PI, feel free to contact me and I’ll tell you how to get in touch with a great taxi driver and tour guide that speaks good English. After a very full day in Manila under my belt, I’m fully ready to pass out for the long flight stateside.
But of course, the flight is delayed and we don’t take off for another 4 hours. Let me tell you who think the US airport security is a pain in the ass. They had easily five times the amount of security checks complete with hands on pat downs at every turn. I was getting used to that. It’s common to get patted down entering any building in Manila. Even a booth and x-ray as you board the plane. Hard to tell what to make of it but no doubt homeland security dollars hard at work. At some point usually at checking the journey always turns from the thrill of the adventure to the resolve of going home and you let yourself think of the things you miss and the comforts you left. If you spend your time thinking of these things during the journey you can never quite enjoy the adventure.
April 28th, 2007 Its not looking good on the parts delivery, I am sure every one is gathering that by now. Funny how everything shows up but the piston. The first part that needs to go in, so we can't even start assembling the engine with the parts we have. Hopefully by Monday everything will arrive. However, we have passed the point of making it to Barbados in time, it sounds like Pete intends to keep going and try to make it a San Diego-to-San Diego run. It's been pretty quiet the last two days, the crew's just kind of hanging around. I think the moral is rapidly falling. It has been a roller coaster. I have been wondering what to make of the whole deal. Trying to find the lesson. The mission had lots of potential, we came out strong, then punched in the face. I am quite disappointed, I wonder if Karma has anything to do with the recent events? After all it did happen right after we opened the valve to the stinky diesel?? I am not admitting defeat, but it is time for me to go home, back to work and my family. I have done what I could do and now my time is up. I had hoped to make it farther. And to come home with stories of victory. I suppose this is why it's called an attempt that few have made. The upside is I am nearly positive we set the record from San Diego to Palau, and the first on 95% biodiesel. If there is no record we should make one, for any other reason to get some attention on this beautiful country. Today is my last day, I never did get to go diving so today I am going, I will let you know how it goes.
-
Palau is famous for two things: The Diving and hosting The TV show Survivor. That should give you an idea of what this place is like. There are several dive shops on Island, most very reputable with competent dive instructors. The biggest one is Sam’s Dive shop. Sam is an ex pat who’s mother was married to the high chief of Palau so 20 years ago Sam moved to the islands, married a Palauan and opened his shop. That doesn’t make him next in line to be the chief, as the chiefs can only be of native blood line, but it does give him quite a bit of clout in the community. It just so happens Sam is from Olympia, Washington - 20 miles from my home town and when you're on the other side of the world that counts as homiest, how cool is that.
Near as I can tell Sam has the perfect operation going. His spread consists of an open air restaurant and bar, gift shop, a great spot on the water in a protected harbor, about 5 dive and snorkel boats, and one fishing boat tied to two docks. He also offers sea kayaking and has his own gas and diesel fuel pumps. And lives on site. He and his partner Dermis are in the mist of building a water front hotel to make it the premiere dive resort in all of Palau.
Sam’s was very benevolent to the Earthrace crew, bestowing me, Pete, Ryan and Joe with perpetual, honorary memberships to the yacht club in a bit of a ceremonial celebration. And extending free food and drink privileges to the whole crew for the first 3 days of our stay.
So on my last day I got to go out on one of Sam’s dive tours. He put me on a boat with others that had been diving there for a few days; most people come for a week to 10 days for multi day dives. They start them off with the easier dives and build up to the grand finale dives that are a bit more technical. There were people from Korea, Russia, Taiwan, and Japan on the boat with me, being the only American.
The first dive we went to was called Blue Holes, It was about a 10 minute swim after submersing to a underwater hole that was about 15 foot across and descended to nearly 100 feet deep at the bottom it leveled and went into a large cavernous tunnel for about 50 yards and turned upwards exposing several holes that glowed blue as the sunlight shined through the water. I was a bit nervous about doing this dive as I can get a bit claustrophobic, especially having something overhead underwater but I thought can't be any worse that being on Earthrace so what the hell. It was a cakewalk.
