London2London Update: Sarah's In China And Headed Towards The Sea

It has been nearly five months since Sarah Outen set out on her London2London via The World expedition, so we're long over due for an update on her progress. As you might recall, London2London is an attempt to circumnavigate the planet completely under human power, and considering Sarah has already rowed across the Indian Ocean, she knows a thing or two about human-powered adventures.

When she began her journey, Sarah started in London, and paddled down the River Thames, and across the English Channel, making landfall in France. After that, she jumped on her bike and started along ride across Europe and Asia. She's made great progress however, and she's already into China and making her way towards the Pacific Coast, where she'll eventually kayak to Japan, and then row across the North Pacific, eventually arriving in Vancouver.

As you can imagine, it has been a very busy and eventful five months for Sarah, with lots of adventures on her route. Although she has been joined by a few others along the way, she's currently riding alone, somewhere in eastern China. She's well ahead of schedule however, and is likely to take some down time for awhile after this epic ride, as she doesn't expect to start rowing the Pacific until the spring of 2012. In a recent blog post however, she did show off her new boat, the Gulliver, which she'll use in that crossing.

Below you'll find a great video of Sarah riding in China which will give you a sense of what it is like for her on the road day in and day out. The video was shot back in July, but shows her taking on a rather long and tough climb on her bike that is built more for strength than speed.

Stay tuned for more updates from Sarah as she nears the end of her first stage and gets ready to hit the water.

Row To The Pole Team Reaches Destination

A few weeks back I posted a story about the Row To The Pole Team, which was made up of six crew members who were attempting to become the first people to row to the Magnetic North Pole. At the time, they were just setting out from Resolute Bay, Canada and were taking to the icy waters of the Arctic Ocean. Now, more than three weeks later, they are approaching the finish line.

The team, which is led by polar explorer Josh Wishart, has battled cold weather, high winds, and plenty of drift ice on the way to their destination. In total, they will have covered approximately 450 miles on their way to the Pole, which is located in the waters of the Arctic Ocean itself. Reading the updates from their blog, it is clear that his hasn't been an easy trip, as weather conditions haven't been favorable much of the time.

Officially, the team is rowing to the GPS coordinates of 78°35.7N 104°11.9W, which is actually the location of the Magnetic North Pole back in 1996. Unlike the Geographic North Pole, which is located at 90ºN, the Magnetic Pole is moving, and has continued to do so for some time. Now, 15 years after it was recorded at this location, it has now drifted further north and east. In 2005, the Pole was estimated to be located at 82.7°N 114.4°W, and is now believed to be moving towards Russia at a speed of about 35 miles per year. That means that the destination that the team is actually rowing to is nowhere near where the atual Magnetic North Pole is located. This has, as you can imagine, caused a stir amongst some in the adventure community.

So, while I congratulate the team on reaching their destination, as rowing through the Arctic Ocean is never an easy feat, I can't help but wonder what it is they have actually accomplished. They did reach a point on the map, but that point doesn't really hold any kind of significant relevance to any other. I salute their adventurous spirit and attitude, and I commend them for facing the elements to complete their voyage, but I'm not sure that they actually achieved what they set out to do, which is to Row To The Pole.

The video below shows what the conditions are like for them today as they approach the finish. They've left behind much of the ice and the winds have calmed some as well.

Ocean Rowing: Roz Shares Her Top Five Ocean Moments

It has been awhile since I posted an update on Roz Savage, who is now on the 99th day of her row across the Indian Ocean. The famed ocean rower set out from Fremantle, Australia back on April 13th, and after working out a few issues with her equipment, she was soon off to conquer another massive body of water. According to her wonderfully insightful and well written blog updates, progress has been good, although there have been some rough days here and there. Strong winds and ocean currents can make these types of journeys very frustrating, and at times, Roz can row all day just to end up back where she started.

To celebrate her impending 100th day out on the water, Roz made a special post to her blog today. Having already crossed both the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, and now well into her Indian Ocean crossing as well, she has accumulated a lot of time out on the open water. During that time, she has also been witness to a lot of amazing things, which she shares in her "Top Five Ocean-Tastic Moments." The list includes such highlights as her encounter with "flying squid" on Stage 2 of her Pacific Row and close encounters with Whale Sharks on that same voyage.

