Paul Ridley, Row for Hope: A Journey
Completed
June 7, 2009
Welcome to Yale Cancer Center Answers with Drs. Ed Chu and Francine Foss, I am Bruce Barber. Dr. Chu is Deputy Director and Chief of Medical Oncology at Yale Cancer Center and he is an internationally recognized expert on colorectal cancer. Dr. Foss is a Professor of Medical Oncology and Dermatology and she is an expert in the treatment of lymphomas. If you would like to join the discussion, you can contact the doctors directly. The address is canceranswers@yale.edu and the phone number is 1888-234-4YCC. This evening Ed and Francine welcome Paul Ridley. Paul is the founder of Row for Hope, a non-profit organization dedicated to funding melanoma research, and Paul recently completed an amazing solo trans-Atlantic journey to support melanoma research at Yale.
Chu
Let's start off by having you tell us a little bit about your
amazing journey that you just took, that took you across the
Atlantic Ocean.
Ridley
The short story is that it was an 87-day trip covering more than
3000 miles from the Canary Islands right off Morocco, to Antigua in
the Caribbean, completely solo and unsupported. No chase
boat, no resupply, no getting off for a hot shower half way
across. It was just me and my 19-foot boat all alone in the
Atlantic.
Foss
So, Paul this is a real tour de force. I wonder if you could talk
to us a little bit about the course and how you picked that
course.
Ridley
The course that I took was a trade-wind route, that was the idea at
the time, it turned out to a terrible year for trade winds on the
Atlantic, but it's a typical crossing route taking advantage of
winds coming off the Sahara blowing east to west all the way to the
Caribbean. I took a sort of southerly course right off the
bat going 700 or 800 miles south before making a right, basically,
and heading straight westwards for the Caribbean.
Foss
How did you stay on course?
Ridley
It was more of an art than a science, certainly. Basically, I
could take an angle off of the wind, but for the most part I was
really at the mercy of the wind. So, if you look at my track
it would be zigzagging all over the place and the idea of staying
on course was not always up to me.
Foss
For those of us who are not navigators, did you navigate by
compass, by the stars, or both?
Ridley
I mostly relied on my GPS and my compass for day to day making sure
I was going in the right direction. I was trained to do
celestial navigation by the stars, luckily, I never had to do
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it, but it was comforting to know that if everything went down, I
could still make it to Antigua.
Chu
Now, you mentioned it just a little while ago, and it doesn't sound
like your boat was all that big. Can you tell us a little bit
about the boat and how it was fitted?
Ridley
The boat was custom built and custom designed for me. What
that means is that it fit me really well, and one of the effects of
that is that there was a lot of extra space. For example, the
cabin where I lived was about 6 feet 5 inches long, long enough for
me to lie down in, but at 6'2", which is how tall I am, there is
not a lot of room to get comfortable. There is about a 4 foot
open section on deck where I would do the rowing, but other than
that it is pretty much the 19-foot boat, there is not enough room
for a bowling alley.
Chu
This boat was designed in such a way that it could withstand the
rigors of the Atlantic Ocean. I can imagine you must have
experienced some pretty tough weather?
Ridley
Yeah, this boat is very much an open water boat. Yes it's a
rowing boat, it doesn't have a motor or oars, but at the same time
it could handle anything that that part of the Atlantic could have
thrown at me at that time of the year. The builder and the
designer said that they thought it was capable of handling 40 foot
waves without a problem. Thankfully, I never saw 40 foot
waves. I did see about 25 to 30 footers, but it was good to
know that I still had a little bit of a buffer before I got into
the peak of what the boat would be capable of withstanding.
Foss
For those of us who may have rowed say a canoe or a sea kayak, can
you give us a little bit of a comparison as to what it was like to
row this boat?
Ridley
Yeah, it was a lot heavier than a lot of the other boats that you
would see out on the flat water and out in the sound, but other
than that the motion was more or less the same. The boats
that I trained in, for example, were about 31 pounds; my boat when
I left the Canaries was more like 1500. So it was heavy, but
when I am carrying all my food and all of my supplies for what
turned out to be almost a 90-day trip, that's going to happen, but
thankfully the motion was pretty familiar.
