Two Fearless Souls

There are many, many fine and daring sailors on the water these days, but two of them have caught my attention recently, Matt Rutherford and Roz Savage. Actually, Roz is an ocean rower, not technically a sailor, but she's well worth following regardless!

Matt Rutherford
(soloaroundtheamericas.com)

Matt Rutherford is nearing the end of his epic circumnavigation of the Americas. His voyage began in Maryland in June 2011, went through the Northwest Passage and then down the west coast of North and South America, rounded Cape Horn and back up the east side of both continents. When he's finished he will have accomplished 23,000 miles of single-handed sailing in 10 months.

The motivation behind Matt's journey is to show people, particularly those with disabilities, that there are no limits to what can be accomplished in life; and to raise money for Chesapeake Region Accessible Boating (CRAB), a nonprofit sailing program for people with disabilities based in Annapolis, Maryland.

Matt is sailing aboard a 27 ft. Albin-Vega named St. Brendan. He's currently about halfway between Bermuda and North Carolina battling a northerly gale. His motor is dead and he can no longer charge his batteries because his wind generator and solar panels have stopped working. He's nearly home, but his homecoming is entirely dependent on the weather. The current plan, according to his website Solo Around the Americas is to arrive in Annapolis on Saturday, April 21st.

Roz Savage (rozsavage.com)

Roz Savage has rowed alone across the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. In 2005 she became the first woman to complete the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, rowing 3,000 miles from the Canary Islands to Antigua. Then she rowed across the Pacific in three stages, 2008, 2009, and 2010. In December 2011 she completed her journey across the Indian Ocean.

Roz uses her rowing talents and her voyages to raise awareness of the significance of our individual actions in the face of the environmental catastrophes that are looming in the future for our planet. Read about her work and her daily posts from her journeys at Roz Savage, Ocean Rower.

Roz and Andrew (olympicatlanticrow.com)

Roz's next challenge kicks off in less than a month when she and Andrew Morris leave from Newfoundland in their boat Bojangles bound for Great Britain. Only a handful of rowers have traversed the North Atlantic and it hasn't been done by a pair in more than a century. Their plan is to row up the Bristol Channel and then use inland waterways to arrive in London a the start of the 2012 Olympics. Follow their quest at OAR (Olympic Atlantic Row) or on their Facebook page Olympic Atlantic Row.