Sailor in the Spotlight Interview - Roz Savage

Years ago, an unhappy and out of shape Roz Savage was working in an office in the UK, wondering what she was doing with her life.  She decided she needed to make a change.  So, she sat down at her desk and wrote up her own obituary - actually two, in fact.  The first was the obituary for the life she was leading then, the second for the life she wanted to live - a life that was worth living.  In that moment, Roz Savage decided to step out of the realm of the average office worker, and into a life of adventure.

 

Having little experience leading an adventurous life, Roz decided to revisit her old college pastime, rowing - just so she could get in shape.  Before she knew it, she was rowing away from shore to cross the Atlantic Ocean on her first voyage alone on the sea.  As the only female in the Atlantic Rowing Race that year, Roz says she wasn't really competing with the other racers, because "as the only woman, I was kind of in a class of my own."  Roz completed her row across the Atlantic, proving to everyone, not least of all herself, that she had made the change, and could lead the life she always dreamed of - a life where she was happy.

 

Having conquered the Atlantic, Roz Savage didn't wait long to plan her next big challenge, and it's a doozie - to row across the entire Pacific ocean.  She attempted to start her voyage last year, but extreme weather off the California coast caused her boat to roll repeatedly, forcing her to return home.  Undeterred, Roz reschedule her trip for this year, and she rowed out under the Golden Gate bridge on May 24th to become the first woman to row solo to Hawaii.

 

Rowing for 99 days alone across the Pacific ocean is difficult in any circumstances, but when you add mechanical breakdowns of major equipment, you've got real problems.  This is just what happened when Roz lost the use of her primary watermaker a few weeks into her voyage.  'No worries,' she thought, remembering the backup manual watermaker that is kept aboard.  It wasn't until her backup watermaker quit working as well, on July 1st, and Roz was forced to start drinking her ballast water, that she knew she could be in big trouble.  

 

YachtPals was contacted by Roz's supporters, who asked for help on Roz's behalf. After contacting Rita Savage (Roz's mother and main shore support), Roz relayed back the message that she was going to try and make it by herself, because among other reasons, she didn't want "to be seen as a damsel in distress."  It wasn't until Marcus and Joel on JUNK contacted Roz's mom, saying they desperately needed food, that Roz finally accepted a watermaker offered from them, ending her fears of dehydration at sea.  Roz then continued on, rowing into Hawaii, and into the history books.  

 

Roz said this of her accomplishment: "I had become the first solo woman to row from California to Hawaii - but that was not what was running through my mind. Records are not important to me. The feeling I had inside was not pride, but a quiet sense of achievement in a job well done, having achieved my goals both environmental and personal. Records can be broken, but that inner sense of satisfaction can never be taken away. I was happy."  Rowing alone on the Pacific for 99 days to bring attention to ocean pollution.  No fame, no fortune, refusing help and going it alone - even when fearing life threatening dehydration.  This is why Roz Savage, the sailor without sails, is this week's YachtPals Sailor in the Spotlight.

 

 

We caught up with Roz Savage via phone in Waikiki, Hawaii.  Joining us in the conversation was our friend Rachel Smith from the UK, who readers will remember rowed across the Atlantic earlier this year, and is our YachtPals ocean rowing expert.

 

YP: So Roz, when did you first get into rowing?

Roz: Well, I rowed when I went to University at Oxford. I really don't enjoy physical exercise, but at school I felt like I ought to do some.  I've had a life long struggle with my weight, and I decided that of the evils, exercise is probably a lesser evil than starving myself, or being fat [laughing].  

So, when I was 18 I thought:  'right, let's give this rowing thing a try.'  And I just really took to it - I really enjoyed it.  I was very fortunate.  I was always the worst rower in a good crew, rather than the best rower in a bad crew, and it is definitely nice to be around rowers who are a little bit better than you.  Anyway, I took to it with all the zeal of a convert!  I rowed for a few years in London afterwards, but then I quit rowing when I was about 26, and didn't start again until I decided to row the Atlantic in 2005-2006.

 

YP: So, that row alone across the Atlantic was your first ocean crossing?

Roz: That's right.  

 

YP: What led to your decision to row across an ocean alone?

Roz: I spent 11 years working in an office, mostly as a management consultant, and had a very conventional sort of London Yuppie lifestyle, and just ultimately decided that it wasn't really making me happy.  I think I needed to try it.  Because of growing up in a family with not very much money, I was very aspirational.  I wanted to have the big house, and all the stuff that goes with it.  It was only when I was in the fortunate position of actually having those things, that I went 'huh, I still don't really feel happy on the inside.'  So, maybe I got this wrong, maybe there is something else that I need in my life, something that gives me a greater sense of accomplishment.  A sense of inner value, rather than outer value.  That was a bit of an epiphany for me.

