Every Day Is Special: circumnavigate

Showing posts with label circumnavigate. Show all posts

July 21 - First Solo Human-Powered Circumnavigation! What???

Posted on July 21, 2020

On this date in 2012, Turkish American adventurer Erden Eruç completed the first solo human-powered circumnavigation of the Earth.

The first person to do something is often celebrated! But there were a lot of words there explaining just what Eruç was first at! Let's break it down...

To circumnavigate the Earth means to go all the way around it. This is something that many of us have never done - and most of us have never wanted to do! The first people to circumnavigate our planet, as far as we know, were the remainders of an expedition originally led by Ferdinand Magellan who ended up where they started from in 1522. (Magellan himself didn't make it the whole way 'round!)

The first solo circumnavigation means, of course, going all the way around the world all by your lonesome!

The first person known to have accomplished this derring-do is Joshua Slocum, who finished his trip in 1898.

In 2007 Jason Lewis completed the first human-powered circumnavigation. He did everything from pedaling wooden pedal boats across entire oceans to kayaking, roller blading to bicycling, and of course sometimes hiking - and with all those ways of traveling without horse- or steam- or gas-powered vehicles, he managed to circle the entire globe.

But Lewis didn't do that massive feat alone. He had a traveling buddy during some of the ocean crossings and other companions during, say, the hike across the Big Island of Hawaii and the bicycle crossing of Australia.

Perhaps Lewis inspired Erden Eruç to try a solo human-powered globe-trot? Who knows - but he rowed across several oceans, paddled a sea kayak and several canoes, biked, hiked, skied - and managed to circle the entire planet in just a little more than five years!

Wow!

Eruç is still adventuring. He has set a goal of climbing the tallest mountains on six continents, and he has already conquered Denali (North America), Mount Kosciuszko (Australia), and Mount Kilimanjaro (Africa). Three down; three to go!

In 2003, Eruç's went to Alaska to climb Dinali, but first
he took a little time off to get married! His wife is also
a fan of adventuring!

Also on this date:

Anniversary of an ancient arson

Liberation Day in Guam

Kinderzeche in Bavaria

Independence Day in Belgium

Victor Schoelcher Day in Martinique

National Junk Food Day

No Pet Store Puppies

Anniversary of the lowest recorded temperature in history

Feast Day of St. George in Malta

Plan ahead:

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June 27 – Around the World - All Alone!

Posted on June 27, 2017

On this date in 1898, writer
and adventurer Joshua
Slocum finished the first
solo circumnavigation of
the world.

In other words, he sailed all
the way around the world -
alone!

He did it aboard a sloop
oyster boat named Spray,
which was about 36 feet and
9 inches (11.2 m) long. He
sailed more than 48,000
miles (74,000 km).

And it took more than three
years!

One reason it took as long
as it did - and why he
traveled so many miles - is because, when Slocum first set sail from
Boston, Massachusetts, in April of 1895, he sailed north to visit his
boyhood home of Nova Scotia. He only left North America in July of that
year, sailing eastward across the Atlantic. He intended to sail through the
Mediterranean Sea, through the Suez Canal, and then eastward through
the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

But when he reached Gibraltar, he learned that there was so much piracy
in the Southern Mediterranean, it was too unsafe - so Slocum went
BACK across the Atlantic to South America, and then through the Straits
of Magellan to the Pacific. That's a pretty big double-back!!

When Slocum landed in Newport, Rhode Island, his amazing feat drew
little notice. While he was busy staying alive alone on "the seven seas,"
Spain and the United States had embarked on a war, and the
newspapers were full of battle headlines.

Luckily for all of us, Slocum took the
time to write about his adventure:
Sailing Alone Around the World.

And he THEN got the attention he
deserved - his book was very well
received, and he was invited to
give lectures and to be a part of the
Pan-American Expo in 1901.

Slocum was even invited to talk
at a dinner honoring Mark Twain!

Would it surprise you
to learn that this

famous seaman met
his death, at age 65,
by being lost at sea?
He went out on one of
his usual winter
voyages on November
14, 1909, and he was
never heard from again.
In 1924, he was finally
declared legally dead,
although his wife was sure he had drowned by July of 1910.

She probably knew that, despite the fact that Slocum spent so much
time on the water, he'd never learned to swim. Actually, he considered
knowing how to swim to be useless - which strikes me as entirely weird,
but I gather that lots of people back then didn't know how to swim...

Also on this date: