There have been a lot of mentions in our blogs about singing, but not so many about dancing. Yes – dancing (of sorts) is possible on a 29ft ocean rowing boat! Natalia has already mentioned the choreographed dance on the oars that she and Laura came up with last week, but my favourite dance is the daily dawn dance.
The dawn shift (4-6am) can be the sleepiest shift for us. It comes at the end of a long night and can drag out a bit. We often find it hard to keep our eyes open on this shift, and if there are any night time ramblings from Laura, they will almost certainly be during the dawn shift. Last night, the dawn shift was story time. I was mid way through recounting the story of the film Gladiator to Laura when she suddenly stopped rowing and seemed to be fiddling with something in her lap near her oar handles. After a while, I stopped the story to check she was ok. “Fine. I’m just trying to get the talcum powder out of my towel” was the reply! Needless to say, none of these items was on deck. That was the sign we needed – it was time for the dawn dance.
The dawn dance is very simple. The two rowers stand, face one another, and dance until they feel awake again. Sometimes there is a song sung in accompaniment. Other times the dawn dance is silent disco style, with both rowers dancing to their own beat. It’s hard enough to stand on deck without falling over, let alone dance, so our dawn dance is usually not so much a dance, but more a jerky jig of random motions. It’s two people bouncing around like idiots and laughing at one another on the deck of a small rowing boat in the middle of the Pacific as the light of a new day arrives. It only lasts a minute, but it’s a minute of complete freedom and it’s one of my favourite parts of each day.
The last couple of days have been very special ones aboard Doris.
Yesterday I received news via our sat phone that I have become an auntie for the first time. My older sister Emily and her husband Ben have welcomed a little boy. It’s sad not to be at home at such a special time for our family, but it was fantastic to receive the news out in the middle of the Pacific. I can’t wait to get home and meet my little nephew – I will just have to be patient.
After a peaceful night on the oars, this morning initially brought grey overcast skies. However, by lunchtime the clouds had cleared and the sun came out. We are experiencing a few days of very calm conditions. The sea was beautifully flat and glassy all day and you could see for miles and miles. When I imagined the Pacific before the row I imagined all sorts of different conditions, but I never once imagined that the ocean could look like a giant pond! We enjoyed rowing in shorts and t- shirts (rather than our wet weather gear) and took the opportunity to do plenty of washing, hanging everything out to dry. Mid-afternoon, Laura, Ems and I couldn’t resist any longer and we jumped off Doris and went for a quick swim. The water was so blue and clear and it was incredible to swim right out at sea so far from everything. There isn’t a lot of room on Doris to stretch out, so being able to stretch and float in the water was bliss.
After swim time came shower time. All four of us went out on deck and had a proper wash. There were a number of different approaches taken, including using buckets, sponges, flannels and a solar shower. Three of us even washed our hair. It was amazing to be covered in fresh water. We would have been quite a sight had anyone passed by – four women all trying their best to balance on a wobbly little pink boat while showering! We’re now hoping for a beautiful sunset and a quiet starry night to top off a fab day.
There are some thoughts below from the other girls on our first swimming and showering session.
Laura – ‘today to date is without a doubt the highlight for me of the trip so far. Experiencing swimming in the middle of the Pacific was something i knew I’d look forward to doing and it didn’t disappoint. Diving under Doris and looking down into the beautiful blue was epic. To top it off with then having a proper clean solar shower on the boat felt so refreshing. I couldn’t resist though to shout out the line from Old School ‘come on everybody we’re streaking!’ & although I found this highly amusing it fell on deaf ears to none of my team mates having seen the film (I think I need to educate when we arrive in Hawaii!). Certainly if there was any aircraft that flew by at the time they would have got a shocking view!
Emma – Going for a swim in the Pacific was an amazing experience. The ocean was like glass and it was like being in our own giant infinity pool. It was also great to get a different view of our beautiful Doris. I feel properly clean for the first time in 18 days and the hilarity of shower time on an ocean rowing boat was a great team bonding experience. Day 18 has just finished off with a beautiful dusk shift. With full cloud cover there was no colourful sunset but just a fading of the light turning everything to a silver glow making Laura and I feel like we were in a dream.
Natalia – The wind dropped and the sea became this still, deep blue, translucent expanse. It was incredible. I will swim in the middle of the Pacific, but today was not my day. I’m waiting for slightly warmer waters and took the opportunity to film the others! The shower was greatly needed after so long. Nothing quite like a soaking in fresh water and being all 4 of us on deck together was hysterical!! It’s amazing what we take for granted like a simple daily shower!
2 hours on the oars can fly by when you’re listening to music and watching the sunset, or chatting with one of the other girls and rowing into the night under the stars. Or 2 hours can feel like forever, dragging out minute by minute, when you are battling against a strong wind with the water heavy on your blades, or are struggling to keep your eyes open in a night shift.
Sometimes 2 hours off feels like a decent break and you have time to eat, check the sat phone, wash and rest. Other times you go to sleep at night only to wake up what feels like 10 minutes later, but it’s time to go again.