So, I did this exercise one day.  I wrote two versions of my own obituary.  The one that I wanted - kind of the way I wanted to be remembered - and the other version was what I was heading for at that stage in my life.  I looked at these two versions, and they were SO DIFFRENT from each other, and I just thought 'I'm not really on track here.  If I carry on the way I am I'm just not going to end up with the life that I want.  So, I'm going to have to make a few changes.'  And from there it was all a slippery slope into ocean rowing. [laughing]

 

YP: I'm sure a lot of our readers can relate to wanting a change in their life.  Good for you for taking your fate into your own hands.  So, how's it going?  Happy now?

Roz: I CERTAINLY AM!  I LOVE MY LIFE NOW!  Oh, I hope I'm not one of these kind of sickening Polly Annaish kind of people, where everything is lovely all of the time, but there is so much cool stuff that happens in my life.  I do find the ocean really hard - I have to admit, it's not fun, well I didn't find it fun rowing across an ocean, but it's worthwhile.  It's one of those things that... Well, it's character building, let's put it that way.  [...]

It also allows me, when I'm on dry land, to travel, to meet lots of really interesting people, to do interesting things, to give presentations, and write books.  It has a lot of rewards that make me feel it is really worthwhile, and I feel it is hopefully allowing me to leave some type of legacy -  the environmental message is very important to me.  The ocean rowing gives me a platform to do that.  My perception from the feedback I am getting from the Pacific row is that the message is really starting to get out there.

I'm not arrogant enough to think I'm changing the world, but I think I'm starting to spread a few ripples - and I really believe in the ripple effect.  I think when people become aware of environmental issues, that is the first step on the way to change.  [...] I want people to realize that every single little action that they take, does have an impact on the environment, it does make a difference - and it is up to them to decide whether their actions make a good difference or a bad difference.  And here ends the sermon [laughing].

 

YP: Well, you are a preachers daughter Roz [laughing].  I agree, many people making small changes can make a big difference.  That's why we have been trying to bring attention to the issue here at YachtPals.  We spoke with your friend Marcus Eriksen of Junk raft a few days ago, and he told us all about the problem of plastic pollution in the ocean, and the human health concerns we should be aware of.

Roz: Well, he's the real expert, I'm a mere amateur - I'm just trying to do my little bit.

 

YP: Seems like more than a little bit, rowing across to Hawaii!  So, you started out from San Francisco rowing for Hawaii last year, but ran into some trouble when your boat rolled in the Pacific.  With the water ballast, these boats are designed to roll quite well, is that right?

Rachel: YES THEY DO [laughing]

YP: Right, Rachel knows all about that too!  First, Roz, what happened when your boat rolled?

Roz: Well, the weather was so rough, I was actually in the cabin each of the times the boat rolled.  Unfortunately, the strap that I had to hold me down to my bunk ripped out from the floor of the cabin on the second capsize.  You know, it's just not fun capsizing.  Even if the boat self-rights, it makes a heck of a mess of everything that is inside the cabin.  No matter how carefully you think you've got everything lashed down, a few things still escape.  It's just fairly traumatic as well, really.  Because you're lying there in your bunk maybe asleep, and suddenly your whole world turns upside down.  Then, after that, you're just bracing the whole time, wondering when it will capsize again.  So, it's not fun.

 

 

YP: Now, Rachel, you were on deck when your boat flipped in the Atlantic.  Can you tell us about that?

Rachel: It was so quick.  It was a bright sunny day - the water was really blue with white tops on it.  And it was just so bright, and it happened so quickly.  We just sort of popped up - the boat was up before we were.  I remember being in the water, and we popped up next to each other, and just sort of checked that all limbs were attached, and there was nothing leaking from anywhere, and said "what happened?"  We realized if we were in the water, obviously the only conclusion was that we had capsized [laughing].  We were clipped onto the boat anyway, so we were right next to it.  There was no one around, so there was nothing else for it other than to get back in and cook some dinner really.

 

YP: I still can't believe you kept that a secret from us until you got into Antigua, but it was nice of you not to want to worry your friends and family about something they could do nothing about.  So Roz, after that failed attempt, you rowed out under the Golden Gate again this year, aimed for Hawaii.  All was going fine until your watermaker stopped working mid-ocean.  What happened?

Rachel: All rowers have problems with the watermaker, don't they?