The couple from Japan had equipment issues and ascended immediately, better safe than sorry. The dive took us along an underwater cliff that was home to many species of fish, including reef sharks that were ever present never really getting to close. When we surfaced I was floating next to a man from Russia who was looking down in the water with his mask and snorkel on. He put his head up in excitement and said, "They're humping the sharks are humping."
Being the voyeur that I am I stuck my head back under and took a look. I cant say for sure what kind of action was going on down their but all of a sudden there were about 100 sharks under us and moving fast. I decided to drop down again to 15ft till the boat arrived just to keep an eye on the little humpers. After we got back on the boat and we were discussing what was really going on it turned out he was trying to say the sharks were hunting. He has seen one kill a big fish and the rest schooling around for some of the action. Glad I hadn’t said something like, ya man that big guy was really laying some pipe.
The next dive was to the Blue Corner and is supposed to be the mother of all dives. It takes you to the corner of the continental shelf where the Island drops into the Abyss of the Pacific Ocean. A reef that descends, as near as anyone can tell, FOREVER. Or so the guides say. As you come up and over the reef the current picks up so you need to hook into the reef with a steel hook and line that is connected to your gear. You then allow yourself to suspend in the current sort of flying over the abyss surrounded by thousands of fish that hang out here waiting for the current to bring them the food that gets washed off the island shelf. There were Schools of Barracuda, reef sharks and even giant sea turtles swimming around. It was pretty amazing.
The discovery channel had a team on island getting ready to dive this site in search of an ROV they lost there two years ago. Apparently they were filming a documentary about the Megladon shark, supposedly the largest creature ever to live on the planet. And sent an ROV over the shelf only to loose contact with in at about 500 feet. They believe it is resting on a small shelf at 800 feet and want to send down another ROV to recover it. If it’s not there next stop going down is believed to be at 20,000 feet - nearly 4 miles. After the dive I ran into some locals I had befriended and sat for a beer or two. The bartender had given me a note from Alison that said she had packed up my room at the resort and we were on our own for accommodations until further notice. I figured I would just pony up for another night's stay since I was leaving the next day but Jim, a pretty cool cat from New Hampshire who was an attorney working for the local senate, offered me a room at his place since he had a spare which worked out perfectly.
The next day, Sunday, was even quieter than before with the crew being very scarce. I hear they tapped into a couple of the bottles of Rum that we were carrying around the world in the fiddly. Sounded like fun but glad I missed it. Hedley, the engineer from NZ, who had come to replace me, and I got to sit over lunch and talk a bit. He’s also a real cool guy who has spent a quite a bit of time in the San Juans and around the world on private boats. I hope to run into him again one day.
I said good bye to Scott and Allison who were heading to the airport to wait for the piston, whom I’m sure I will see again. Ryan and Lantz came to say good bye and swap info for their visit to the islands. I never did see Pete so I’ll bid him farewell from the blog. Clear skies and following seas. Thank you letting me come along on this adventure. I will continue to follow along as part of the crew. Next stop Manilla
April 25th, 2007
WHAT AN ASSHOLE, THE BLOG OF SHAME
Yesterday by midday it was determined that we needed to wait for the rep from Cummins to show up before we could procede any further so that left us with pretty much an open day with not a lot to do. So what did I do? Start drinking beer and socializing with the locals. The mission in mind, of course, with my biodiesel soapbox firmly under foot.
After my first 6, as if I was on vacation, I arrange a fishing trip with a local ex pat, Jim, who had lent us his compression tester two days before. He was going to take us fishing for the cost of fuel at 6am the next morning. I thought, as one would after 6 beers: that’s kind of early but hey, there’s plenty of time. After much more preaching of the wonders of biodiesel and 6 more beers, I was taken to dinner by a very gracious local couple who are interested in starting a production facility here making fuel from coconuts and wanted to pick my mushy brain a bit more. That was cool and I was still on track for 6 am. After dinner and a few more local brews, it was time to hit the fart sack for a good nights sleep, but it didn’t quite go that way. I was headed for the door but for some reason the lure of some local boys at the bar enticing me with just one shot was not as easy to pass up as it had been in the past. But hey there’s plenty of time.