Chu
Before you embarked on this adventure, before you even thought
about this as an idea, were you an active rower?
Ridley
Yeah, I come from a rowing background, I rowed in college, and I
sort of had the bug. I also
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was two and a half years into an ocean rowing specific training
program. So, think lots of rowing obviously, but also long
duration, low intensity exercise that would prepare me to at least
stay healthy for the first 10 days or so of my trip when my body
would be conditioned to row what turned out to be 10, 12, 14 hours
a day.
Chu
On a typical day, if you are rowing 10, 12, 14 hours, how many
miles can you row during that timeframe?
Ridley
It would depend a lot on the weather and the wind. I think my
fastest day was 55 miles.
Chu
Wow.
Ridley
I mean there are also days when I got blown backwards. There
is nothing like rowing all day and finding that you are farther
from the finish line then when you started, but that's sort of part
of the game.
Chu
Was there any way to prevent you from being blown backwards?
Ridley
Yeah, I brought a sea anchor, which is basically a big underwater
parachute that when inflated fills with water and it will slow down
your backward progress. So that helped, but there was a
period of six days, for example, when the winds had turned against
me and I could not row because rowing would have been even less
productive than just sitting there, and I lost 35 miles over six
days, and you can imagine what that felt like after I had been on
the water already for 65 days and by that point I was really
looking forward to getting back to dry land.
Foss
Can you talk about the planning for this trip, for instance, did
you plan it for a certain time of year based on weather?
Ridley
I thought this route through and talked to a lot of people that
knew the Atlantic a lot better than I did and that's how we came up
with the early winter timeframe for when I left. I left
January 1st and arrived in Antigua on March 29. The planning
for this was massive and it took about there years, everything from
logistics of how to get the boat over to the other side to the
starting line, to the food, and what kind of special oars do I
need, and a lot of safety measures, of course.
Chu
Did you have to pack all the food for the entire trip at one time
or were there various stops along the way where you would get
refueled with food and water?
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Ridley
I packed everything in the Canaries and sealed the front
compartment and never took on any additional food the entire
trip. I left on day one with all of the food that I needed
for the trip. My water, thankfully, came from an electric
water desalinator that was powered from solar panels that I had on
the boat. So I didn't have to carry my own water and instead
I could make it every day as I went.
Foss
What kind of diet did you have while at sea for that long?
Ridley
I had the great joy of getting to eat lots of calories, with that
said, it's not like I could eat three pizzas every day. All
of my food was freeze dried, sort of astronaut food. You boil
two cups of water, put it into the bag full of dried food and wait
eight minutes, and then there is your lasagna. It was okay at
first, but as you can imagine there was the repetitive nature of
the same thing over and over and over.
Foss
When you got off the boat, what was the first thing you wanted to
eat?
Ridley
I had a hamburger and French fires.
Chu
There you go, typical US style.
Ridley
Yeah.
Chu
I read somewhere, I think maybe on your website, that you were
consuming 8000 to 9000 calories a day, is that right?
Ridley
Yes, well that was the goal and I don't know that I ever got that
high. I was probably closer to 5000 or 6000 and that was
eating as much as I possibly could, eating all the time and even
whole chocolate bars at a time, king-sized Snickers bars, energy
bars, and Gatorade mix, everything, and I still could only get to
about 6000 calories.
Chu
Wow.
Ridley
And even with all of that, while I out there I lost 30 pounds.
Chu
I was going to say you look a little less hefty then when we first
met before you took this trip.
Ridley
Part of my preparation was to put on some extra fat that I could
then burn during my row, and most people expect to lose 20 to 25
pounds. I was certainly glad that I put on an extra 15
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pounds above where I normally would have been because I needed it
losing 30 pounds. I have put it back on in the last three weeks,
which has also been a lot of fun.
Foss
How did you deal with the solitude being out there, did you have
any cell phone communication with anybody?
Ridley
I did have a satellite phone, and even though it was really
expensive, I did make a very short phone call home most
nights. There is nothing like hearing a friendly voice from
your family or your friends to keep you motivated out there and
that was huge for me.
Chu
And you also had a daily blog, is that right?
