It’s been a while since I had decent internet access. There is so much I’ve been doing in that time, so many experiences, good and bad. I learned some hard lessons but it was worth it going out on my own

cc

cc

After a couple of first ‘easy’ days the wind and swell picked up. The first day in this changing weather there was a lot of rain and suddenly I got caught in a thunderstorm. I saw a mass of black clouds coming after me, very fast. I rushed to land but it was too late, fortunately it was over as fast as it came and I could continue. That’s the first time I felt really vulnerable in the boat being alone. It is a fantastic boat, being stable, but with the high winds it became really difficult to keep control of it on my own.

cc

cc

The next days were hard until I reached Lato beach. There I was able to row in between some bigger breaking waves on the coast and with a correct timing landed pretty well. There I pitched the tent and heard that the upcoming week more wind and swell was to be expected. The villagers suggested taking my boat to Larantuka by truck. I didn’t want to lose too much time so I said yes, I only needed to do that part in another way. I borrowed a bicycle and cycled/walked the 50 km to Larantuka. A crazy day full of disaster, the bicycle broke down completely but at least I did this part human powered as well…

cc

   

cc

From Larantuka I headed South to get more shelter, its seemed that the NW winds would still be going hard and I thought to get to the south coast. That first day everything went well but crossing the second strait to Pulau Lembata I had to round a cape. The currents where creating quite big waves there and I got a couple of them over me. The wind going so strong I was afraid getting blown to the rocky faces, just to make it worse I lost an oar in the water which I was able to retrieve. The next village I decide to stay until the weather clears, I don’t want this anymore. I learned from the locals that the cape (dragon’s cape) over there already took many ships to the bottom of the sea. I should’ve stayed north obviously, I did much more research about that part. After a couple of days sleeping at the beach of minga village, where I got welcomed extremely well, I left. The villagers helped me get through the surf which still pounded at the beach ( I learned that this is a great surfing spot).

cc

   

cc

As quickly as possible I wanted to get out of the big swells and wind so that day I pushed it into the Alor strait, a place notorious for its strong currents.I decide to follow the beach north-east and cross at the narrow part which is only 10km. One of the local fishermen said it would be okay to cross at a wider part and let the current take me north, it seemed logical. But that timing the moon was at its greatest declination which creates the strongest currents. The tide rips where creating too much breaking waves I had to go back to the coast again. Damn I felt miserable there. I was completely sick of it all and just wanted to quit at that point. I followed the coast more north where I found a quiet beach to land with some beautiful green grass to camp. I felt good again and got energy to cross the next day, only 10 km (about 2hrs) from there.

cc

   

cc

I decided to push hard and go for it the next morning. The tide was going out (creating a north going current) to help me push out of the channel. About midway I thought, this is it, all or nothing there is no turning back. And then again a big tidal rush pushing me from the side with lots of breaking waves, not too big (50-60cm) but lots of them. I decide to continue along with the waves so they don’t hit me from the sides, but I don’t feel safe at all. Honestly I’ve been very scared on this crossing. I tried to calm myself and keep focus, the more north I would go the less this current should be. And it was. When reaching the shore about 2Nm from Pulau Pantar I screamed it out that I made it. The boat did a great job, any less stability and it would’ve capsized, different waves rushing over me from different sides.

Cc

   

Cc

Now the extreme currents are over and I’m waiting for Koen ( the guy who built the boat) and Gerhard ( a Dutch rower) to join me from Pantar to Pulau Jamdena (or even Kai Ketjil). It’s been both a great and terrible time here alone at sea and I must confess I made some mistakes. I should’ve sticked to the route and I shouldn’t have crossed a strait which is notorious about it’s currents at the moon’s greatest declination…. What will come now is a row with bigger crossings, the largest one being about 120km depending on currents. Therefore these 2 strong rowers are joining, and therefore I was rowing in the rainy season in Indonesia. Many locals told me I chose the wrong season, but I know why. The season should be calming down in March, just at the timing we will have to do the bigger crossings. Then I should have a calmer 2 months, still a get daily weather updates from Karel Vissel who has been a great support on this trip. Check out this website www.kayakweather.com Together with my lovely girlfriend they provided me with essential information about route and weather on my route, thank you very much!!