At the moment, it is impossible to know how far along Roz is on her current voyage. In order to avoid pirates in the Indian Ocean, she has elected to not publish her GPS coordinates or report too much on her progress in general. You can read about her decision to do this in a previous blog post, and it makes perfect sense for her to play it safe in these dangerous waters. A few days back however, she did reveal that she is at the half-way point of the journey, which was a call for a small celebration at least.

Extrapolating from that piece of information, we can estimate that Roz will reach her final destination sometime in early November. She is expected to make landfall near Mumbai, India, where she'll enjoy a little time on dry land. At least until she's off on a planned second crossing of the Atlantic next year. Clearly this girl enjoys her time behind the oars.

The Row To The Pole Is Underway!

Over the weekend the Row to the Pole expedition officially got underway when the six-man crew, led by polar explorer and ocean rower Jock Wishart, set off from Resolute Bay in Canada. The team will now spend an estimated six weeks out on the Arctic Ocean, as they attempt to complete the first journey to the Magnetic North Pole by rowboat.

Wishart is joined on this journey by veteran sailors and explorers that include Mark Delstanche, Billy Gammon, Rob Sleep, David Mans, and Mark Beaumont. The team will row in three-hour shifts with the hopes of covering the 450-mile distance in as short of time possible.

According to the dispatches on the expedition website, everything is going better than expected at the moment. The weather has been great for their launch, and the winds have remained low, with temperatures in the 55ºF/13ºC region. That isn't likely to last however, as even in the summer, the weather can be unpredictable in the Arctic. Their latest dispatch reports that they have successfully crossed the Wellington Channel, a leg that they had predicted would be more challenging than it actually turned out to be.

Their first two days on the water have been mostly trouble free, with just a few chunks of floating ice to avoid. The crew has taken that opportunity to get use to their vessel however, and they now feel like they've learned the "personality" of the boat, which will serve them well moving into the more challenging sections of the row.

Not to be confused with the Geographic North Pole, which is located at 90ºN, the Magnetic North Pole is the spot in the Northern Hemisphere that our compasses point to. The location of Magnetic North continues to shift over time and, according to the Row to the Pole website,  is currently located at 78°35.7N 104°11.9W. 


Of course, a journey such as this one is made a bit more manageable thanks to climate change, which has reduced the size of the pack ice and made the Northwest Passage more navigable, particularly in the summer months. Still, this will be a difficult journey for the crew the further they head north, and ice is likely to still be an issue the closer they get to their goal. 


I'll post updated on their progress in the days ahead. Good luck to the team!

Olly Hicks Gears Up For Global Row 2012

Remember Olly Hicks? He was the young adventurer who attempted to circumnavigate Antarctica in a rowboat back in 2009. Ultimately, due to a number of reasons, he was forced to abandon that voyage, but now he is back and gearing up to give it another go next year.

In his first  attempt, Olly set out from Tasmania to challenge the Southern Ocean, but soon found the conditions in that body of water were fickle and conspiring to work against him. The wind and currents made it nearly impossible for Hicks to make progress, and after weeks out on the water, he eventually conceded defeat, due in no small part to design flaws on his boat that made it less than ideal for the waters in which he was traveling.

Since that time, Olly has been working with two veteran naval designers on ways to overcome the flaws in his original boat design. With those new designs complete, he now feels ready to start planning his next attempt at the Global Row 2012, as the expedition has been dubbed. The new boat incorporates some unique features that will make it better suited for the conditions in the Southern Ocean, and the design team feels that Olly can expect to average 50-60 nautical miles per day. He'll put those estimates to the test when he returns to the water in October of next year, departing from Tasmania once again.

The voyage is expected to take somewhere between 18-22 months to complete, during which time Hicks will cover more than 18,000 nautical miles. The first phase of the journey will take Olly across the Pacific Ocean to South Georgia Island, where he plans to wait out the winter before resuming. That stage is expected to take approximately 160 days to complete. After overwintering and resupplying in South Georgia, he'll take to the Atlantic Ocean and continue around the globe, before arriving back in Tasmania. If successful in his venture, Hicks will become the first person to circumnavigate the Southern Ocean by rowboat.

While Olly loves a good adventure and wants to set the record, he's also making the row for two of his favorite charities as well. He hopes that his efforts will help raise funds for both the Hope and Homes for Children organization as well as the Save Our Seas Foundation.

