PedalTheOcean.com

form IS function

2009-10-07T18:22:00.003-06:00

If I seem a bit reoccupied with form over function these days, I'm not
really. Ken and I are working our butts off here trying to get the
boat ready for Vancouver island circumnavigation and choosing a paint
color, boat name and logo is all part of what needs to be done and it
is important to me. Make no mistake - The number one consideration
when selecting a color for the boat is pure function - I need to be
easily seen when out on the ocean. This is a very important safety
consideration. But a powerful visual impact has always been an
important aspect of my previous record attempts and it still very much
is with pedaltheocean.com and WiTHiN (or Koa? I'm having second
thoughts on the name Koa, but more on that later).

My primary goal with all of my human powered endeavours is to attract
attention and inspire others to start thinking about using their own
human power. Skyrocketing obesity rates are resulting in health care
costs reaching upwards of 60 billion in the US (5.8 billion in
Canada). The problem is our sedentary lifestyles and the solution is
pretty simple: we need to get active again. I think what our society
really needs these days is others out there doing really cool things
using their own power. Unfortunately most kids today think a guy who
drove a jet powered bicycle 100 mph is way cooler than a guy who won
the Badwater ultramarathon. Check out YouTube for the proof.
I really doubt that the expensive professional paint job on Critical
Power human powered vehicle was necessary to break the 24 hour
distance record. But it got CP and me onto a 2 page spread in popular
Science. It also got me into the 2009 Guinness book of world records,
and Discovery channel, and other media outlets where I have an
opportunity to possibly inspire others to start thinking that maybe it
is kind of cool to do something physical. The kids seem to get it and
a solution to our health issues needs to start with our kids.

And speaking of that - I would like to ask you to donate $50 to my
charity and sponsor 1 mile of my 3000 mile Pacific crossing. Your $50
will buy a brand new bike for a kid who can't afford one. Do you
remember your first bike? I sure do. For the 8 million families who
are living below the poverty line, bikes for their kids are a luxury
they can't afford. Help me make a difference.
It takes only a couple of clicks and any credit card:
http://www.pedaltheocean.com/charity.php

Painted!

2009-10-07T13:45:00.000-06:00

Well - here she is all freshly painted. FINALLY. Ken and I hauled the boat to U-wrench in Calgary where we rented their paint booth for a few hours. Typical of the kind of good luck that seems to follow this project around, when Ken was in the auto body supply shop asking questions about paint, he met Chuck from Hoodlum Customs who was also buying supplies. When Chuck learned about PedalTheOcean, he offered to shoot the paint for us!

Chuck did a great job, but I can't decide if I actually like the paint color or not. It's not what Ken and I had specified and I think the paint shop we purchased the paint from didn't provide exactly what we had asked for. Inside under florescent lights it looks sort of copper - like a penny. Outside in the sun, it looks more orange. It's supposed to have pearl in it, and you can see some pearl in the paint can, but I don't see any pearl on the boat at all.

I'm hoping once we add decals and stickers and everthing else it will look better.

We have two weeks to finish - the home stretch!!!!!

WiTHiN in the U-Wrench paint booth

Chuck from Hoodlum Customs

Chuck shooting primer. WiTHiN looked like a gray battleship

Introducing KOA human powered boat

2009-09-29T14:54:00.015-06:00

Koa: Hawaiian for "Bold"

Thanks for your suggestions regarding a new name for the boat. You had some really great ideas that were definitely responsible for sparking some deeper thought of my own.

When I sat down a couple of years ago with the intent of developing a keynote speech, I did some pondering about what it is that has allowed success in my life. It occurred to me that the personality traits that worked for me weren't the typical ones you would expect. I'm not especially smart - I almost failed the 4th grade, my marks were below average in High School and I didn't go to University. I didn't have any money - shortly after I struck out on my own and launched my first business when I was 21, the banks took all of my credit cards away from me. I remember having to buy gas for my car at the Hudson Bay parkade downtown because they had a small car rental business and I discovered I could use the Bay credit card that my mom had given me to buy clothes with, to purchase gas from their rental operation. They eventually took that card away from me too. Coincidentally, that's about the time I started to really get into riding my bike a lot! And, I wasn't especially physically gifted in any way either. When I decided it was time to lose 50 pounds and get into shape I entered my first triathlon. Of course, it just had to be the long distance Ironman triathlon and I didn't even know how to swim!

The simple fact that I signed up to complete one of the toughest sporting events in the world without even knowing how to swim said it all. And it is typical of the kind of attitude that I have had most of my adult life. That is, I just think of something that I want to do, make sure that it is just a bit beyond my comfort level and ability, and I simply do it. And I don't quit. I don't think about how to accomplish my goal or what the obstacles are or anything like that. I just start my journey by taking my first step. Jumping into the deep end so to speak. Then I learn a little - enough to plan my next step, and so forth, and so forth.

I believe that any of us can accomplish some pretty amazing things in life when we just have a little faith in ourselves and we commit to doing something a bit bolder than we think we are capable of. And that is the secret right there. When you are bold about what you have set out to do, you will have the passion, excitement and motivation that you will require on your impossible journey. Anything less, and I think many of us just don't care enough. I have lived my life by the wisdom of the great German poet Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe: "What you can do or dream you can do begin it. For BOLDNESS has genius, power and magic in it".

So therefore, I hereby name my boat "Koa" which means "Bold" in Hawaiian.

Following are some logo ideas. I would love to hear your vote and comments (the tiki dude have chain ring teeth):

#4

#5

Following are some additional ideas I was playing around with. I like the brush script, but the orientation doesn't really work for the boat.

Koa building progress

Ken has been working his arms off sanding, sanding, sanding. The body work is taking WAY longer than we originally estimated which is pushing our Vancouver Island shakedown cruise later into October. Jordan and I don't want to leave it so late in October because the likelihood of encountering a winter storm increases every day as we progress into winter with the north pacific high pressure zone slowly disintegrating and allowing the storms to blow directly into Vancouver Island.

Our objective with the shakedown cruise is to circumnavigate Vancouver Island - 1000 km staring at Port Hardy near the north end of the island. We will head south down the protected east coast of the island which will give us ample opportunity to get used to the boat, living conditions, pedaling conditions, switching positions without capsizing the boat, etc. It will also give Jordan and I an opportunity to slowly nose into more advanced ocean conditions as weather permits to feel out general stability in waves and wind as well as how effected we are by high winds.

We are planning on stopping off in Victoria for a couple of rest days, some media interviews, wait for a good weather window, then tackle the exposed wild west coast. The reason we have chosen a clockwise direction is that prevailing winds starting about mid October tend to veer from Southerly to Northerly and it would be better to have the wind at our stern as we make our way up the west coast.

Paint color ideas

2009-09-17T17:23:00.009-06:00

Please weigh-in on your choice of paint color:

Choice #1: Viper Bright Orange Pearl

Choice #2: Crayola Crayon Skin Color

We liked the skin color idea so much, that we just went ahead and painted her skin color. Yes, this is an attempt at being funny. The photo above is just the beige colored epoxy micro coating prior to sanding and finishing.

New name for WiTHiN ?

I originally called the prototype boat WiTHiN because I believe that human power is our power from within - and since a human is powering the boat from inside, the boat is also being power from within. I even designed a nice friendly logo to match the curvy prototype boat:

But now, I think maybe the new expedition boat needs a name of it's own. A name and logo that fits better with our awesome, edgy, stealthy new design. I'm just not feeling WiTHIN anymore and I'm open to exploring something new. Some people commented at the lake trials last week that she looks like a bad-ass barracuda or a shark. I played around in Illustrator today with some logo ideas using the Barracuda name and I drew a sort of cartoony Barracuda. Let me know what you think or if you have any ideas for a new name.

In other news, Ken and I are making are way through a long final list of things to finish to get 'her' ready for the second lake trials, and my Vancouver Island circumnavigation with Jordan Hanssen. One of those steps was reinforcing a loop on the bow for an anchor and sea anchor. We wanted to make sure that it was good a strong and we don't have access to the inside anymore, so we used a beefy stainless loop embedded in micro fibers and covered with fanned out uni-directional carbon in the direction most of the force is likely to come from.

