Pictures - Yantu Inspiration

Retracing Chinese visits to America pre-Columbus

2009 Visiting the Xu Fu’s Park in Shingu, Wakayama, Japan. The then 98 year old man in the wheelchair is Mr. Okuno, an authority on Xu Fu, who Tim Severin met with 1993

2009 Visiting the major of Shingu, Wakayama, Japan to discuss a re-enactment of Xu Fu’s voyage from China to Japan (and on to America?)

2009 Visiting Xu Fu’s grave, Shingu, Wakayama, Japan

2009 Last of four coins that Xu Fu supposingly brought to Shingu, Wakayama, Japan

2009 Caretaker of Xu Fu’s grave and remaining coin

2009 Old mates Li Jinhua and Christian well positioned to contemplate Xu Fu’s historical voyage, Quanzhou, China

2009 Quanzhou Maritime Museum’s possible design for Xu Fu’s vessel

2018 Display Case 21, The Americas, British Museum

2018 Greenwich Maritime Museum, London

2018 Needham Research Institute, Cambridge

2018 California Museum, Sacramento, USA. Any Chinese colony in America could over time have been absorbed into the Native American culture and then further decimated along with the Native Americans without a trace

2018 Looking for pre-Columbus Chinese junk, supposingly sunk in the Sacramento River at Glenn. It was a hoax

2018 Prickely pear, California, one of the foods reported by Hui Shen in the Liangshu

2018 Looking for Chinese pottery pieces at Bodega Bay, California. They exist, but post date Columbus

2018 Chinese Pottery Pieces at Drakes Bay, California, post-date Columbus

2019 Finding my ancestor’s letters at the Bibliothèque de l’Institut de France, Paris

2019 Napoleon Bonaparte’s scandalous Chinese dictionary, which Christian’s ancestor Pierre had a role to play in

2019 Evan Bouton, French researcher, and Christian enjoying a time-out

2019 Evan Bouton, French researcher, and Christian at the Académie des Sciences, Paris, looking for Joseph de Guignes 1761 essay on Fusang

2019 In Yuegang with Sun Haibin, Jin Pei and Li Jinhua visiting a potential boat builder for ancient vessel

2019 Inspecting possible ship designs at boatbuilder’s home in Yuegang

2019 Maritime Historian, Professor Li in his office, Tamkang University, Taiwan

2019 Palace Museum in Taipei, Taiwan

2019 Painting of Junk at Macao Maritime Museum

2020 Reproduction of Tang Dynasty ship. British Museum, London

2020 Extract from Kaempfer’s History of Japan, British Library, London

2020 Joseph Needham’s four box files pertaining to pre-Columbus contact between Asia and America, Needham Research Institute, Cambridge

Row Round Denmark for Clean Seas

Coming soon…

Swim-Run-Swim to get a Lifeboat

Start of GR10, Hendaye

Up, up and away!

A fair way down

View from the office

A tricky part of the route

Fellow hikers

Company, finally!

That probably leads somewhere …?

Having a rest

Shin splint theraphy

Incentive to run faster

Laundry day

Traffic jam

Pic du Canigou (2784m)

More views from the office

At the end of the rainbow…

Run, Forrest, run!

The trail goes on and on…

Finished! Banyuls sur Mer

Final dip after having worn out three pairs of shoes

Cruising China’s coast and Yangtze River

At anchor in Hong Kong waiting for favorable winds

Clearing Customs and Immigration

Christian hoisting the yellow quarantine flag to indicate that there is no disease on board

Life on board. We were not allowed to sail without a pilot on board

Luggage and camera equipment for the voyage

Mooring in Xiamen

Troels Kløvedal (left) and Christian visiting the tombstone of Christian’s relative who died in Macao in 1776

Troels Kløvedal and Else Marie’s weddding at the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club

Troels Kløvedal (left) with HRH Prince Joachim of Denmark, who paid a visit on board Nordkaperen in Hong Kong

Another improvised mooring

Another day in the office

Approaching Xiamen

Christian trying to bring HRH Prince Joachim and the Ambassador safely ashore

China does not have the best marinas, but they managed

Passing Bocca Tigris (虎門) on the way to Guangzhou

Sino-Viking Trans-Atlantic Rowing Joint Venture

Our boat Yantu was built in China in modest conditions. It was the first ocean rowing boat to be built in China

The China launch. The winch got stuck, but apart from that everything went fine

Our first row together in our new boat

Volunteers at the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club who kitted out the boat and helped make our race entry possible

Safety training in Hong Kong

Tenerife – Packing food late into the night

The water maker. Can’t live with it and can’t live without it…

Sun Haibin shows off his culinary skills in their well equipped kitchen

Serious local Spanish competition!

Packing our grab bag the night before the race start

The hatch which eventually broke mid ocean due to faulty hinges leaving us pretty exposed

Sun Haibin was proud to represent China

Race day. All set to go!

Race start in Tenerife. Everyone headed West and we rowed South. Plan the row and row the plan…

Sun Haibin rowing

Picture from inside the cabin out on Christian rowing

Waves were big at times…

Sun Haibin rowing in big waves

They saw wales a number of times

More rowing…

Not all pain. Also beautiful sunsets

They almost got run down by a skip in the middle of the night

Repairing seat, trying to prevent the pain

Sun Haibin cut his clothes to prevent chafing

Wear and tear mid ocean. Nothing compared to the state of their butts…

Sun Haibin rowing in a rainstorm

Barbados on the horizon. Sun Haibin’s smile says it all

Arrival in Barbados in 8th position. When they stepped onto the jetty they fell over, because they were not used to stand on solid ground

They made it!

Savouring a whole different level of comfort after 56 days at sea on a camping mattress

Living it up in Barbados after two months of freeze dried food

All objectives achieved. The Chinese writing between Christian and Sun Haibin reads “Together we achieve more”

A hero’s welcome back at the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club

English Book Launch in Hong Kong

HRH Crown Prince Frederik, who is the Protector for United World Colleges in Denmark, visited their stand at the Copenhagen Boat Show

Selling raffel tickets at the Copenhagen Boat Show in support of United World Colleges

After the row Christian visited UWC Atlantic and met with the two Chinese students they had sponsored; Zhou Jin (left) and Wang Hui. Brilliant guys!

On return to China the Chinese media went crazy. Here Christian and Sun Haibin are guests on CCTV 5’s exclusive prime time “Five Rings Night Show” (五环夜话)