In Memoriam

James is skipper Jordan Hanssen’s biological father. He died of asthma at 33 and is the boat’s namesake.

Teammate Greg Spooner’s Grandparents supported the 2006 row very generously. They were Italian and the phrase roughly translates to ‘Red Sky at night, sailors delight”

Penny and Mum were relatives of teammate Brad Vickers. They both suffered from lung disease and the 2006 trip raised $50,000 for the American Lung Association of Washington

Erkki and Margaret are teammates Markus Pukonen’s parents who passed. Markus could not make it because he is just now finishing a nonmotorized trip around the world. We made a bobblehead of him coming along

Skipper Jordan Hanssen’s Grandparents supported the row very generously, even when they thought he was a little nuts. Or maybe a lot nuts.

Wade was the CEO of the Canadian Wildlife Federation, the 2013 title sponsor for the Africa to the Americas Expedition. Wade stuck with us through a capsize. His commitment to our team and idea allowed a successful expedition to get launched to find the boat.

In the very early days of OAR Northwest, the organization built by some University of Puget Sound Rowers the team needed contacts and some established people to lend their hand to support with contacts and introduction. Ronald Thomas was a huge fan of Puget Sound Crew and his belive in this bunch of young alums helped pave the way.

Rick was a scientist with the Canadian Wildlife Federation. He was a water scientist, among many things, and was a huge support for getting science on the 2013 CWF Africa to the Americas expedition and figuring out how to take that learning into classrooms.

Pat met the team in 2006 at the Seattle Maritime Academy and later at Q3 Marine training where he trained both crews in survival at sea.

Frank rowed since he was 14. he’s coached thousands of rowers at all levels and a few of those were some of the 2006 crew. Franks vast knowledge of rowing helped them pick the right stroke for the boat and all of the subsequent designs that revolved around that.

Dr. Ray was the crew’s on-call physician while at sea. He’s provided that service to thousands of fishermen over the years.

Geoff, a teacher and state legislator hunted down the team early on and supported them offering the use of his boat LUARD as a safety boat for their first open water row in the Pacific Ocean.

Earla worked at the boat’s home for many years, The Foss Waterway seaport. She loved the story, She look after the boat and made sure folks knew about what it had done in her time there.

In the 2013 row, Dr. Terry Orlick was a professor of sports psychology and one of the scientists we worked with to stay sane on the boat and bring back data to share from the project.

With the heart and skill of a trained chef and master gardener, Paul uses his technical
skills to install electronics for Emerald
Harbor Marine and did so on
the JAMES ROBERT HANSSEN