Feb 19, 2019
Imagine rowing all the way from California to Hawaii, 2,400 miles over 62 days across the Pacific with nothing but two friends and some oars. Team Pacific Terrific broke records and came second in the Great Pacific Race. Megan Hoskin has such wonderfully evocative stories about what it feels like to be in the middle of the ocean when you’re closest fellow humans are the ones passing over in the plane and also about her mountaineering in Nepal, Ecuador and much more.
Her short film Why Row An Ocean is entered into the forth coming Four Seasons Film Festival.
On this episode we cover:
Rowing across the Pacific from the US to Hawaii
No engines, no sails, no powers, just rowing
Cazz Lander
Eleanor Carey
Rowing for 62 days across 2,400 across the Pacific with no support
Becoming the first group of 3 to row the Pacific and the youngest group of 3 row any ocean on earth
:leaving from Monterey in California and arriving in Waikiki Hawaii
The 24 foot ocean owing boat – mostly open deck
At times it could be terrifying
None of them having any off-shore rowing experience
What possessed then to do this
The physical and mental challenge
The exhilaration of setting off
Knowing they would be entering huge storms soon after setting off
Their toughest conditions in 30 foot waves and 35 knots
Using a ‘parachute anchor’ and being at the mercy of huge waves
One of the boats capsizing
No help 1200 miles from land
The risk of being hit by a huge cargo ship
Panic calls to massive tankers
A ship on a direct course straight at them
People’s confusion about what they were doing
Seeing so many sunrise, sunsets, watching planets rise and set all nights
The overwhelming sense of being so far away from everything
Realising planes flying overhead were closer than anyone else in the world
Not seeing the waves coming in the black of nights
Being scared of the big waves
Seeing a huge waves forming a mile or two away from them and not knowing if they would hit
The airtight cabins at either end
Hoping the boat will self-right in the event of a capsize
Bunkering down for three days at the start of the race
Hyperventilating in the cabin due to lack of oxygen
Reaching the central point of the mid-Pacific at 1200 miles in
Loving every minute and not really wanting to reach land
The great dynamic of the crew of three
Finding someone crazy enough to be their third person after someone dropped out
Becoming the youngest group of three to row any ocean
The practical issues – ‘bucket and chuck it’
The training and preparation being harder than the actual rowing
Nutrition and food and calorie counting for the journey
Their treat picnic at the half way point – Amaretto, condensed milk and tinned pineapple
The privilege of being somewhere so remote and exploring nature
Following in the footsteps of great explorers like Christopher Columbus
The Indian’s having Melanesian DNA (as well as Indian Fijian)
The similar feeling of driving over Shooter’s Hill and seeing London!
The emotional moment they finally saw land
Looking forward to eating fresh food and having a toilet
The film of the journey and the Four Seasons Film Festival
Megan’s background in mountaineering
How when you climb a mountain you still have to get down
Climbing trees!
Having a knack of getting to a mountain in a white out and therefore no view
Breaking down mountain climbing into small hills
Respecting environments and knowing when your life is in danger
Being in the mountains in Nepal in 2015 when the earthquake struck
Slipping down a mountain in Ecuador
Her degree in World Music
How life has a soundtrack
Mountaineer Mollie Hughes listening to Britney Spears on Everest
Thinking of the jungle in the snow on a mountain
Listening to Moana when crossing the Pacific
Her future journeys – bigger expeditions, getting out into Antarctica or the Arctic