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Fairfax, John – Rowing Alone Across the Atlantic – The ‘UFOs’ and an OBE

I had chosen Arcturus to steer by, as this was easier and less tiring than keeping an eye on the compass all the time. After months of rowing at night, every night, the position of the stars was as familiar to me as the back of my hand.

Thus, when the UFOs suddenly appeared, they immediately had my attention.

Not only were they extraordinarily bright, but they were also blue and, to all appearances, they did not move. Amazing!

Bewildered, I checked the time-23.30 GMT-and bearing 080 true; then stopped rowing and watched them, wondering.

After a while they climbed towards Jupiter, at the time nearly overhead, and hovered there. How far? I could not say, except that it was at this moment that the rainy cloud passed without concealing them. They were, by then, as bright as street lamps, about five hundred yards apart. I lit a cigarette and watched them, mesmerized as the light grew brighter and brighter, almost to the point of hurting my eyes; yet their size did not vary-and incredible as it may sound, in spite of their increased brilliance, there was no reflection of light.

Something happened then about which I do not consciously remember anything other than a feeling that my body was floating in a void, or rather that I no longer had a body, as my whole being seemed to be struggling against a terrific, mental, esoteric force that was willing me to give myself to it, to say yes, to go away, to abandon myself.

It was so vivid, and yet so vague, vague. All I remember is the struggle, the resistance, and my saying "No, no. No."

And then, at the last possible moment, when I was about to give in, I snapped out of it. The cigarette had burned, its entire ash completely unmoved, till it reached my fingers, and the burn had brought me back to my senses.

I found myself absolutely bathed in sweat, and by the look and feel of them, my fingers must have been burning for quite a while before I had noticed. After that the UFOs went east again, and what happened then is in the Log.