Roz: Absolutely - it's got to be the classic cause of failure of an ocean row is watermaker failure.  Because most ocean rowers now don't take enough water supplies with them to last the entire crossing - they take a watermaker, usually a reverse osmosis machine.  I have a Spectra watermaker, which is an excellent product, that has served me really well on the Atlantic.  But, it does not take kindly to being immersed in salt water.  

Unfortunately, just after I set out from under the Golden Gate bridge there was a lot of very heavy weather, and I was confined in my cabin for days at a time.  One day I opened up the watermaker hatch, and discovered to my horror that it was flooded, almost to the top.  The electric feed pump was submerged.  So I swore a bit, and emptied it all out, and the watermaker hobbled along for a few more weeks, but then gave in to corrosion.  

So, I resorted to my back-up watermaker, which is a manually pumped one.  Then that sprung a leak.  So, that left me with a bit of a bother - that left me just having to survive off my water ballast. [Editor's Note: Ocean row boats use water ballast for stability - to ensure the self righting of the vessel at sea.  As more water is removed from the ballast tank, the boat has less and less ability to recover from a capsize.  So, as Roz Savage was drinking the ballast water she needed to survive, she increased the risk of her boat remaining turtled in the open ocean should a rouge wave capsize her craft.]

I had enough [water] to last me a couple of months.  So I was doing OK with that, but I knew it would be really touch and go, whether I would have enough to get me all the way to Hawaii.

You know, it's just amazing the way that things work out sometimes.  The options that the universe hands to you on a plate.  As luck would have it, I had spoken with Marcus Eriksen of the JUNK before I set out from California, because we were both doing such similar things.  [...]  So, as I'm crossing people are putting comments on my website saying do you realize the JUNK is getting really close to you now - they're catching up to you.  I also realized that they were running out of food - meanwhile I'm running out of water.  So, can you believe it, we managed to meet up in the middle of the ocean!

 

YP: Amazing.  Marcus told me it felt like having a princess aboard.

Roz: [laughing] Well, actually they were so hospitable, I felt like a princess actually.  [...] They are great guys, and I feel very lucky to have met them anywhere, but especially to have met them in those circumstances.

Rachel: It's amazing that you were able to meet up with them.  After we left the Canaries [rowing Canary Islands to Antigua 2008], apart from the big ships...  Well, we did see one other rowing boat, and a couple of sailboats.  One or two came over to have a look at us, which caused a quick scrabble for clothes.

Roz: [laughing] Yes, I know that feeling!

Rachel: [laughing] Yeah.  They said, "can we come and have a look at you", and we were like "yeah, course you can."  Then we were like, OK, we have no clothes on. [...]  Anyway, I'm amazed that you turned round as well.  Because to me, everything you do when you are out there is geared towards getting to the other side as fast as possible.  It must have been really hard to turn round [to meet Joel and Marcus on JUNK].

Roz: It felt so unnatural.  It was really hard, it really was!  I actually said to Joel on the JUNK, "I don't know if I can do this.  You want me to row EAST? I don't think my compass points that way, [laughing] I'm sorry.  I don't think I can do it."  Actually, it was only for about an hour that I rowed the wrong way, but you're absolutely right, because when you're out there... If you're like me Rachel, I really felt like every mile that I row, is a mile I never have to row again - Thank heavens.

Rachel: Definitely.

Roz: It definitely went against the grain to turn round and reverse.  

 

YP: So, I'm curious, when YachtPals spoke with you via your mother, when you where first having your watermaker troubles, you refused help from us, and others in the area. [A few YachtPals were coincidentally heading towards her part of the Pacific at the time.]  You only accepted help from Marcus and Joel on JUNK when you heard that they also needed help.  Was this because you didn't want to be seen as some wimpy girl who needed to be saved in the middle of the Pacific, when you could handle it on your own?

Roz: Yeah, there was probably a little element of not wanting to be seen as a damsel in distress.  It's not very good for my self respect to be seen as some little blond bimbo out there who can't look after herself.  Because after all, I've put myself into that situation, and I feel like it is entirely up to me to get myself out of the situation in one piece.  So, I suppose there was a little element of that, but I hope it's not foolish pride - certainly staying alive is a VERY high priority for me [laughing].  If it had become urgent then I would certainly have used YachtPals.

For the next stage of my row, it would be great to put the word out to the yachties on the Pacific.  I would certainly welcome anybody who wants to swing by and say hello.  I'm not trying to do this unsupported.  So, if they want to, you know, bring me some fresh fish, or a cold beer, or something like that - THEN BRING IT ON!  I think that the incidents of cool people amongst sailors is higher than the national average.  So, I think that would be really good fun for the next stage.

