Transatlantic rowing expedition from USA to England wearing SeaWind work/immersion suit
Stein Hoff (71 years old) is going to row alone and "unsupported" over the North Atlantic. He has named the boat "Fox II". It is named after the original boat of Georg Harbo and Gabriel "Frank" Samuelsen who with his "Fox" became the first to row over for sea ever. It was 120 years ago in 1896. They rowed from New York to the Isles of Scilly, England, in just 55 days, an incredible feat that few know and which Hoff wants to highlight.
About the expedition tells Hoff:
"I'm going to rest in Habo and Samuelsens wake, but start almost three weeks earlier than they did, well knowing that I'm going to spend much longer in a bigger, well-equipped and therefore far heavier boat. My start is from Manhattan, New York May 15 this year and I expect to arrive after about 90 days. The boat will be shipped from Drammen, I fly after May 5th."
"I have many years of marine experience from sea trout and sailing. I rowed the mid-Atlantic route from the Canary Islands to Barbados in 1997 with a fellow of 69 days. In February 1999, my daughter, Elisabeth Hoff, tried to become the first woman to row alone over a sea, she unfortunately wrecked in storm after 10 days near the Cape Verde Islands, the boat was lying with the keel in the weather and she rocked her life thanks to a survival suit."
"We then built a new boat and later that year my wife, Diana Hoff, departed on the same trip. An American woman who had failed in an earlier attempt started at the same time with Diana and arrived at the Caribbean before her, but Diana became it first European woman to calm a sea alone."
"In 2002 I rowed alone and" unsupported "from Lisbon, Portugal, to Pareka, Guyana for 97 days. I became the first to have rowed from European to South American continent. I must admit that I did not wear survival suit on that trip, only But when I am about to rest from the United States at about 40 degrees north to England at about 50 degrees north, it will be much colder and more unstable weather and I should wear a survival suit, perhaps using it on cold, windy , rainy days and not just reserve it for serious emergencies."
"My Seawind survival suit and SeaLion life jacket will give me and my family extra peace of mind."
Equipment:
The boat to be used is 24 feet (7.2 m), is professionally built in fiberglass in England in 2009 and has been used for two trips across the Atlantic, from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean. The latter was with the Swedes Erik Grafström and Stefan Erlandsson in 2013/14.
The boat is well equipped for safety and in excellent condition, has two row positions and is renamed "Fox II" (in memory of Harbo & Samuelsen). On board there will be two pairs of carbon fiber oars, Katadyn 40 electric water machine (with manual back-up), 150 l fresh water as combined ballast and reserve drinking water under deck, food for at least 110 days (mainly freeze-dried food), standard safety equipment, including liferaft, automatic position transmitter (AIS and Yellow Brick 3) and emergency beacon (EPIRB), SeaWind suit with and without lining and SeaLion life jacket from Hansen Protection. The boat will have equipment for communication, including VHF radio and Iridium satellite phone.