Cc

Cc

I went to Singapore to get a new visa, eat, drink and sleep a lot. There I met Grant Rawlinson, a Kiwi adventurour who has rowed from Singapore to Australia, cycled from west to east and is preparing to cross the Tasman sea. Then it’s back to Bali to meet Koen and Gerhard and go to the boat where we’ll continue with 3 people. Definetley looking forward to that!

 

Saying goodbye is always hard, especially now since I don’t know yet when we would see each other again. On the other hand I feel grateful to have shared this adventure with the woman I love.

cc

cc

Two days after Inge’s departure, Steven arrives in Labuan Bajo. He is a physiotherapist as well and very experienced sea kayaker who wants to join me for 10 days of rowing. A great opportunity to make progress before heading off on my own.

cc

   

cc

The weather hasn’t been stable since I got here but that’s all the plan, still we didn’t encounter major problems and almost every time we could row comfortably. The good thing is that from time to time we escape the heat with some nice showers, only with a thunderstorm we seek refuge on the beach.

cc

cc

From Labuan Bajo we went up North, then east to follow the beautiful coastline of Flores. Since this is the rainy season now and then we get some refreshing showers and the land itself is green all the way which creates amazing sceneries.

cc

   

cc

Along the way, like all other parts of Indonesia we get surrounded by plenty of people once we moore on the beach. They are extremely helpful and we feel always very welcome. Although this is very nice we enjoyed the peace and quiet during our camping on the inhabited beaches once in a while.

cc

cc

The swell got up to 1 meter sometimes which isn’t difficult when on open sea, the boat can easily take more. Only mooring onto the beaches is a delicate thing, especially where there are mainly reef breaks 100m before the beach. One time we hit a rock so hard I thought there would be a leak but after a close inspection we just scratched it, amazing.  

About 70 km before Maumere it is time for Steven to leave and take his flight, we find someone who wants to drive him there on a motorbike. For the 2hr drive he didn’t want us to pay, after trying for a while we could convince him to pay for the gas 🙂

cc

cc

After that I’m on my own, very excited but a bit scared of what to come as well. From here it’s just me and the ocean, a scary thought but well worth it and a completely different challenge. Until now everything went well, euhm sort of. The first day of rowing I made good progress but almost at the end of the day I suddenly started to feel sick. Suddenly I had to vomit for 3 times, just me there hanging out of the boat puking, I must have eaten something wrong. Luckily the next village wasn’t far away where I got hosted by Bertje, an English teacher who took good care of me. Now after a couple of days rowing on my own I feel good being here, just I realise this puts a bigger mental stress as well, being extra cautious but enjoying and singing along the way!

ccccc

   

cc

     

cc

The first couple of weeks in this adventure have been amazing. We had to adapt to the hot and humid weather again, in this climate we’re drinking more than 5 liters of water a day. As the wind and swells where getting bigger and in our favour it got more difficult to land on the beaches, we had to prepare our landings good. The breaking waves can easily capsize the boat but to my surprise it never did. Getting the boat on the beach was another hassle which caused once in a while some problems when the waves were hitting the land, luckily we always found people helping us to get the boat on land.

cc

      

cc

After about a week a wave hits the boat and it bumps on Inge’s wrist. That day we row a full day and in the evening her wrist is swollen and painful. The next day it’s clear she has quite a bad tendinitis and she’s out for a couple of days. As we want to continue I decide to row alone as far as possible and she helps navigating. I feel strong and just before the more important crossings with strong currents she feels that rowing is an option. In the North-East of Sumbawa island we start the first crossing of many passages. We avoid the extreme currents by being here just in time with the right moon phase. We read horror stories about motorised vessels going backwards because of the huge currents. The first crossing took us from Sumbawa to Gili Banta, a small inhabited island and a perfect place to spend NYE with my love, just the 2 of us there on the beautiful island.

