Rub A Dub

The boats I see out my office window are usually shiny white and not usually different enough to be interesting. This morning was different. Under a full length blue canvas cover was a flat black, clinker built, double ended vessel with low freeboard that looked slightly Nordic but still like nothing I have ever seen.

An hour or so later three men arrived and after taking off the cover began to carefully stow what looked like far more stuff than the boat's 20 foot length would contain. After watching for a while I couldn't resist asking them about their boat and what they were doing.

They are Finnish adventurers, their boat is a traditional Finnish rowing boat, made of wood and finished with linseed oil and tar. Sepi Soutaja (midship in the photo), the spokesman for the trio said they were rowing from Key West to New York, and had arrived outside my window overlooking Bahia Mar in Fort Lauderdale late last night from Miami.

They don't have sat comms or a wireless internet connection so communications will be a bit erratic but they promised to keep me posted on their progress. They weren't able to gather any sponsorship for their expedition so hopefully they will find some local support on their journey north along the ICW.

They started the project a few years ago with a trip from the headwaters of the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico.

Prior to that they rowed from Finland to the Med via the inland waterways of Germany and low countries then the French canals.

The crew changes as participants take a few weeks or a month off to join the expedition. They are friends and relations just out for a different sort of holiday.