An eventful last day in the UK and Day 1 in San Francisco

Our last day in the UK was a whirlwind.

An early 6am wake up and we found ourselves no longer Coxless as we chatted to Sara Cox during the Radio 2 breakfast show!

Sara Cox

We headed to GSK Human Performance Lab for a day of testing: Dexa Scans (to check our bone density), final measurements of skin folds, weight gained and a V02 max test (to measure if our bodies burn fat or carbohydrate during varying levels of exercise).

V02 max

We then rushed to the One Show and spent the evening showing the viewers around a boat that is similar to Doris and meeting Alex Jones, Matt Baker and the very entertaining Sir Bruce Forsyth!!

One Show

After 24 hours of travel, we arrived into San Francisco at 2am.

We’re staying in an amazing apartment that is also a children’s day care and art & craft centre during the day and have been very kindly hosted here by the amazing Jules whose energy and creativity is firmly imprinted in the space.

We woke up this morning at 7am to begin doing our recce of the areas we will be spending time in and to put faces to the names of the contacts that we have made over the last few months.
It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, we all fell in love San Fran and the last preparations for our journey have begun!!

We headed to Alemeda Marina to meet Anna, Hart, Tim and Brock who have all been unbelievably generous with their time and offering us free berth and services for a few days. Doris will be arriving out of customs on Monday the 13th (if all goes according to plan), and Svendsens Boat Yard will be taking her out of her container and placing her into the water for us.

San Fran Day 1

We then need to begin packing her up before our sea trials. That’s going to be an interesting exercise!! Getting everything we need to be self sufficient for 2 months into a very small space. We’ll keep you posted…

We then made our way to Pier 39 to meet Sheila, Marta, Charlotte and Alyssa. We couldn’t have had a warmer welcome! We had our first proper glimpse of the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz and checked out the sea lions and the area that we will be heading to prior to launch on the 18th.
As it’s very difficult to row with the wind and tide against us our actual launch time is looking like it will be at midnight when the conditions are more favourable.

Pier 39

Pier 39 Sea Lions

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Coxless Crew meets Kylie!!

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We were very fortunate last month to have the opportunity and the pleasure to meet Kylie Minogue. “How did you get Kylie?” is the question we often get asked, so here is the simple answer.

Belief and perseverance!

We had approached the pop icon to be part of our epic journey a few months ago as we truly believed that she aligns perfectly with our ethos and values. This is what we told her:

Why Kylie?

We are looking to align ourselves with an amazing patron who we feel fits in with our ethos and reason for doing this incredible challenge.

We have all grown up with you in our lives. From our daily Neighbours after school watching days, to your fabulous music, ability to entertain and then the inspirational role model that you have become from your own personal experience and self-development of fighting and overcoming breast cancer. You continually empower women, which is what our expedition is all about. We also love that fact that you have a presence in the UK, Australia and also the US, meaning that you have a connection with every step of our journey.

We are implementing a schools project and allowing children (girls and boys) to reach for their dreams and allow themselves to be inspired to do anything they want to do.

We were simply overjoyed (I’m not going to lie!) when she made contact to say that she was happy to support such a worthwhile cause. We managed to coordinate an opportunity for us to meet her and get a group photo and have a little chat.

(Short video edit is by Dean Alexander and his colleagues at TimecodePro)

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Kylie and Coxless Crew

All photos are copyright Dean Alexander

In the private meeting between Kylie and us we discussed the practicalities of such a huge undertaking as well as the reason why we are so thrilled to have her support in creating awareness of women that have had to fight and overcome adversity. She expressed her genuine interest in following the journey and the total wonder in how the 4 of us will remain sane and connected during such a long time separated from the usual home comforts and loved ones.

She is so genuine, down to earth and truly humble. It was a wonderful experience in itself to meet her, let alone the fact that she is now supporting our expedition.

The Australian born singer-songwriter recently named Australian of the year in the UK, also has had a strong presence in both the starting and ending points of our journey, as we’ve mentioned before, so let’s see if we will not only have relief and elation when we hit Cairns around October time, but also Kylie welcoming us back onto dry land!

