REFRESH

Refresh!!

Wednesday, 1/2/08, the weather continued to be bad for Row of Life. They had 2 meter (6ft) waves coming from one side and then a 3 meter (9ft) waves from the other side. The waves coming from the different directions made it very hard to row. It also did not make it easy to surf either; although they apparently did surf Row of Life on a really gnarly 4 meter (12 foot) wave. At one point the waves had gotten so big, they were washing over the top of the boat. Franck was rowing and got doused with a huge wave over the top of him. He just smiled and shouted, “refresh!” Franck has had a consistently wonderful attitude for the whole race. He is very easy going and that is important, since communication between Angela and Franck is tentative at best with the language difference. Franck also did not like how hot the cabin was and decided to leave it open a crack. Well, when waves are breaking over the top of the boat, even a crack can be too much. Franck received a big wet wave kiss from the sea. When he appeared from the wet cabin, he smiled and shouted, “refresh.”

Row of Life got another visit from the Woodvale Support Yacht on 1/03/08. It the surfing spirit, Angela cranked some surf music over the radio for the support yacht. I am very grateful for the new picture, taken 01/03/08 that Woodvale posted on the website. The picture is above.

The support yacht asked Row of Life to turn on their See Me (maybe seame). Franck went into the cabin to fiddle with some red thingy, but apparently that is not the see me. Angela said she is not sure that they have one. My understanding of the see me is that it sends a signal to allow other boats to know they are there. Hum, maybe that is why they were nearly hit by a tanker. Is that why they painted the teeth on the boat? If you can’t be seen, maybe you can scare the other boats away with your teeth when they get close. I vote for the see me.

Franck still has a sore on his leg, and is not able to wear his prosthesis. They are still being banged around by the rough seas. Angela said they could not row much one day because of the weather, but that she had high hopes for more progress. Their boat is rigged for the bad weather, and they have two sets of bigger oars for those times. She is hoping to make up more ground during the rough seas. Franck tried to send a picture via the satellite phone, but it took a really long time and the quality was poor. The picture is on Franck’s blog. http://rowoflife.skyrock.com/1.html Franck’s is blogging in French. I have read it by copying it into Babel Fish and translating it. The translation is not perfect, but you will get the jest of it.

I just want to shout out to Boy About Town http://fab-boy-about-town.blogspot.com/ . He has been working non-stop to get the word out about RowofLife. I have received many emails from people who heard about RowofLife and the California Adaptive Rowing Program (CARP) due to Boy’s efforts. I also want to thank Kris, the RowofLife.net Web Godess, for making all the changes needed on the website. We still have some stuff to change, but that is because I have been slow in getting Kris the information that she needs. And to Vicki and Tom who make sure that all is running smoothly with CARP. Thanks for all the people leaving messages of support and humor for Angela and Franck. It has helped to keep their spirits up. Last, but not least, to Amanda and Woodvale for working tirelessly to keep the Race website up to date and well balanced with information.

Well stay tuned for the next installment of the RowofLife blog…..Will Angela make Franck walk the plank for constantly singing French Army tunes? Will Franck learn enough English to tell Angela that speaking louder in English, when he doesn’t understand, does not make him understand English any better? Will another shark attempt to romance the RowofLife boat because of its winning smile and pretty white teeth? Find out the answers to these questions and others in the next RowofLife Blog.

Debra debmole@sbcglobal.net

I have been out of touch lately, Sorry! I have been in the hurricane type wind and rain in Sacramento, CA. I was helping my daughter and her husband to look for a house to buy, while she is attending McGeorge Law School for the next 2.5 years. We found some wonderful homes in their price range and hopefully they will be putting in an offer soon. They did not lose their electricity during the storm but they did lose their internet. It was tragic.