In The Middle Of Nowhere

"It was immediately apparent how much of a good position we were in, considering. From a psychological perspective, you want to look for reasons why you're going to survive, versus the other option. We had a number of rules on our boat, and the number one rule is don't die. Above all else that is what we wanted to do, live and survive to tell our tale."Adam Kreek

"I'm like, OK, time to really get this door closed, and as I'm thinking that, this wave of water hits the side of the boat, and I think, 'It's going to be OK, we've seen these before'. And all of a sudden it did something funky and starts washing into the cabin, and it was a lot more water than I expected. All of a sudden it went from 'I can't close this door', to 'I gotta get to the port side of the boat', to 'I just need to get out of here', probably with a second or two."
Pat Fleming

The Canadian Wildlife Federation / Erinn J. Hale     Left to right: Adam Kreek, Jordan Hanssen, Pat Fleming and Marcus Pukonen arrived safely to the United States Coast Guard base in San Juan, Puerto Rico Sunday night after their boat capsized early Saturday.

 

Adam Kreek, Jordan Hanssen, Pat Fleming and Markus Pukonen had set out on quite the adventure. They were out to prove that it was possible to cross the Atlantic in a rowboat -- although this was some state-of-the-art rowboat, equipped with electronic gear, sleeping arrangements, food and water to last them for months, in the interests of embarking on an expedition to obtain scientific data, sponsored by the Canadian Wildlife Federation.

SEYL LOU/AFP/Getty Images    Canadian Adam Kreek, left, maneuvers with American 

Jordan Hanssen on Jan. 23, 2012 off Ngore beach outside Dakar before attempting to 

row 6,700 kms across the Atlantic to reach Miami, Florida.

Their route was to take them from Senegal to Florida, and they had been rowing steadily for two and a half months, using a protocol of two rowers at a time in turn, while two rested. It was during one of the exchanges when Adam Kreek and Pat Fleming had gone to the cabin, and Jordan Hanssen began to row, while Markus Pukonen prepared to join him after making use of the toilet bucket and just at that point they experienced what it felt like to have a rogue wave hit and swamp their rowboat which was supposed to be capable of self-righting.

Unfortunately, the weight of the water the rowboat had taken on, made hash of theory and what had worked on previous occasions, to swiftly overturn the rowboat. The four quick-thinking, swift-acting men went into an overdrive of activity to preserve their lives. Their OAR Northwest Expedition had run up against nature's challenge, and nature partially won. After 72 days of rowing, they were close to their goal, but in the spirit of man proposes and nature disposes, it was not to be.

They found themselves adrift on their life raft, nicely provisioned and in good spirits, despite the unexpected and startling end to their journey. They had attempted for three hours to flip the boat, to no avail. They were 650 km north of Puerto Rico, with their emergency beacons sending out distress calls. Their athletic training, experience and their careful planning left them with enough to get by on; food, water, blankets. When the U.S. Coast Guard C130 plane responded, dropping an emergency barrel, it contained nothing they required.

But for a radio. Since they were unaware the barrel contained a radio and they had no need of its contents to supplement what they already had, the barrel was left unopened and they had no means of communication. The Coast Guard was puzzled by the lack of contact, and dropped a second barrel, labelling it "Open Me!!!" -- containing another radio, and then communication was established. And then they learned that a cargo vessel was en route to their rescue.

The crew of the Panamanian flagged Heijin, took very good care of the four shipwrecked sailors. They landed at the Coast Guard station in San Juan Puerto Rico, and begin planning how they might be able to recover their boat, still adrift, named the James Robert Hanssen.