Since our last ocean rowing roundup, only two crews have been on the water. Weather conditions have forced one to change his finishing point, and a snapped rudder has brought an early end to the other.
Indian Ocean
Dave ‘Dinger’ Bell (UK): Bell is making strides across the second ocean of his crossing from Peru to Mombasa. He initially rowed across the Pacific Ocean to Australia, without touching dry land, then continued through the Torres Strait and into the Indian Ocean. After 305 days at sea, he has rowed over 24,000km. Upon reaching Mombasa, he will have completed the longest known unsupported single-stage row.
The last few months have been tumultuous on the water. In July and August, Bell was hit by several storms and huge waves, interspersed with days of relative calm. This slowed him down, and near the end of August, he spent a week on his para-anchor. Once the terrible conditions finally subsided, he discovered that the autopilot controls had stopped working. He managed to work around this, as the display still functioned, and jumped back onto the oars.
With the winds now pushing him in the right direction, he was racking up 120km days. His worry was what would happen at night. Conditions were fast but volatile. The waves were so big that if one hit him from the wrong direction, it could capsize the boat.
Using his para-anchor would have slowed him and wasted the ideal conditions, so he strung a long line off the back of the boat. This gave a little stability without slowing the pace too much.
Finally, at the end of August, after weeks of tension because of the big swells, the weather calmed. For the first time in ages, Bell actually enjoyed rowing again. His routine went back to normal, and potential knockdowns weren’t in the back of his mind.
He also heard from the only other rowing boat in the Indian Ocean — the Monkey Fist crew. (see below) Bell and their skipper, Billy Taylor, are good friends. Taylor sent a voice note letting him know they were 300km away and had seen a pod of orcas.
By September 7, it became clear that despite the good conditions, a change in Bell’s route was inevitable. The southeasterly currents and weather have made it impossible for him to reach Mauritius. Instead, he has to land in the Seychelles or Mombasa.
As conditions push him toward mainland Africa, he will now officially end his row in Mombasa. Though this adds an extra 1,800km and three weeks to his journey, he will still finish on the African continent, as planned.
Monkey Fist (UK): Darren Taylor, Glyn Roberts, Lara Vafiadis, and Susannah Cass were rowing 8,200km across the Indian Ocean from Carnarvon, Australia, to Mombasa, Kenya. They had been making good progress until August 13. With just over 2,000km left, their rudder pin snapped.
Though they had a spare, it was impossible to repair the rudder. When they attempted to replace it, the new pin bent. Continuing without a rudder was unsafe, so they ended their row and called for rescue.
“This has been six years in the making,” they wrote on social media. “To have it end this way is gutting.”
Two vessels responded to the SOS. The closest was an oil tanker heading to Cape Town. The crew is now safely on the tanker and expects to land in South Africa within the next five days.
