A possible 10-day window of good weather may give Port Angeles adventurer and author Chris Duff an opportunity to move off the Faroe Islands and toward Iceland, his wife, Lisa Markli, said this week.
“He’s just at the tip of the Faroes waiting for the right weather window,” Markli said Wednesday.
Duff, 54, is rowing a 19-foot orange-colored craft, the Northern Reach, on a 487-mile journey from northeast Scotland to Iceland via the Orkney, Shetland and Faroe Islands.
In addition to rowing, he also uses a small sail for an extra knot of propulsion.
He reached the Faroe Islands on May 28.
Duff wrote on his website, www.olypen.com/cduff, that winds from the northeast have prevented him from sailing away from the Faroes.
“The waiting game continues,” Duff wrote. “It is so important for me to stay positive . . . this is the big step that I’ve been focused on for three years. Another week of waiting.
“I play the mental game of ‘It’s just a week out of a three-year plan. It’ll pass. Patience, patience.’”
250-mile crossing
Markli said Duff would be unable to row as many miles as he would need to row if the wind were pushing against him during the 250-mile crossing from the Faroes to Iceland.
Markli said Duff carried a limited supply of 15 days’ worth of food that he could live on in emergency conditions.
But she said that ideally, Duff would like to spend just seven days rowing from the Faroes to Iceland.
“He sounded very happy and excited and looking forward to the next crossing,” she said of a recent telephone conversation she had with her husband.
“His energy is very good.”
This is Duff’s second attempt to make the trip.
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.
This year, he started the journey earlier in the season in hopes of finding an elusive weather window.
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.
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.
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Reporter Chris Tucker can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at chris.tucker@peninsuladailynews.com.
