British Adventurer Attempts To Row From Cape Cod To England
CHATHAM (CBS) – A woman is getting ready to row from Cape Cod to England.
Sarah Outen left London four years ago to travel around the world under her own power – in other words, boating, biking or kayaking.
She will leave from Chatham Wednesday on the last leg of this amazing adventure.
A 21-foot hi-tech rowboat is going to be her home for the next four months as she rows the 3,000 mile journey across the Atlantic Ocean.
"The reason for human powered is that you travel slowly, you're immersed in the landscape, you feel it, it's like a big geography lesson. You're not intimidating to wildlife or people," she told WBZ-TV.
The Chatham bar could be one of the more dangerous parts of her four-and-a-half year odyssey.
Chatham is protected by a big sand bar and there's three cuts through it.
"As the tide and swells come in, you'll get a lot of waves kicking up," Outen said.
She needs the right wind and current, so she doesn't end up on the beach.
In her trek around the world, Outen has used only her muscles to meet her goals. She has biked across Europe and Asia, rowed from Japan to the Aleutian Islands and then biked from Alaska to Cape Cod during this past winter.
Her biggest enemy ?
Isolation.
"I've learned quite a few tricks. I've spent ten months in total at sea alone over the last few years, so I've learned quite a few tricks for managing myself I suppose, keeping the fear in check," she said.
Fear has often been her companion – 50-foot seas, barren stretches of road, and not knowing what's next.
"It's so liberating when you have a go and it might not work out the way you thought it might or wanted it to, but hey, that actually might turn out to have more magic in it than the original plan," she said.
All you need to know about Sarah Outen is written on the bow of her boat.
It says,"Being scared of something is never a good reason not to do it."
You can follow her journey on her blog, sarahouten.com.