There is a bit of carbon tape on the inside, electrical, body work, paint, and installation of equipment / electronics. All in 2 weeks - can Ken do it?

Lost Sole 1, Greg 0

2009-09-13T07:50:00.009-06:00

According to Wikipedia, a "Coulee" is:

Coulees are generally deep steep-sided ravines formed by erosion, commonly found in the northwestern United States and southwestern Canada. If you try to run across Coulees, they will destroy you, crush you, and you will hurt. And they will make you cry like a baby.

(OK - so maybe I 'edited' the definition a bit)

The Coulee-happy Lost Sole 100 mile ultramarathon in Lethbridge, Alberta makes Ironman seem like a walk in the park - in an electric wheelchair. Many accomplished ultramarathon runners I spoke with confirmed that the Lost Sole is the toughest-ass ultra there is. And the total elevation gain/lost of 18,000 feet is less than some of the other killer ultras out there like Sinister Seven which is 30,000 feet over 90 miles, or Western States 100 with 40,000 feet of elevation gain/loss. (Leadville trail 100 is 15,600 feet).

I think what makes the Lost Sole so soul-sucking is the unbelievable grade of the climbs and descents. The climbs up the coulees were like a cross between stairs and a ladder, and many of the descents had me 'skiing' down the rocks and dirt and falling on my butt and getting pricked by cactus. It was slow going right from the start.

The day started at 6:00 am with a pre-race weigh in. If you lose 5% of your body weight after the first 50 km loop, you get kicked out. After the weigh-in, I had breakfast at Humpties with Robert - a friend I met at Sinster 7 ultramarathon. Rob was doing the 100 km race and it was his first ultra.

The pre-race meeting was at 7:00 am and we started the race at 8:00 am. Rather than relying on drop bags for my supplies like I did at Sinister 7, I brought two crew members with me this time - my buddy Gary and my sister Theresa. I must say it sure was nice to have some support! They were really great and kept me going when the going got rough. And it did get rough.

Gary shot this photo at the start - check out the elderly lady beside me! She was doing the 100 km race! She is tougher than I am, as I believe she finished and I only made it to 95 km.

The course is 3 loops of 53 km each totaling 160 km or 100 miles. There are three, very well stocked and supported aid stations or check points that you pass through 6 times on each loop.

I was really hurting for the first 53 km loop because of some weird stomach issues. I really have no idea what caused it because I was feeling crampy and sick right from the start. I don't think it was nerves because I've been through this before. Maybe it was my oatmeal at Humpties - not sure. But I was constantly looking for bushes and tree groves to duck into to for at least 4 bathroom 'emergencies'. At this early stage, I knew this wasn't good. Diarrhea is very dehydrating and the forecast was for HEAT.

Things got worse near the far end of the first loop during a 3 hour span between check points and I only took ONE water bottle with me. Duh! The temperatures down in the valleys of the coulees reached 30 degrees and I got VERY dehydrated - full-on chills and everything. I know... stupid.

After the first loop (53 km) and back at the main check point, I started to re-hydrate. I drank do much my teeth were floating. Theresa and Gary tried to talk me into eating some real food. I was resistant because I felt like crap, but they insisted. Theresa brought me a hamburger and as soon as I smelt it, I knew exactly that was what my body was crazing. I DEVOURED that hamburger and I think it was the best burger I've ever had in my life. I don't think I will ever forget it.

The first half of the second loop went much better. I really focused on drinking as much water as I could get in me, and I think I successfully re-hydrated myself. I was running the flats at a pretty decent pace, and plowing up the inclines. By 6:00 pm, it cooled down considerably and I started to come back to life.

Just before dark at the far check point at about 14 hours into the race, Theresa talked me into some more solid food and again I resisted. She brought me a plate of bacon, perogies, and a grilled cheese sandwich. As soon as I smelt it, I again knew that's exactly what I needed. Man that was soooo good!!!! - I can't tell you how amazing that meal was! After my first bite, my body told me how badly it needed the nutrition - I couldn't stop shoveling the food down. The food and support at the 3 check points at Lost Sole is truly second to none. Absolutely first class. Hamburgers, hot dogs, potatoes, perogies, grilled cheese sandwiches, pizza, candy, potato chips, chicken soup, hot chocolate, soda pop, gels, energy bars - you name it. Really amazing.

I left the far checkpoint and headed out on the longest leg (the last time around it was about 3 hours between check points). It got very dark and started to cool down. I was wearing a long sleeve shirt and I had another sweater tied around my waist. I was feeling pretty good and still running a good pace on the flats.

Night time down in the deep, dark valleys of the coulees is like you are on another planet. Very surreal. By this stage of the race, the runners were so spread out, it was maybe an hour or two between encounters with another runner, so I was alone for most of the time. Down in the valleys, I was surrounded by steep canyon walls and it was totally pitch black. It was a cloudless night, and the moon hadn't risen yet so the stars were piercing. I saw many shooting stars blaze across the sky. I turned off my headlamp and stopped for a few seconds once to take it all in. The stillness and quiet was unreal. It was so quiet I could hear ringing in my ears. No wind, no cars, nothing. Then a frog croak, then a few coyotes howling in the distance, then total silence again. Very cool!

And speaking of cool - it started to get cool - I mean cold. By the time I reached the river, the temperature started to drop very quickly, and that second sweater wasn't cutting it. I started to get very cold which eventually lead to uncontrollable shivering. By this time my legs were getting sore and I was starting to slow down, but I knew I had to keep my pace going to keep my heart rate up to avoid hypothermia. I also knew I had at least two hours to go to make it back to the checkpoint and this is when things got especially difficult for me.

All I could think about was sitting in front of a fire with blankets wrapped around me. I was fantasizing about sitting in Theresa's car at the check point with the heater going full blast. I knew that wasn't going to happen for at least two hours, and I also knew that it was getting colder by the minute. I could see my breath, and my fingers started to go numb. To say I was MISERABLE would be the understatement of the year. This was hell. And to add to that, I knew that I was barely HALF way!! 16 hours straight and I was only HALF finished the race - how depressing!!

I eventually made it to the check point where Theresa ushered me into the warm tent, sat me in a chair and wrapped blankets around me. I sat there with my head drooped down, eyes shut just savouring the stillness and warmth. I couldn't move.

Gary had moved back to the hotel for some sleep because he planned on pacing me through the last 53 km loop. I felt horrible and I didn't want to let Theresa and Gary down, but there was no way I could see myself getting through the 12 km remaining to complete my second loop, not to mention an entire 53 km third loop to get through! I had just been through hell and back and I was only slightly more than half way done! It's no wonder the average finishing times for this 100 miler are around 30 hours, and the cut-off time is 37 hours!

As Gary wrote in the final Twitter post "Lost Sole 1, Greg 0". Regrettably, I turned in my race number and we returned to the hotel and went to bed. I woke up at 9:00 am and we had to drive back to the checkpoint to get Gary's car. Seeing all the runners still going, I realized that I could probably could have grabbed a few hours sleep at the hotel, returned to the checkpoint and resumed my race. With a 37 hour time limit, I may have had enough time to finish! Next time. Lessons learned.

Lake Trials VIDEO!

2009-09-09T18:58:00.003-06:00

I just finished posting a new YouTube video of the very first lake trials. Enjoy:

Lake trials!

2009-09-07T08:36:00.008-06:00

WiTHiN hits the water for the first time!

No surprises at the lake today which is good news! Loading into the water was a snap - good thing I made the 8' tongue extender. It worked perfectly and WiTHiN slid off the bunks into the water. The drive to the reservoir was a bit bouncy. The trailer might need some reinforcement, but otherwise it went well.

She was very stable. It doesn't rock much at all and forcing my weight right to left inside doesn't produce very much noticeable rolling motion. Sitting and standing also doesn't really tip it much, but, as Rick warned, once my weight is very high (sitting on the roof, or standing up), and I lean over it to a certain point, it will suddenly continue it's roll and tip right over. If the side windows (port lights) are open, then the cockpit will flood. This is without any ballast at all aside from the keel bulb which weighs 60 lbs.

