Hello Emmanuel
Today (July 23rd) Gerard d'Aboville telephoned me from on board his
yacht which has arrived at Scilly Isle UK. He asked me to pass onto you
the following message:
To
Emmanuel
Kenneth of Ocean Rowing Society tells me you are well prepared for
your row and that you have a light boat, I wish for you a good
crossing!
We all know you are late in the year for a departure so you must be
sure to not be at sea in October. (I left on July 10th and that was
already late). If I am in France at the time of your arrival it will
be my pleasure to meet you.
Bon voyage
Gerard d'Aboville
I
believe Emmanuel knows full well that he is destined to have a late
departure, (through no fault of his own the ship carrying his boat was
late).
The thing we want any rower to avoid is to be rowing off the coast of
Europe after Sept. It is expected that there will be heavy storms in
October in fact such a storm claimed American ocean rower Nedad
Belic last Sept 30th. Emmanuel is relying on the fact that he has a very
light boat and he has a good ocean rowing experience as well as sailing
experience for much of his life.He expects to make a record crossing
such as he did when he rowed from Tenerife to Guadeloupe in the same
boat (it was painted blue then) see ...statistics/Atlantic_E-W_solo.htm
I spent last weekend with Emmanuel and he impressed me as being well
organized and dedicated to his row. He is an "adventurer" in
the true sense of the word, he knew he had to be properly prepared, and
he is. Unfortunately he does not have a "sponsor" but since
his arrival in the US he has ben the beneficiary of some generosity:
first Tobi Cohen of Le Shark Casual Wear (UK) thought for his
safety he should have an Argos satellite tracking beacon (I delivered
it); then, last Friday Massport went to some considerable effort to make
the 40 foot container with the boat in it available to Emmanuel, and
then the Boston International Longshoreman Association got the
boat out of the container in record time, and both waived there fees
which was appreciated by Emmanuel. Then Arthur Bidard (of Chatham) towed
the boat from Massport to Chatham and offered Emmanuel a place to stay
till his departure. This was of particular help as Arthur also speaks
French.
I think we are witnessing something special, here is a man who has not
sought out publicity, he is dedicated to fulfill his dream to be
the first Frenchman to row the Atlantic both ways, he is confident in
his boat and abilities and in order to avoid being at sea in October, (a
situation - he is well aware of - is not one to be in) he MUST produce a
record time row, frankly I think he will do it.
Best regards
Kenneth