Ridley
I updated my blog every day and the blog is still available through
rowforhope.com. I would write on the blog and it was a great way to
chronicle my experience. This was a once in a lifetime thing for me
so its great to have that record, but even more importantly at the
time, people would send notes of encouragement and comments on each
of my days postings and I would get those back on the Atlantic, so
that was a huge motivating factor for me.
Chu
Was there ever a time where you lost communication?
Ridley
That satellite phone was picky, I guess it should be expected, but
my communication actually held up pretty well. That's one
thing I cannot complain about. I did have some other
equipment issues, but the satellite phone was okay.
Foss
You talked about motivation and getting encouraged by the blogs,
but can you talk to us about motivation in general. It must
have taken a tremendous amount of motivation to get this trip
organized in the first place. Could you share with us some of the
reasons why you went after this and how you kept yourself
motivated?
Ridley
My expedition, of course, is part of a larger effort, and that's
cancer research, fundraising projects to benefit Yale Cancer
Center, which has been fantastic and hopefully we can talk more
about that in a little bit. It was a fundraiser inspired by the
loss of my mother in 2001 to skin cancer. At the same time, a
few months later, my father was diagnosed with prostate cancer and
was successfully treated and is healthy. We had two very
different outcomes and it really showed how important cancer
research is to people when they are diagnosed.
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Foss
We will talk more about that Paul when we return after the
break. You are listening to Yale Cancer Center Answers and we
are here with Paul Ridley, founder of Row for Hope.
Foss
Welcome back to Yale Cancer Center Answers. This is Dr.
Francine Foss and I am joined by my co-host Dr. Ed Chu, and Paul
Ridley, an amazing supporter of Yale Cancer Center. Paul rowed
across the Atlantic Ocean to raise money, and for cancer awareness.
Paul, you were talking a little bit before the break about what
motivated you and your personal experience with cancer. Can
you talk a little bit more about that?
Ridley
As I was saying earlier, my family has an unfortunate, but also all
too common, history with cancer. When I lost my mom in 2001,
where that left my sister and I was with the knowledge that we
needed to do something, do our part to make progress in the world
of cancer research. I made the connection with ocean rowing only
five years later. And that really started with the founding
of Row for Hope, which is a cancer research fundraising
organization, it's a 501(c)(3) non-profit, and that provided a lot
of the framework and also inspiration for my row.
Chu
As you say, your mom unfortunately passed away from skin cancer,
and the kind of skin cancer she had was melanoma?
Ridley
That's right.
Chu
Which we have talked about on the show before, but just to remind
our listeners, melanoma is viewed as the most aggressive type of
skin cancer, and unfortunately, it is the type of skin cancer when
in an advanced stage, unfortunately can lead to death.
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Ridley
My mom was actually diagnosed with skin cancer for the first time
when she was in her 30s, fought it successfully and was healthy for
almost 20 years, so I grew up with a very valuable fear of the sun,
I think. It may sound a little ironic, given my family
history with skin cancer, that I just went out and rowed across the
ocean in the sun for three months.
Chu
Along those lines, because you did just row for three months across
the Atlantic Ocean, did you take any special precautions in terms
of protecting yourself from the sun?
Ridley
Yeah, absolutely. That was a big focus for me and of my team in our
preparation. My strategy was to do a few things, one of them,
most importantly, was to stay out of the sun during the heat of the
day; that's kind of a no brainer, right. I would take about a
two hour break in the middle of the day, every day, and it also
happens to be lunch time, and after already rowing for six hours
that day I was ready for the break. I would also wear UV
proof clothing. I was generously sponsored by a company named
Coolibar, which is a start-up that makes UV proof clothing of all
sorts, and of course sunscreen with really high SPF ratings.
Foss
Can you talk a little bit more about Row for Hope? Is this an
organization that other people could get involved with?
Ridley
Certainly, Row for Hope is a small start-up non-profit founded by
my sister Joy, and I, back in 2007. We are very much a grassroots
organization where we don't have corporate support, of course we'd
love to, but right now we are supported by people who are a lot
like us, that have been affected by cancer in one way or
another. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people like that,
but we survive on small donations from individuals, you know,
hundred bucks or less, and Americans have been very generous so
far, especially as our press coverage around this row has
increased, and it's all on rowforhope.com.
