Annals of Adventure II–Splosh-Splish: There are adventurers and then there are French adventurers. They do all the crazy, obscure stuff (like the guy who recently tried to walk across the Pacific with big pontoons strapped to his feet–he barely got offshore before capsizing). And at this very moment, if you could zoom in on a speck of the Pacific Ocean approximately 600 miles east-northeast of the Tuamotu Islands, you would find a woman named Raphaela Le Gouvello…on a windsurfer…sailing alone from Peru to Tahiti…a mere 65 days into her ambitious journey. Le Gouvello is the first woman to windsurf across the Mediterranean and the first woman to windsurf across the Atlantic. So, c’est logic, she’s got to windsurf across the Pacific. And that is exactly what she’s doing, attempting to navigate the 4300 miles from Lima, Peru to Papeete, Tahiti (the same voyage Thor Heyerdahl made in Kon-Tiki). Le Gouvello’s ride is a purpose-built sailboard that is just over 25 feet long. Fully loaded–with batteries, freeze-fried food, solar panels, watermaker, GPS, satphone (hey, does this thing have a TV?)–it weighs about 1100 pounds, which is a lot of boat to be horsing across the waves for 3 months or more. She’s been averaging about 52 miles a day–scraping barnacles off the underside along the way–so should arrive in Tahiti in about 3 weeks. You can follow Le Gouvello’s Pacific odyssey on her comprehensive (French adventurers always get tons of great sponsorship) website (in English, even).

Go-Go Le Gouvello: She probably looks more like Heyerdahl by now…

(Photo: Gilles Martin-Raget)