The cloud aids solo rowing bid

By Maggie Shiels
Technology reporter, BBC News, Silicon Valley

The Flying Carrot is said to be the most advanced rowing boat ever made

A Briton aiming to be the first person to row solo around the world is making full use of technology in what has been described as one of the final frontiers of adventure.

The 18,000 mile (29,000 km) journey, which set off from Tasmania in January, will take between 18 and 22 months to complete.

Thanks to the cloud, a whole host of web-based services means the world is able to keep up with Oliver Hicks.

"E-mail is my daily lifeline," Mr Hicks told BBC News.

"It is the highlight of my day where I really look forward to hearing from friends and family and from people following me. It helps break the grinding monotony of the day.

"It's a great source of comfort and support, especially in bad weather when I am making no headway," said Mr Hick from one of his three satellite phones in the middle of a stormy Tasmanian Sea where he said he had been going backwards for several days.

"I made absolutely no progress for three days so getting e-mail is just a huge boost. I got one from a friend in Colombia and for 10 minutes while I read her e-mail, I was transported there," he said.

'Slow and frustrating'

Since Mr Hicks set out on his lonesome adventure last month, he has been using a whole suite of Google Applications to map his journey aboard the affectionately named Flying Carrot, which bears the logo of his main sponsor Virgin.

As well as e-mail, he is also uploading pictures and video to the photo sharing site Picasa and YouTube though not without some challenges.

Mr Hicks says he hopes to row an average of 35 miles a day

"I spent a lot of time making a video update recently only to find it was going to take six hours to send a one-minute video via the satellite phone," Mr Hicks revealed.

"Even surfing on the internet is slow and frustrating using the satellite link."

With a GPS tracker on the boat, people can follow Mr Hicks' progress via Google Earth. Friend Connect is being used to make communicating more social and Blogger for regular updates on his journey.

It is not the first time technology companies have teamed up with adventurers. In January, tech firm QinetiQ sponsored a team racing to the South Pole.

Back in 2003, Motorola teamed up with China Mobile to provide a wireless link on Mount Everest so that trekkers could document a climb using SMS and MMS messages.

In 2007, Nokia sponsored Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman in a motorcycle journey from John O'Groats to Cape Town, South Africa.

Also in 2007, Nokia bankrolled a 21,000-km road trip by Peter Schindler, whose remit was to "discover China and blog about it", a requirement that Mr Hicks has also imposed on himself.

"I enjoy writing the blog, but some days its a chore and sometimes all I want to do is go to sleep," Mr Hicks admitted.

"It's fine when you have something interesting to say like the other day when I saw some killer whales."

Mr Hicks and his team are also using Google Analytics to measure online traffic and Google Moderator to field questions from the many hundreds of people following his adventure on the open seas.

"It seems we have taken on the role of connectivity between him and the rest of the world," said Google product manager Jonathan Rochelle.

"But Olly isn't doing anything that unusual. He is using tools anyone can use."

'Explore'

The Flying Carrot has been described as the most technologically advanced rowing boat ever built. The structure is made out of Kevlar which is normally used in bullet proof jackets.

The on board equipment is state-of-the-art. Electrical power is stored in marine batteries which are charged from three sources, a wind generator, solar panels and a fuel cell.

Mr Hicks's journey will include some of the most dangerous seas on earth

On board, to help pass the time Mr Hicks has a laptop, a year's worth of music, three iPods, two PDA's, three satellite phones and some good old fashioned books.

Analysts say Mr Hicks' use of the cloud shows the different way it is sold to people.

"The concept of the cloud is being marketed much more aggressively in the enterprise space but to real people it's sold as a way to reach friends or others with similar interests," said Rebecca Wetterman, vice president of research at Nucleus Research.

And while expeditions like that of Mr Hicks puts the spotlight on cloud services and how ordinary people use them, Ms Wetterman said she believes that we will soon see this space shrink back.

"What we found in 2008 was an explosion of quantity not necessarily a lot of quality. Everyone was Facebooking and Twittering and blogging. It all added up to a lot of noise but in the future will see a focus on quality.

"At the moment there are too many touch points for people. There isn't a centralised way for me to touch my cloud and we can see that by the way I am updated on Facebook or on another application.

"Moving forward there will be one social application, not a bunch, and it will have more relevance providing me with content or information I truly want," she said.

'Inspire'

As well as putting technology through its paces, Mr Hicks is also hopes to raise awareness for a charity called Hope & Homes for Children which works in Central and Eastern Europe and Africa.

"What is fantastic is to see through all the e-mails and comments are the number of children from schools around the world watching what I am doing and following me," said Mr Hicks.

"I hope I will inspire young children to get out there and explore the world around them rather than sit inside and play computer games."

Mr Hicks is already the youngest person to row the Atlantic Ocean on his own, a feat he performed in 2005.