After a few more beers, a half dozen or so shots of Tequila and near as I could tell, a tour of every bar on the island, I found myself waking up at 9 am thinking this is not good. Meeting the crew at breakfast, it became very clear that I had won the asshole of the year award. They apparently tried everything possible with the exception of busting down the door to wake me and threw in the towel at 7. The fishing trip left without me. The upside to this story is that there are a few dozen more people who are thoroughly educated on biodiesel or, at least they were last night.
The reality is that I am not on vacation and the engine was still sitting there needing to be fixed and the Cummins rep had shoed up and was ready to work, so had I gone fishing I still would have been an asshole. Possibly an even bigger one. Not that I was even worth a shit to him or Scott today anyway. However, I didn’t slow down the repair because they were on it, and givin’er hell. Now it’s wait for parts.
As the fishing boat came in to the dock I took the walk of shame to catch their lines and beg for mercy. I offered to pay anyway. That is what I'd expect if some dickhead chartered my boat and no-shows. He declined as they were going anyway, however my dept will be paid in beer. A gracious captain he is. But it will have to be another time.
Next order of bloggage. After a brief discussion with Scott today about this blogging stuff, it dawned on me that people other than those who know me may be reading my thoughts. This was put on my own site because it was easier than sending email updates to everyone on the list. I never thought anyone else would give two turds about what I wrote. And I really didn’t want the world to know I can’t spell or punctuate for shit either.
People who know me, know I have dryness to my sense of humor to the point of cynicism at times but not quite.
As I have been increasingly pestilent to Pete about the plane ticket issue. I have thought, hey man, put yourself in my shoes, bla bla bla. But I have not put myself in his shoes. He has his blood all over this project, is mortgaged to the nines and has left his home and family for nearly a year, all for the cause he believes in. And is now sitting at the dock with a broke boat in every sence of the word watching the clock tick away at his dream, with this American wanker, (another kiwi term of endearment) who is supposed to be here to help, hassling him about a plane ticket, whining about petrol diesel and talking shit about his boat, as good as I may be at it. Which, by the way, Earthrace has now found the means to cover.
He has through this whole experience as sideways as it has gone, managed to maintain his composure with the Zen of a Buddhist monk. I would have been over the side sucking water by now. So my hat is off to him. I have gotten to be a small part of an amazing experience; I don’t want to portray it to be any less.
It is true that when petrol diesel was introduced to the project my heart was no longer in it, but It isn’t really fair for me to poop in everyone’s ice cream (trying to keep it clean) with my sarcasm, just because I have the issue. It’s not my project.
Now, In my defense, I did warn Pete of my aptitude for sarcasm. It’s an American thing.
Although as Scott said, "Hey it’s just good bloggy drama." Word to that.
Pete made a good point, what else do we do if we don’t have the means to get biodiesel. We need to keep going. Any other Ideas?
April 24th, 2007 The bad news, which I am sure everyone knows by now: we have lost a cylinder on the starboard main engine that cost us all the time we had made up crossing the Pacific. The good news is we are marooned here in Palau, this is with the exception of Orcas the most beautiful place I have ever been to, and the locals are very friendly and welcoming. The President sent us all in for massages the day we arrived, how about that. Thursday I will go on TV to talk to Micronesia about biodiesel and how the country can create their own industry, Pretty cool.
Today Scott and I worked on the engine while the rest of the crew got to do a bit of diving, which is what this place is famous for. Tomorrow though, since we are now waiting on parts that won’t be here til the evening Scott, Joe and I get to have the ultimate dive experience. I’ll let you know how it goes. So it seems now Earthrace is out of money, they don’t quite have the funds to even buy the stinky oil to get to Singapore. This was concerning to me because if they can't buy fuel how are they going to get me home. So far I have gotten the “sorry mate” from the captain. It’s not the biggest of their concerns. I am not really sure what to make of this. The tickets home from here are over 2 grand and there are only 3 flights a week. This could be why there are not many American tourists here. STAY TUNED
April 19th, 2007 Two days into the trip I heard the Captain on the sat-phone discussing fueling in Koror and it sounded like we were getting all petrol diesel, so I asked if this was fact. He said our agent was unable to get biodiesel shipped in time for our arrival. Like they just came up with this idea two weekends ago over a 12er of Kiwi lager. Hearing this I had to make a quick decision. Which took all of about a minute. The fact is the only reason I am here is because of the biodiesel contingent. So it wasn’t the answer that took so long it was the unrolling of the realities of the situation that took so long. It went kinda like this:
If a couple of guys came to me and said, "Marty, we have this really cool boat that is all black inside with no ventilation, no running water, 4 tiny little bunks crammed into the crumple zone of the bow along with 9 extra barrels of diesel fuel, and two huge engines shoe horned into a little black engine room. We’re going to break the record for racing around the world. Would you like leave your family, shut down your businesses for a month and ride along the sweltering hot equator as the engineer for 12,000 miles. We’ll make sure the boat’s good and fucked when you get there so you can spend several all-nighters fixing it in order to get real acquainted with things before we go. Did we mention it has a 5,000 dollar toilet in the wet line locker that hasn’t worked right since day one, it’s sweet, it has a carbon fiber seat, and you can flip it up and down with your pinky finger? It won’t cost you a dime."
