The shortest route between two places on the surface of the earth is called the great circle route because it follows the path of a ‘great circle’ that bisects the earth into two equal halves. To cover the shortest distance crews would have to row exactly along this line.
However wind, waves (and to a lesser extend ocean currents) will try to push you off that shortest route. We have selected this route partially because the predominant weather conditions should help out each crew. Each crew will choose their own route based upon their own research and sources, this is a part of a crew’s journey and can make a sigificant amount of difference between crews starting from the same location.
Below you can access position / tracking data from many previous ocean rowers who have rowed the Pacific from east to west. Some of these crews completed their row outside of the Great Pacific Race in the years prior to 2014 which is why not all crews depart from Monterey and arrive in O’ahu but we feel that this should provide you with valuable information for the passage planning stages of your row.