Extreme rower Jari Saario spends Christmas alone in the middle of the South Atlantic.
– Those rocks… They were like from a horror story. They looked like sharp fangs.
This is how Jari Saario describes his experience on Cape Horn, the southern tip of South America known for its fabled and violent storms, an ancient nightmare for sailors.
– All the bad forces met in Cape Horn, he sums up.
– The wind was over 30 meters per second, Gusts 40 meters per second.
On the other hand: Saario with Clayton boats was in Cape Horn specifically to taste the storm experience.
– It was a pretty wild ride. Waves came from all sides. You could focus on that.
Rounding Cape Horn by rowing took about a week, says Saario.
– I claim that I am the only rower who can call himself a horner.
Towards Cape Town
Jari Saario is rowing thousands of kilometers with Cape Town as his destination. Jari Saario’s album
After exploring Cape Horn, Saario’s route led from the south of the Falkland Islands towards the northeast. Around Christmas he is in the middle of the Atlantic, north of the South Sandwich Islands.
The trip started on November 11. The finish on the other side of the South Atlantic, the Cape Town harbor basin, still looms very far, thousands of kilometers away.
The total length of the Milky Way is about 8,000 kilometers, but the distance rowed will be considerably longer.
– It’s completely open how long this will last, Saario says.
– If I’m incredibly lucky, I might be there at the beginning of February. If you’re unlucky, it might be April.
“It’s zero at night”
Crossing the ocean in a rowing boat is a lonely endeavor.
– It must have been the second or third day when I saw the ship. No one has been seen since then.
Dolphins, penguins and whales have served the travel company – and also black-faced albatrosses.
– According to the legend, the spirit of a dead sailor moves to an albatross.
Saario doesn’t worry about the fattening albatrosses around it, at least bigger ones, but it’s hard not to worry about the “harsh cold”.
– At night it is at zero. Toes and fingers are completely frozen all the time, he exclaims.
– It snows or hails every other day. Moisture goes everywhere.
The heating device travels along, but refuses to offer help.
– Defa has only acted once. Did sea water go in there? Now there are 15 liters of diesel as ballast, Saario said.
– The inflatable travel mattress has been a lifesaver. It keeps the heat from the body.
With dry food
Clayton’s driving anchor rope got stuck and was frayed. Jari Saario had to dive into the frozen ocean. Jari Saario’s album
On his previous Atlantic crossing, Saario traveled on a poorly functioning boat. Built and equipped for this trip, the approximately 7.5-meter Clayton has held up much better in the merciless pounding of the ocean.
– The wave comes here like a bomb. It’s far from fun, Saario describes.
– With the old boat, it would have gone full volts already.
Rowing for hours every day wears on the joints, even if the pace is a moderate 6–8 strokes per minute. In practice, the only maintenance is the occasional Burana capsule.
– Note that it has been rowed. It works pretty well on the shoulders and knees.
Saario says that he eats about 5,000 kilocalories a day.
– The food has tasted good, even though only dry food is included: chicken, salmon, powdered sourdough and muesli desserts.
Saario has fishing gear on the way.
– Fishing in this wave would be really difficult, but if the trip is long, I took the lures with me just in case.
“This is how it goes now”
A lonely Christmas awaits Saariot.
– It will be a slightly different Christmas, he acknowledges.
– This is how it goes now.
There aren’t even specials reserved for Christmas food.
– I think I’ll go for the pasta bolognese.
There is no red gift bag waiting in Clayton’s mouth.
– My coach Charlie Pitcher gave a package and said that there is a Christmas present in it.
Didn’t the family prepare any surprise to be opened at Christmas?
– They gave me such a Christmas present that I can do this adventure.
Huge budget
The extreme rowing jobs have made Jari Saario very popular. Inka Soveri
At the beginning of the year, Saario announced a total budget of about 450,000 euros for its Horn to Hope project. Clayton’s share is roughly a third, as is transportation.
The euros come partly from partners, partly from a savings account and partly by borrowing from the bank.
Based on the first month or so, has the trip been worth all the money and effort?
– It has been worth all the effort. It will go down in history that I have rowed around Cape Horn – and survived.
Although it is cold, heavy and lonely in the South Atlantic, Saario assures that the mind has mostly remained fresh.
– Now it has become a bit like that the mood goes up and down, he elaborates.
– The cold is such that you don’t feel like smiling all the time.
After all, the next adventure isn’t brewing in your mind.
– I don’t know if I will go out to sea rowing again after this.