While October 2012 seems like a long way off at this point, Olly is about to begin the all important search for sponsors for the Global Row 2012. With that in mind, a new website will be launching soon, and you can keep up with Olly's progress on his Facebook page right now.

Stay tuned for more as Olly ramps up for his next big adventure next year.

Mark Beaumont Joins Team Rowing To Magnetic North Pole

Long distance cyclist Mark Beaumont has ditched his bike in favor of a rowboat and oars. The man who once cycled around the world and rode from Alaska to Ushuaia, will set out on six-week long epic rowing expedition to the Magnetic North Pole that is scheduled to begin later this summer.

I first wrote about his row to the magnetic pole last summer, when the team was still being built. The expedition will be led by explorer Jock Wishart and will depart from Resolute Bay and make its way 450 miles north into the icy waters of the Arctic Ocean. If all goes as planned, the team will set off on August 1st, and they are busily finishing up their training now.

According to his website, Beaumont was asked to join the rowing team by the BBC, who will have him film the journey while also taking his part in rowing as well. The expedition hopes to demonstrate how global climate change has impacted the polar regions, and capturing that on film will help with that cause.

In addition to Wishart and Beaumont, the specially designed arctic rowboat will also be manned by Mark Delstanche, Billy Gammon, Rob Sleep, and David Mans, all of whom have extensive experience on the water.

This should be a great adventure to follow when it gets underway in a few weeks time.  Find out more about the expedition at RowToThePole.com.

Vancouver Island Speed Circumnavigation Attempt

Long distance paddler Colin Angus is attempting to break the speed record for a solo, circumnavigation around Vancouver Island. He's hoping to cover the 1150km (714.5 mile) journey in less than 16.5 days. He's now halfway through the attempt, and has passed the 600km mark and is now headed toward the finish line.

You can follow Colin's adventure on his website, AngusAdventures.com, where you'll find daily updates on his progress and a SPOT tracker feed of his current location. As of this writing, the SPOT doesn't seem to be tracking accurately, but hopefully that's just a temporary glitch.

Reading the updates on his progress, it doesn't seem like this has been an easy row for Colin thus far. Not only is he dealing with painful tendonitis in his arm, he has also had to contend with difficult headwinds and turbulent waters. He has also been forced to row further out to sea than you would think was necessary in order to avoid submerged reefs that can create massive waves – sometimes 50 feet high, that could potentially put a premature end to the expedition.

For Colin, and his wife Julie, a rowing challenge like this one is old hat. They once rowed from Scotland to Syria, covering more than 7000km (4350 miles) in the process. Back in 2004, this adventurous couple also set out on a human powered circumnavigation of the planet, covering the land on foot, bikes and skies, while rowing across the Bering Strait and the Atlantic Ocean. They completed that journey two years later, and have continued their pursuit of outdoor adventure ever since.

If everything goes as planned, and his tendonitis doesn't get any worse, Colin should complete his journey sometime early next week. He's setting a pace that should allow him to break the record, but weather and conditions on the water can still play a role. Stay tuned!

Thanks to Julie for sending me the tip on her husband's adventure!

Ocean Rowing: Indian Ocean Rower Rescued While Roz Stays On Course

The Indian Ocean has been the site of several ongoing attempts for rowers to cross that body of water, and while some are continuing to make progress toward their goal, others have come face to face with the harsh realities of life out on the water.

Take for example Irish rower Keith Whelan, who was forced to abandon his attempt last week after his boat was stuck by a giant wave off the coast of Australia. The 29-year old was below deck at the time, and fell, striking his head on a bolt in his cabin. The bolt cut the side of his head, and while he wasn't knocked unconscious,  he was worried about exposure and possible infection.

With that in mind, Whelan made the decision to end his trip, and called home to the U.K. to let his support crew know he was pulling the plug. They then alerted Australian authorities who put out a call for help, which was answered by a freighter passing through the region. He was then picked up and taken back to land.

Reportedly Whelan was quite upset that he had to end his journey early. He was rowing across the ocean to raise funds for the Keep a Child Alive organization, which works to assist children and families that are struggling with AIDS/HIV, and it was tough for him to give up on pursing that goal. Also, for some odd reason, he was making the row completely naked. Presumably, he put some clothes on before he was picked up by the cargo ship.

Meanwhile, Roz Savage is continuing her attempt to cross the Indian Ocean, despite the fact that her GPS chart plotter died on her last week. She has a back-up GPS device of course, but this one had been with her on most of her journey across the Pacific Ocean, and it was a constant companion that counted down the miles to the her final destination.