With 200 or 300 lbs inside and on the floor, the amount of effort needed to roll it is significantly more. One test that needs to be done during the next lake trials at the end of September is to actually roll it onto it's side and allow the cockpit to flood (with the inside hatches to the cabin and bow storage compartment CLOSED). I will fall off the roof into the water, then make my way back inside the flooded cockpit and manually pump the water out. The other test that we will do is to capsize it with all of the hatches and ports closed and sealed.

WiTHiN feels VERY roomy with excellent visibility to the outside world. I had to make an adjustment to the seat height to get the horizon into the middle of the port lights, but after that I could see all around me no problem. With the ports open, I had a nice cooling breeze blowing through. The drive leg by MitrPak is SUPER SMOOTH and solid as a rock. 80 rpm felt like about 150 watts as per design. Resulting speed was 7.6 km / hr. (4.1 knots) Rick's prediction was 8.2 km / hr, but I am sure that was based on mirror flat water conditions. It was windy and a bit wavy, so .75'ish km / hr slower is probably about right on. Ken and I raced sailboats and beat all of them. I reached a top speed of 10.3 km / hr (5.3 knots)

WiTHiN turns on a dime like the prototype did with a nice roll into the turn followed by a slight roll to the opposite side, then leveling out. The rudder controls were easy to operate with one hand, and the rudder is nicely balanced, as I could take my hand off the lever during a turn and the rudder would stay exactly where it was set. Winds were 15 to km / hr and inside the protected cockpit, I didn't even notice the wind aside from a slight lean to the side. It will be interesting to get WiTHiN into some real wind. My speed going into the wind didn't seem much different than the speed with the wind (but I don't have a watts meter, so that is a bit subjective).

We took the all of the kids for a ride - they sat in the cabin with the hatch open. I can see how a trip could work with two people - one sitting comfortably in the cabin with the other peddling. I had 2 passengers sitting in the cabin weighing a total of 230 lbs and I couldn't notice any speed difference at all (again, no watts meter, so hard to measure). I took Helen for a ride and we switched positions easily without incident and without raising our center of gravity at all. I crouched on the floor near the drive leg and she got out of the cabin and into the recumbent seat. Then she moved to the side and I moved back into the cabin.

Loading WiTHiN back onto the trailer was relatively easy. The only trick was aligning her while pedaling backwards while being blown to the side. We eventually used a rope to walk her down the dock while I pedaled backwards. Cyrille was standing on the trailer and guided WiTHiN onto the bunks. When she was aligned and partially on the bunks, I hopped out, hooked the winch strap onto the rudder tube, and we easily cranked WiTHiN all the way up and onto the bunks. I think this is all a 2 man job - possibly even 1 man with some practice.

I had my Spidertracks satellite tracking unit running the whole time and it worked great:
http://www.pedaltheocean.com/follow-greg.php

When Ken and I got back to the house, we got a couple of bathroom scales out and weighed WITHiN:

Boat with hatches & port lights = 341 lbs

Keel bulb = 62 lbs

Keel post = 18 lbs
Drive leg = 24 lbs
Battery = 40 lbs
Rudder = 10 lbs
Greg = 156 lbs
----------------------------
Total testing weight = 651 lbs
Total boat weight without crew or any equipment = 455 lbs

Ken and I have a lot of work to do between now and the next lake trials at the end of September where we will do the capsize and flood tests: Cabin top carbon tape finished, body work and paint (anti-foul on the hull), solar panels on, electrical, light mast, antennas, cleats, keel and drive leg fairing, seat installed, gear nets, hatches and ports sealed, trailer beefed up a bit, sponsor decals, adjustable seat mount...

Then it's sea trials at the beginning of October on Vancouver Island with my new friend ocean rower Jordan Hanssen. Jordan and I are planning a sort of testing/learning/experience gaining expedition - details coming soon.

Next for me is the Lost Sole ultra marathon on Friday! YIKES!!! It's my last chance this year to actually complete a 100 mile ultramarathon. Wish me luck.

Ready for the water!

2009-09-05T16:31:00.002-06:00

Hatches & port lights on, not painted yet, no electronics, no equipment - still TONS to do, but she is ready to see water for the first time!

This is a view from inside the cockpit facing the stern. You can see the cabin hatch which is open to the side (like a door). This position allows me to sit in a variety of positions - on the seat back storage bin hatch (white hatch cover) with my legs in the cabin and head out the cabin top hatch, or facing the other way. It also allows me to easily crawl into the cabin.

The Lewmar port lights are mounted temporarily for the lake test. I wanted to get a feel for visibility through them, fresh air, operation, etc. So far, it feel really good - very comfortable and functional. I have a really great view all around me.

The is a shot from yesterday - vacuum bagging the cabin top onto the hull

Here is Manny's amazing work. Yes the keel bulb is on backwards - a small error which we will fix next week.

Manny's propeller designed by Rick Willoughby

Keel bulb

Inside the cockpit facing forward. We have not yet finished the carbon seems as you can see by the openings at the front port light.

The pilot hatch

Drive leg & prop slides into a tapered hole in the hull.

Lake test on SUNDAY!

2009-09-02T19:20:00.006-06:00

I cannot believe that we will actually be ready for the very first lake trials on Sunday!

By looking at these shots taken today, you might not believe it either, but we are much closer to finishing than it might appear. There won't be any paint on WiTHiN, or electronics or equipment aside from the pedals, propeller, keel, seat, rudder, portlights and hatches, but she will be water worthy!

The objective with the first initial test will be primarily to measure actual speed compared to design speed, and feel out the general stability. Rick Willoughby designed the hull of WiTHiN, and the prop for 78 rpm at the pedals which produces 150 watts of power and should create about 8 km per hour of speed on a flat calm lake on a windless day. Since I can't install my SRM power meter onto the gear box based drive leg, I measured my heart rate at 150 watts & 80 rpm today on my trainer.

On the lake on Sunday, I'll want to confirm that a cadence of 80 rpm should produce about 8 km / hour of speed and result in about 105 beats per minute in the engine.

We have tomorrow and Friday to get the cabin top on, install the propeller, fill the drive leg with oil, fit the keel bulb on, place my recumbent seat in position, and install all of the ports and hatches,

Check out the new Follow Greg page at the new site! Our new Spidertracks satellite tracking device is now running with live updates on the map! I'll be running it on Sunday during the lake trials, so if you can't make it down to Glenmore reservoir, you can watch all the action live on the web site! (well.. by "live action" I mean watching a little green dot move around a digital satellite image of Glenmore Reservoir on a Google map along with the occasional Twitter update - still exciting. Kind of).

http://www.pedaltheocean.com/follow-greg.php

Here are some pics of today's progress:

The hole of the left is for the keel post - hole on the right is for the drive leg tapered plug

This is the drive leg with the tapered plug. The plug is made of Chockfast epoxy chocking compound and was poured into the drive leg bay with the drive leg in position. This stuff is like rock when it cures - amazing

This is a view down the drive leg bay in the torque tube. That's me down there. The threaded end of the keel post fits through the hole on the left and it secured with a nut. Stuart designed this "torque tube" box to transfer the forces from the keel into the hull and bulkheads of the boat. You have no idea what it took to build the torque tube. I would say probably 10 to 15 man-days. The keel tube would probably bend (and it's 1.25" square solid stainless steel!) before anything broke in the hull. If that happened, the keel could be dropped out by simply removing the retaining nut.

This is a view of the upside down hull showing the drive leg without the lower gear box and prop. Note the thin line around the drive leg tube. That is how tightly Ken made the drive leg plug fit into the hull bottom. After body work and paint, you probably won't even see it. The square hole on the left is for the keel tube

The cabin top

Sanding blocks for body work on the hull

Rudder tube hole

62% chance of success

2009-09-01T16:09:00.005-06:00

I've been trying to figure out how to mount the VHF radio antenna, my AIS antenna, GPS antenna, Navigation light, radar reflector. that's a lot of stuff up high which is not great for windage and offsets what we are trying to accomplish with the keel bulb which is required for stability. So, I posted a question to the OceanRowers.com forum and got some helpful advice from that group.

At OARS, I noticed a sobering post by the site administrator titled "Incomplete Rows in 2009" There were short descriptions of SEVENTEEN incompleted expeditions so far in 2009. Yikes!

