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Rowing the Pond Again 231

Posted by michael from the you're-doing-what? dept.
Gudlyf writes "Anne Quéméré, a French woman who had previously rowed across the Atlantic Ocean from Spain to the West Indian island of Guadeloupe, is currently on her way to doing it again, only this time in the opposite direction. This season's challenge will take Anne 2700 nautical miles, from Chatham, Cape Cod (USA) to Brittany (France), her native land. She hopes to make it in less than 90 days. Is it just me, or does the giant fish on her boat scream 'shark bait' to you?"
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Rowing the Pond Again More

Rowing the Pond Again

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  • Uh, no... (Score:2, Informative)

    by Gnea ( 2566 ) *
    sharks are attracted to blood, they cannot 'see' a fish like that on the side of a boat.

    • Re:Uh, no... (Score:3, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Actually sharks CAN see prey... that is why they often mistake divers and surfers in dark wetsuits for seals. They do have bad eyesight but can certainly see and identify prey.

    • Re:Uh, no... (Score:2, Informative)

      by nomadic ( 141991 )
      They're attracted to shapes too, which is why surfers get hit all the time. But you're right, the shark probably won't see the painted fish.

      • Re:Uh, no... (Score:4, Funny)

        by Hao Wu ( 652581 ) on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @01:09AM (#9374282) Homepage
        They're attracted to shapes too, which is why surfers get hit all the time. But you're right, the shark probably won't see the painted fish.

        Besides, it is Hollywood myth that shark can be dangerous. You may think that shark could mistake swimmer for baby seal, or find your fagile torso to be a tasty meal for the shark. You may also think your weak chemoelectric field in your muscle and nerve could be detected, and shark would take big bite out of you before figures out you are not good for food for it.

        This is all giant myth. Shark can make good friendship and companion for any man, woman, or youung child who swim in water's ocean.

        • Re:Uh, no... (Score:4, Informative)

          by Dhalka226 ( 559740 ) on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @01:46AM (#9374424)
          You mean that the 55 unprovoked shark attacks in 2003 (source [tcpalm.com]) weren't dangerous?

          • Re:Uh, no... (Score:5, Insightful)

            by RzUpAnmsCwrds ( 262647 ) on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @02:59AM (#9374685)
            Somehow, compared to the 32,480 deaths in MVAs (car/SUV/truck crashes), 55 shark attacks just doesn't seem very significant (source [hwysafety.org]). The fact is, compared to the driving we do every day, Sharks aren't particularly dangerous.

            • Re:Uh, no... (Score:3, Informative)

              by Anonymous Coward
              32,480 highway deaths vs. 55 shark attacks? How "significant" _are_ the shark attacks? It appears that in Florida the shark attacks actually _are_ significant - bear with me while I do some ball-park estimating.

              Rough Facts:
              (1) There are approximately 16 million people in Florida.
              (2) 31 of the 55 shark attacks were in florida (see grandparent post).
              (3) In 2002 there were 3132 highway deaths in Florida. ( source [driveandstayalive.com])
              (4)The average american adult spends 101 minutes per day driving.(source [msn.com])
              (5)The average america
              • One other thing to keep in mind, which makes shark statics in FL kinda pointless: Any time a shark is involved it has to be counted as an "attack", regardless of how minor the incident was. Scratches and bruises are all considered attacks. So, for example, in 2001 there were 37 shark attacks in FL, but only one was fatal.

                I think I'd be more worried about buckling up.

          • Re:Uh, no... (Score:2, Funny)

            by Anonymous Coward

            Actually, those shark attacks were really attacks on Amercia!!

            Better add shark to the list of terror suspects!

        • Re:Uh, no... (Score:5, Funny)

          by nacturation ( 646836 ) <nacturation AT gmail DOT com> on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @01:55AM (#9374459) Journal
          Shark can make good friendship and companion for any man, woman, or youung child who swim in water's ocean.