cc

      

cc

The next day we realise that our water supplies are getting low and it would be good to get to a place where we can find water. So we set out for a 55 km rowing trip to Pulau Sebayur, a difficult day it was because of the heat. Because of good timing we got most of the currents right but only after 9 hours we reach the island, after taking the necessary stops on another island to escape the burning sun. The tracker showed a temperature of 53 degrees celcius that day in the sun! Quite exhausted we reach the island and find a resort there, we took advantage of it and took a 4 course meal and plenty of water before finding a nice beach to camp with the tent.

cc

     

cc

 

The next day we start the last rowing trip for Inge and the burning sun (we left too late) killed us, every hour we put our shirts in the water for some cooling down and once we’re out of the strong currents we jump in the water. In Labuan Bajo we can finally rest and relax, Inge prepares here for her flights back to Belgium, while I’m preparing the next push with Steven to Maumere.

cc

ccccc                

ccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc

 

After a good meal and a night in a soft bed at Sumbawa beach cottages, we prepared the boat to start the next stage of Jelle’s rowing expedition to the Carstenz pyramid in Papua. A local carpenter fixed a wooden bar to the nose of the boat to strengthen it for mooring onto rocky beaches and we scooped out a few liters of water after a day of extremely heavy rainfall. Because the rain had been going on for days, I started to doubt whether Jelle chose the right season to row. He explained the rain didn’t matter, but the currents did. In December the weather is worse, and the waves are higher because of the wind, but only then the currents are going east, which is needed for the bigger crossings.

Cc

Cc

We planned to row about 20 km per day: a distance Jelle can easily make on his own, to spare me a little and to make sure I would enjoy the trip  For me, 20 km is 4 km longer than my longest training session on the ‘watersportbaan’ in Ghent, so Jelle told me I had to prepare to feel bad and try to enjoy it. Luckily, he called this distance ‘a mild training session’, to get into a good shape for the long crossings that are coming his way as he gets closer to Papua.

 

 

The first day, I learned that ‘feeling bad’ would get a whole new meaning here. I definitely had to get used to being on open water. Although we’d been training a lot, rowing on open sea is quite different in ways I didn’t expect. I tried to pretend I was strong, but the constant swinging of the boat and the burning sun kinda got to me. Somehow two ginger pills and regular dives into the water helped me through the day. Besides the sea sickness, it went great and we arrived on the next island at sunset Moyo, a tiny beach resort facing one of the most beautiful sunsets in the area. This would be the last bed and real meal in a while.

 

 

The next days gave us good wind and swell, pushing us forward in the right direction most of the time. At one point the waves were messy and high, and the wind pushed us into a bay with a large cliff. Luckily we could get back to our course when we were rowing together. As more days passed by, we realized that the rowing conditions were best in the morning between 6 and 12. In the afternoon, the wind got a lot stronger each time, creating a scary swell. We once had to turn back after leaving Kore bay, and wait it out. That same afternoon a local boat got into trouble, because it was too heavily loaded with coconuts for conquering the big waves. It was a huge relief to be able to help get it back onto shore. Not everything was bad and scary that day though; we also saw a group of dolphins (‘lumba lumba’) from about 200 meters, and some dinosaur-ish like bats in a big tree.

 

I have to admit that most of the days I was scared to get on shore. Once we were alone to get the boat out, but a steep beach and a shore break made it difficult: the waves crushed onto the boat and filled it with water, making it too heavy for the both of us to pull it out. Luckily, that only happened once. All the other days many people helped us to get the boat onto shore and brought us to a local shop for water and drinks. In each village we were offered free food, pillows, places to sleep and bathroom, in return for about a hundred selfies and pictures. Everywhere we went, we heard them call us ‘bule’ (tourist), but never meant in a bad way. A local English teacher in Kilo was so honoured to meet us, that he and his neighbour gave us a sarong and traditional Indonesian clothing.

The weather forecast for the next days is looking a whole lot friendlier to me, with smaller waves and softer winds. Exactly what we need to make a first bigger crossings to gilli Banta, a small uninhabited island, where we’ll probably celebrate New year

 

 

 

 

Since the last trip I haven’t been posting so much, but that doesn’t mean I’ve been sitting doing nothing for the last couple of months.

