評論
打印
So, how do you top rowing across the Atlantic?
你怎么才能超越橫渡大西洋？
Well, naturally, you decide to row across the Pacific.
很自然，你會決定橫渡太平洋。
Well, I thought the Atlantic was big, but the Pacific is really, really big.
我知道大西洋很大，但是太平洋是非常非常大。
I think we tend to do it a little bit of a disservice in our usual maps.
我認為我們應該對平常的地圖做一點小小的改動。
I don't know for sure that the Brits invented this particular view of the world,
我不確定是不是英國人發明了這個看世界的特別角度，
but I suspect we might have done so: we are right in the middle,
但是我推測是我們發明的，因為我們處在中間的位置，
and we've cut the Pacific in half and flung it to the far corners of the world.
我們把太平洋一分為二，而且把它放在了天涯海角。
Whereas if you look in Google Earth, this is how the Pacific looks. It pretty much covers half the planet.
如果你用Google Earth的話，你會看到太平洋是這副模樣，它差不多覆蓋了半個地球。
You can just see a little bit of North America up here and a sliver of Australia down there.
你能夠在它的上面看到一點北美洲，在下面也可以看到澳大利亞的一個邊。
It is really big -- 65 million square miles -- and to row in a straight line across it would be about 8,000 miles.
它確實太大了，6500萬平方英里，就算是直線橫渡太平洋也得有8000英里。
Unfortunately, ocean rowboats very rarely go in a straight line.
不幸的是，劃船渡洋很少能走直線。
By the time I get to Australia, if I get to Australia, I will have rowed probably nine or 10,000 miles in all.
在我達到澳大利亞前，我是說如果我順利地達到澳大利亞，我大概一共要劃9000到1萬英里。
So, because nobody in their straight mind would row straight past Hawaii without dropping in,
所有的正常人都會考慮在劃船經過夏威夷的時候順便停留一下，
I decided to cut this very big undertaking into three segments. The first attempt didn't go so well.
于是我決定把這個大航程分成三個階段進行。我的第一次嘗進行得并不順利。
In 2007, I did a rather involuntary capsize drill three times in 24 hours. A bit like being in a washing machine.
2007年，我有一次在24小時內3次被卷入了足以令我翻船的漩渦當中。感覺有點像掉進了洗衣機里。
Boat got a bit dinged up, so did I. I blogged about it.
我的船受到了一點損壞，我也受了點輕傷。我把這段經歷寫在了博客里。
Unfortunately, somebody with a bit of a hero complex decided that this damsel was in distress and needed saving.
一些有英雄情結的人認為我身處困境，并且需要幫助。
The first I knew about this was when the Coast Guard plane turned up overhead.
當海岸警衛隊的飛機在我頭上盤旋的時候，我才知道這些。
I tried to tell them to go away. We had a bit of a battle of wills.
我請他們離開，我們交涉了一段時間。
I lost and got airlifted. Awful, really awful.
然后我服從了他們，被接到飛機上，簡直太糟糕了。
It was one of the worst feelings of my life, as I was lifted up on that winch line into the helicopter
那是我一生中心情最差的時候，我被用吊繩運送到了直升飛機里，
and looked down at my trusty little boat rolling around in the 20 foot waves and wondering if I would ever see her again.
我朝下面看了看與我并肩作戰的小船，正在20英尺高的海浪里搖擺，我不知道還能不能再看見它。
So I had to launch a very expensive salvage operation and then wait another nine months before I could get back out onto the ocean again.
我不得不開展了花費甚高的搶救行動，然后又等待了漫長的九個月，我才又可以卷土重來開始我的橫渡之旅。