As the day is broken down into 12 two hour shifts, we each have 3 daytime and 3 nighttime rowing shifts and 3 daytime and 3 nighttime rest shifts. When all of the shifts are put together, they seem to race by. Every day comes to an end and I can’t believe how fast the sunset shift has come around again. The rest shifts during the night are swallowed up with sleep and I am always surprised how quickly the dawn shift comes and the next day has arrived. Today we have reached the 2 week marker and it feels like a lot less.
I’m enjoying the simplicity of it all. Nothing to focus on but our little boat. At the same time, it is so lovely to receive messages of support and news from home. I spoke to my parents on Sunday on our sat phone and have been enjoying getting all the updates and messages from friends from home via email. Thank you so much for sending them through.
The last 36 hours has finally brought calmer and drier conditions. Although we still don’t have the easterly winds we need, we are making steady progress west and have had a chance to dry out our kit. The change has brought renewed enthusiasm in the team. We’re looking forward to a bit of social time when we next swap pairs and we’re making plans for fancy dress Friday.
A prolonged patch of NW and W winds has meant that we have been rowing fairly similar conditions for the last week or so. We are battling to continue to move West as much as we can but progress is very slow. Watching our boat speed and course over ground on the on deck repeater has become addictive. Even an increase in speed of 0.1 or 0.2 knots seems significant. My right arm is starting to show definite signs of overuse with the joints in my hand and elbow aching and stiff. Fingers crossed for some more favourable winds soon so that the left arm can get back into action more.
A big plus of the current conditions is that we haven’t had such strong winds and high swells as on some previous occasions so the night rowing has been by and large peaceful and there has been much less splashing. Dry rowers = happy rowers. We also have plenty of sunshine during the days, so have been taking advantage of it and washing and drying some of our clothes. Doris looks a little like a floating laundry with items of clothes handing off every possible fixing.
We are continually coming up with new topics of conversation to keep us awake on the oars. Last night I treated Ems to the full story of Les Miserables (which she had never heard), including some of the songs from the musical, which took up a full 2 hour shift! There is something wonderful about being able to sing out at the ocean at the top of your lungs and knowing that no one will hear you (apart from poor Ems, Nat and Laura of course!). Today brought chat of favourite films and quotes from movies. I’m continuing to love listening to music on the oars. 4.15-6.15pm for me and Ems is usually a peaceful music shift with the sun glinting gold on the water as it just starts to sink in the sky. That shift is up next after this break. I’m going to read a couple of chapters of my book now, eats some Nutella on some oat cakes and then jump on the oars at 4.15. Looking forward to getting back out there.
Last night was beautiful and starry with no moon. Nat and I passed the time telling stories and the two night shifts flew past. The hardest part is getting yourself up and out of the cabin onto the oars when you have only been asleep for an hour or so. In our little cabin we both wiggle out of our sleeping bags and get our Crewsaver wet weather gear on (usually soggy from the shift before), grab our Sealskinz waterproof hats, gloves and socks, fill up our water bottles and find a little snack to take into the deck. One by one, we then switch over with the girls on the oars. Balance always seems to be lacking at night time and we must look ridiculous as we swap around. Some choose to crawl along the deck, while others prefer to try to walk using the shoulders of the rowers for support.
The sun has been with us for the last couple of days and our hands and faces are continuing to get more and more tanned, although the rest of us is still covered up in our wet weather gear. We are still rowing hard, but moving frustratingly slowly as we are caught in an adverse current. Fingers crossed we will break free from it in the next 24 hours and be able to make some faster progress West.
My iPod broke very soon after we left San Francisco and the stop off in Santa Barbara fortunately meant I was able to replace it. I have been really enjoying listening to my music on the oars. We also have plenty of power coming through our Solbian solar panels and our Victron batteries, so this afternoon we were even able to plug an iPod into our Fusion speakers and play music out on deck – Mr Probs “Wave after Wave” was the tune of the day!
Although we don’t have an ideal wind direction, the conditions have been more stable than last time which feels like it has given us a bit more time for other things when we’re not rowing, such as eating, reading, clothes washing and social time. This afternoon, while Nat and I were on the oars, Laura and Ems appeared out of the aft cabin wearing clown face paints and sang a little clown song to keep us amused!
We’re adjusting to life back on Doris. Last night we made steady progress along the coast to Point Conception and have now turned away from the shore and are headed West. Overnight I felt quite seasick which took me by surprise as I did so well to avoid it last time in the bigger seas. I’m currently paired up with Laura, who was a superstar and looked after me, and I’m feeling much better today so hopefully that’ll be the last of it.
Last night was beautiful and starry but hard to stay awake as we are adapting to our 2 hours on 2 hours of sleep pattern again. The dawn shift is always the most difficult one for me to stay awake on, but this morning treated us to a beautiful sunrise and some sightings of dolphins. The daytime brought the first rain we have had. Laura and I sang as many songs as we could think of that mention rain to pass the time on the oars. After a lunch of freeze dried expedition foods (cottage pie for me and chicken pesto pasta for Laura) the sun came out and boosted our spirits.
