A few days before Christmas I posted about Oliver Hicks, the young man who was preparing to make a circumnavigation of the globe by rowing. At the time, he was expected to begin his epic journey sometime early in 2009, but it seems that he has hit a snag, and will now have to delay his launch, if only for a little while.
According to this article in yesterday's New Zealand Herald Hicks was barred from launching his craft from NZ over fears that he would have to be rescued at possibly great expense to tax payers. Officials also deemed his journey to be too dangerous. He will instead launch from Hobart, in Tasmania in a few days time.
The journey is expected to take roughly 500 days to complete, with Hicks rowing up to nine hours a day. He'll be traveling along the 55th parallel as he circumnavigates around Antarctica. The danger come in the fact that that far south there are few rescue ships or planes that can come to his aid should anything go wrong.
You'll be able to follow along with Olly's adventures once he hits the water over at the official website at VirginGlobalRow.com, where you can learn more about the expedition, Olly, and his boat.
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