I checked the Ocean Rowing Society statistics page and saw that in all-time, there have been 405 attempts to cross an ocean by human power (for the most part, that has been by rowing - but we plan on changing that :-)) and 156 of those attempts were incomplete - that's a whopping 38% failure rate! Over 1 in 3 attempts end up in failure, and of those, 6 were lost at sea.

From the OARS forum, below is the list of incomplete ocean rows for 2009 and reasons for their failures (updated July 28th, 2009). This is IMPORTANT stuff and I think that anyone considering a human powered ocean crossing should take all of this to heart and plan accordingly. In the years that I have been following ocean rows, I have found the same issues responsible for prematurely ending an expedition - time and time again. I'll summarize those issues after this list, and go over some of the steps that I can take to mitigate those risks:

JOHN MOLLINSON - SOLO, NORTH ATLANTIC W-E.
On 28 July 2009 John Maher sent a message to the members of Shepherd Purple Heart Ocean Row - Subject: End of the road

"It is with regret that I confirm that Molly's quest has been ended. In dense fog, in the deep of the night and rough seas, all communications were lost with no way to generate power due to technical malfunctions. This left us in a suicidal situation to think about continuing as the boat could not be seen and with no communications a decision was made between the team, the Falmouth and Canadian coastguards to start a rescue mission with the aid of an oil rig support vessel. With the use of their radars Molly was located and made safe. He is in the process of being returned to dry land complete with boat and a further update will follow in due course. To confirm both Molly and boat are now safe."

SIMON PRIOR - SOLO (INDIAN OCEAN ROWING RACE)
www.amantomauritius.co.uk
13 Jun 2009 - statement from Simon Prior on his decision to retire from the race
"Here I am onboard the race support vessel and I’m most grateful for the kindness, warmth and empathy that the crew have shown to me upon collecting me from my rowing boat, Old Mutual Endurance. The last 54 days have been, if anything, an amazing experience with highs and lows in equal measures. Very sadly I have fallen short of the target that I set myself and I’m distraught that Mauritius never came into view.
The whole project of rowing an ocean is an enormous undertaking; physically, mentally, financially and logistically. I have learnt so much about every aspect of myself and of the seas.
The oceans are vast, phenomenal places, offering the most peaceful solitude and the most humbling of extreme seas. The ongoing issues with my watermaker and rudder lines sealed my fate. The watermaker continually failed and all storage and drinking containers became contaminated with mould, impairing my already weakened body. The rudder lines also continued to cause issues and in hindsight were never strong enough for the forces upon them.
The rudder lines broke four times in total and without sufficient spare rope to replace the lines, I was unable to steer the boat adequately. With these issues ongoing, I was finding myself sadly repairing items 3-4 hours everyday and with the days already ticking by my spirit was finally broken".

CHARLIE GIRARD - SOLO NORTH ATLANTIC W-E
www.atlantique2009.com
On May 29th Charlie called the US coast guard for a rescue, activating his EPIRB to guide them to his position. He was 10 days into his row and in seas of 5-7ft and 15knot winds. His boat was left adrift and has subsequently been recovered. This was Charlie's second unsuccessful attempt to row the North Atlantic solo after calling in a rescue 50miles out to sea in 2007.
Watch a local news reports on the rescue:
http://wbztv.com/video/?id=77179@wbz.dayport.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRfWL0gAbPE

DOING TIME - PAIR (INDIAN OCEAN ROWING RACE)
www.bigboysrow.com
Retired after pintles holding the rudder to their boat broke and they lost their para-anchor. Their boat has been cast adrift but will continue to be tracked by the Race Office while all possible options to salvage the boat are considered.

DREAM IT DO IT - PAIR (INDIAN OCEAN ROWING RACE)
www.indianoceanrace2009.com/racediary.html
From the Indian Ocean Rowing Race 2009 news page:
Following the retirement and recovery of Boat 2 'Dream it Do it’ to the Abrolhos Islands Roger and Tom were flown to Geraldton so that Roger could seek medical examination and assistance from Geraldton Hospital. Examination confirmed the original on-board diagnosis that Roger had indeed cracked a couple of ribs.

HOPPIOLA - SOLO (INDIAN OCEAN ROWING RACE)
www.hoppipolla1.blogspot.com
From the Indian Ocean Rowing Race 2009 news page:
Throughout Monday 20th April, the progress of boat 8 had been monitored, and in consideration with the forecast wind strength and direction there was concern for the safety of Hoppipolla. The Support Vessel was directed to Hoppipolla’s position and at 09:00GMT (17:00 WA time) Mick Moran, requested assistance. Mick had been experiencing problems with his steering system and centre board and had been finding it impossible to row in the desired direction. The Support Vessel took Hoppipolla under tow and returned to the Batavia Marina.

WHATEVER IT TAKES - FOUR (INDIAN OCEAN ROWING RACE)
www.crossingtheindian.com
From blog dated 26th April
“Whatever It Takes” discovered water leaking into their aft cabin through the hull bilge pump. As the dark of night was approaching, Go West worked furiously to stop the leak. Dave donned a survival suit and jumped overboard armed with a screwdriver. He spent about an hour in 4 meter seas working on the problem. After an excruciating time he had successfully screwed the housing in properly (one screw was 10mm proud of the housing). The leak had only reduced by about 50% so he attempted to stem the leak with waterproof ‘putty’. It was a valiant effort, but to no avail. The Australian Maritime College “Whatever it Takes” had a terminal leak, the stern cabin and lockers had taken on around 150 litres of water.
After calling in a resuce the team was safely towed ashore.

BERTRAND DE GAULLIER - SOLO (BOUVET RAMES GUYANE) - Translated from French
Communique de Bouvet Rames Guyane 29.04.09
Bertrand de Gaullier, which had capsized Monday and triggered two beacons, waited to be rescued for 36 hours. An expectation of the more painful it was quickly realized that two tags were no longer on board and it would be very difficult to find relief. But Bertrand has never lost his composure and followed the procedure of recovery in professional sea despite his injured right arm which made him suffer for many weeks. It is true that the Captain and Commander of the base of the marines and commandos Lorient, Bertrand de Gaullier des Bordes has always been accustomed to exercise extreme and dangerous situations.
http://www.bouvet-ramesguyane.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1087&Itemid=139

REMY ALNET - SOLO (BOUVET RAMES GUYANE) - Translated from French
Testimony of Remy 18.04.09
"I was in the cockpit and I wanted to put the music louder. I was opening the panel of my car when a wave larger than the other has completely flooded the interior. The boat was unbalanced and quickly capsized. I wanted to run the pumping system, but it did not work. I have plunged more than ten times, unfortunately without success. I'm back on the hull of my boat but I was getting cold and lose strength ... I knew I had to tinker a place of retreat since the arches for that purpose had been broken at the outset, I then had the idea of crossing the oars on each side of the boat and then to pass ropes between these two extremes, I thus made a sort of ring. Then it plunges back that I had to recover my survival suit and food to consider an expectation that I knew I could be long. I imagined that we were looking for me and I kept hoping but it was very hard because the waves me destabilization and a little balance in my shell, I often fell into the water. I can say that I swallowed seawater overnight. But I clung to my oars, I do not let go. I had more strength, and I finally cling to the oars. In addition, the boat sank, he was only 50 cm above the water ... The night was interminable. When, at daybreak, I saw the freighter that was 300 yards away, I went back under the water for my rockets. I waited until the last moment to recover because I knew I had to drown the cabinet and then the boat would sink a little more. I've touvées and got back on the boat. I had three, the first one did not work, the second not only at the third that it worked. The crew of the Astro Chloe saw me and took me retrieved using a basket. They tried to save my boat but it did not work. "
Currently aboard the Super Tanker "Astro Chloe, Remy Alnet will be landed on a boat patrol in Brazil to be deposited in Cayenne. "I do not have my papers, I lost everything and it is preferable that I landed on French soil," explained the skipper.
Hear the testimony of Remy Alnet
http://www.bouvet-ramesguyane.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=982&Itemid=139

PATRICIA LEMOINE - SOLO (BOUVET RAMES GUYANE) - translated from French
Communicates Bouvet Rames Guyane 11.04.09
If the conditions of wind and current remain the leading men of the Bouvet Rames Guyane Cayenne should see during the weekend, thus crossing the Atlantic to train in six weeks. At the other end of the water, things get complicated for most skippers and South, although it dragged on the shores of the Black Pot, Patricia Lemoine throws in the towel and announced it abandoned.

