Adventurer battles 10m waves
Rowing boat caught in typhoon
AYOUNG British adventurer was struggling to survive in a Pacific storm last night as typhoon winds made it “too dangerous” for helicopters to rescue her from her tiny rowing boat.
Oxford graduate Sarah Outen, 27, was being repeatedly capsized amid 10m waves off Japan and there were fears that her boat, Gulliver, was damaged and taking on water.
Despite her Mayday calls, the Japanese coastguard said its helicopters were unable to fly out immediately because the weather conditions were too severe.
Today she tweeted: “Hooray 4 Japanese always being early!”
They confirmed this morning that they would be able to pick her up some time today.
Last night Outen had been strapped into her cabin, measuring just 1.5m by1.8m, for more than 48 hours, surviving on custard cream biscuits, peanuts and Mars bars.
In a Twitter message sent via satellite phone she wrote: “Cabin soaked. Wrapped in Union Jack in place of soggy sleeping bag.”
Outen, from Oakham, Leicestershire, was attempting to row from Japan to Canada when her boat hit a ferocious tropical storm, Typhoon Mawar, 901km off the Japanese coast.
On her expedition blog, Outen had earlier written of her fears that she could end up as “fish food” if she rowed into the path of Typhoon Mawar, which has claimed three lives in the Philippines.
“This week is going to be a monster,’ she wrote on Sunday.
“Gulliver and I are getting ready to take a beating.”
By Tuesday, Outen was beginning to fear the worst.
“Have written ‘smile’ on one hand and ‘breathe’ on the other,” she wrote. “Both will help when I am scared in the storm.”
Last night coastguard was on its way to her, and was expected to reach her today.
The extent of the damage to her boat is unknown, but experienced sailors said it was a miracle that she had survived so far without injury.
Outen, a biology graduate, began her solo 33 000km expedition at Tower Bridge in April last year. Her plan was to travel around the world using only human power.
She kayaked across the Channel to France, cycled across Europe and Asia, and kayaked to Japan via the remote island of Sakhalin.
Three weeks ago she left the Japanese port of Chenshi in Gulliver, which is made of foam and fibre-glass.
She was hoping to reach Vancouver in six months.
Last night another Briton was battling with Typhoon Mawar. Territorial Army Lieutenant Charlie Martell, 41, who was attempting to row from Japan to the US, made a distress call when strong winds and waves of more than 15.2m caused his boat to capsize several times.
Lieutenant Martell had been at sea for 34 days and was 1 126km from Japan. His boat was badly damaged when it was “pitch-poled” – turned end over end. He strapped himself into one of its two cabins to await the arrival of the coastguard. – Daily Mail