 

The preparation for my next big adventure took a lot of work. I’m actually very happy that despite the disapointment I was able to convert it, just like my years on Everest. Every time I came back from a disapointment I was able to turn this over and see this as a new opportunity for a better preparation, it wasn’t differently this time.

cc

ccc

the new route to follow

cc

I trained harder, but more importantly I had lot more logistical and mental preparation. I followed some courses to improve my navigational skills at sea, scanned the entire Indonesian coast to the smallest detail in Google Earth to find villages, beaches to land on, etc. I tried to find as much information as possible of the whole area I’m going to, which isn’t that easy since many times Google searches showed zero to 3 results… A big resource of information I got from Sandy Robson, an Australian woman who kayaked solo from Germany to Australia, and Grant ‘axe’ Rawlinson who rowed from Singapore to Darwin on his Home2home expedition. They helped me out with their experiences in the area which I’m very thankfull of, but still little is described about currents and such. A lot of information I will have to try and obtain from dive resorts and local fishermen. Weather updates will be sent to me daily from another adventurer, Karel Vissel who supports kayakers around the world with his website kayakweather.com. Eelco Koudijs from Bali Sobek is also a great source of local help, the whole kayak community can help me find information about certain regions to come.

cc

cc

 

Besides preparing my trip I’ve been doing presentations for sponsors and organisations. Secutec and Vayamundo are continuing their sponsorship and I’m very proud of being a part of their team. This is not justadventure but about trying to make a difference in the world and I’m very happy they support me in that, even more they give a bigger meaning to the project with core values like sustainability, international solidarity and multiculturalism. The money collected by the presentations goes completely to the Shangrilahome. This is a home for street children in Nepal for more than 20 years. Right now I can’t do them but you can always contact me for bookings next summer.

 

cc

cc

Now I’m ready to continue my trip from Sumbawa to Papua, the next couple of days I will be preparing the boat for departure. The boat itself is made as sustainable as possible; the outer shells are made from Jute (a plant fibre) with a resin component and the inner layer is made out of recycled pet bottles. I’m very excited to start rowing on the Shangri-la again. It is the rain season in Indonesia but this means the wind and currents are mainly in our favour, but still I hope that we don’t get too much of a hassle with the rain. This time as well I’m not rowing alone, the first 3weeks my girlfriend will join me on the boat, this means we’ll most probably celebrate christmas and new year somewhere on an unhabited island. By the time she will return home a colleague and friend will join for the stretch along the coastline of flores and by the time we reach the bigger crossings Koen (the boat designer) and Gerhard will come to get these sections done with 3 rowers.

cc

presenting the dream team!

cc

cc

I’m looking forward to this new adventure and I’m very excited to start this new adventure! Thank you all for following, the support and many thanks to my sponsors who make this ultimate adventure possible.

 

             

While writing this post, I got a double feeling about the past expedition. First of all I would like to thank Koen De Gezelle and Malcolm Cockburn for the great support for the start and continuation of this expedition. Without them I wouldn’t have been able to do this. The same goes for my sponsors, they give me such great support in many ways. Another major thank you goes to friends, family and my girlfriend who kept on helping out or just even anybody sending me a message for support in the difficult time of waiting for the boat. I’m happy to get this support and this really is a ‘human powered’ adventure, people from all around the world are helping and achieving this! Here is a short summary how those last 2 weeks of rowing were going. 

After waiting a couple of days for the new moon, we departed from the vila alba resort to the most eastern point of north Bali. An easy day and we decided to stay there for 2 or 3 more days depending on the weather and then cross to Lombok. The harbour master gave us our blessings when we payed him a visit and showed him how well prepared we where with all safety equipment….