In true Roz fashion, she seems very upbeat and happy with her progress, although some days are more challenging than others. When the winds and currents are working against her, sometimes all she can do is row all day just to stand still. As of today, she is 41 days into her journey, and still has a long way to go, but this is old hat for Roz, who has already conquered two other oceans.

The four person crew aboard the Indian Runner 4 are also still out on the water and hoping to complete their objective of crossing the ocean in record time. They've now been rowing for 53 days, and the plann is to reach Mauritius in less than 68 days, which would establish the new record. With 884 miles still to go, that is going to be a tough hurdle to overcome, but it appears that the crew is well on their way to completing their epic Indian Ocean crossing.

Ocean Rowing: One Indian Ocean Row Ends, Another Resumes

It seems the Indian Ocean is the source of all kinds of interesting news at the moment, with a couple of challenging rows just getting underway and another recently coming to an end. This is the season for those kinds of aquatic adventures on that great big body of water, where rowers scheduled their journeys around cyclones and monsoons.

We'll start with the fantastic voyage that ended last week, when Erden Eruç became the first person to row from mainland Australia to mainland Africa via the Indian Ocean. Erden reached Angoche, Mozambique on April 20th after setting out from Madagascar where he took shelter during the stormy season.

Successfully crossing the Indian Ocean is just the most recent step in Erden's great Around-n-Over adventure which is a human powered circumnavigation of the globe. He has been riding his bike and rowing his way around the globe since 2007, and has now crossed both the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Along the way, he is also climbing six summits as well. He has already knocked off Denali and Kosciuszko in Australia, and now that he has made landfall in Africa, he'll make his way to Kilimanjaro as well. Following that climb, he'll hit the road once again, crossing Africa on his bike before rowing the Atlantic.

While Erden's great Indian Ocean adventure has come to an end, Roz Savage's is continuing. As I mentioned last week, Roz was towed into Geraldton, Australia for a few minor repairs and adjustments to her boat before she hits open water, where small issues can become BIG problems. Eager to get back underway, Roz set out from Geraldton again on Saturday and made good progress on her first few days back on the water. Yesterday however, she noticed an issue with her solar panels charing the onboard batteries, which in turn power the boats electronic devices, Roz's laptop, sat phone, and so on. So, she once again elected to pull into shore for a very quick fix. This time, it would be at the very last port of call before facing 4000 miles of open ocean.

With the latest repairs taken care of, Roz can now get down to what she does best – rowing oceans. Hopefully the next time I post an update, she'll be well on her way to adding another big body of water to her resume.

Ocean Rowing: Roz Back On Land, Hopes To Resume Soon (Updated!)

Ocean rower Roz Savage had to put a temporary halt on her attempt to row across the Indian Ocean a few days back thanks to an equipment failure. She is back on dry land at the moment, and hurriedly working to correct the problem, with an eye on returning to the ocean by as early as this weekend.

While Roz had rowed some 350 miles, due to ocean currents and winds, she was still just 100 miles out form her starting point in Fremantle, Australia, when her automatic desalinization unit malfunctioned. That device is an ocean rowers lifeline, making fresh water daily while out on the ocean. Without it, she faced a very long trip during which she would have to use her hand pump to clean the water manually, which would take upwards of two hours per day. Not a great proposition when still have more than 4000 miles and months at sea to go.

In her twitter feed, Roz says things are back on track, and the weather is looking good, for a weekend re-launch of the expedition. Repairs to her boat are nearly complete and it looks like she should be ready to hit the water, this time setting out from Geraldton. Hopefully, this time everything will go as expected.

Update: Just a quick update to this post to correct a simple mistake. I heard from Roz directly last night, and she told me that her desalinization unit hadn't malfunctioned just yet, but that the locker in which it was kept was taking on water a bit too regularly. She indicated that her return to shore was a preemptive move to fix the problem on her boat, and seal the locker more fully, before heading back out onto the water. She also mentioned that she hoped to get back underway at 10 AM local time Saturday morning.

Good luck Roz, we're all pulling for you!

Ocean Rowing: The Indian Runner Is Off!

