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AFP - Getty Images, file
British female adventurer Sarah Outen sits in the narrow cabin of her rowing boat "Gulliver" in a suburb of Tokyo, April 11, 2012, before heading across the Pacific to Canada.
Updated at 5:50 p.m. ET: A 27-year-old woman trying to row solo across the Pacific Ocean was “holding on” hoping for rescue after her 23-foot boat was hit by a tropical storm.
The storm, named Mawar, rolled Sarah Outen’s boat Gulliver several times, damaging the vessel, according to her blog. A Japanese Coast Guard plane was staying overhead “to keep an eye on Sarah” while a Coast Guard boat went to pick her up. It was expected to arrive Friday.
As the storm hit Wednesday, Outen, from Rutland, England, said on her Twitter account that she had “written ‘SMILE’ on one hand and ‘BREATHE’ on the other. Both will help when I am scared in the storm.”
At about 9:50 a.m. ET Thursday, she wrote her cabin was soaked and she was now “wrapped in Union Jack [British flag] in place of soggy” sleeping bag and “holding on.”
On her blog, London 2 London via the World, her support team wrote they had spoken to her and she was “safe and doing well.”
Outen’s Pacific row was just one leg of a planned round-the-world journey by bicycle, rowing boat, and kayak that started on April 1 last year.
Fellow British Rower Charlie Martell was also awaiting rescue in his boat Blossom, the London 2 London website said in an update Thursday. Martell is approximately 280 miles northeast of Outen. The Japanese Coast Guard was keeping an eye on him, too.
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Leave a Comment:
I hope she is well but I am concerned about the cost of these adventures that the taxpayers are forced to pick up.
...but wait a minute, right behind her head, scrawled on the bulkhead, is the phrase "The Journey is the Reward"
make up your mind!
So, ummm, who gets to pick up the tab for the rescue?
I hope she is rescued, and to each their own, but rowing across the ocean is foolish. That's my opinion.
People who have these great "adventures" on their bucket list should also have the means to pay for rescues. You want to climb that mountain or travel around the world, more power to you. But don't expect you peoples tax money to get you out of a jam.
Tax payers? She'll get billed for the rescue. Nothing in life is free.
No, your wrong.....she wont get a bill for this rescue. None of the world Coast Guards charge people for this type of resuce. If people were sent the bill then people would sometimes not ask for help because they feared the cost and this would result in more loss of life. Just think of you were a crew on some sailing vessel and the capain fearing the cost would not call mayday instead tries to brave out the storm but the vessel and crew are lost. Some adventures such as climbing Mt McKinley in Alaska require the climbers to post bond to cover the cost of rescue but in the case of some wayward sailor it really would not be possible. As Im a sailor and commercial fisherman in Alaska I well understand the many hazards at sea, the US Coast Guard has my deepest respect and its tax money well spent for their budget. Instead of mocking this young women we should all take a good look at just what happened here and give thanks to everyone who saved her making sure we all do our best to not let this tragic event happen to us. Although many might not agree with her venture, this women has courage and vision, the drive to push towards the edge. Something rare in todays youth. I would sail with her anyday.
Do you have to be rich to be stupid, or can I try swimming around the world?
Folks worried about your precious tax dollars: Unless you pay your tax dollars to Japan, don't worry about it, move along. Nothing to see here.
Why don't all of you put a sock in it? There's something to be said for the spirit of humankind. Her attempt to circle the world speaks on behalf of an effort that some have taken that resulted in the phone in your hand, the computer in front of your face and human footprints on the moon. Most aren't up for the challenge, but for the few that are, we as an intelligent species owe to ourselves and one another to assist those who dare to try in these endeavors. Tax dollars. Give me a break, people.
HAHA...before I even finished the article, I knew people would b1tch about who would be paying for the rescue. To those of you that fall into this group: Life has much more to offer than money. You people wouldn't be so cynical and miserable if you had half spirit and drive this woman does, but you spend your time complaining about money.