I can’t say for sure but I think my answer would have been, "Hell fucking no, but have a great time and be sure to send me a post card from Somalia."
The second reality that had even more bearing on my decision was that over the last 20 years as an engineer I have developed a rather nasty reaction to petrol diesel, caused from over exposure, it happens a lot with toxins, (I’m glad beer isn’t toxic.) Hence the reason I got into biodiesel. The reaction starts with just plain nausea in small doses then I get rashes on my hands and arms whatever parts are exposed to it and in a short time the skin inside my nose starts to blister and peal out which is quite painful like someone is pulling the hairs out one by one all day long. But by far the worst part is the extreme hypertension I feel because I know I am exposing my body to straight poison. Diesel is nasty stuff, so there you have it. Bottom line is if there is diesel in this boat then I’m not, I feel bad that I will not be able to complete my commitment to ride until Singapore, but it is what it is. I have offered to fly on and meet the boat in Singapore to assist with repairs that will be required at that point. But have gotten no response at this time. We will see how it spins out.
April 17th, 2007
Majuro, an interesting place, it made me think of what Diego Garcia would be like if the Navy pulled out. That analogy is for those who have been there.
The island is one of many atolls in the mid pacific that is a narrow strand of land that is wrapped around with ends nearly touching each other creating a huge bay or lagoon in the center. If you were to look closely at the islands on a chart it looks like someone took a handful of worms, chucked them at the chart and created the islands all different shapes and sizes.
We shoed up at around midnight to one in the morning with the wind blowing pretty good. That created some nice bumps for us as the ocean floor shoaled up to the island.
There was a local fishing boat standing by to give us escort past the reef at the entrance to Majuro’s harbor. The entrance was a bit tense all factors in play, a very dark night, wind blowing about 25 -30, and hundreds of lights along the shoreline and all at sea level that made it very hard to distinguish between them and the lights on the buoys, which we use for navigational aids, marking the way to go, or not to go. Seeing out the little windows in this boat during the day is difficult enough, and trying to close quarter maneuver this thing is like trying to steer a 1982 Cadillac Sedan Deville with a cholo wheel and no power steering. To boot the captain on the fishing boat was a little over half cut, and was almost impossible to understand on the VHF. After three or four “ repeat last”, we were able to decipher most of what he was trying to say, or at least the important stuff. I think it was immediately after we made out through the slurry of words “shortcut” and “trust me” did I notice the captains pucker factor hit its peak. At this point I restrained my usual commentary.
After getting the boat secured at the dock we discovered two things about our escort. One, it was a she we were talking to on the radio, and a little over half cut was a dramatic understatement.
We finally get tied to the dock and the frenzy of work begins. My job is to do the 250 hr service on the mains. Which I'm very excited about, the engine room on this boat is the hottest ER I have ever been in. For some reason the designers thought it didn’t need a forced air induction fan to bring in cool fresh air from outside, instead it is naturally aspirated which means the boat needs to be moving to get any air in. So sitting at the dock, immediately after running wide open for 4 days, the temperature is just about 130 F. and no time to let it cool down, it would take hours.
Think about sitting in the sauna till you just can't take another second, then you sit for 10 more seconds before slight panic sets in, what if someone locks the door and you can't get out. You bolt for the door. Now add 15 gallons of hot used motor oil to that scenario and welcome to my world. You don’t get to see that stuff on the films cause the camera guys have an aversion to the ER unless its been shut down for a while. One of the other jobs that needed to be done was scraping the hull; I could hear the buggers through the hull, frolicking about in the cool ocean water like little mermen, which made it even hotter. So when you see that part on the video, you’ll know where I am teetering on the verge of unconsciousness.