This morning, Team Indian Ocean 3100 set off from Australia and are now out on the open water, where they'll attempt to set a new record for crossing the Indian Ocean under human power. The team, consisting of James Kayll, Ed Wells, Tom Kelly, and Ollie Wells, now faces 3100 nautical miles of rough seas as they attempt to finish their expedition in under 68 days.

According to their most recent blog post, the boys hit rowed out of Geraldton, along the east coast of Australia, this morning at 6:30 AM local time. Their boat, the Indian Runner, is 29-feet in length and features two oar stations, allowing two men to be rowing at all times. The hull features a carbon fiber shell, and there is room aboard to store all of their food and supplies. A water maker will purify sea water for the team, who will consume up to six liters per day, and solar panels on the roof will power all of their gear, including a satellite tracking system that will keep us informed of their progress.

The team is also competing in the Indian Ocean Rowing Race, perhaps the toughest ocean rowing competition in the world. The race's 3100 mile course ends at the island of Mauritius. Considering that there are only two boats in the race however, and the other one is a two person affair, the only thing they're competing against is the clock. To win that battle, they'll need to reach the finish line in 68 days, 19 hours, and 40 minutes.

Ocean Rowing: Roz Caught On Video Prior To Launch

A few days ago, Roz Savage set off on her next big ocean adventure, this time taking on the Indian Ocean on a 4+ month, 4000 mile long journey. She's been at sea for a few days already, and for the most part, it is going as planned. Today was a bit of a struggle, with the high winds pushing her backwards, but by using her sea anchor and paddling to make up lost ground, Roz ended up back where she started, which is all you can ask for on some days out on the water.

Before she left Freemantle for the open ocean, Roz filmed a video, which you'll find below. It shows the start of the journey, with Savage meeting with local press and receiving well wishes before she rowed out of the harbor and started the very long, and difficult, journey to Mumbai, India. The video does a great job of showing you what it is like on the boat, just how big it is, and the challenges of getting it moving. For anyone who hasn't seen Roz in action before, this is a good place to start.

Ocean Rowing: Roz Is Off, Won't Be Alone On The Indian Ocean

As I mentioned a few days ago, Roz Savage set off this morning from Fremantle, Australia for Mumbai, India in her 23-foot long rowboat. She'll now spend upwards of four months at sea, covering over 6300km (3914 miles), as she traverses yet another ocean. The 43-year old Roz is once again using her rowing efforts to raise awareness about global climate change and other threats to the health of the oceans.

The Indian Ocean is just the latest aquatic challenge for Roz, who has already successfully rowed across the Atlantic and the Pacific, which she accomplished in three stages. The Indian is the last of the "Big Three" that she has yet to conquer, and it brings its own unique set of dangers, including notoriously bad storms, massive waves, and the threat of pirates. Due to the last of those threats, Roz is keeping her whereabouts a bit more secret this time out, and isn't giving clues as to where she'll arrive in India.

It turns out she won't be the only one rowing the Indian Ocean this year. Four adventurous young blokes are also preparing to set out on their own rowing journey. The members of Team Indian Ocean 3100, James Kayell, Ed Wells, Tom Kelly, and Ollie Wells, hope to set out later this week as well with the hopes of setting a new speed record for crossing this challenging pond. Their route will cover at least 3100 miles and they hope to complete that journey in less than 68 days.

According to their latest blog post, their boat, the Indian Runner 4, has cleared quarantine and they hoped to be taking her out for sea trials and an overnight on the water before they set off. With that out of the way, and the boat fully stocked for their journey, they'll get underway when the weather permits. The team is also setting out from Fremantle, which is the preferred launching point for Indian Ocean adventures.

Good luck to both Roz and Team Indian Ocean 3100. We'll be following along!

Ocean Rowing: Roz Prepares To Row Another Ocean

After conquering the Atlantic and the Pacific, ocean rower and environmental activist Roz Savage is preparing to hit the open water once again. This time she has set the Indian Ocean as her goal, which when successful, would give her the triple crown of ocean rowing.

If all goes according to schedule, Roz will set out from Fremantle in Australia on Wednesday morning local time, and turn her boat towards Mubai, India. The route is roughly 6300km (3914 miles) in length and will take an estimated 4.5 months to complete, with the notoriously rough seas of the Indian Ocean working against her.

That isn't Roz's only concern however. She faces the very real threat of pirates in the Indian Ocean, which isn't deterring her in any way, although she is taking steps to remain safe. For instance, on her other rowing adventures she used a tracking system so that we could follow her progress along the way. No such system will exist on this journey, and she's remaining mum on her final landing destination to help keep the pirates off her track.

