Tom's Pacific Journey - Kia Orana Tom
by Rob Robson 23 Dec 2022 11:51 UTC
Tom's Pacific crossing © Robert Robson
My name is Robert Robson. With my wife, Pamela, we have adventured in various parts of the world on our catamaran LAGUZ.
Over the years I understand how cruisers enjoy hearing about like-minded people who just go about their adventures in their own ways. Young Tom Robinson is such an example of this. When not "cruising " the Pacific, Tom lives a few streets from our home in Brisbane, Australia. Three years ago Tom designed and self built his "cruising "boat Maywair. Over 160 days ago Tom quietly rowed Maywair out of Lima, Peru on his quest to reach Australia. Frustratingly, Tom was too far north to reach The Marquesas and Society Islands. Of course, his route is dictated predominantly by the current.
Last week, he finally made land fall at Penrhyn Island about 1,500 kilometres north of Raratonga in the Cook Islands. [Phew, relief!!!!] Tom plans to stay there until after the cyclone season. For much of his trip Tom has lived on peanut butter wraps and Sushi.[ He lost the lid of his saucepan overboard when a rogue wave hit Maywair. I thought the story of Tom's adventure to date might be interesting for your readers/followers. Tom has a GoFundMe site if any cruisers wish to donate towards his next supply of peanut butter. Below is a brief summary of Tom's journey to date.
Maiwar slipped quietly into the lagoon at Penrhyn Island at 5 pm on Friday 9 December 2022 local time. This marked the completion of the first leg of Tom's Pacific crossing.
Penrhyn (aka Tongareva) is the northernmost of the Cook Islands lying 540 nautical miles (1,000 km) south of the equator and 3,000 nautical miles (5,550 km) ENE of Brisbane. To get there Tom rowed non-stop from Lima, Peru for 160 days to cover 4,750 nautical miles (8,800 km), as the crow flies, at an average speed of 1.24 knots. Quite an achievement, to say the least, for a 23 year old who had never before rowed an ocean. What's more, Tom did this on his own terms. He designed and built Maiwar - an unconventional vessel by today's ocean rowing standards - expressly for this voyage. It's a timber vessel with few modern electronic aids.
Penrhyn, which has a reputation for its extremely friendly community, is 15 nautical miles long by 9 nautical miles wide with a population of about 220. It has a shop, a bank, a post office, two hospitals, two schools, three churches and a usable WWII airstrip. A cargo vessel brings supplies every few months on an irregular basis. Previously a protectorate of New Zealand, it is now in free association (a technical term) with that country. It's governed by an Island Council that includes the mayor, elected representatives and appointed members. Fishing and weaving are two of its prominent economic activities. The Shore Team thinks Tom will feel quite at home during his time there.
Tom and the Shore Team would sincerely like to thank the people of Penrhyn for welcoming Tom and ensuring his safe arrival.
This update is the last to be sent from the Shore Team while Tom is on Penrhyn. He will be updating you and the blog shortly with some tales from the Pacific. We look forward to writing to you again as Tom's time sheltering during the cyclone season comes to a close.
Yours sincerely,
The Shore Team