OLIVER HICKS - SOLO CIRCUMNAVIGATION
www.virginglobalrow.com
Olly's departed Tasmania, Australia on 23rd January and began an attempt to row around Antarctica and become the first person to complete a circumnavigation of the globe without touching land. Olly decided to suspend his how at New Zealand. Olly managed to get within 12nm of the coast before being pushed back out to sea so was forced to call in a tow and was picked up at 25nm from land (in 40kn winds and a 4m swell) and he and his boat were safely bought ashore. Olly gives his reasons for suspending the row in his blog dated 10th April:
...our mileage made good is miserable and would works out if I was to carry on regardless in completion of the end goal in about 5 years..... In large this poor progress is down to problems with the boat. She does not like to go downwind of her own accord or indeed once the wind gets above 20knots not even under oars. Since the average wind speeds in the Southern Ocean are 20-30kts this is obviously something of a problem. The boat is also incredibly heavy about 2 tonnes and on a calm day I can make only about 1.4kts average which is v slow. We had anticipated making about 1000nm a month as per my Atlantic boat but evidently this has not been borne out. Another fact taken into consideration was that this is the worst year on record for drift ice coming out of the Ross sea. With Icebergs over 5km long reported in the region.

VICTOR MOONEY - SOLO ATLANTIC (SENEGAL TO NEW YORK)
www.goreechallenge.com
On 15th April Victor's team announced that his desalinator had stopped working and that he would be abandoning his row. He was rescued by a nearby fishing vessel. His boat was lost after the line towing it behind the fishing vessel broke. The following day he posted this blog:
Thanks to the US Embassy in Dakar, Senegal, Governments of Senegal, Spain, France and the NGO New Future Foundation of Senegal. I am very well. The line that was towing the Spirit of Zayed was broken during rough seas. The authorities are attempting to locate and retrieve the vessel.

ERDEN ERUC – SOLO CIRCUMNAVIGATION
www.around-n-over.org
Erden has decided to come in to land in the North of New Guinea and continue his circumnavigation (by ocean rowing boat across the oceans and by bike across the continents via the highest mountain on each of the 6 'mainland' continents) later in the year. He will be walking across New Guinea from September, then kayaking to a suitable island from which to continue rowing to mainland Australia. Then it's back on the bike via Mt Kosciusko aiming to reach Western Australia by April 2010 to set off on the indian ocean leg of his journey.

EDDY LESAGE – SOLO ATLANTIC E-W
www.eddylesage.fr
Blog updated by Eddy's support team 21st January
17/01 Watermaker stopped working
18/01 Eddy unable to repair watermaker whilst at sea. Whats more he has hurt his right thigh (torn muscle or spasms?). Added to that the batteries haven't been charging properly.
19/01 In the evening Eddy accepted help offered to him by a safety organisation, to take him back to the island of El Hiero, where he was taken to hospital, a normal procedure in cases like this.
20/01 Eddy left the hospital and unfortunately had to record the damage caused to Martha Dos while she was being towed.
21/01 Eddy has made an inventory of the contents of the boat and is keeping us informed as to how he wants to proceed.

LA MONDIALE - ATLANTIC E-W (CREW OF 14)
www.oceanrowevents.com
Press release dated 15th January
Falmouth Maritime and Rescue Coordination Centre are currently coordinating the search and rescue of ‘La Mondiale’ the British ocean rowboat and its 14 crew. ‘La Mondiale’ is attempting to break the current record by rowing from Gran Canaria to Barbados, with the overall intention of raising £1 million for charitable causes. The Coastguard received a call this morning at 10.21am informing them that the rowboat had lost its rudder after hitting a submerged object 280 miles North West of Cape Verde, a temporary rudder had been rigged up but had now failed them. Martin Bidmead, Watch Manager, Falmouth Maritime and Rescue Coordiantion Centre, said:“We have been able to talk to the crew which consists of several nationalities: British, Scottish, Irish, Canadian and Faroese. They are all safe and well, they are not in a situation of distress only the boat is disabled. But the weather conditions on scene for the next few days will not allow them to make the repairs to the rudder. A Bulk Carrier ‘Island Ranger’ on passage from Brazil to Italy is currently making its way to the rowboat and is expected on scene at 8:00pm to offer assistance.”

ALDO DIANA & KEN MAYNARD - PAIR ATLANTIC E-W
www.atlanticfirefighter.com
Aldo and Ken were headed for the Cape Verdes to make repairs to their electrics which had failed leaving them with limited communication and safety equipment.
From blog dated 6th January
Once again the weather had taken a turn for the worst and we were unable to row. Late Tuesday afternoon we were both in the cabin, feeling rather bored and frustrated when just by chance Ken looked out to see a huge cargo vessel heading straight for us, only hundreds of yards away. Immediately we sprang into action and set off the flares to raise the alarm. The first flare didn't work but luckily the second one did and fortunately the Turkish crew of the big vessel spotted us just in time to change it's direction and a major collision was (at first) avoided. Unfortunately the day finished catastrophically for RITA. During the events that ensued poor RITA got wrecked and we boarded the cargo vessel to be taken ashore to Cape Verde. We are devastated but thank God we are alive.

LEO ROSETTE - SOLO ATLANTIC E-W
www.woodvale-challenge.com/Leo+Rosette+Progress
Announcement on tracking website dated 3rd January
Unfortunately following severe sea sickness, and a suspected stomach ulcer, Leo Rosette has been forced to return to La Gomera just days into his Atlantic crossing. Leo is now safely back on land and being treated at the local hospital in San Sebastian de la Gomera and hopes to restart his adventure once he has been cleared to do so by medical staff. Woodvale Challenge would like to thank everyone who played a part in recovering Leo and his boat Halcyon.

Here is a ranked list of reasons for failure:

3 x watermaker failures
3 x rudder + 1 broken by hitting submerged object
2 x capsize flood + 1 flood caused by bilge pump leak
2 x power system failures
2 x psychological issues
1 injury + 1 severe sea sickness
1 inadequate boat performance

1. Watermaker - Time and time again I have read about this problem. To me, it seems like 1 out of every 2 ocean rowing expeditions has problems with the electric desalinator. Sometimes the unit is repaired at sea, and sometimes a smaller manual backup unit is used. In the case of the Woodvale ocean rowing race, they are required to take fresh water as ballast. In an emergency, the rowers are allowed to drink this water, but doing so disqualifies the rower(s) from the race.

At the very least, I need to become very familiar with the operation and servicing of my Katadyn 40E electric desalinator before I depart. I should be able to take it apart and put it back together again. To minimize the possibility that the power supply is causing the problem, I think it would be wise to have two redundant power sources / batteries and the ability to easily switch between the two. I also need to have a good spare parts kit. My back-up matermaker is the Katadyn Surviver 06 manual desalinator. To resort to using this would be a pain - literally because it takes an average of 2 hours of pumping per day to make one day's worth of fresh drinking and cooking water. We are thinking about making a pedal powered mechanism to operate this which would make it much easier to use. I won't have any fresh water back-up onboard because I won't have the room.

2. Rudder - I think we have a pretty beefy rudder and steering system. The rudder is operated by a heavy-duty push-pull cable designed to be used on large sailing yachts and power boats. If something did break on the cable, I can disconnect the push-pull cable, and rig up an emergency steering line system with a pulley and take control over the rudder. If something were to happen to the rudder itself - like striking a submerged object and breaking, then I may have to remove it which would be a simple operation of just removing a clamp and a pin. I think it might be worth bringing a light weight, simple spare rudder along.

3. Capsize floods - This is the scary one. In recent history there have been 2 deaths and capsizing has been the primary cause of both of them. In February, 2007, Australian Andrew McCauley attempted to become the first person to cross the Tasman sea by kayak. After 30 days and nights in a slightly modified off-the-shelf kayak only about 75 km away from his destination of New Zealand, Andrew went missing. The next day they found his upturned kayak. It is speculated that Andrew capsized in choppy seas and got separated from his boat. The winds were strong that day, and they would have blown his kayak away from him very quickly. The lesson applied here for me is to always wear a safety tether when in the cockpit with the hatches open. It would be possible to be tossed out of WiTHiN by a rouge wave and partial capsize wile standing up through the top hatch. A tether would at least keep me close to the boat where I could climb back aboard.

