With the weather finally on his side, Port Angeles adventurer Chris Duff is making his long-awaited solo crossing from Scotland to the Faroe Islands in a modified rowboat.
It’s the first of two major Atlantic Ocean crossings that stand between Duff and his goal of reaching the east coast of Iceland.
The 54-year-old author is using his own power — and a small sail for an extra knot of propulsion — for the 179-mile northbound crossing to the Faroes.
“He left two days ago,” said Duff’s wife, Lisa Markli, in a Friday telephone interview.
“He called at 6 this morning. He just crossed the 100-mile mark. I think he’s got 73 miles to go,” she said.
“The weather window is quite good. He started out in very calm water. The wind picked up a little bit from the west, so he’s able to sail.”
Markli said her husband was traveling 40 to 50 miles per day, sleeping five hours a night in a small cabin on the 19-foot Northern Reach.
Could arrive today
If all goes well, Duff will arrive on the Faroe Islands today.
He plans to spend at least a week exploring the scenic Faroe Islands — and resting his muscles — before an eight-day, 250-mile west-by-northwest crossing to Iceland.
Markli said she is confident in her husband’s ability to make the crossings safely.
“He has such a unique and incredible skill set, and part of that is very good judgment,” said Markli, a nurse for Olympic Medical Center and Northwest Eye Surgeons in Sequim.
“I trust him to make good decisions.”
Duff is using a global positioning system, or GPS, device and a satellite phone to stay in daily contact with the Stornoway Coastguard on the Isle of Lewis.
The Coastguard in Scotland is relaying Duff’s GPS position to offshore fishing vessels and to Coast Guard officials on the Faroe Islands.
The Northern Reach is equipped with a parasail that Duff can deploy if the winds should shift from the stern.
Most of the propulsion, however, comes from Duff and his oars.
“Today is the day I thought would never arrive,” Duff wrote in a Monday blog post at www.olypen.com/cduff.
“The forecast for the next six days is for southerlies!! A big high pressure system has developed over Norway, spinning southerlies and south easterly winds.”
Weather is by far the most important factor in whether Duff becomes the first person to row from Scotland to Iceland.
He spent several weeks on the Isle of Lewis waiting for northerly winds to subside, making new friends and training for the crossing.
Duff took a side trip to see the Callanish Stones, a Stonehenge-like circle of rocks that were raised some 5,000 years ago.
Attempt made last year
Last year, Duff was forced to abandoned his bid to row the Northern Reach from Scotland to Iceland because of high winds and heavy swells he encountered about 40 miles offshore.
He told Scottish journalist Iain Maciver he is not too proud to turn back if conditions deteriorate or if he encounters any serious problems.
“I try not to take any foreseeable risks,” Duff told Maciver.
“It would be silly to do so.”
After turning around last summer, Duff left the Northern Reach in Ullapool, a small village on the northwest coast of the Scottish mainland, and returned to Port Angeles.
This year, he started the journey earlier in the season in hopes of finding an elusive weather window.
Duff crossed the Minch, the strait that separates the Hebrides island chain from the west coast of Scotland, in April.
Updates forwarded
His friend Karen Hanan of Arts Northwest is forwarding updates from Duff to an email distribution list. Al Zob is posting the same updates to Duff’s blog at www.olypen.com/cduff.
Markli said the blog will be updated within the next few days.
Whether Duff makes it to Iceland or not, he intends to write a third book about his adventures aboard the Northern Reach.
He has published two books — On Celtic Tides and Southern Exposure — about his circumnavigations of Ireland and New Zealand’s South Island.
________
Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