The Island gets 24 million dollars annually from the government for being a US territory. And hosting a mini naval base. It’s hard to say what the money is used for. Certainly not creating jobs, the unemployment rate is 80%, and no wellfare, so each person who has a job supports 10 who don’t. After the work was done I had the chance to run down the street to the hotel the ground crew was staying at for a shower and a few minuets of emails. On the way I passed a little outside restaurant with about half a dozen youth playing ping pong like it was Saturday afternoon, but it was Wednesday morning at about 4:30 am.
A local man was telling me they had a fairly significant drug problem on the island that embraced the gambit of problems created by drugs. What kind of drugs I inquire, He says, “you name it” opium, cocaine, pot, and hash. My immediate thought was, how everything is so controlled here, it all comes by shipping through the government. This is true, however, what happens is every now and again a bail of whatever the bail gods decide to send washes up on the beach. And is descended on and dispersed amongst the finders. Who then sell part of their stash to the latecomers? Sort of an island good will so that no one is left out. This kicks off a wave of theft crimes as people need to raise capitol. Then all is quiet for a while, a few OD’s is normal, then the come down, when the jig is up. Fighting and a measure of violence rocks the normally peaceful community. Sort of the ebb and flow of the island as it were. Or has the dark under belly of the US government figured out how to control the currents of the world enlisting them to do their evil bidding all in order to keep a brother down.
Their main export is coconut oil, I believe I heard 30,000 gallons a month at .30 cents a gallon, Interestingly enough that is precisely the amount of petrol diesel they import at 3.00 per gallon. Coconut oil makes some of the best quality bio diesel available. It also works excellent as pure SVO in hot weather you can just pour it in the tank and go.
I only hope our brief interlude into the lives on the Majurans switched on the proverbial light bulb in one of the early morning ping-pong player’s brainpans.
It turned out that the 3,500 gallons of fuel we had shipped from Seattle’s Imperium Bio Fuels made from animal tallow, was not quite enough to make it to our next stop in Micronesia, so the decision was made. Not by me, to supplement with 400 gallons of petrol diesel giving us a b90 blend. I felt we would be fine blending with pure coconut oil, but I’m not the shot caller here. As you may be wondering, does this raise some ethical issues with the program? My thoughts are, as a bio extremist, 10% is acceptable I’ll blend 10 in the wintertime to kick the antigel, but rarely do I go over the 10% mark.
I was ok with it but under no circumstances was it to be inside the boat meaning it could go in the fuel tanks but not in any of the drums we have crammed in the bow and sleeping quarters of the boat. And inevitably some gets spilled and then you have a nightmarish situation on the boat. As it is there is biodiesel slopped all over the place but it is relatively odorless, and non toxic. Scott the ground crew engineer who was in charge of fueling agreed. He at that point said we were going to need to take on more petrol diesel in Koror our next stop. But it would be a blend and non in the boat. That was then.
April 16th, 2007 4 more days at sea. We are now getting close to Majuro and should be in sometime late tonight or early tomorrow morning. We have been riding the trade winds all the way from Maui giving us some nice wave to surf along the way. Following seas make for a nice ride but since your running with the wind it also makes for pretty stagnant air in the boat. It has been an average 100 – 110 degrees in the cockpit of the boat and about 125 in the engine room. With not much airflow. Every now and then you can feel a hint of a cool 95 deg breeze blow through the back hatch, but it is more of a tease than a relief. I think we have sweated out all the funk and its just water streaming out our pours now, or I’ve just gotten use to it. I’m sure this boat will forever have the aroma of a high school football teams locker room after this trip.
We have passed only one ship in the night on this leg, and it was only a blip on the radar one night about 12 miles to starboard.
The odd Albatross, and a few Storm Petrels along the way have accompanied us. It’s comforting to look out and see an Albatross flying next to you. They hang out for a bit, circle and head on their way, flying for months without ever landing.