The second death was 62 year old Nenad Belic who was rowing his home built ocean rowing boat across the North Atlantic from Cape Cod to Ireland in May of 2001. He went missing after about 4 1/2 months. His boat was found upside down fully flooded 230 miles west of Ireland. This case is a bit puzzling. I have searched for more information and can't seem to find any. I did find a drawing of his row boat, and to me, it didn't seem to have any separate water tight compartments. I would think that if it capsized with a hatch or portlight open, it would totally flood, and possibly not right itself. Evidently, this is what happened to Nenad.

If WiTHiN were to capsize with all of the portlights and hatches in the cockpit open, but with the hatches for the cabin and bow storage compartments closed, then the cockpit would flood - but, she would right herself due to the keel, and the cockpit could be bailed out. I'll have an electric bilge pump in the cockpit to help with the bail out. The rule will be that the inside hatches for the cabin and the bow storage compartment must be kept closed if any of the portlights or hatches are open in the main cockpit. Also, I must wear a tether if there is any possibility of capsizing with the cockpit hatches and ports open.

4. Power system failures - There could be a number of reasons for this. If the system is strictly solar powered, then a few days of very cloudy or foggy weather could exhaust the batteries. There could be faulty wiring, broken fuses, or malfunctioning electronic equipment. I will have 2 separate sources of power - solar panels and a wind generator. I think it might be smart to have each of them charge a different battery, and then split the electronics between the two batteries with the option to be able to switch power sources. I should also easily be able to power something directly from either the wind generator or solar panels and bypass the batteries and charge controller.

5. Psychological issues - there is only one way to avoid this: TRAINING. I must expose myself to the ocean environment to adjust to that environment.

6. Injury and sea sickness - I have experienced sea sickness and it's NOT fun. I know that typically after 2 or 3 days your body will get used to it and I think that possibly medication could be the bridge that takes me to the third day. As for injury - I will take a very thorough medical kit.

NEW WEB SITE IS UP

2009-08-28T08:14:00.006-06:00

The new PedalTheOcean.com web site is now up and running!

What's new:

Let's give away 3000 bikes to 3000 kids!
Goal: 3000 bikes for 3000 kids in 3000 miles

Currently 1 in 3 of North American children are overweight. The health care costs associated with this issue cost Americans over $13 billion a year, and Canadians over $1 billion. A leading cause of this alarming epidemic: our sedentary lifestyles.

The solution starts with getting kids active again! There are currently over 8 million families in North America living below the poverty line. For many of these families, providing bikes for their children is a luxury they can't afford. What’s worse, many of these kids will end up sitting at home and watching TV instead.

Remember your first bike? Unfortunately, too many children are growing up without those special, valuable memories of young freedom, outdoor activity, and self-reliance. Let’s change that! Together, we can make a difference - one bike at a time. Donate a bike to a child who can't afford one. Sponsor a mile for as little as $50.

For every mile that Greg pedals WiTHiN across the Pacific ocean, Kimberlee's Bikes For Kids Charity will donate one bicycle to a deserving child who can't afford one. When you sponsor a mile of the Pedal The Ocean voyage (for just $50!) you’re putting a bicycle in the hands of a deserving child and playing an important part in our fight against sedentary lifestyles and the childhood obesity epidemic. If Greg makes it to Hawaii he will have traveled 3000 miles. With your help, that means 3000 bikes for 3000 kids!

BE THE FIRST TO DONATE - Click here.
Direct link to the blog and latest Twitter posts.
Follow Greg page

Thanks to PTO sponsor Spidertracks, you will now be able to follow my every move as I human-power my way across the Pacific ocean, or where ever else my travels with WiTHiN take me. And no, I'm not currently in New Zealand. Spidertracks is in NZ, and that's where my tracking unit is being shipped from.
New Photos and Videos gallery

Check out photos and watch YouTube videos from the sea trials, Critical Power human powered vehicle record, last Septembers Critical Power 2 human powered boat record, boat building progress, and lots of other craziness.
Visit our pedaltheocean sponsors, and read more about our amazing team that is making this human powered coolness actually happen!
Consider actually becoming a PTO corporate sponsor! We have corporate and small business packages starting at $250 which include your logo at the web site, and a small logo on WiTHiN. We are still looking for a title sponsor and we are prepared to completely brand WiTHiN to match a title sponsors brand including a name change.

All personal sponsorships including the "across with Greg" name on WiTHiN sponsors will now be donated to the '3000 bikes' objective with Kimberlee's Bike for Kids Charity.

I would like to extend my HUGE, HUGE, HUGE gratitude to three professionals who donated their time to make the new Pedaltheocean.com web site as cool as it is:

Stephen Capp from Capp Creative - PTO webmaster.
Stephen Capp is a website designer in Calgary Alberta and has been designing and coding websites in various capacities since the 90s and CappCreative.com is his home on the web. His primary purpose is to help individuals and small businesses promote their businesses by building them better, more effective websites.

Julia Lauer - Ambush Graphics, Inc - PTO web site designer
Julia has over 20 years experience producing graphics, and can provide support you in any endeavor to build a strong, vibrant corporate message by providing the client with creative marketing pieces for print and on the web

Chris Keam - Expedition copywriter
Chris has worked as a writer and editor (web, print, corporate communications, and broadcast) in Vancouver since 1989. His creative nature, dry wit, and slightly skewed sense of humour are the qualities that he can harness to create effective communications.

A bit stressed

2009-08-12T08:51:00.015-06:00

There comes a time in every project where I am teetering between feeling like everything is totally out of control and very near complete disaster, and feeling the excitement of being so close to completing a significant benchmark. I'm there right now. And I'm also being a bit dramatic. Things are nowhere near 'crazy out of control', but there are SOOO many items going through my brain, that I'm having problems turning all the thoughts off for sleep.

The reason for the stress is because I have made a decision on a really cool intermediate challenge and I am going to make that announcement at the end of August. For now, know that a., it is VERY cool (like I already said), and b., involves partnering with an accomplished ocean rower, and c., it will be a record attempt (of course - right?) that we think we can totally kill. Because of schedule and weather issues, we have to depart close to October 1st, and that is only about 6 1/2 weeks away and I have SOOO many things to get finished before then! Add to this stress mixture the fact that I am on vacation for over 2 weeks between now and then, + the 100 mile ultramarathon in Lethbridge on September 11th which I am still training for, and trying to maintain my cycling training for this upcoming record attempt.

Here is a list of some of the stuff that needs to happen between now and then. If you thing you are able to assist in any way, please let me know.

Torque tube box in the hull finished and keel and drive leg installed and working. We received the completed keel post and drive leg from my buddy and Pedaltheocean sponsor Manny at Rohmec.com and it looks pretty good. Very beefy for sure. The drive leg gear boxes were manufactured and customized for me by MitrPak.
Rudder controls finished and working. We are 95% there now due to Kens EXCELLENT fabrication. We are using a single marine rated push-pull cable routed through the hull and under the arm rest to a lever on top of the arm rest in the cockpit - very slick and VERY SMOOTH action. For the ocean crossing I will install an auto steer servo slaved to the GPS.

The rudder tube is from Adam at Carbonfibertubeshop.com - another Pedaltheocean sponsor. Carbon Fiber Tube Shop makes the best carbon tubes with a huge selection of sizes - definitely better than making them in the shop.
This is a clamp with a steering horn for the rudder that I welded up

Some more weldments for the armrest steering lever
Hatches and Port lights installed. The two inside hatches have been semi attached. The others need to happen during body work to properly fair-in the leveled surfaces to fit the hatches and ports.
Join the cabin top to the hull. We need to finish the torque tube first. This is a box built-into the floor that will transmit forces from the keel into the bulheads then into the hull. This is also where the drive leg (pedals and prop) inserts into.
Install electronics. For this record attempt, we are going to go with a simplified electronics package. A navigation light, tracking device from our new sponsor SpiderTracks - check it out. Very cool! A few solar panels, and hand-held portable electronics with a manually operated water desalinator.
Trailer. I have purchased a boat trailer and I'm 50% of the way through making the modifications required to lift WiTHiN about 3 feet up off the bunks to clear the keel.
Body work - Ken has covered the bottom hull with micro and needs to sand it smooth, then apply anti-foul paint. He needs to do the same with the cabin top.

