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SUBIC
BAY FREEPORT—Using only muscle power, plus a
sophisticated capsize-free vessel, two British airline
pilots are now on their way to Hong Kong in an attempt
to conquer the mighty South China Sea in a rowboat—a
first in maritime history.
But for
John Graham, 53, and Stu Pryke, 51, the historic feat is
only icing on the cake. Their primary objective? Raise
HK$1 million for the benefit of handicapped children in
Hong Kong.
Graham
and Pryke, both pilots of Cathay Pacific Airways, are
actually undertaking the “Subic 2 Hebe Challenge” as a
fundraiser for the Sunnyside Club, a charity set up by
employees of the British airline to improve the
well-being of mentally and physically handicapped
children in the former Crown colony.
The
crossing, which is expected to take from two weeks to a
month depending on sea currents and the wind, would take
them to Hebe Haven in Hong Kong, about 600 nautical
miles or 1,100 kilometers away from
Subic Bay.
Graham
and Prike left Subic on Sunday afternoon, after about
one year of preparations for this voyage.
Wearing
light rowing shirts color-coordinated with their yellow
fiberglass rowboat, the Sunny, the duo looked like two
sports buffs out for a day’s fun at the relatively
placid waters of
Subic Bay.
Their
boat, looking diminutive amid the yachts anchored at the
Subic Bay Yacht Club’s marina, was no ordinary pleasure
craft, however.
The
pilots said 24-foot Woodvale Challenge rowing boat
automatically rights itself up whenever it capsizes.
It is
also equipped with a GPS navigation system, active radar
to avoid collisions, watertight storage compartments,
solar-powered electric system, and, best of all, a
machine that converts seawater to freshwater.
“She’s a
good boat,” remarked Pryke in a blog last July, as Sunny
was undergoing customizing and retro-fitting, the
modifications demanded by the “unique nature” of the
South China Sea.
Pryke
added the boat’s moniker was arrived at “partly because
of its appeal in the Cantonese idiom, partly due to our
connection to the Sunnyside Club, and partly due to the
fact that the boat looks like the color of a sun-ripened
banana.”
According to Graham, the two will take turns at the oars
to push their craft at the hoped-for average of five
knots per hour.
For the
first 65 miles out of
Subic Bay, Graham and Pryke will pilot their craft northward along the
Philippine coast, then slice horizontally across the
South China Sea to the Romeo Gas Fields some 120
nautical miles southwest of
Hong Kong.
Thereafter, they expect to pull through some of the
busiest shipping lanes in the world and then land,
finally, at Hebe haven.
Out in
the sea, however, “We’re on our own until the fixed
traffic of the Romeo Gas and Oil Filed,” Pryke said.
“We
shall be logging on daily with text and [video] to the
web site,” he said, adding Hong Kong’s flying service
will track Sunny on a daily noontime check.
The
Subic-to-Hong Kong rowboat crossing will also benefit
the scientific community, a side mission requested by
World Wide Fund for Nature, one of the event sponsors.
Pryke
said “part of our remit to the WWF will [be] monitoring
of flora and fauna enroute and, of course, a 2.2-knot
pathology of the state of our ocean as we close in to
[Hong Kong].”
The
voyage may seem daunting, especially to these two men
who are, after all, mostly airborne. But Pryke said that
that fact only makes them “born survivors.”
“We’re
prepared for the worst,” he said, “but hopefully, the
worst won’t happen.”
The duo
said that if the crossing succeeds, they would organize
another crossing next year. And it will be a race this
time, presumably among several teams.
It will
also be for another charity: for the benefit of Filipino
children, that is. |
