“It’s a bit like being in a washing machine,” Paul Ridley ’05 said about sleeping on Liv, the 19-foot rowboat that he is sailing across the Atlantic Ocean in an effort to raise $500,000 for cancer research.
Ridley talks about his expedition in the latest episode of Colgate Conversations, the podcast series that highlights members of the campus community.
The interview was recorded when Ridley called via satellite phone on day 49 of the row, which was the halfway point of his 2,950-mile journey from the Canary Islands to Antigua.
The 25-year-old is poised to be the youngest American to row across any ocean solo and unsupported, with no chase boat as a means of re-supply. If successful, he will be only the third American to successfully row across the Atlantic.
In addition to a satellite phone, he has solar-powered navigation, communication, and survival equipment. The boat has just enough room for him to sleep in the aft cabin and store supplies in the fore cabin.
Ridley and his sister, Joy, founded the public charity Row for Hope after losing their mother to cancer in 2001. To make a donation or to follow Ridley’s progress, visit his website.
To listen to the podcast, please click to listen now or right-click and “save target as” to download the file. You also can go to the Colgate Conversations page or iTunes page for more download options.