Final preparations

Charles Wilkins isn’t backing down.

With just more than a month to go, the local author says he still intends to row across the Atlantic Ocean – a 3,000-mile trek that begins off the coast of Morocco and concludes in Barbados. While some might argue that it’s crazy for a 61-year-old writer to attempt such a journey, Wilkins said he finds the alternative to be much riskier.

"It’s thought that to go out there on the Atlantic is to risk one’s life," Wilkins said Saturday afternoon. "In a deeper sense for me the greater risk to my life is staying home and not doing what you want to do. That way you really die quickly, and I’m not going to die out there.

"It’s a sense of wanting to live as deeply as possible and experience the world in the most interesting ways. You can’t do that sitting in your living room."

Wilkins spoke to local fans about his coming trip during a book signing at the Finnish bookstore Saturday afternoon. The book promoted during the signing was Wilkins’ most recent published work, The Wild Ride: A History of the North West Mounted Police.

While most of his fans focused on the book that was the centerpiece of the signing, the conversation did wander toward the pending cross-ocean adventure.

The trip across the ocean will be a world-record attempt. Wilkins expects to start his adventure on Jan. 2, and will be accompanied by 15 experienced rowers. The 16-person crew hopes to complete the journey in 30 days, which would break the current record of 33.
The trip is a grueling 3,000-miles, but Wilkins told fans that it was the first 800 that the crew will need to power through.

"The idea is that when you get about 800 miles off the coast of Morocco, you’re picked up by the west-bound trade winds and pushed along," he said. "So the boat will surf then and move about 100 miles a day with the equatorial current and trade winds whether you row or not."

The 2,200 miles that follow will not exactly be smooth sailing.

Sharks, storms, exhaustion and even weight loss will be problems that the crew could encounter as they get closer to their finish line in Barbados.

The crew will row in two-hour shifts. After Wilkins finishes his two-hours of rowing, he will have to take on the challenge of getting enough rest and calories before he is called up again.
And the challenge of giving his body enough calories has already started.

"It is said that on average rowers lose about 30 pounds on this crossing, or about a pound a day," Wilkins said. "As you can see I don’t really have 30 pounds to lose. So I’m working hard at the moment to not only finish my training and stay right on the top of my fitness, but to put on about 10 pounds so I have some weight to lose."

The problem with gaining that 10 pounds is that the training for a cross-ocean row is an effective weight loss program. Nevertheless, Wilkins said he will continue to train for 30 days of rowing while trying to put on the weight he needs to survive it.

The author will be in good company. Joining him will be three former collegiate U.S. rowing champions, an ex-marine captain who has already rowed across the Indian Ocean, two ER doctors, several students, speed skaters and other endurance athletes.

More information about the crew, voyage and boat is available online at rocexpedition.com.