...A life on the ocean blue...
I can't even begin to imagine rowing for 15 hours a day, every day. I was exhausted, winding our emergency torch (flashlight) for 4 mins today.
The last week of his journey, he knew there were cyclones brewing at the end and that he could either row through them or just scuttle the entire trip. What does our intrepid oarsman do? he rows faster! And finds a way to shorten the trip that brings him closer to the ultimate path of the degrading storm systems! My goodness!! I was frightened just reading the short para about his dilemma last week; I have absolutely no idea how he mentally handled the journey or how his wife and family handled his absence.
I have to read the article again to see what support crew he had. Our govt takes a very poor view of such sailors these days, and doesn't like rescuing them, plus there would have been concern about his 'legal maritime entry status'.
joanne said:
I can't even begin to imagine rowing for 15 hours a day, every day. I was exhausted, winding our emergency torch (flashlight) for 4 mins today.
lol!
And how about this heartbreaker (referring to the last guy who tried this journey):
"In 1983, British ocean rower Peter Bird rowed solo across the Pacific from San Francisco to Australia, but he did not make landfall.
Mr Bird was about half-a-kilometre away from the Great Barrier Reef when he had to be rescued by the Australian Navy, after spending 294 days at sea."
I think they ought to give it to him. 
From memory, that chap came out without all the mod-cons required for safe modern travel (because the 'stuff' would weigh him down). So when he got into trouble, he refused to realise how bad it was, and against advice, continued his journey from last landfall straight into the path of another major storm. He then refused to be rescued by our Navy, who had to come out a second time to find him after he lost contact with his support team (having been blown off course).
It was after this case the government decided to charge such adventurers realistic fees for all rescue missions.
The Navy's caught: you can't ignore people stuck in the middle of nowhere, but at the same time, it's not their job to save adventurers. Especially when we're supposedly fighting a massive war against illicit maritime arrivals. We can't monitor our coastline or all our waters, so it's a real problem in personnel, finance and ethics. So much for the romance of unpowered ocean travel...
On the other hand, I gotta say this story I found kinda inspiring too:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-29/syd-fischer-looks-ahead-to-another-sydney-to-hobart/7058088
It's absurd to go out inadequately prepared, make stupid decisions, and then expect to be rescued for free and more or less against your will and contrary to your own behavior. Sometimes, people have to be saved from themselves, but I don't think it's right to make any nation's armed forces foot the bill for it. So I would be 100% behind a reasonable fee for that "service." Still, I feel bad for the poor sap... if he had made just a few smarter decisions, he would have achieved what he set out to do. Maybe the sun had gone to his brain. 
Media (sadly, it's usually 'Murdoch-owned media') love to make cliched "mad dogs and Englishmen"/"going troppo" awful headlines about heatstroke and poor decision-making as they discuss the progress of the rescue attempts. So the humiliation is quite complete.
When I was still very young, Sir Francis Chichester circumnavigated the globe (but I think that was in a powered yacht). I remember both positive and negative articles, and ultimately he was a hero figure who triumphed over Nature. My French mother always thought he was a mad Englishman who'd had too much sun and gin 
Well, you do have to be at least a little mad to set out to do something like that.
Most solo sailors would come under one or more of the rules associated with SOLAS - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SOLAS_Convention
Sadly, too, not everybody makes it...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_McAuley
I read somewhere that while everybody would prefer that solo sailors would not get into situations where they need to be rescued, the rescue authorities prefer to conduct these searches as they have a real-life result, as opposed to exercises, which they'd otherwise have to do, just to maintain currency.
The rationale goes... exercises cost money, so why not use the actual rescue as a training exercise?
I know we've discussed that these ventures are too risky, but wow! This is an achievement, timed for arrival the day befor Australia/Survival Day:
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Not sure if this has been covered in your news over there: a solo sailor has rowed from the US to Australia. John left San Francisco in June and got to Queensland today.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-27/john-beeden-first-person-to-solo-row-pacific-ocean-cairns-qld/7055426