Unfortunately Izzy was not available on the day that Kylie could meet us and so we had Ella (one of our support team) step in to be in her place for the informal chat and photo opportunity.
The photos were taken by the amazing Dean Alexander and the short video edit is by Dean and his colleagues at TimecodePro
A HUGE thanks to them for coming and capturing the day for us.

We also love our Adidas hoodie’s and even Kylie wished she was in her tracksuit!!

It is one of those surreal moments that is such a perfect example of how incredible our journey has been so far… x

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Values and Ethos – S.P.I.R.I.T

Natalia Cohen By

S.P.I.R.I.T – Our Values define us

What are our values and how does their importance impact our lives?

I believe that our values define us as an individual and that some are instilled and others developed. They become the underlying essence of what you are, who you will become and affect every area of your personal and working life.
These core beliefs that we have, highlight why we automatically gravitate towards certain people (as they most probably have similar values) and possibly why we choose to follow a particular career path or lifestyle.

Every one of us has values, but maybe not everyone has ever sat down and worked out what their top 5 are. There are literally hundreds to choose from and some resonate stronger than others for each person.

As the COXLESS CREW have become a new team, we have also had to re-evaluate our team dynamic and make sure that everyone has identified their own values. Collectively we need to be aligned in the things we believe in and what will keep driving us forward in our challenge.

These core values will need to be prevalent throughout our process as we work together to get us to the start line, develop our group dynamic and then help us to cross an ocean.

Although we are from varying backgrounds and have slightly different motivations, Laura, Emma, Izzy and I have one very important thing that connects us in this project. S.P.I.R.I.T
We are determined to make this adventure happen.

This S.P.I.R.I.T is the thing that we hold special and represents our key values and ethos.

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SPIRIT

STRENGTH
– Strength of character, purpose and mind.
– There is an inner strength and a physical strength that will be developed and fine-tuned through various training schedules and exercises.
– Strength to face our fears, enter the unknown and prove that anyone can overcome adversity and do anything they set their mind to with the right preparation, support and commitment.
– Strength to keep moving forward when most people around you fail to understand the reason.

PERSEVERANCE
– The determination to get the boat to the start line. To find the sponsors and make this challenge happen so that we can raise the awareness and the support for our charities. To find the media coverage to make this story as big as it can possibly be and thereby generate the excitement for this women’s first attempt and significance for women once it has been achieved.
– That mental resolve to keep pushing through when the body has all but given up hope and the perseverance to keep moving forward however challenging or impossible the task at hand may seem.

INTEGRITY
– Honesty is vital to the success of this project. There needs to be a transparency in what we are doing and how we are going to achieve it in order to capture the hearts of our followers and to ensure that we can maintain a working relationship on our boat.
– There cannot be any secrets now as they will only be exposed and highlighted in a detrimental way on the boat. We need to be truthful and authentic to whom each of us is as a person and how we are feeling at any one time through the process. We need to constantly reflect and share with each other.

RESILIENCE
– There are going to be moments on a daily basis where we will need to find the drive and will to push through.
– During the ‘getting to the start line’ phase, we need to keep pushing to find our sponsors, organise the logistics for the physical training, team meetings, events, media opportunities, mental training, fundraising, coordination of the shipping, food, sea survival skills, DIY courses, the list goes on.
– We will all have our personal fears and doubts that will surface and disappear during the next six months.
– The true test of resilience will come when we’re out on the ocean. This is when we will really have to fight out our demons and push ourselves to our physical, psychological and emotional limits.
– All the women fighting to overcome adversity from our chosen charities Walking With The Wounded and Breast Cancer Care, also show this undeniable resilience. Whether it is a woman overcoming breast cancer or an ex-servicewoman who is learning to be re-introduced into a new life, they will need to bounce back from an extreme hardship.
– Equality and diversity within the workplace and also sport has begun a shift towards change but women still have to fight to be heard and to progress.

INSPIRATION
This is another key value for us.
Life is all about being inspired by amazing people and hoping in return to inspire others. This is a huge part of what our journey is about. We have been truly humbled and amazed by the number of people so far that have willingly donated their time and expertise to the project. We would not be where we are today without them all and they will definitely be a big source of our inspiration out in the Pacific. Our existing sponsors have been amazing and we so greatly appreciate their continual support.

