University Of Western Australia Students Channel Expertise For World-beating Solo Indian Ocean Challenge
Students from The University of Western Australia have drawn on expertise in oceanography, physics and statistics to help a Perth grandfather in his attempt to paddle across the Indian Ocean from Australia to Africa, as part of a world record and charity fundraising effort.
“We considered all of the friction forces that would be acting on Rob’s boat, including wind, water and rowing forces, and combined this with short-term weather forecasts and data from the past 20 years to simulate what the best route might be.”
UWA PhD candidate Rick de Kreij
Hillarys-based mortgage broker Rob Barton plans to row more than 8,000km solo and unsupported in a purpose-built ocean rowboat on his Australia2Africa journey. Mr Barton plans to leave from the north-west town of Carnarvon before the end of this month.
UWA PhD and undergraduate students built a forecasting model that Mr Barton can draw on to navigate, row and drift the most efficient route for his voyage – with such information key if he is to succeed in being the first person to row non-stop from continent to continent.
Some of the student team behind the solo boat challenge
Image: Plotting the course… (L2R) PhD candidate Daniel Claassen, Professor Phil Watson, Rob Barton and undergraduate Michael Nefiodovas.
An avid sailor and father of four daughters, Mr Barton aims to raise $300,000 for youth mental health charity zero2hero after his daughter experienced a two-year struggle with anxiety and depression. Donations can be made here.
Shell Professor of Offshore Engineering Professor Phil Watson, a key researcher within the UWA Oceans Graduate School and globally renowned geotechnical engineer, who supervised the team, said the quest was the perfect opportunity for the students to test their skills.
“We have great experience in understanding the Indian Ocean and, as well as oceanographers, we engaged two undergraduate students studying maths and statistics for summer internships to be involved with the analytics side of forecasting the journey,” Professor Watson said.
Development of the model was led by Rick de Kreij, a PhD candidate in the UWA Ocean Dynamics group, who has a background in oceanography and physics, and is studying how satellite observations can be used to estimate surface currents.
“Mr Barton will be rowing 12 to 15 hours a day, and so travelling an optimum route is crucial,” Mr de Kreij said.
“We considered all of the friction forces that would be acting on Rob’s boat, including wind, water and rowing forces, and combined this with short-term weather forecasts and data from the past 20 years to simulate what the best route might be.”
The model helped pinpoint Carnarvon in April or May as the best place and time to depart. It will continue to be calibrated during Mr Barton’s ambitious journey, based on data from his row, with updates automatically available to his onshore support team.
“It’s such amazing real-world experience for the students, and for the undergrads in particular, in the practical application of bringing maths and statistics into decision making,” Professor Watson said. “The whole team has met Rob, so it’s one-on-one and quite personal.
“He’ll be battling ocean currents, wind, waves of up to 10 metres, solitary confinement, blisters on his hands, sleep deprivation and much more – it won’t be easy. But he has a big team of followers hoping that he stays safe and gets it done.”