Chu
Yeah, since you have come back from this amazing journey you have
been on various talk shows and there has been a lot of publicity,
how have you found all of that to be?
Ridley
It has been a little overwhelming. It was very surreal doing
interviews with CNN from the Atlantic, which I did a couple of
times, and I was also on the phone with them within an hour of
stepping foot on land. I didn't expect to spend my first
three weeks basically doing three to four press interviews every
day, but it has been a great opportunity to spread the word about
Row for Hope, promote Yale Cancer Center and all the great work
that has been going on here, and also get in touch with people that
have similar stories to my own.
Foss
Were you able to anticipate that this would be as successful as it
turned out?
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Ridley
We dreamed of being able to tell a story like this after
the row was complete. This row has been as successful as we
could have possibly imagined. Of course fundraising has been
difficult in these tough economic times, but of course the support
that we have got from people, not just monetary, has been great,
and the press coverage has been incredible. I am happy to say
that my row was safe and reasonably uneventful, and I didn't get a
single painful sunburn.
Chu
That's fantastic. I am just curious, obviously you were
successful at rowing across the Atlantic, can you tell us how Row
for Hope has done in terms of raising funds?
Ridley
I know that we have cleared $100,000 for Yale Cancer Center, which
we are very proud of and that's going to continue as I shift into
the stage of speaking tours, talking to groups, rotary clubs, boy
scouts, schools, and things like that, which is going to be a lot
more fun then being alone in a row boat was. It will be great to
actually get out and talk to the people that followed me and
continue to spread the word and raise money.
Foss
Paul, if people out there wanted to contribute is there a way that
they can get in touch with you?
Ridley
Yes, definitely. The best way is through rowforhope.com and
we make it easy to get in touch with us and very easy to donate. It
can all be done online though rowforhope.com and they can also
learn more about my expedition, about Row for Hope as an
organization, and also hear us gush about how great it has been to
be partnered with Yale Cancer Center.
Chu
What are your next steps in terms of planning? Are they any other
rowing events, maybe not necessarily for you alone, but maybe
including some of your supporters?
Ridley
Yeah. We are trying to figure out the next steps now.
Of course my row is complete, but there is still a lot of progress
to be made when it comes to cancer research and fundraising. This
is going to be a life long cause for us, and my sister and
me. The next steps probably won't be as exciting necessarily,
as rowing across the ocean, but hopefully the impact will be the
same.
Foss
When people like you think about, and go ahead and raise money for
cancer research, can you tell us a little about what your
expectations are, what are you hoping that money does in terms of
advancing where we are now with cancer?
Ridley
Well one thing that's been a privilege for me has been to actually
get to know the people that are doing the research and everyone
that's contributing to the progress that's being made
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everyday in little tiny steps. They are changing people's lives
and improving people's lives, and there are a lot of really smart
people trying to solve these problems, but all we can hope for is
to keep moving in the right direction. My experience working with
the people at Yale Cancer Center has been that they are definitely
on the right track and it will be great to contribute to that.
Foss
Ed and I can reiterate as researchers that this is critically
important at this point in time when federal funding for research
is being cut, we really depend on donations and people like you who
are willing to get out there and help us raise money.
Chu
Absolutely. Francine and I, and the rest of the Cancer Center, just
want to thank you and your family for everything that you have done
and that you will continue to do on behalf of Yale Cancer
Center. I am just curious Paul, how did you hook up with the
researches at Yale?
Ridley
Well, I knew the cause I wanted to support, but I didn't know
anything about the cancer research world. So what I did was
talk to a handful of different well-known cancer research
institutions, most of them in the northeast, and what I found with
Yale Cancer Center was that is was the right balance for us in
terms of a really well-known place with a great reputation
connected to Yale, which is a name that everybody knows, and of
course with that background we knew there was great work going on
here. But what really drew us to Yale was the family atmosphere
that we felt when we started talking to people here. It has
been great working with Yale, everyone has been incredibly
friendly, accommodating, and welcoming and it's really an
incredible place.