Rachel: That would be really cool, you could have like little treats all the way across.  That would be fantastic!

Roz: That would be lovely!  I really enjoy meeting people, as long as it doesn't slow me down too much. It could be a lot of fun.  It's all part of the adventure, and that's what I'm out there for.  I'm not out there to break records, or to do a super fast time, or anything like that.  I'm just out there to raise environmental awareness, to learn a bit more about myself as a person, and hopefully towards my goal in my obituary of winding up as a happy, healthy, and wise person.  Eventually, I'm working on it.

 

YP: Aren't we all.  We would love to send you some company on the next leg of your row.  You must have been lonely out there after 99 days at sea?

Roz: I don't really get lonely, only very occasionally. [...] There were days that I found hard, but there were other days I found easy, and there were some days I thought, 'I'm almost enjoying this.'

I found the Pacific row easier mentally than the Atlantic row.  I think there were probably three principal reasons for that.  Number one, I had done it before, so I knew I could do it.  On the Atlantic row there was a lot of self questioning - a lot of self doubt - a lot of wondering what the hell was I thinking when I decided to do this [laughing].  

Number two, I learned a lot of little psychological tricks about how to get myself through the day.  How if I was struggling, how to motivate myself to keep going. Like, I would set myself a goal of rowing between 10 or 12 hours a day, and there were some days when I just couldn't find the motivation, and it was just so hard.  So I would go 'OK, today instead of rowing in shifts of 2 hours, I'll row in shifts of one and a half hours.'  So, relatively speaking, that feels like it's an easy day.  And at the end of every one and a half hours I would reward myself with some food.  I would still, by the end of the day, have rowed like 80% of what I would row on a full on day - and 80% is not bad. So I would give myself a pat on the back and say, 'hey, you know what, you where having a tough day today, and you still did 80% of the usual, so you did well.' The other trick is - someone gave me an interesting perspective, they said "what would your best friend say to you in this situation." [...]

The third reason that I found it easier on the Pacific was audio books [laughing].  I listened to 62 books on the Pacific!

 

YP: That's one way to keep yourself entertained.  So, before we say goodbye Roz, what advice would you give to people with a crazy dream?

Roz: Take the first step.  When I look back at the life I was living, my previous life, which is so different from what I am doing now.  If I had tried to make a quantum leap from that life into what I am doing now, I would have been incompetent, terrified, unable - I just wouldn't have been able to do it.  I can remember looking at those two versions of my obituary and thinking, 'how am I going to get from this kind of life, to that kind of a life,' and just not knowing where to start.  I think it is so important to keep the end goal in mind.

But the more important thing is to think, what is the first thing - the first tiny tiny little physical action that I need to take to get from where I am, to where I want to be.  Like, if I want to change jobs or something.  Is it to buy the newspaper and look at the adverts? Is it to pick up the phone and make that phone call?  Whatever it is, just take the first step.  That's how you can achieve amazing things.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roz Savage Interview by K. Hampton exclusively for YachtPals.com

 

 

Read More about Roz Savage or the Ocean Environment:

• Roz Savage Completes Pacific Row
• JUNK - Across the Pacific on a Pile of Garbage
• Junk Raft Completes Voyage to Hawaii
• Interview with Marcus Eriksen of the JUNK Raft (Marcus gives a full account of meeting Roz Savage at sea)
• Row Your Boat Naked (Part 1 of Rachel and Lin's Row across the Atlantic)
• Rowing Across the Atlantic - Over 2,500 n/miles! (Part 2 of Rachel and Lin's Row across the Atlantic)
• Lin and Rachel from Antigua (Rachel and Lin speak about their capsize in the Atlantic - comment on Part 2)
  
• Boats of the Future - Eco-Friendly Yachts
• Wave Powered Boat
• Eco-yachts
• Environment (news at YachtPals about the environment)
  

 

Leave a comment for YachtPal Roz Savage Below.

 

Roz Savage Video: Solo rower Roz Savage arrived at the Waikiki Yacht Harbor after 99 days at sea, rowing from California to Hawaii. Fans, supporters, and reporters were on hand to celebrate, including the crew of JUNK.

Submitted By YachtPals on 07 Sep

Roz Savage, rowing, Hawaii, US, san francisco bay, Roz Savage rowing, environment, Roz, Savage, Roz Savage Hawaii, Roz Savage Pacific

Select ratingPoorOkayGoodGreatAwesome