One thing that hasn't changed with her Indian Ocean adventure however is Roz's determination to get her environmental message out to the masses. Spending nearly a year of her life out on the ocean has made her keenly aware of the health of those waters and of the planet in general. That has made her a tireless advocate for protecting our planet and doing what ever we can to aid the environment. She even launched her Eco-Heroes initiative as a grassroots way to get people involved.

Even after adding the Indian Ocean to her resume, Roz won't quite be done rowing just yet. Her website lists another Atlantic crossing, from New Jersey to London, as part of her plans for 2012. Beyond that, we'll have to wait and see, but clearly there she loves a good challenge!

Sarah Outen Launches London2London Expedition

Back in December I posted a story about ocean rower Sarah Outen's plans to circumnavigate the globe under her own power. Sarah, who had successfully rowed solo across the Indian Ocean in 2009, had made it known that she would be riding her bike and paddling her way around the planet, an ambitious endeavor to say the least. Last Friday, she kicked off that journey, setting out on what she calls her London2London via The World expedition.

Sarah started this latest adventure by paddling under the London Tower Bridge, which serves as both the starting and finish line. From there, she's now traveling by kayak down the Thames River and then across the English Channel, where she'll get out of the water and hop on her bike. Over the course of the rest of this year, she'll be pedaling across Europe and Asia, where she'll eventually reach the Pacific Ocean. When she does, she'll get back into a boat and row her way across the Northern Pacific to Vancouver. That stage will be followed up with another leg on her bike, which will take her across the U.S. and Canada, eventually ending in New York City, where she'll get in her boat one last time, and row across the Northern Atlantic. If all goes according to plan, she'll be paddling back under the London Tower Bridge sometime in 2013.

It has been an eventful first couple of days for Sarah, mostly due to the media attention surrounding her launch. Examining her expedition tracker however, shows that she has completed the first paddling leg this morning, and has successfully crossed the Channel. She'll now be climbing aboard her bike for the first really long and difficult stage of the trip. It'll be several weeks before she's out of Europe, and once she leaves those friendly confines behind, the real challenges will begin.

You can follow Sarah's progress on her blog, and if you read her updates from the Indian Ocean a few years back, you no doubt recall how interesting her reports can be. I'm sure these updates will be no exception, and I look forward to keeping track of how many Mars bars she consumes along the way. They're her favorite source of fuel on these calorie burning adventures that she keeps finding herself on.

I'll posted updates as Sarah makes progress on what is sure to be a long, yet amazing journey.

Nat Geo Adventure Presents Ten Top Female Adventurers

Yesterday was International Women's Day and to celebrate, National Geographic Adventure posted a fantastic list of Ten Top Women Adventurers with a number of ladies that we love getting a little recognition for their adventurous spirit.

Unsurprisingly, topping the list was Edurne Pasaban, who was named the People's Choice for Adventurer of the Year by Nat Geo a few weeks back. We all know Edurne's story by now, and she is certainly a worthy member of this list having spent nine years climbing all 14 of the world's 8000-meter peaks.

Joining Edurne on the list are Jessica Watson, the teenager who solo-circumnavigated the globe, ocean rower Roz Savage, who is busy preparing to take on the Indian Ocean, and climber Steph Davis, who seems to like to fall off of things as much as she likes climbing them. I'll let you discover the rest of the list for yourself, suffice as to say that it is populated with some fantastic athletes and explorers, regardless of their gender.

Wanted: Operations Manager For Rower Attempting Circumnavigation of Antarctica!

Looking for a new job? Are you tired of the day-to-day grind of your current occupation? Want to work closely with an outdoor adventurer and explorer? If you said yes to any of the above, then I just might have the gig for you. It seems that Ollie Hicks is gearing up for another attempt at rowing around Antarctica, and he is in need of a good operations manager. Who ever gets the role will have an important position to fill, taking care of a lot of Ollie's needs while he is out on the water once again.

The details of the position have been posted at EscapeTheCity.org and can be accessed by clicking here. The first thing you'll need to know is that you must be living in the UK to take on the job, which pays £20k a year. (That translates to about US $31,500 for those scoring at home.) The job description was posted on January 6th and there is a deadline of February 19th for those who are interested.