          Yes, just last month I took my eight year old niece to the aquarium and dropped her into the great white shark tank. You should have seen the wonderful fun playing around they both did. You'd think my niece would have been tired swimming after the shark for half an hour, but you shouldn't underestimate the determination of a child who wants her right leg back.
    • She plans to cover the entire boat with dried sheep's blood.

  • Not shark bait (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Lehk228 ( 705449 ) on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @12:02AM (#9373939) Journal
    But probably death-from-exposure/hypothermia bait.

    • But probably death-from-exposure/hypothermia bait.

      Only if she falls out of the boat, or is hit by another one. People from the rowing club I row with have rowed across the Atlantic in two man boats - there is an atlantic rowing race [woodvale-events.com] every two years. In the last one (in 2003), 15 of the 16 crews completed the challenge (the other one was forced to abandon when one of the rowers had an epileptic fit).

    • OK, take a deep breath. Now look at these:

      1. http://www.biganimals.com/gw_shark.html
      2. http://www.scuba.lu/reports/greatwhiteshark.htm

      RTFA, and lets talk about whether her rowboat looks like a big seal silhouette from 50-80 feet below? Around South Africa photographers just dump a floating foam rubber seal dummy overboard and motor around in circles waiting for the strike.

      The North Atlantic isn't as much of a great white shark buffet as the Cape of Good Hope, but cold water is where they live... I still

  • Going back to her homeland... (Score:4, Funny)

    by hiro_takahama ( 262244 ) on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @12:03AM (#9373948) Homepage
    Wouldn't it have just been easier to buy an airline ticket?

    I'm all for exercise and all but geeze!

  • Of course she is doing it again... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Karpe ( 1147 ) on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @12:03AM (#9373951) Homepage
    She has to get back, doesn't she?

    If she had the money to get a plane ticket, she wouldn't have made it the first time.

  • Bah! (Score:4, Funny)

    by The-Bus ( 138060 ) on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @12:04AM (#9373954)
    In my day we had to kayak through the Pacific just to buy some foie gras... upstream BOTH WAYS.

  • A bit much (Score:4, Funny)

    by Zeebs ( 577100 ) <rsdrew@@@gmail...com> on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @12:04AM (#9373960)
    We have to do something about the oil companies, this poor women obviously can't afford gas either. Greedy bastards!

  • obligatory Finding Nemo reference (Score:4, Funny)

    by valmont ( 3573 ) on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @12:06AM (#9373971) Homepage Journal
    Shark-Bait HOO-HAH-HAH

  • More Images (Score:5, Informative)

    by nmb3000 ( 741169 ) on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @12:07AM (#9373980) Journal
    Got curious and browsed that images (images [capecodonline.com] directory. Some odd stuff, but there's also a small map [capecodonline.com] showing (at least vaguely) the intended journey.

  • ok, let's get it all out of trhe way at once (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @12:08AM (#9373989)
    A. i dont even have a boat you insensitive clod
    B. all your oars are belong to us
    C. in soviet russia the boat rows you
    D.
    1. row row row your boat
    2. do it again
    3. ???
    4. profit!!
    E. D'OH!

    There, I think that about covers it :)

  • Her website (Score:4, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @12:13AM (#9374020)
    Here's her website [le-connetable.net]. It's entirely in French, but you can see pictures of her and the boat on the photo page. [le-connetable.net]
  • And as she does this, a computer aboard the boat will be running an OpenGL application in PHP. If she succeeds, she will break world impracticality records.

  • Sharks are not stupid... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Lobsang ( 255003 ) on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @12:16AM (#9374029) Homepage
    Would you have the balls to attack a woman with the arms to row across the Atlantic? I wouldn't...

  • In Other News... (Score:5, Funny)

    by k4_pacific ( 736911 ) <`moc.oohay' `ta' `cificap_4k'> on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @12:23AM (#9374072) Homepage Journal
    The US Coast Gaurd announced today that they picked up a determined French refugee in a rowboat off the coast of Massachusetts. She has been taken to an undisclosed location for indefinite detention.