You have a lot of time to ponder things out here, I keep thinking about the thousands of soldiers who crossed this ocean during WWII, in this sweltering heat for weeks and months in some cases, only to die on the beaches of these seemingly insignificant islands.
And what amazing creatures live in this vast, deep blue ocean that we have no Idea of. Some places out here are over 5 miles deep and hide mountains 10 times larger than Mount Rainier. A friend of mine, two years ago was working on a research vessel, mapping the ocean floor from Hawaii to New Guinea, when they almost struck an uncharted mountain peak in the middle of the pacific, that shot up from a depth of nearly 4 miles.
It is for sure; there are many of these uncharted monoliths under the sea. It will take decades to chart the entire ocean and mark them all.
Undoubtedly these mountains are home to scores of giant sea creatures never seen before or shall I say seen but never spoken of, likes the Krakens.
April 13th, 2007 Maui was quite inspiring, as we pulled into the harbor we could their were dozens of people standing on the breakwater yelling aloha welcoming us to the island and even more at the dock greeting us with hand woven lays and a group of Maori dancers from New Zealand performing a Haka dance. The fuel truck was riht on time. There were the members of the shore support team ready to go and several supporters who pitched in where ever they could. A very kind woman named Tina had prepared 5 day worth of home cooked island style meals for us complete with a menu so that we cold match the corresponding sauces with each entrée, absolutely amazing. We took on 4200 gallons of fuel from Pacific Biofuels made from recycled vegetable oil or fryer grease. We took about 400 gallons more than we got in San Diego which will allow us so run a little heavier on the throttle to the islands of Micronesia, our next stop. All in all it was a perfect stop it took us only 5 hours to fuel up stock up and make some repairs and even grab a shower before getting underway.
Before we departed a beautiful little girl did a Hawaiian protection chant for us. And a very thoughtful man named BoBoJet presented us each with Tibetan DZI “Heavens Bead Bracelets” to thank us and keep us safe. At the very last minuet as the engines were running and we were preparing to cast off a Kaumatua which is the Maori word for a tribal elder boarded the boat we all held hands in a circle on the stern as she said a prayer in her native tongue to protect us and bring us good fortune. The whole experience even though it was amongst the madness of the turn and burn was very cool and may have just made the whole trip worth it for me.
All in all I think we’re covered now at least by the Polynesian’s god.
It was such a fast turn that I didn’t get to even check emails so they will half to sit for at least another week and a half, I’m pretty sure there is no wi-fi in Micronesia.
So as of today we have smooth seas and clear skies. One of the most amazing things about being at sea, thousands of miles from land, is the night sky. If you can remember the night you camped out under the stars and watched the satellites cross the night sky, how amazed you were at the amount of star’s planets, and constellations you could see. Now imagine that times 1,000 from horizon to horizon 360 degrees around, with no houses, trees, or mountains to block your view and not one lumen of light pollution to dim the brightness of the stars. You can see nearly all of the galaxies and constellations viewable from this hemisphere as bright as the fullest moon you have ever seen from land. It looks as though there are more stars than sky. It is one of the most amazing things to experience. Just as the ancient mariners viewed them a thousand years ago.
April 12th, 2007 If you think about it for a minuet this is a pretty powerful statement, to have enough faith in biodiesel, and the vessel. To cross the greatest body of water on earth using it as our only source of fuel. There is no rescue 911, or marine repair buoy out here. If shit goes sideways we are left to our own, but that’s nothing new, Having said that this boat has lots of tracking equipment and a pretty high profile so it’s not likely we would be lost for long, and the captain informed me he has an emergency medvac plan for the crew in the event of an emergency, the only catch is we need to be within 400 miles of shore or a Hilo base. Never the less it’s comforting to know we’re somewhat looked after. It wasn’t long ago if a crewman got injured he was pitched over the side to spare the water rations.
I don’t believe I would be going to far out on a limb to say more people have played golf on the moon than crossed the Pacific Ocean in a 78 ft powerboat on 100% biodiesel let alone circumnavigated the planet. And I it's likely to be a long time before it’s done again.
