Kiwi’s Pacific Ocean row will reach Hawaii Sunday evening

Kiwi’s Pacific Ocean row will reach Hawaii Sunday evening

Tara Remington’s epic row across the Pacific Ocean is expected to reach land this Sunday evening.

Tara, 44, a professional teaching fellow at the University of Auckland's Faculty of Education, is rowing across the Pacific Ocean from Long Beach, Los Angeles to Waikiki in Hawaii with American Paralympian Angela Madsen, 54. The pair left Los Angeles on 20 May in their 6m mono-hull rowboat the Spirit of Orlando.

They are estimated to reach Waikiki between 6pm and 7pm on Sunday 20 July New Zealand time, depending on the weather.

They have averaged between 60 and 70 miles a day for the past week and now have about 125 miles to go.

For Tara’s wife, Rebecca Remington, it’s a nervous wait on shore in Waikiki, but the Mai Tai cocktails were helping.

“It’s kind of nerve wrecking at the moment,” she says.

“For them, they’re rowing, so they’ve got something to occupy their minds. We’re just waiting here, so the cocktails help.”

Meanwhile the couple’s children, Jade, 12 and Seb, 8 were becoming real water babies.

“They basically go into the water at 9 o’clock and at 6 o’clock they get back out again.”

When they complete the journey they will break two records, they will be the first female pair in history to row from California to Hawaii, while Angela, who is paralyzed from the waist down, will be the first paraplegic to row from Los Angeles to Hawaii.

Tara’s 4000 Km odyssey is to raise money for New Zealand girl Charlotte Cleverley-Bisman. Charlotte lost her arms and legs to meningitis as a baby in 2004. Now a ten-year-old, she needs on-going assistance with prosthetic limbs as she grows. Tara's row will also help raise enough money for Charlotte to attend Camp No Limits, a special camp for amputees and their families held in the United States each year. Angela, a former US marine, is also using the row to raise money for wounded American war veterans.

You can donate to the cause at www.givealittle.co.nz/cause/RowingforCharlotte

Tara, a Waiuku resident, first got involved with Charlotte’s charity through the Meningitis Trust in the 2007 Atlantic Rowing Race, and now her daughter Jade is Charlotte’s pen-pal.

Visit www.tararemington.weebly.com for more information on Tara and her Pacific Row 2014.
Make a donation to Charlotte at: www.givealittle.co.nz/cause/RowingforCharlotte
You can also track their progress at https://share.delorme.com/AngelaMadsen

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