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It’s COOL TO BE BLUE™

After weeks waiting for a suitable weather window, the day finally came for, BLUE™ Ambassador, Roz Savage to start her mammoth 2,050 nautical mile voyage, to row single handed across the Pacific Ocean from California to Hawaii. 

At 1549 GMT (0649 hours local time) yesterday afternoon (Sunday 12 August 2007), Roz and her tiny 23ft rowing boat, Brocade pushed off from the guest pontoon at Crescent City, California amongst a small crowd of well wishes. 

Roz who is 39 and originally from Cheshire is no newcomer to the world of Ocean Rowing, after competing in the Atlantic Rowing Race 2005.  Out of 26 entries, Roz was the only single handed female to compete in the Race and she overcame numerous storms and tropical depressions not to mention equipment failures to finish the race triumphantly after a gruelling 103 days at sea. 

During the estimated four months of this Pacific Ocean voyage, Roz Savage is not only bidding to become the first female to row solo across the Pacific Ocean, she also aims to raise much needed awareness for the growing problem of ocean pollution.  Having teamed up with US based environmental organisations, the Blue Frontier Campaign and NOAA, as well as the Britain’s BLUE™ Climate and Oceans Project, Roz will use her observations at sea to highlight the devastating effect that plastic pollution is having on our oceans and marine wildlife. 

As an Ambassador of the BLUE™ Climate and Oceans Project, Roz’s voyage will be featured as a BLUE™ sporting adventure project on www.theblueproject.org, alongside other clean sports such as sailing, ballooning, kite surfing and snow boarding.  The BLUE™ Climate and Oceans Project which is the first environmental campaign to use sport and adventure to highlight and raise awareness of the health of our climate and oceans and the resulting impact of global climate change is a natural fit for Roz and her Pacific Ocean Voyage. 

Roz Savage comments: "From my little rowboat I am going to send back eyewitness evidence about the health of our oceans – as I cross the Pacific I will be travelling slowly, and close to the water, for months at a time, so I am in a unique position to see what's happening. I've heard horror stories of a garbage patch the size of Texas, where abandoned yachts and containers and TV's and refrigerators float around in the oceanic equivalent of a landfill. It's appalling to imagine, and the only way I will believe it is to see it with my own eyes.”

Press release courtesy of:

Teresa Page
The BLUE™ Climate and Oceans Project

- 13th August 2007