We are now just 100 mile off Hawaii and should be in at about 4pm Hawaii Time. And if all goes well, ready to depart again at 10 pm for Majuro in the Martial islands that trip will take another 4 days. Then 3 to 4 to Koror and another 4 days to Singapore. In which we will be traveling through some pretty sketchy areas known for their piracy and no not captain Jack Sparrow kind of pirates. I have questioned the skipper on the issue and what our plans to deal with any situations were and it seems there really hasn’t been much consideration given to the idea. Which leads me to believe these kiwis are either ignorant or crazy, it’s very easy to be one if you’re the other.
I had figured I could ride until the first week of May before I absolutely need to be home in order to take care of my business. That should have been enough time to finish the race as it was originally planned now however because of the hang-ups along the way the finish date has been pushed to mid May or later. So it might just end for me in Singapore. Most of the stops after that will be difficult to get a flight back to the states not to mention a bit tenuous.
There goes Harold; he’s been waiting this whole trip to yell “LAND HOE”.
When we get in it is suppose to be a quick turn around and I am going to get this blog off and was some clothes and if I’m lucky a little Kailua pig and rice before we take off. I don’t think I will be able to send any more for a while.
We still have the issue of vibration to deal with although now it has turned into a frequency vibration meaning its intensifies at different RPMs. So if any of you chiefs have any thoughts for me do not hesitate to email them to me.
April 11th, 2007 We have transferred all of our reserve fuel into the main tanks and have picked up a knot and a half of speed because of the lightened load. We also have a good 10- 12 ft following sea that’s giving us 20 knots on the downhill side.
There is no shower on the boat so you can imagine it’s getting pretty dank inside with 4 guys and not a lot of air flow. I’ve managed to get a few hours sunshine a day relaxing in the been bag on the aft deck, but it’s short lived relaxation because every time the bow goes under a wave it dumps it right on top of you on the stern deck. A cruel joke by the designers I suppose. Because they couldn’t be here in person with a bucket of water to remind you that this is a racing boat, not a pleasure yacht, bloody Americans.
I like to think It’s the sign of a good engineer catching rays on deck. That means you fixed things well enough you don’t need be monkeying with them underway. Now the sign of a great engineer is you make sure the shore side mechanics fix things right before you leave the dock. And if all goes well you’ll have a great tan by the end of the trip. The downside to this trip is the lack of shore side mechanics. We just picked up a mess of derelict fishing gear in the starboard prop so we had to stop to cut it free, which was the perfect opportunity to jump in the great blue ocean with my Dr Bronner's and wash off the funk.
The derelict fishing gear is a pretty big problem out here not only for ships transiting the ocean getting it caught in their props can cause havoc but scores of marine mammals have been killed by getting hung up in a chunk of Korean drift net cut from a fishing boat as much as 15 years earlier.
April 10th, 2007
Once again today calm seas and blue skies. We have crossed the half way point and are now closing on Maui. In three days at se we have seen one other vessel two nights ago, this is big ocean it can hide a lot, like Harold said, the whole Japanese Navy. Imagine how well it would hide an out of fuel 78ft powerboat that has little or no radar signature. You roll the dice you takes your chances. As long as we have battery power I can recharge my I pod.
If they would have invented I pods two decades ago there wouldn’t be so many crazy skippers out there. After years of standing wheel watch in the middle of the night with nothing but their thoughts to keep them company those wheel jockeys ten to get a bit loony. At least as the engineer I had the engines to talk to for my sanity.
April 9th, 2007 After nearly two days at sea we finally get some sunshine and relatively calm seas. We have reduced speed running at under 20 knots to conserve fuel, with the extra 800 or so gallons it has effected our economy and we would not have enough to make Maui at full throttle. It also means another day at sea.
It took me the first day to get re acquainted with the ass kicking the ocean can and will give on a regular basis, I have been spoiled by the San Juan’s they get nasty but you can always find shelter near by.
The boat rides well considering we have had good 20 ft seas all night. She slices through the waves but does an elevator drop off the backside on the big ones it lifts you straight out of the rack. I have one of the top racks, which puts my face about 8 inches from the overhead so it keeps me from flying to far. Surprisingly I had the best sleep in months yesterday during the worst of it. I dreamt I was a super Marty, leaping from tree to tree and building-to-building chasing bad guys. Or running from the good guys, I can’t remember, but it sure was fun flying through the air. Until I woke up, and had to shit. Then it wasn’t so fun.