Foss
I am curious as to whether any patients have contacted you?
Ridley
Yes. In fact there have been a handful, certainly, that were
following my expedition and when they were sending notes back to me
I would read things from people saying, "I am being treated at Yale
Cancer Center and this is a great place. Keep it up." Just
hugely motivating for me. When I first met Dr. Sznol, I knew
I was in a good place when he brought me into his office and
started showing me, I guess they were CAT scans, of shrinking
tumors, and that was the first time that I could say, "Wow, this is
making a difference for real people today," and I agree I am no
expert in cancer research, I leave that to you guys, I will do the
rowing, but everything I have heard and everything I have learned
about Yale has just been fantastic.
Foss
It sounds like you have built up a tremendous amount of hope for a
lot of patients, particularly patients with these terrible skin
cancers. I was just wondering, going back to your
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experience with your mother, did you have hope at that point that
there was any effective treatment for her disease?
Ridley
Unfortunately her experience was not one that left too much room to
be hopeful. Unfortunately, when she had a recurrence it was
already in such a late stage that the treatment that was available
at that time for her was pretty limited. She met with doctors at
great places, but you know, the progress just had not been
made.
Foss
Hope is such an important word for cancer patients and I think all
that you have done and all that you have said today will hopefully
help a lot of people out there who are struggling with a lot of
these same issues; not only with melanoma, but with other cancers
that aren't really curable.
Ridley
Yeah, that's what this is all about. When I first set out to
row across the Atlantic people said they didn't think it could be
done, and it required defying the odds. I don't want to simplify
things, but hopefully my row has proven that people can achieve
what's unexpected, and if that could provide any encouragement or
additional hope for cancer patients this is a success.
Chu
I am just curious to know, if we were here in the studio 10 years
ago, could you have fathomed that you would have done such a
journey?
Ridley
I doubt it; I think I am a pretty unlikely guy to have now rowed
across the Atlantic. For example, I don't like the water, I
don't like swimming, I am not good at swimming, and I couldn't run
a 5K race 10 years ago. I played baseball, I wasn't an endurance
athlete. This was something that I found that once I
dedicated myself to the idea it very much came about, but you know,
10 years ago, who knew.
Chu
I may not have asked you this question in the first segment, but
has anyone else ever done this type of solo row across the Atlantic
Ocean?
Ridley
Yes, believe it or not, there is a small community of ocean rowers
out there, most of them are in the United Kingdom, and that was the
knowledge base that I tapped. It is much rarer for people to
row the Atlantic solo. A handful or more have done it in
doubles or four men boats, but I am the third American ever to have
rowed an ocean solo, and also the youngest by I think 10 or 12
years.
Foss
Paul, you talked about the fact that your sister helped you to form
this organization, and
certainly we should give kudos to her for all of this as
well. Can you tell us a little bit about what her role is in
the organization now?
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Ridley
My sister Joy was one of the co-founders for Row for Hope
and she has really been my partner the entire time. We have
the same motivation when it comes to supporting cancer research and
as much as I was alone on the Atlantic, this was very much a team
effort, and not just Joy, but a good friend of ours who lived
across the street when we were growing up, a friend named Liz,
really made up the core of the team. We started Row for Hope from
just an idea and we would sit around in a coffee shop and talk
about it and we built it from nothing. Now we are very happy to be
looking around having achieved so much.
Chu
Paul, you really are an inspiration to all of us and Row for Hope
really, as Francine said, gives everyone involved in the cancer
field, the cancer world, and the cancer patients, a great deal of
hope. Thanks for joining with us this evening.
Ridley
My pleasure. Thank you.
Chu
You have been listening to Yale Cancer Center Answers and again I
would like to thank our guest for this evening's show, Paul Ridley,
for joining us and for all that he has done to support cancer
research, and specifically, Yale Cancer Center's Melanoma Research
Program. Until next time, I am Ed Chu from Yale Cancer Center
wishing you a safe and healthy week.
If you have questions or would like to share your comments, go to yalecancercenter.org where you can also subscribe to our podcast and find written transcripts of past programs. I am Bruce Barber and you are listening to the WNPR Health Forum from Connecticut Public Radio.