    • The US Coast Gaurd announced today that they picked up a determined French refugee in a rowboat off the coast of Massachusetts. She has been taken to an undisclosed location for indefinite detention.

      There are several Canadians that have been taken in custody without the closest consular office or embassy warned, or letting them make a phone call. Nor were they charged with anything or told when they'd be out. So I wouldn't mind it if things happenned like you describe them :)

  • Damn, this is cool (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @12:28AM (#9374105)

    Man, I wish I had the balls to do this. Boats are so cool. Well, boats without motors, anyway. In fact, things built by people with their own hands designed to do something crazy are cool in general. I'd love to build my own sailboat and sail from the southern tip of Japan to the Philippines. That's not even a huge distance, and I'm still too chicken to do it... storms scare me.

    As for all you idiots making "What's this doing on Slashdot?" comments, what the hell? You guys are worse than those stupid jocks in HS who used to try to pigeonhole us into the glasses-wearing computer nerd category. Worse because you're doing it to yourselves. People aren't two-dimensional (I mean this figuratively, smart ass) and this includes even you. Lots of nerds like sports. It's just that we often like non-standard ones, like martial arts, fencing, bowling, sailing, whatever. But even if it were some "lame" sport like baseball or football, a true geek could find a way to make it geeky. That you can't speaks to your lack of imagination, nothing else.

    Thank you, drive through.

    • People aren't two-dimensional (I mean this figuratively, smart ass)

      You mean... we are two-dimensional literally?

    • Man, I wish I had the balls to do this.
      Only posting as AC could you post such a stupid comment on a story about A WOMAN doing such an incredible feat.

    • Man, I wish I had the balls to do this. Boats are so cool. Well, boats without motors, anyway. In fact, things built by people with their own hands designed to do something crazy are cool in general. I'd love to build my own sailboat and sail from the southern tip of Japan to the Philippines. That's not even a huge distance, and I'm still too chicken to do it... storms scare me.

      Well, Mr. A. Coward, may I ask you what you have done to grow the balls you need to embark on such an undertaking? Let me tell

  • There'll be more of this before we're done (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Howzer ( 580315 ) * <grabshot&hotmail,com> on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @12:31AM (#9374118) Homepage Journal
    This kind of intensely personal extreme sport is a growing trend, and we're going to see a lot more of it in coming years.

    I happen to think it's a fantastic thing.

    There's no real "why" of why anyone would willingly climb Everest, go to Antarctica, walk across a desert, play any contact sport, play golf, walk up the stairs to the office and not take the elevator.

    All of those things are more prone to injury, take longer, are a "waste" of time. But none of that is the point. All of those things are terrific fun - even walking up the stairs gives you a nice glow just before you hit the airconditioning for 8 hours.

    Rowing across the Atlantic Ocean? Imagine the isolation, the memories, the weather you'd see, the sense of having conquered yourself you would feel for the rest of your life.

    She's not hurting anyone or anything. And she may actually make observations worth listening to.

    My response? Bravo!

    • Re:There'll be more of this before we're done (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Edmund Blackadder ( 559735 ) on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @12:55AM (#9374218)
      Frankly I dont feel the same way. Okay they are not hurting anyone but if we as a society have reached the point of admiring people for merely not hurting anyone we are in trouble.

      There is a lot of pain and suffering in this world, and there a lot of things people can do to help their fellow humans. Of course I am not saying that everyone is obligated to help others, if one wants to go into pointless stunts, it is their choice.

      But they will not get my admiration. I save that for worthy causes, not merely difficult ones.

      • What's a worthy cause? (Score:2, Insightful)

        by amcox ( 588540 )
        Is exploring the limits of the human body and mind not a worthy cause? Feats of physical and emotional endurance can inspire, educate, and enrich people's lives. Only considering acts which help people relieve pain "worthy" is an awfully negative outlook on life. I say celebrate the accomplishments of our fellow humans, silly or not.
      • People admire her because it is an amazing feat of human stamina. 'Stunts' like this show us that as humans, we can accomplish things thought to be impossible, or beyond our ability to endure. That is what makes it admirable, not the fact she isn't hurting anyone and doing this for herself. It helps inspire us to push the limits, do things that have never been done before and as a result advance ourselves as a species. Just because she has chosen to accomplish a physical feat instead of a mental innovation,

    • walk up the stairs to the office and not take the elevator

      Actually, unless you are going up quite a few flights, it's faster to walk the stairs than ride an elevator, especially if it's a busy building. Think about it.

