Rowing After the White Whale: A Crossing of the Indian Ocean by Hand PDF
Preview Rowing After the White Whale: A Crossing of the Indian Ocean by Hand
ROWING AFTER THE WHITE WHALE For Ben, thank you for sharing the adventure And for Tory, thank you for believing me Contents Prologue Part One: The Build-up 1. Beginnings 2. Interim 3. Mixed Motives 4. Monomania 5. A Bosom Friend: Ben Stenning 6. Preparations 7. ‘Leaving on a Jet Plane’ 8. A Brief Note on the Indian Ocean Rowing Statistics 9. The Shortest Possible Description of the Lead-up to Our Departure, Including a Brief Portrait of the Incomparable Simon Chalk 10. Australia 11. The Shelf Part Two: All at Sea 12. The First Day 13. At the Mercy of the Shelf 14. Downing Tools 15. The Looming Seas 16. The Vortex 17. Surf’s Up! 18. ‘Water’ 19. On Our Way 20. Swim 21. Another Rower 22. On the Personalities Drawn to Ocean Rowing 23. Timothy and the Filofax 24. The First Becalming 25. Fish 26. Storm 27. Catch 22 28. A Brief History of Ocean Rowing 29. The Thieving Dorado 30. Small Aliens from the Deep 31. The One Thousand Mile Mark 32. The Great Becalming 33. Gyres 34. Sea Stars 35. ‘If’ 36. Whale! 37. Our Birds 38. Shark! 39. Drier than Being Dry 40. The Moon 41. Halfway Point in the Sea of Rainbows 42. Moby Dick 43. Passing Ships 44. Splendid Isolation 45. Reveries 46. The Fire Ship 47. The Great Independence Day Wave 48. From Bad to Worse 49. The Dark Boat 50. Recovering Under a Bright Sun 51. ‘The Most Wondrous Phenomenon’ 52. On the Cultural and Natural History of the Squid 53. Para Anchor 54. Food, Glorious Food 55. Pain 56. One Hundred Days at Sea 57. Longest at Sea 58. The Silent Sea 59. The Beginning of the End 60. Second Storm 61. Pilot Whales 62. Lunar Rainbow 63. Nearing Part Three: The Last Day 64. False Start 65. The Battle of Grand Port 66. The Final Furlong 67. Decisions 68. The Swim 69. The Reef 70. Rescue and Reunion Afterword Mauritius Apologia Meeting a Legend On the Positive Benefits of a Brush with Death A Lost World The Final Swim Acknowledgements Bibliography Prologue 17.15, 14 August 2011 (Day 116) Now we’re going to die, I thought as the wall of white water came thundering towards us. My heart thumped as my body started furiously pumping adrenaline in anticipation of the impact. For a moment the sea in front of the wave looked still and pure, so peaceful and blue in contrast with the white rolling mass that was now seconds away. But already the flat in front of the wave was being disturbed and soiled by spitting shards of tumbling white water. The noise grew suddenly louder, from a rumbling hiss to a raging thunder as the turmoil of water reached us. Now we really are, actually, definitely, after all of this, after everything, going to die, I thought. Typical. As for words, the only one I could manage in time, the only one that seemed appropriate, was: ‘Shit!’ I took a deep breath. The wave hit us with a violent, sickening crash and everything went black. PART ONE The Build-up
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