It is mid day hear at mission control, I’m driving, Harold the sponsor who is riding to Hawaii is nodding on the bean bag that is crammed in behind the helm seat, Ryan is editing all the film they shot in San Diego for his blogs and skipper is snoozing in his rack. Every one on the boat has a laptop and an I pod, except Harold he has one of those book things he stares at every now and then. I know I have the best selection on my pod because the battery is always dead when I come on watch. I keep having to remind myself we are on a mission. Otherwise it just doesn’t make sense. I’m motoring across the pacific ocean in a craft that looks like it’s the product of a stealth fighter jet getting on Kevin Costner’s ride in water world, With a couple of kiwis and a 75 year old gmo farmer from Kansas wondering if we have enough soybean oil to get to Hawaii. Sounds like the beginning of a dam good sea story.
April 7th, 2007 Ok Sea trial didn’t go so well. I am sure your getting a good Idea of what is going on by the other blogs, or not I haven’t had time to see what the others are writing. The main issue is the vibration that has been persistent on the port side when under load. A minor vibration we could live with but this is serious enough that it could cause severe problems if disregarded.
The captain thinks even with the lost time at the dock we are still in the game for the world record. so that is reassuring. He doesn’t seem to stress about it, which is good, in many ways. Most importantly it means he is not so hell bent on winning the record that he would disregard the safety of the crew.
Ok after pulling the shaft prop and shaft on the port main and having them straightened and re balanced we have knocked down the vibration to a tolerable level. The vibration is still there but at certain RPM rather that constant so it’s a matter of pick one that offers the least motion and lets get gone. And I don’t have to cook the whole way.
April 2nd, 2007
The Chief
My first blog.
So here we are sitting in a coffee shop in Shelter Island at 7:30 am waiting for the engine mounts to show up. It’s the first time I have had a moment to sit down and tap out some thoughts.
This has already been quite an adventure; we have left the same dock three times now. I must say I am glad these issues were discovered before we got 1500 miles out in the middle of the Pacific.
It has also given me time to familiarize myself with the boat. That is an understatement - let's say: get intimate with the boat, as well as get to know the captain and crew before we embark on this journey across the world.
Doing a turn and burn on a new boat were you shake hands with the departing engineer on the gang way and he’s untying your stern line as your shouting, "Hey chief where’s the light switch," can be a bit stressful.
Then throw in the boat design and mission parameters? And this might be a challenge? sweet.
After my first few hours on the boat I was starting to get a bit nervous because it looks as though it had run a while without an engineer, and a boat like this needs to be loved all the time. The Captain knows the boat inside and out, it’s his baby and he is capable of dealing with emergencies as they arise but his focus needs to be on navigating this torpedo and he cannot put the required attention into the engineering side of things.
It was clear to me that there was still quite a bit of collateral damage from the collision in Guatemala that needed to be dealt with and I felt that should be sooner rather than later. These things will snowball and 9 out of 10 times it will be right when you have made it 1200 miles into the ocean and have 1200 more to go. Nevertheless we attempted the band-aid fix and got underway.
As serendipity would have it we were turned around by bad fuel. That gave us the additional time at the dock to make the proper repairs while waiting to sort out the fuel issues. This could be the bio karma looking after us.
I can say from experience these things that took 4 days in San Diego would have taken 4 weeks or more in Hawaii, forget Palau and beyond.
Stepping onto the boat for the first time my thoughts quickly turned to what the fuck have I gotten myself into. First off it is very tight inside - all black and no windows except the small windshield that is like that of a fighter jet. It is very dimly lit with LED lights that can be switched from white to red when underway, which gives an almost surreal feel to the experience. There is only one way in and one way out. So when you seal that hatch you're in a submarine. I have had nightmares in the past about being on submarines concluding there is no way in hell I would ever set foot on one. Go figure. We just got the call parts are in, 1 hour to sea trial. Much more to come...
Marty
You can read all about Earthrace and follow along as Marty and the rest of the crew attempt to make history and set a new world record while bringing the bio-power to the people at...
www.earthrace.net
You can also sign up on www.earthrace.net to get race updates via email. If you want to be included on Marty's personal email updates just reply to nsvs@earthlink.net
Environment Earthrace | |