I have been thinking about neon green for a paint color.
The 80's neon colors are really making a come-back.
It's sort of reminiscent of the old 1960's muscle car, and I think a thick
black racing strip would really punch the 'muscle yacht' message home.
WiTHiN needs to be Outside magazine / Popular Science magazine cover shot worthy!
Dozens of smaller items like installing some cargo nets, installing the recumbent seat, a battery holder, a mast to raise the LED nav light, install cleats, etc, etc
Buy, acquire, find, make, invent items on my ever-growing list of supplies that we will require for the record attempt expedition.
Food - Pack 20 days worth of food.
Sea anchor - I need to get the sea anchor lines figured out. Below is a photo of my sea anchor on loan from my buddy and hero Jason Lewis from expedition360.com. I am honored to be using this anchor because Jason used it on pedal boat Moksha on his world-first circumnavigation of the planet by human power.
According to some information I found on the ocean rowing web sites,
this seems to be the standard configuration for a small boat. The sea anchor is used
to help keep the bow (or stern) pointed into bad weather, and to stop being blown off course by strong winds.
Web site - Get the new web site up and live before the end of August. The new site is being designed by Julia Lauer and Stephen Capp with snappy copy writing by Chris Keam. It's at that point when I will announce the record attempt expedition, the new charity, etc.
Plan two media days - one in Calgary at the end of September at Glenmore res just before we embark on our record attempt expedition, and one in the city where we will be launching from. The purpose of the media events is to promote the new charity, the record attempt and of course, PedalTheOean Pacific crossing in June.

The calendar and schedule is as follows:

End of August:
1. get WiTHiN into a lake for initial testing.
2. roll the new web site out
3. announce the charity and initiative
4. Announce the intermediate project record attempt expedition
End of September:
1. Have WiTHiN expedition ready
2. Media / press event in Calgary
3. Media / press event in departure city
Beginning of October (10 to 20 days):
1. RECORD ATTEMPT EXPEDITION!
Winter 2010:
1. Get WiTHiN ready for the Pacific crossing
2. Do some training trips on the west coast
June 2010:
1. Depart from Victoria, BC - destination HAWAII!!

Be careful what you wish for

2009-07-30T14:59:00.005-06:00

The photo above is from July 4 (almost 4 weeks ago) near Frank slide shortly after the start of a VERY long trail race - the 147 km Sinister 7 ultramarathon. My first attempt at running this distance resulted in having to drop out after about 19 hours and 120 km with severe blisters.

It has been a long time goal of mine to someday run 100 miles and I decided that I was going to go for it this summer. I started with a 50 mile race in Bellingham Washington and had an amazing race despite running off course and extending my run by about 90 minutes.

After that race, I felt I was ready to continue on, and registered for the almost-100 miler Sinister 7. Since that ended prematurely, I was possibly looking at a 100mileless summer. Once you start these races, you might as well keep going because you can use each ultra as a training stage for the next one. I immediately started looking for another ultramarathon and found the only one that fit our summer travel schedule - the Lost Soul Ultramarathon which is on September 11th and is a full 100 mile race. Of course, the race was full, so closed to new entries. So, I made the decision to give up the quest for this year and possibly go after it again after my Pacific ocean crossing next summer and started focusing on cycling training to get ready for the 2-man test-expedition in October. (South down the Pacific ocean from Vancouver Island to California).

Of course, I got the phone call this morning that my name which was on the Lost Soul ultra waiting list was accepted, so it looks like I'm running the Lost Soul!

I'd better start running again!!! 100 miles is a freaking LONG way to run. I'll hit it hard again this weekend in Whitefish on Big Mountain.

In other news, I wanted to show you some photos of the Kens awesome work on the crush zones for WiTHiN. The crush zones are the tips of the bow and stern that are solid foam and covered with carbon. The purpose is if I run into a log, dock or whatever, I will damage this section and not risk de-laminating the carbon from the sides of the hull or risk breaching the far bow and stern compartments.

The bow is completely wrapped in carbon BEFORE this additional foam tip is bonded on. The foam tip will also be covered in carbon. If the tip were to smash into something, then it would be crushed and cracked and (hopefully) leave the main hull intact. ie: any delaminating of the composite layer would be limited to the crush zone.

Crawling through hatches

2009-07-29T13:09:00.003-06:00

me in the bow storage compartment turned guest room

I had a great idea the other day while on a hike up Big Mountain. It occurred to me that WiTHiN is easily big enough to hold TWO people - one could sit in the cockpit and pedal while the other relaxes in the cabin spotting traffic or sleeping. The duo could switch off every 4 hours or so. If the weather ever got bad enough to have to sit it out on sea anchor, then there is plenty of room in the bow storage compartment for a sleeping bunk. Jason Lewis's pedal boat Moksha was very similar to WiTHiN, but slightly larger. He went around the world in Moksha and much of the time there were 2 people in the boat sharing the pedalling duties.

it is even possible to do a 180 in there - a bit tight, but it can be done.

I'm not suggesting that Pedaltheocean become a two-man expedition to cross the Pacific, but I am thinking that this could be a really great way for me to gain experience with the help of someone else with experience and who knows his way around ocean human powering.

This is a view from the cockpit seat into the bow storage compartment. The round hatch in the bulkhead is about 6.5 feet away.

So, what I am thinking of doing is to plan a mini-expedition from Victoria BC (or somewhere in the Pacific North West), south down the west coast of the US to San Fransisco (or somewhere sufficiently far). This mini-pedaltheocean-expedition would be a 2-man effort. We could plan 2 to 3 day legs between safe harbors to wait-out any especially bad weather and sort of play it by ear as we make our way south. There are plenty of coastguard stations along the coast, and plenty of ports.

I think a 2 to 3 week trip like this is exactly what I need to find my sea legs and learn more about exactly what it is going to take to pedal my butt all the way across to Hawaii. I'm thinking sort of October'ish time-frame for this 'wet road trip'.

This is the rear sleeping cabin. The round storage hatch in the bulkhead
at the back is about 6.5 feet away

Ken and I had WiTHiN out on the driveway today, so I thought I would hop in to experience how 'roomy' the bow storage compartment is. We put a large hatch in the forward bulkhead to accommodate a person crawling in there, and there is more than enough room to stretch out and have a nap. For the ocean crossing, I will need to use this area to store my food and equipment, but for the 'wet road trip', I think we have plenty of room to store supplies elsewhere (far bow and far stern compartments, seat storage, nicks and crannies here and there) and reserve the bow compartment for a sleeping mat.

me facing forward looking through the hatch

There is also PLENTY of room in the sleeping cabin to either stretch out and sleep, or sit up and read, work on the computer or spot traffic out the portlights. When sitting up in the sleeping cabin, I could easily see 380 degrees around me (there will be a rear portlight window as well as two on each side. When facing forward, I can see through the glass hatch in the bulkhead). When my 'guest' is enjoying the ride back there, the hatch could be open for ventilation, communication and general socializing with the other passengers. (passenger).

me facing the stern looking through the rear portlight

WiTHiN is off the stand

2009-07-24T15:58:00.004-06:00

WiTHiN upside down on a new stand. The bleeder protective covering has now been removed from the hull bottom

As far as big jobs go for right now, all that is left is building the drive leg / keel bay, carbon taping the exterior seems, and joining the cabin top. Paint & body work, sealing in ports and hatches, and installing hardware, steering, electronics, etc all happens after paint and body work.

Since the WiTHiN designer Stuart Bloomfield has been swamped with other work lately and hasn't had time to complete the drawings for the drive leg bay (a square box that also acts as a torque tube and will hold the drive leg and the keel), we need to find other jobs to do, so we removed the hull from the jig stand and rolled it out onto the drive way to finish up the exterior carbon taping.