      The problem I see in most buildings is that the stairwells are not conveniently located to the elevator (nor convenient to anywhere for that matter). There's a few parking garages near where I live that the stairwells wrap around the elevator shaft. This makes it easier for access to the

    • Sure, rowing is great, golf is great, walking up a flight of stairs is great, etc. But only as part of a more complex life. Even in your example, you climbed the stairs, and then proceeded to do something else for the next 8 hours.

      Now picture that anyone proposed to spend their next 90 days doing nothing but running up and down stairs. No break except to sleep, no talking to anyone, just boring repetitive mind-numbing running up and down stairs. Endless hours each day just going up and down stairs.

      I don't

      • But who gets to decide what is moderation? To you, apparently, the personal challenge of planning and executing the row across the atlantic is too extreme. I'd venture to guess that she learns a hell of a lot more about herself in those 90 days in a boat than most working stiffs learn in years.

        To me, sitting in front of a computer 8 or more hours a day for 20 or 30 or 40 years straight is too extreme. So I do that for a while, then quit & do something interesting. In my case, the last time was walk

  • Vector analysis (Score:3, Funny)

    by wombatmobile ( 623057 ) on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @12:32AM (#9374127)

    ...is currently on her way to doing it again, only this time in the opposite direction.

    Net effect is zero.

    Which makes her even with all of us who didn't row at all.

  • no wonder she's in love with the ocean.
    AnneQue sounds like Anchor.
    Mer = Sea in french.
    I s'pose it is one way to beat the queues at the airport though.
    • Brittany has a specific language which is in most part unrelated to french.

      • Offtopic or Interesting? You decide... :-)

        Knos: Brittany has a specific language which is in most part unrelated to french.

        ...but is, strangely, closely related to Welsh and other British Gaelic languages.

        I know this because my uncle, who is a Welsh speaker, struck up a conversation with what he thought was a fellow Welshman in Brittany. Only half an hour into chatting (and, to be fair, drinking), did he click that the gentleman was in fact a local.

        Oh, and interesting fact number two: Brittany is t

  • ...but it certainly looks like a huge arse lure to me.

  • Just curious.. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by ilyag ( 572316 ) on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @01:18AM (#9374319)
    How does she sleep?

    Where does she keep her food? (90 days of food in this tiny canoe?)

    What if there is a storm? (Good weather guaranteed? A ship following her just in case?)

  • geez... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by jpellino ( 202698 ) on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @02:18AM (#9374546)
    on the wrong day, just getting out of Chatham could be the worst part of the trip. Weatherwise, that is - and the bars (the ones in the water, that is - though around town there' s a bumper sticker that reads "Chatham - a quaint drinking village with a fishing problem.")

    Fog blows up over the barrier beach outside of Stage Harbor so thick and fast you'd swear there's a forest fire raging on the other side of the dune - and crossing Stage Harbor on a busy day with a sea kayak is like crossing I-95 on foot in rush hour.

  • Another French woman crossing oceans on her own.. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by n1ckmrt ( 604771 ) on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @02:26AM (#9374574)
    Really need to mention Raphaela Legouvella here as she recently arived in Tahiti on a windsufer. She already crossed the atlantic back in 2000. http://www.raphaela-legouvello.com/ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3236899.st m As to whether this should be on /. windsurfing seems a more apropriate geek sport to me than rowing (obvoulsy I'm biased on this). Hi tech construction, always pushing the speed records, and it's 95% technique and only 5% fitness. Her windsurfer looks biger than your average sailing boat but it was built with the help of the european space agency.

