French adventurer Gerard d'Aboville says the greatest pleasure in completing a 6,300-mile journey across the Pacific Ocean alone in a rowboat is that he once thought it was impossible.
D'Aboville, 46, rowed into a small harbor in the fishing village of Ilwaco, Wash., on Thursday after 134 days at sea.Eleven years earlier, he made a shorter journey across the Atlantic: "When I arrived, some people asked me, `When are you going to cross the Pacific? And I said, `Never, it's impossible.' "
But D'Aboville, from the maritime region of Brittany, said he began thinking about it.
"Men do things because they dream to do it, and they get pleasure out of doing it, and that's all. No reason. I don't try to explain," D'Aboville said.
When asked how his wife, Cornelia, felt about his decision to leave his family and brave the squalls of the Pacific, he referred the question to her. Smiling, she answered, "I said he could go."
D'Aboville said he has no further plans to row across the world's oceans.
D'Aboville began his journey in Choshi, Japan, on July 11.
He is the second person to row alone across the Pacific. Peter Bird of Britain rowed about 9,000 miles from San Francisco to Australia in 1982-83. D'Aboville's west-to-east journey was considered more difficult because of the ocean currents.
His 26-foot boat capsized at least 34 times. On Tuesday, it flipped several times in 80 mph winds and 28-foot seas about 70 miles off the coast. He was cut on his forehead and injured his back.
After a brief rest Thursday, he said he felt very well, despite having lost about 30 pounds during the trip.
"I knew this trip would be difficult, but everything was much worse than I thought," d'Aboville said. And in the trying conditions, minutes became hours and hours became days, he said.
"It looks to me as if I have been at sea for all my life," he said. "There are no good moments until, really, you are ashore."