Ken is filling the gaps between panels on the hull with epoxy / micro

My daughter Krista shot this awesome photo at the Grand Canyon

We had a great vacation in Vegas with the kids. Helen and I aren't gamblers, but we love the shows and hotels right now are super cheap. We took the kids to see Jersey Boys, Cirq, Blue Man Group, Lion King and Phantom. We also took a day and hit the Grand Canyon. It was over 43 degrees C each day - ugh!

Me on the nocom lowracer sporting my new summer hair cut

After the Sinister 7 ultramarathon a few weeks ago where I dropped out at 120 km, I searched for another 100 miler for this fall that fit into our summer schedule, but the races that I found were either full or the dates didn't work. So, I have decided to hang up my running shoes for this season and dust off the cycling shoes and it my cycling training big. I want to do a big training / testing trip in WiTHiN in fall / winter, so I want to be physically ready for it.

Helen and I are going to cycle 100 km to Banff tomorrow for our anniversary, then back on Sunday. I'm taking the new NoCom with the old BOB trailer on the back. It's a funny image - that NoCom is probably one of the fastest bikes in the world and it will be hauling about 50 pounds of clothes and gear on an old trailer that has seen many great days of touring!

Nocom lowracer with a BOB trailer

WiTHiN progress

2009-07-16T19:29:00.004-06:00

I've been posting fewer blogs showing progress of the human powered expedition boat WiTHiN, not because we haven't been making progress, but the progress isn't visually as impressive as it once was when we were making the big parts. Now it's small things that take a lot of time. For example, it took a couple of weeks to prepare all of the hatch and port openings. Each hole that we cut out of the panel needed to be reinforced with 12 layers of unidirectional carbon wrapped around the opening then capped with a layer of bi - this is VERY time consuming, but it's required to properly distribute forces around the opening.

It took a few days to make the rudder tube (pictured below), and a week or so to tape all of the seat panels, etc, etc, etc... But - we are definitely getting there.

We are now basically ready to build the torque tube that will hold the keel. Once that is in, and the rudder is finished (mostly done - also pictured below), it's time to fix the cabin top to the hull, tape it all up and start body work. Then ports and hatches are installed, then all of my equipment - water maker, GPS, AIS receiver, radio, solar panels, wind generator, etc, etc. My good friend Manny from Rohmec Industries is involved again by offering to machine the prop, parts of the drive leg from MitrPak, and the keel.

I am really aiming for water testing by the end of August. My goal is to have WiTHiN ready for sea trials in September / October out in Tofino again and I am trying to come up with some sort of intermediate challenge that will serve as a really good test of the boat, equipment and systems and as well as provide me that more needed experience. Maybe a multi-day - straight out into the Pacific, out and back trip? I was thinking about circumnavigating Vancouver Island, but that would be 20 days or more and I'm not sure I can take that much time. If you have any ideas, let me have them.

Below are some random progress shots:

Cabin top showing the reinforcements for the port cutouts

Inside the cockpit with view through the forward hatch

Piles and piles of hatches and port lights from Glenn at MarinerParts.com

The cabin top

The stern with the rudder shell. A stainless steel rudder tube fits through two plastic bushings pressed into this shell.

This is the bottom side of the stern top deck cover. The rudder shell fits into this cup.

Here is the rudder. It is a stainless tube with steel sections forming the rudder profile, then covered with micro / epoxy. The micro needs to be sanded smooth and to the exact shape, then covered with carbon.

The POWER of visualization

2009-07-16T09:32:00.005-06:00

I presented my keynote speech twice to two different groups over the last month - a group of graduating grade 9 students with faces of stone and a local Toast Masters group for their year end luncheon who seemed fascinated and engaged. Boy, life as a motivational speaker really keeps the ego in check! After speaking to the grade 9 students, I was ready to quit. I'm not saying that they didn't enjoy my talk - I'm really not sure. As a rule, when you are 15 years old, and in a group of your peers, you don't show emotion - you don't smile, you don't nod your head, and you certainly don't laugh, especially when an adult is talking to you. So of course, I automatically assume the worse and think they hate me. With that kind of attitude, getting through a 45 minute speech is quite a challenge! I am told that this perception is all in my head, but I can't help it. That sort of goes with the territory - I am only as good as my last performance and unless I have my audience on the edge of their seats - and VISIBLY engaged and entertained, then I have failed.

Thank god for Toast Masters! I was chosen to be their annual year end luncheon keynote speaker this year and their response really gave me that desperately needed shot in the arm. One attendee actually came up to me after my keynote and told me that it was the best speech he had ever heard. Wow. In a discussion afterword, people were sharing their new 'Bold' goals with me and I was DELIGHTED! This is exactly what I aim to achieve from each speech - my objective with every speech is to change your attitude about what you want to accomplish in your life. To convince you that ANYTHING is possible if you believe in yourself. What a thrill it was to for me to see and hear how I might have effected the lives of a few dozen strangers - even in some very small way.

Here is a couple of short video clips from a recent speech I gave to GCA:

In my speech, I talk about the power of a strong, clear vision of your success and how that can actually create it's own reality - sometimes, seemingly without any action on your part. I think when we form these focused visions of our success, they tend to keep us on track and act as our road maps on our journeys. When we form these strong visuals, we make subconscious decisions on our journeys that support our visions. Then our visions come true, and in a way we don't even know how we did it. For many years, my vision was the cover of Popular Science magazine featuring the Cheetah human powered vehicle that had set the world speed record of 68 miles per hour. After one failed attempt in Alabama, I was finally successful in Eureka, Ca and set my own world record by travelling the most distance in 24 hours by human power in my own human powered vehicle which I named Critical Power. My vision had come true - and it came true to an extent that was even a bit freaky. I was astounded when I actually ended up on the cover of that very same magazine - Popular Science. And this happened through no action on my part, or anyone else that I know. That is what a powerful vision can do for you. I got a chance to learn a bit more as to exactly how these magical visions can effect and guide us on our journeys during a walk across a glass platform suspended 4000 feet above the Grand Canyon last week.

Helen and I just got back from a few days in Las Vegas where we took our kids Cody and Krista to a few shows. For me, it was a great chance to relax and recuperate after the brutal 90 mile Sinister 7 ultramarathon. The heat was insane - it was over 110 degrees (43 degrees C) every day! We took a day trip to see the West rim of the Grand Canyon and since we were there, decided to try out the new Sky Walk - a 20 meter glass sidewalk suspended directly over a 4000 foot drop down to the Canyon floor. It was pretty cool.

But what was really cool - to me anyhow, was how I felt as I walked across the glass floor. At first it was a bit freaky, but I soon become adjusted and walking across the glass platform while looking directly down 4000 feet to the canyon floor became quite 'normal'. However, it changed when I suggested that we stand on the side of the platform over a beam and 'pretend' that we were standing on a ledge looking down through the glass to the bottom of the canyon. Now, I suggested that we imagine having to jump 4 feet across the glass to the beam on other side of the platform. Wow - that was VERY difficult to do. Suddenly, everything was different and the glass was no longer that safe platform it was only seconds earlier.

What changed? We had formed a new VISION, and that new visual image we had created in our minds of standing on the edge of a cliff, risking a fall to our death became our new reality. It was a negative vision that resulted in exaggerating our fears. If a few seconds of imagining ourselves in a very scary situation can have this kind of effect, image what a few months - years - a LIFETIME of imagining ourselves in a successful situation can have!

What is your vision? Have you formed a strong, clear image of your success, and do you reinforce that vision daily with some powerful, focused thought?

I need your help:

One of my objectives with regard to my various adventures and misadventures is to provide content for a speaking career that I am trying to develop. As you can imagine, in this economy, finding work as a keynote speaker is VERY tough - especially for a new speaker like myself.

I just had a conversation with a company that I have hired to improve my Google search ranking for keywords "motivational speaker" and he told me that the most important factor in determining my rank in Google search is the number of links to my site from other web sites.

If you have a web site, please link to my speaking site http://www.human-power.com . If you can do this for me, place a link called "motivational speaker", and link it to my home page http://www.human-power.com Specifically, this is the html code:

<a href="http://www.human-power.com">Motivational Speaker