Teen sailor Jessica Watson

In an interview with the New York Times, Watson said the race will be an entirely new challenge for her, because sailing around the globe was about being “slow and steady,” while the Sidney-to-Hobart race is a sprint. Watson, who was a cautious and severely dyslexic child, does not consider her achievements heroic. “I’m an ordinary girl who believed in a dream,” she told the crowd when she sailed into Sydney Harbor upon completion of her round the world voyage in 2010. “You don’t have to be someone special or anything special to achieve something amazing.”

Read the full story here.

Dutch sailor Laura Dekker, 16

Here’s an excerpt from her blog on the day of her arrival in South Africa: “This last leg to Cape Town was really tough. On the last night coming in I reefed the mainsail three times and we rounded the Cape of Good Hope in five metres high breaking waves, Guppy going at 8 knots under the storm jib only. The 35 knots wind that were forecasted soon turned to 40 knots, then to 45 knots and finally to 50 knots with at times 55 knots gusts! This was more than what the storm jib could take, but for some reason it jammed rolling so I couldn’t furl it in… The small sail area left was too much and being knocked down was still a real possibility – it had to come down.”

” In the early morning light as I could barely figure out the huge mass of the Table Mountain nearing, its top rising high above into the clouds, I made my way to the foredeck where under multiple ice cold showers I managed to take the storm jib down. On this side of Cape Agulhas the water temperature drops significantly and for the first time since the Galápagos Islands I saw penguins and seals swimming around. With her now bare masts Guppy was still heeling heavily as we were heading for the harbor and I was blinded by all the water washing over and the rising sun shining straight into my eyes…” To read more of Dekker’s blog, click here.

What's under there?

The ocean floor is littered with long-sunken ships. Many had holds filled with valuable metals and other treasures. But until recently, it was too tricky and dangerous to do any serious searching in the planet’s deepest waters for sunken treasure. Now, however, a new generation of robots and cameras can do the sleuth-work and cargo retrieval while humans operate them from above.

The most recent finds are two British steamships, one of which was sunk by a German submarine in World War I, the other torpedoed during World War II. Both contain multiple tons of silver worth many millions of dollars. The cash-strapped British government has contracted with a Florida-based company to retrieve the silver in exchange for a cut of the profits. Read more details in the New York Times article here.

Although it would be difficult to locate the remains of more ancient vessels because the wooden frames would have long disintegrated, any metal treasures they contained can be found using the same methods. Ancient Roman coins…hammered gold necklaces…crowns….who knows what’s down there? It will be fascinating to see what comes up from the deep over the next few decades.

To find out more about the dangerous world of underwater treasure-hunting, check out the nonfiction page-turners Ship of Gold and Shadow Divers, which was reviewed on Armchair Adventurista here.

Photo courtesy Roz Savage

British ocean rower Roz Savage has made it across 4,000 miles of pirate-infested waters to the island of Mauritius, claiming victory in her effort to row the Indian Ocean solo. But some in the ocean rowing community think that Savage needs to row the last bit of ocean (more than 1,200 miles, to be exact) between Mauritius and Africa first. Savage says she’s the first woman to row solo across the “Big Three”—the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans. There’s no denying that she’s accomplished an enormous feat. Whether 1,200 miles will keep Savage out of the record books is yet to be determined.

Diana Nyad

You may recall the story of Diana Nyad, the 61-year-old who set out last month to swim from Cuba to Florida. To prepare for the 103-mile swim, Nyad trained for a year and enlisted a posse of experts to help her with nutrition, endurance, weather-tracking, and shark management. With her background as a record-setting open ocean swimmer, Nyad was probably the best-qualified person in her age group to attempt the daunting journey. She had estimated it would take her about 60 hours to complete, but about 30 hours into it, she succumbed to agonizing shoulder pain, an asthma attack, and severe vomiting. Speaking to reporters afterward, Nyad said “I wasn’t the best swimmer I could be — the asthma and the shoulder made sure of that.” Nyad told the New York Times that she hoped her quest would inspire more people her age to take up exercise and live vital, energetic lives.

Laura Dekker

Roz Savage

Over in the Indian Ocean, rower Roz Savage is contending with high winds that have capsized her boat several times, even causing it to roll 360 degrees. She is spending her time cleaning up the detritus that results from capsizing and trying to find ways to ease the boredom that comes with downtime. Now 135 days into her journey from Australia to India, Savage must wait for the winds to calm before she attempts to row again. In the meantime, she is playing solitaire and blogging about plastic pollution in our oceans (check out the trailer for Bag It, a documentary in the style of Supersize Me about the serious problems posed by single-use plastic bags).

Photo courtesy www.diananyad.com

Diana Nyad, 61, made headlines in 1975 when she swam around Manhattan. She attempted to swim from Cuba to Florida in 1978 but gave up after nearly 42 hours in the water. In 1979, she swam from the Bahamas to Florida, a feat that earned her the still-unbroken world record for longest open ocean swim. Then she stopped swimming for 30 years.

Two years ago, needing a new challenge in her life, Nyad re-entered the water. She began training for another attempt to cross from Cuba to Florida, a journey of 103 miles through shark-infested waters. Today, Nyad is in Key West, Florida, waiting on optimal weather conditions and a green light from her team of expert advisors. The dangers are many: open water marathoners aren’t allowed to wear wetsuits, so water temperatures must be in the high 80s for her to make the swim without succumbing to hypothermia. Unlike most open water marathoners, Nyad will swim the 60-hour distance without a shark cage. She plans to rely instead on spotters who will kayak alongside her with electronic shark shields. Dehydration will be a big concern, so every few hours Nyad will stop for a drink of water and liquid goop packed with electrolytes and nutrients. Her support team will motor alongside her in a boat equipped with a white streamer that will dangle parallel to the craft and serve as a visual guide for Nyad. Watch for updates on her blog.