  • Giant Rapala (Score:3, Insightful)

    by bhima ( 46039 ) <(Bhima.Pandava) (at) (gmail.com)> on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @02:27AM (#9374576) Journal
    The article is right!

    The "row boat" looks like a giant rapala lure!

    Who in their right mind would row anywhere with that thing?

  • Why Newsworthy? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by mdielmann ( 514750 ) on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @02:37AM (#9374614) Homepage Journal
    I didn't RTFA (yeah, I've been here a while), but what's so surprising about a French woman doing it again?
  • Anyone read the short novel he Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect [kuro5hin.org]? Near the end the main character, Caroline, rows across a huge ocean (on another planet) to reach someone.
  • I wonder whether Chatham, Cape Cod was named after the original Thames port of Chatham [sheppeyscum.com] in Kent. Readers interested in learning more of the fine attractions and picturesque beauty of this forgotten [jungleravers.com] corner [chavscum.com] of England are referred to [urbandictionary.com] these [chavscum.com] interesting similar [geocities.com] sites. Warning, readers from Maidstone [geocities.com], Gillingham [scallycentral.com] or Sheppey [sheppeyscum.com] should not follow these links...

  • lemme guess:

    she got a few sponsors who are gonna pay big $$$ to have her stick on a few logo's

    she saved up for years to do this

    press is gonna waste millions on it in order to cover it world wide

    slashdot wastes about 1gb of served bandwidth

    what a waste! do something good with your money!
  • I have to wonder how you go to the bathroom on a trip like this... I mean, I understand that you're in the middle of the ocean and can go wherever you want, but think of the logistics... if you try to go over the side of the boat, wouldn't that create an imbalance?

  • The First (Score:2, Informative)

    by btharris ( 597924 )
    Anne Quemere was not the first woman to row across the Atlantic. The first woman (and first American) was Tori Murden in the American Pearl back in 1999:

    http://www.adept.net/AmericanPearl/ [adept.net]

    I think she went the westward direction (Canaries to Carribean) following ocean currents. It was an interesting online event since you could monitor GPS data on the website and she periodically posted messages and photos via satellite. She is now climbing Denali (Mt. McKinley).

  • Shark bait

    Ooh ha ha!

    "Enough with the shark bait..."

  • Pics (Score:2, Informative)

    by Xoo ( 178947 )
    Here [avirondocean.free.fr] are some more pics of her canoe and a pic of her too :-)
  • but all that rowing sounds like a real bummer. I crossed from the Canary Islands to the Carribean in a 56 foot sail boat in 1969 and it was no picnic, even going "downhill" so to speak. Our crossing was in January and we had several days of up to 80 knot wind and 20+ foot waves. NO GPS or satellite phone then, but we had, in addition to celectial navigation, Loran A and I had my ham rig for communications - almost as good.

    To the person who asked about food storage, I don't see that as much of a problem. Th
  • ...have a look at www.amyrklink.com.br [amyrklink.com.br]
    (in portuguese).

    This is the official site of Amyr Klink, the brazilian guy who rowed across the south atlantic from Africa to the Brazilian coast back in 1984 in a boat he himself designed (and which looks a lot like the french woman's boat, minus the fish). Then he went on to spend a winter alone in the Antarctic. His most recent adventure was a global circumnavigation around Antarctica non-stop in a sailing boat.

  • I know I'm late, but am I the only one who say this article as

    Rewiring the pond, again

    It's early still...

  • Bas Jan Ader [lostatsea.net] made a fatal attempt in 1975 to cross the Atlantic as performance art.
  • Since this article is neither for nerds, nor does it in any way matter, why was it OK'd? Slow news day?
  • while the one I submitted on the continued existence of the Total Information Awareness Program gets rejected by the editors.

    Nice work, /.

    "Stuff that matters"

    Right.

    Mod this Off-Topic now, morons.

  • How this article gets on Slashdot, when there are far more important topics [npr.org] for non-Nerd news isn't just puzzling. It's negligent.

    = 9J =

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