By Richard Tarbill
What do you talk about, listen to, and generally keep yourself occupied with while isolated from others for long periods of times? This is a question that greatly interests me.
From what I can gather from reading books such as A Voyage for Madmen, single-handed sailors who raced across the world (including this misguided individual), books and blogs from others who have managed to row the ocean, and even watching documentary video of OAR Northwest’s race across the Atlantic in 2006, you must find a way to keep yourself interested and not consumed in what John Ridgeway, ocean rower in 1966, called the “plunk”. The plunk, the mental state where you can listen to and comprehend what people are saying to you, but your synapses, because of fatigue and the shear monotony of what you are doing, don’t fire, and consequently you don’t respond verbally or more importantly physically. Sounds pretty dangerous when a vessel is bearing down on you, somebody points it out, and nobody does anything.
So the question remains, how do you limit your time in this zone? As Adam and Jordan pointed out, I tend to have random, free-flowing, and mostly absurd conversations. This was definitely most evident during the third day of our training row down the coast of Washington State. Adam asked Jordan if I was always like this. His retort was, “yeah, but that’s what we like about him” – I did see some eye rolling! But this can only keep a crew stimulated for so long. I lack the necessary content to fill a multi-week trip. One idea that has come to mind was inspired by Bill King, one of the single-handed sailors who attempted to race around the world. He was sponsored in his attempt by a company that gave him their entire music collection to listen to on his journey. The sponsor alludes me at this time, but wouldn’t it be great if Apple was involved in some way with our journey? Or @UMG, @SonyMusicGlobal, @warnermusic, @emimusic? Imagine @iTunesMusic, @iTunesMovies and @iTunesPodcasts, where OAR Northwest could not only mentally stimulate ourselves during the dregs of monotony, but also have a platform to communicate live or in video podcasts daily with the outside world.
We’re just floating some ideas out on the interwebs. Queue us up if you have any bright ideas. We’re all ears.