Seattlest finds the fact that a team of rowers from the Northwest have almost completed a trans-Atlantic crossing very cool, despite a couple of things, but first, it's cool. It seems like a truly difficult endeavor and the bigness of the Atlantic (big waves, big distance, big cold, etc) and the smallness of a rowable boat are somehow attractive to us. It does smell a little like rich guys ballooning around the world in search of faux adventure at any price, but the guys aren't rich and they had to raise a lot of money to get their boat from the Sound to the East Coast. And the lack of technology is also double-sided: It's cool, yeah, that the strength of their biceps is propelling them across such a large body of water, but at the same time...it's a pretty large artificial handicap. We have engines now, or, if that's too high tech for you, sails. You can't get much more basic then rowing unless you want to Thor Heyerdahl it and depend only on buoyancy and the currents.

The Tacoma News Tribune has been covering OAR Northwest throughout their race (yeah, rowing across the Atlantic isn't enough - it has to be a race) and now's a good time to tune in, as they are almost there and look like they'll win the thing. You can also go straight to the source, though, and read their blog. The low-tech artifice apparently doesn't extend beyond propulsion and they do have satellite internet. There's a lot of action and danger on the blog, but we'll clip coffee time for you here:

A day in the life of a coffee drinking ocean rower:

In the months leading up to our row across the North Atlantic I often stated that I imagined life in a row boat for 2 months to be a matter of managing or minimizing discomfort. In no way did I expect to find any level of comfort in a 5x8 foot cabin while being pelted by wind, rain, waves and whatever else the North Atlantic decides to heap upon us. I have been pleasantly surprised to find that the body and mind adapts to the 12 hours of rowing per day and any weather conditions we have encountered. There is a level of comfort and normalcy that can be found in even the most adverse of conditions. On the N Atlantic I have this through listening to the i-pod, discussing the virtues of a liberal arts education with my teammates (our conversations have ranged from the history of Prussia to the geological formation of the North Cascades) and a moment I enjoy each and every day since leaving the gulf stream.

With the decrease in temperature as we make our way North and away from the warmth of the gulf stream I have taken to enjoying a cup of coffee in stern cabin. I've got my Jet Boil filled with a nice roast (supplied by Caffe Appassionato) and I sip the hours (all 2 of them) away until it is my duty to row again. The conversation over the next rowing shift is more lively, the pain in my lower back subsides and I take a moment to enjoy the bliss of my coffee propaganda moment.