ONOHAMA, Japan — A woman who attempted a solo-crossing of the Pacific Ocean in a Port Townsend-built boat returned to Japan on Sunday, ending her adventure after eight days.
Sonya Baumstein, 30, turned back Saturday, said Andrew Cull, her medical advisor, on the blog detailing the trip at http://tinyurl.com/PDN-track.
The tracking map shows she was brought into Onohama, Japan.
Cull cited a late departure, headwinds, a typhoon, a steering system failure and a broken drogue — a device used to slow the boat down in a storm — as among her reasons to abandon the attempt to become the first woman to make such a journey.
“Furthermore, she was receiving constant AIS [automatic identification system] alarms which given the weather conditions so far made it impossible to see the many vessels near her,” Cull said.
Baumstein had said she expected to row between 12 to 16 hours each day at a speed of 3.5 knots, which is the speed of the Kuroshio Current, a strong current that flows past Japan.
Data from her website shows her progress was measured about at half that, typically at 1.5 to 2 knots.
Baumstein, of Orlando, Fla., spent several months in Port Townsend building her boat, Icha, at SpinDrift Ocean Rowing before she left for Japan to make the 6,000-mile attempt to cross the Northern Pacific from Japan to San Francisco.
She departed from Choshi, a port east of Tokyo, on June 7, and on Sunday afternoon was picked up by the Japanese Coast Guard, her boat under tow.
After the first seven days, five of which were difficult as she encountered 50-to-60-knot winds in typhoon conditions, there was a series of conversations between the support team and Baumstein about whether to continue the attempt, Cull said Sunday in a telephone interview.
The weather forecast called for additional storms, and with the steering system and drogue failing, the decision was made to end the attempt for this year, he said.
Cull said Baumstein made the decision “with many tears on her side.
“We decided it was better to stop not and not endanger any rescuers,” he said.
Baumstein hasn’t yet made a decision on when or if she’ll attempt the trans-ocean row again, Cull said.
Icha, a neon green carbon composite row boat, was designed in Seattle with an unusual large bow cabin and small stern cabin.
The cabins provide shelter for sleeping and for secure storage of equipment.
The Icha is 24 feet long and weighs 770 pounds. It was outfitted to take salinity, temperature and other samples for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Cargo included 900 dehydrated meals, 180 drink supplements an electronic purifier that converts salt water to 20 liters of fresh water in 10 minutes.
The boat also carried 60 liters of fresh water as a backup.
Baumstein has been an adventurer for years.
On Aug. 1, 2013, she became the first standup paddleboarder to cross the Bering Strait from Big Diomede to the Alaskan mainland, just north of Wales, Alaska, according to her biography on www.sonyabaumstein.com.
She rowed the Atlantic Ocean from the Canaries to Barbados in December 2011 and January 2012, and seakayaked from Seattle to Juneau, Alaska from June to August 2012.
From March to May that year, she rode a fully loaded tour bike from the Mexican border to Seattle.
Her Facebook page is www.facebook.com/SonyaBaumstein.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