There are two things that I take away from this. 1) I really need to be in the UK so I can get a job like this one, and 2) It's good to hear that Ollie is planning his return to the water. For those who didn't follow his adventure last time, Hicks had planned to make the first rowing circumnavigation of Antarctica, and set out to do just that. After having some issues with the Australian government letting him depart from Tasmania, he quickly made a change of plans and set out from New Zealand instead. But, he ran into issues with the design of his boat that made progress nearly impossible in the challenging and cold waters of the Southern Ocean. Hopefully he has resolved those issues with the boat, which he lovingly dubbed the "Flying Carrot," and he'll have a real, legitimate chance of completing his expedition this time out. Either way, it won't be an easy one.

I'll posted updates on Ollie's progress as he gets closer to getting underway.

Outside's Top Ten Adventure Stories For 2010

Yesterday we had an interesting little story on the Outside Blog that listed the Five Greatest Adventure Hoaxes of All Time. Today, they follow that up with their selection for the ten biggest stories in adventure for 2010.

Unlike the list of hoaxes, I won't give them all away here, but suffice as to say, you can predict what a number of those stories will be. Amongst the big adventure news items that made the cut were Alex Honnold's various climbing efforts, which included a new speed record on a couple of back-to-back climbs on El Cap, amongst other things. The continuing battle with performance enhancing drugs in the world of competitive cycling also gets a mention, as does the young kids who lit up climbing the world, like Jordan Romero, who topped out on Everest at the age of 13. Of course, my favorite story of the year, Ed Stafford's completion of his Source-to-Sea trek along the length of the Amazon, also gets a nod.

The top two stories on Outside's list don't rank as high with me simply because I don't follow surfing all that closely. I know in that world they are big stories, but I felt there were others that deserved higher mention, such as Roz Savage's completion of her solo row across the Pacific or Eric Larsen visiting all three "Poles' in a single year. Of course, that's what makes these lists so interesting, is that they are also highly subjective.

What makes your list of the top Adventure Stories for 2010?

Want To Row An Ocean?

Have you ever felt the urge to spend a few weeks (or longer!) at sea? Have you ever read about ocean rowers challenging themselves on the open water and thought that you could do that too? Well, you're in luck, as there are a couple of opportunities, for the right person, to join an ocean row across the Atlantic.

British adventurer Alastair Humphreys wrote an interesting blog post over the weekend that shares the details on not one but two vacancies on crews that will be departing from Agadir in Morocco in the early part of January. Applicants will have to be available directly after Christmas and will have some expenses to cover if they'd like to join one of the teams. Alastair has an estimated list of those expenses on his blog, that includes flights to Morocco and supplies for the journey.

If you're interested in joining one of these adventures, then click here to read all the particulars, including contact information for the crew leads that you would be reporting to while on this aquatic adventure. If you've ever dreamed of this kind of challenge, this is probably as easy as it gets, since you'll be on a crew that is already formed and much of the logistics are already done. Seems like a great opportunity for the right person.

Sarah Outen Announces Human Powered Circumnavigation Attempt

You all remember Sarah Outen right? She's the 25-year old British woman we followed closely as she rowed solo across the Indian Ocean last year, becoming the first woman, and the youngest person to accomplish that feat. After taking some time off for much deserved rest and recuperation, Sarah is now ready to clue us all in on her next expedition, which is even more ambitious than her ocean row.

Sarah has announced that beginning April 1st, 2011, she will be embarking on a new expedition dubbed London2London, during which she will attempt to circumnavigate the globe completely under her own power. That means rowing the oceans and biking the continents, in what she estimates to be a 2.5 year endeavor to circle the planet.

Her route will naturally begin and end in London of course. She'll start off by kayaking down the Thames and across the Channel to France. From there, she'll get on her bike and head east, crossing Europe and Asia, eventually arriving on the Russian East Coast. After that, it's back in the kayak for a little jaunt to Japan, where she plans to spend some time before embarking on a solo row across the Northern Pacific Ocean, which she hopes to begin in the spring of 2012. Arriving in Vancouver, she'll begin another bike leg, crossing through Canada and the U.S. before arriving in Nova Scotia, where she'll get in her row boat one more time for a solo row across the North Atlantic.

You've got to hand it to the girl, she sure has ambition. You can read more about Sarah's plans in this interview over at WideWorld. Also, be sure to check out the video below so you can listen and watch Sarah announce her plans in person.