……

……

  

……

……

The 30th of May we started to row in the morning around 9 am, we want to get our planning right with the tides so we should be halfway at slack tide. I was very excited about this crossing since I heard and read so many things about it, especially the strong currents and traffic concerned me. I was fully motivated to get a full day of rowing and suffering. Everything went really well and we were able to keep our course easily. We headed up north east to go southeast again to Gili Trawangan. After an hour or 2 one of the speedboat ferries came straight at us. I got a bit scared but they changed their course in the right moment. Those guys knew we where on the water that day so they actually paid us a visit to wave at us and continue. Luckily there wasn’t too much of traffic and we never had to wait for safe passage. The whole crossing went a lot smoother than expected but off course thats due to the right conditions and decision making. After rowing a bit more than 6 hours we reached Gili where we take a well deserved rest day.

……

……

……

……

……

During this rest day we try to find out where we still would be able to get to. Our visas expire on the 15th and we need a safe place to store the boat for a couple of months. The further we get the more difficult it is to find that. We decide to still push on to Sumbawa, the next island after Lombok. I found a resort there that is willing to store the boat there. The next couple of days go with ups and downs, when there is no wind we do easily 45km, despite the high temperatures and the burning sun. But when there is wind it’s mainly a headwind, slowing us down. One day we had strong winds, rowed for 8hrs non stop and had a progress of about 30km. Good things are that we get to see so many amazing things on our way; crystal clear water with such a beautiful marine life like dolphins and such. It makes me think again we should put more effort to protect these beautiful environments.

……

…..

…..

……

This almost 3 month expedition has learnt me a lot. First of al it showed me once more not to give up that easily. This whole Vayamundo 7 summits is one of the biggest human powered adventures ever. Nobody did this before so things don’t always go as planned, that is adventure. I’m happy I didn’t give up (I was really close) and actually still made this progress. This first rowing expedition gave me a good first experience for the further stages and planning accordingly. For now I’m happy being back in Belgium, back to my friends, family and girlfriend. It were mentally a hard couple of months and I need some break in that. But soon I’ll get back into preparing the next phase of this great adventure….

…..

 

……

After spending time and arranging things in Bali, it was time for me to go back to Surabaya where the boat will arrive. A 16 hour bus trip at night with almost no sleep, I’m really amazed how locals use this kind of transportation and sleep.

For me this past couple of weeks were mentally extremely hard. Every day here I got bad news, personal issues and the waiting for something without information isn’t easy. I tried to get more and more info about the arrival of the boat, with changing results. Always getting new hope to have it torn down by the next email or phone call. I had a hard time being alone and waiting, waiting and waiting. Trying to find new possibilities or ways to get to my goal, without result. I got trapped here in this situation, there was nowhere to go because the boat could be arriving any time. Just waiting, until last week I got the news that the boat arrived the 15th of April at the port. The customs would take 5-7 working days and  then it would be here. So I left to Surabaya by bus immediately and called Koen (the boat constructor who would join rowing for 3 weeks) to come over by then. While writing this, the process is delayed because someone in the process didn’t send the right documents in time. But at least I can say that I can’t blame myself, I’m doing everything I can to get this sorted out, too bad this is not only in my hands. The company arranging things never had a decent communication, despite their experience shipping to Indonesia… (sorry, I’m still quite frustrated while writing this).

 

 

               

I’m very thankful to my Indonesian friends here, especially Peter James and Cak Mancal who hosted me here in Indonesia during this stressful time. Both of them took very good care of me and tried to find solutions. Despite my big frustrations, those people gave me mental and logistical support to make my life here a bit easier. My girlfriend as well helped me out in so many ways just to keep me going. Feeling isolated and stuck in a situation is hard, especially when there is nothing you can really do. Now I’m again waiting for the boat. But now it will be together with Koen and we will reschedule our plans.

 

The 15th of May he will set out to Belgium again and a couple of days later Malcolm, an Australian veteran, will join me to continue rowing. There is a small chance we will make Papua this time. Regarding the seasons and the big crossings to make we’ll probably make it till Pulau Alor or Pulau Wetar. From there I’ll have to go back to Belgium and return here after a couple of months when the sea is calmer in this area. But first things first and I really have to see this one in small steps at a time. I hope to bring you the good news next week and we could start to row the 7th of May….