OCEAN ROWING SOCIETY ARCHIVE CURRENT NEWS AND PAST ENDEAVOURS

Congratulations to American Director of the ORS Tom Lynch on his engagement with Svetlana Kanonchyk of Odessa Ukraine!!! Tom and Sveta will be joining Executive Director Kenneth F Crutchlow and his wife Tatiana and ORS webmaster Theodor Rezvoy in Los Gigantes Tenerife Oct 6-13 for the start of American rower Richard Jones' and Russian Rower Viatcheslav Kavtchenko's attempt to row the Atlantic. For more on Tom and Sveta's engagement click here or photo.

Map of route with distance

Row Sponsored By
Le Shark. Casual wear.

June 29--Jim Shekhdar left Ilo, Peru, in his boat named Le Shark.Official start time of row is 17:30GMT. A full escort with lots of wellwishers saw him off. Check out Jim Shekhdar's Home Page for further information and the ORS Progress page for new maps and chart of progress. Bon Voyage and God Speed to Jim from all of us at the Ocean Rowing Society.

(June 17th, 2000)--Ilo, Peru, met Jim Shekhdar at the "Grand Hotel" in Ilo, after he arrived from Chile. Jim's ocean rowboat called "Le Shark" is now securely parked on the grounds of the Hotel next to the swimming pool and within 100 feet of the Pacific Ocean. Loading of 8 months worth of supplies is almost complete, the main job in hand at the moment is installing and testing the communications, which includes sat phone and Magellan communicator 100.and Service Argos tracking beacon's. Captain Jorge Guerrero Augustin who is "Captain De Puerto De ILo" has inspected the ocean rowboat "Le Shark" and has received the official application for Jim's departure from ILO. Depending on weather departure is hoped for on Friday 24th July.Paul Visscher has kindly agreed to supply who request it information from today till departure. Paul can be reached at trasub@terra.com.pe Kenneth
(June 7th 2000)--Valerpariso Chile Within the last few days Jim Shekdhar was refused permission to leave from Chile as the starting point of his solo row Australia .
It was said by a local reporter when asked why permission was denied " The British arrested General Pinochet for 17 months they are not in the mood right now to help a Britisher" when the same reporter was asked what would happen if Mr. Shekhdar left Chile without permission the answer was "the Navy will bring him back and I expect he will go to jail for 17months". It was shortly after these comments were that Jim announced he was headed north to Ilo Peru where permission to depart has been granted him.

Map of route
with distance

ROW SPONSORED BY
GREAT SPIRITS

PRESS ARTICLES

Messages from onboard Celtic Crossing

Roy Finlay &Colleen Cronin

July 28th 2000, at 20.06GMT Roy Finlay (GB) and Colleen Cronin (USA) left St.John's, Newfoundland(Canada) on board ocean rowboat Celtic Crossing in attempt to become the first male/female crew to row the Atlantic West to East.

   Bobbi-Lynn Hennebury from the "Inn of old" pub St. John's was at the departure, she said "there was a good crowd to see the rowers off, someone set off fireworks, everybody wished Roy and Colleen good luck. Two of our fishing boats escorted them out of the harbour. When I last saw them they were rowing strong with a good following westerly wind and they had cleared the harbour"

OBAN, SCOTLAND.   Tom McClean (holder of the record for rowing the Atlantic W-E from St Johns to Bishop Rock Lighthouse, England) from on board his whale boat "MOBY" said tonight "I wish Roy and Colleen well on their row. I hope they have their communications together and I hope they have good weather. Good luck and fair wind be theirs"
                                    ORS wishes Roy&Colleen BON VOYAGE !

PRESS ARTICLES

click here for more information.
Pedal for the Planet Expedition June,20, 1999-After Steve Smith decided to call it a day with his effort with Pedal for the Planet project; Jason Lewis continues solo attempting to be the first to circumnavigate the planet by human power (no motor-no sail). They are the first team to ever cross the Atlantic from continent to continent (Lisbon, Portugal to Miami, Florida.); and after crossing the US on bicycles and rollerblades they recently completed their last leg together from San Francisco to Hawaii in their pedal powered boat Moksha. Bon Voyage and Safe Journey Jason Lewis and best of luck to Steve Smith with his future endeavours. (Click her for more info...) (Tlynch ORS)

Congratulations from ORS to Jason&April on their arrival in Australia!

--Apr,16: On Apr, 02 Joseph Le Guen was rescued at sea. He developed a severe loss of circulation to his feet and is presently at a hospital in Chile. It sounds like he's going to lose several toes. Please go to Joseph's website and wish him well in his guestbook.
--Famed French rower Joseph Le Guen, having rowed the Atlantic both ways (solo W to E and double with Pascal Blond E to W), is now attempting to row the Southern Pacific from New Zealand to Cape Horn--one of the most formidable rows ever attempted.
(click image at right to go to Joseph's official page)

CLICK ON THE IMAGE FOR LATEST ON ANDREW'S PROGRESS

Andrew has been rescued and is enroute to Hawaii, he is due to arrive Apr, 18th

CLICK HERE FOR LATEST PHOTOS OF ANDREW'S RESCUE

April, 22, 2000: "HURRICANE HALSEY" returns... After 267 days at sea; having survived five hurricanes and living off the ocean for the last two months. Ocean rower Andrew Halsey spent a relaxing weekend in Guerneville , Ca. recuperating from his great effort to row the Pacific. He is already planning his next attempt leaving in 2001. Andrew will arrive at Heathrow airport Wed, Apr, 26.
(check out the story in the Press Democrat click here)

Tom Lynch
American Director
Ocean Rowing Society

jULY 15)-Andrew Halsey from Great Britain has began his attempt to row the Pacific from San Diego to Sydney. Andrew is the first disabled rower to ever row an ocean (the Atlantic). And is now ready to leave for Sydney. The Society will be tracking and mapping Andrews row. More to come...
(Read Steve Boga's story about Andrews historic Atlantic row clicking here Andrew Halsey .)
-and an excellent article from the BBC online...

(Jan,05,2000)--Port St. Charles Barbados. January 05th 2000-Hi followers of ocean rowers. I am in the office of Thomas Herbert (thank you Thomas for your hospitality) who is well known to all those rowers who were in the 1997 Port St Charles Atlantic Challenge rowing race. There is a different look about the place, as by now Port St Charles is more than twice as big as it was in 1997 and there is now pool conveniently located so that as future rowers arrive they can dive straight in. Diana Hoff arrived here yesterday and although she did not dive into the pool she did have a well deserved drink sitting next to it. As those who follow this website know Diana Hoff and Tori Murden left at the same time from Los Gigantes Tenerife on September 13th.Tori went on to arrive in Guadalupe (on Dec 3rd) making her the 1st women to row the Atlantic solo. Diana aged 55 becomes the 2nd women to row the Atlantic and the oldest person to row any ocean (man or women).

Diana tried her very best to make a landfall under her own power and she got to within 3 miles of Southpoint and could of course see Barbados in all its glory on a bright sunlit day straight ahead of her. It was not to be, the winds and current were just too strong for her to row against, she could not make any headway at all rowing against the wind and current, so she took a tow from "shady lady" owned by Willie Hassell and was taken directly to Port St. Charles where she cleared Barbados Immigration and customs requirements. Diana received a warm welcome from her family and the residents and friends of Port St. Charles gathered at the newly built "sunset isle" .It is the intention of Diana to update her log today so please check for that on the website.

Best regards Kenneth F. Crutchlow Executive Director Ocean Rowing Society