Laura and I were discussing how amazing it is to think of so many people back at home following the little pink boat on our website. Hopefully this time you’ll be able to watch some consistent progress West to Hawaii! A couple of short personal messages:
Mummy, Daddy, Em, Ben and Phil – thinking of you all lots Wrens class – I hope you are enjoying following our journey The Dryden girls – I am averaging at least 2 renditions of Build Me Up Buttercup a day!
We continue to be overwhelmed by the support we are receiving. In addition to all of the kind emails, messages on our blog and social media, ever since we arrived in Santa Barbara there have been people willing to help us out in
whatever way they can.
We already feel very at home at the Santa Barbara marina, where we have a small crowd of friends and helpers. Kenny from The Chandlery Yacht Sales (www.chandlery.com) and his dog, Tilly, took Tony and Sarah out on his boat
as we were approaching Santa Barbara and has been a great source of information and help ever since. Larry kindly fashioned some new grab rails for us using his sail sewing machine and introduced us to, among other people, Joseph. Joseph, who makes beautiful furniture, took the time to make us some boxing to turn our fore cabin vents into an internal dorade vent to prevent water coming in. Jason, the electrician, came at short notice, did a great job and worked a long day to help us out. Michael kindly drove Ems and I out to Costco and waited patiently while we selected food for our replacement snack packs. Thank you all so much for your help.
It was also lovely to see some familiar faces from home yesterday. Anna Carboni and her husband Marius came by to meet Doris and very kindly treated us all to a big Mexican feast. I used to work for Anna and her current firm, Redd Solicitors, very kindly helped the crew with pro bono legal advice in the run up to the start line. It was great fun to catch up with friends from home and Anna and Marius also bought us some handy guides to birds and fish, so hopefully we will be able to identify what we are looking at going forward!
This evening we took Doris out for a short spin in the bay to double check that the autopilot and water maker are running smoothly. We saw two whales just off the pier and a beautiful sunset. Another lovely day in Santa Barbara.
So, as previously reported, as we have lost the ability to charge both of our batteries, we are heading to Santa Barbara. We have good conditions and are making our way there with an estimated arrival time of Tuesday morning. Tony is meeting us there and we hope to be able to quickly remedy the problems with Doris and head back on our way. It is very frustrating for us to be diverted and doubtless it will be difficult to get back on the boat to restart for Hawaii, but it was the only realistic and safe option for us and we are all trying to take it in our stride and are in good spirits.
It has helped that we have had a few days of much better weather. We are rowing 24-7 two hours on two hours off now and settling into the sleep pattern. Last night’s night shifts were easier than some of the previous ones. We were less tired and the moon (nearly full) was peeping through occasionally and turning the water silver. Today we finally have sunshine. Our Crewsaver wet weather gear has come off for the first time since we left San Francisco! The Pacific is as flat as a mill pond. This morning we rowed through blankets of jelly fish and Laura and Nat were rowing with dolphins very close to the boat. Ems and I saw a pod of about 20 jumping on the horizon. We all keep seeing a mysterious fin flopping around above the water. It’s attached to something quite big, but it’s not coming close enough for us to see what. We think it might be a basking shark.
Now that we’re heading for land, we’ve started to all imagine what it will be like to step off the boat, shower and what we want to eat! I can only imagine how exciting it will be to be making those plans again next time when we are approaching Hawaii.
I can’t believe we’ve already been at sea for a week. We’re settling into life on Doris, although some quite strong north westerly winds mean that we remain rather frustratingly close to the U.S. Coast.
This morning didn’t start well. After an uncomfortable night, during which we had a rope out behind the boat, I got up feeling unwell. I was then hauling in the rope from our stern and it got tangled on the rudder. I had to go into the aft cabin and poke my head out of the circular hatch to access the rudder and remove the rope. Unfortunately, the seas are rolling pretty relentlessly at the moment and a huge wave came over the stern and into the cabin. I spent the remainder of my 2 hours off drying out the cabin. No damage, but a soggy sleeping bag and not a great start to the day! Happily, today has improved. I received a lovely email and text from home and this afternoon had some fun shifts rowing big waves in high winds with Nat.
We continue to be surrounded by wildlife. We haven’t seen Albert today, the large brown bird that has been with us since day 1. But at night there are sparrow like birds that dart around the boat and make me think they are bats. In addition to the whales earlier in the week, we have seen some big red fish and a couple of sharks – Sharkie and George.
One fairly common activity is speaking to other vessels. We’ve had a few nice chats with nearby cargo boats to let them know we are here and how small we are. The San Francisco vessel traffic service “Traffic” were also kindly looking after us for the first few days. We would get a few calls each night on our VHF radio from them checking up on us, although I don’t think they were that clear on what kind of boat we are: “OCEAN GOING KAYAK, DORIS,THIS IS TRAFFIC. HOW ARE THINGS?”.
We’re very much learning on the go. So far, among other things, I have learnt: I can sleep on my back; the sea can look like mountains; I know the lyrics to some truly terrible songs; and I could live on dried mango and oat cakes all the way to Hawaii.
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