Last week, our friends at OAR Northwest shoved off from Dakar, Senegal en route to Miami, FL, USA. A daring trip to make in a rowboat! From their website, “This ocean-crossing demands that the rowing team demonstrate expertise in meteorology, navigation, nutrition, oceanography, technology, shipboard and oceanic emergencies, expedition planning, sports medicine, interpersonal communication, leadership and, of course, perseverance.” They are not only rowing thousands of miles, their boat is also outfitted with scientific equipment and they plan to use their journey as an educational tool for schoolkids around the world.
Their latest blog post indicates that they had an “unbreakable” oar break when the boat was hit with a big beam wave. They had to drop sea anchor for a while, but ultimately pieced together their spare oar and it’s performing well thus far. Making ocean-worthy equipment is no joke, that’s for sure. Their boat is equipped with GHBoats ocean rowing seats, so we’ve got a special place in our hearts for building equipment that’s designed to take quite a punishment – but it’s a humbling reminder that nothing is infallible.
We’ll update you when any news or blog posts that are particularly compelling come up, but to follow their journey on your own, check out the OAR Northwest blog. And don’t miss Jordan & Patrick’s interview with King5 news!