Obviously our charities are our major source of inspiration. They are the very reason we are putting ourselves through the challenge and their stories and journey are the ones we are hoping to share and raise awareness of.
Our Ambassadors are also key. They are pioneers, athletes and great adventurers who we admire, respect and pull great inspiration from.

As will our followers, and through ‘BUY A MILE’ we are excited to have the names of everyone that has contributed to buying a mile for our adventure to actually be there in black and white (as well as in spirit) to travel the journey with us. The more miles you buy, the larger/bolder the name

BUY A MILE – Be Part of our Journey

TRUST

We need to put trust in ourselves, in others, in the ocean and in the universe!
We are going to have to trust each other implicitly as basically our lives will depend on it. If we don’t have this trust, within the immediate team, our support team and our followers, the project will not be a successful one.
We trust fully in this incredible yet long, challenging journey we have embarked upon and will learn from all challenges we will face every step of the way.

***

Your values are an amazing driving force in life, so don’t forget to recognise and follow them, then allow them to work their magic.

We wish everyone love and S.P.I.R.I.T x

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The journey of life…

Natalia Cohen By

Natalia – The journey of life…

Life is all about choice and having the courage to believe in yourself and follow your passions. At least that’s what I think.

I have never wanted normal, easy, and ordinary – My life has been a series of amazing experiences that have shaped me and inspired me. I believe in living, feeling and breathing all my moments and although ultimately I have no idea what this game of life is all about and where my next, let alone final destination will be, I’m going to make sure that I enjoy every step of the journey.

Cape Town

I am fascinated by people, how we respond to our world, the physical and emotional limits we can push ourselves to and most importantly the strength of the human spirit.

We have only one opportunity in this crazy world, so why not live an extraordinary life; learning from each other and giving love and compassion back in return.

Not dwelling on the past, not worrying about the future, but being fully present in the moment whenever possible.

Tanzania Coast line

I believe that the universe presents events in perfect order and that everything happens for a reason (or that every experience is a learning opportunity and there is always a positive to be taken from a situation). This way of thinking has allowed me to feel comfortable with a free-spirited lifestyle in over 50 countries, immersing myself in different cultures and continuously challenging myself by being outside my comfort zone and entering the unknown.

I have been fortunate enough to have lived all over the world. From walking the Camino de Santiago (800 km walk across Northern Spain), leading adventure tours in the Middle East, Asia and Latin America to operational management, teaching, coordinating volunteer projects, monitoring plastic pollution in the Pacific and eco-lodge management in East Africa. In all of my eras, through the people that cross my path, there is always an underlying awe that I feel: people fighting to overcome their personal hardship on a daily basis.

This wonderful will of spirit, this triumph over adversity, particularly prevalent in the destinations that I have explored deeply, never ceases to amaze me.

It is possibly because I’m open to any opportunity that is thrown my way, and interested in unique experiences, that I have been led to this monumental expedition. Although it is like nothing else I have ever done or will most probably ever do again, the Row is certainly another incredible journey or era.

If the opportunity had presented itself at any other point in my life up until now, I almost certainly would not have been interested but some inexplicable desire draws me to it now.
They say timing is everything.

I have always had a love of water. I am a Pisces, an enthusiastic swimmer, find the sight and sound of the ocean deeply meditative and get a great sense of calm and peace when I am near or around water. It’s where I feel at home. I am intrigued how the Row will challenge me and excited to explore the depth and breadth of my own spirit and mind. I want to use the insight gained from the planning, execution and lessons learnt during this experience to inspire and motivate others after it.

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This prevailing essence of human spirit is the same whether it’s a woman fighting with breast cancer, an injured servicewoman battling to find a way back into society, a woman struggling in a male dominated business world, communities in the developing world dealing with daily existence or any human stressed by their own personal demons.
We all have our own Pacific Ocean to cross in whatever form that comes.
My hope is for everyone to learn from and allow the magic of the varying journeys and lessons of life that they encounter to make a profound and positive impact on them and most importantly – to believe in the strength of human spirit that connects us all.

We all have the power to write our own story…so let’s make it an amazing one! x

Camino

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Sea Survival Skills – with Survival Wisdom

On Monday and Tuesday of last week the team and Doris were down in Plymouth with the amazing Survival Wisdom (www.survivalwisdom.com) for 2 days of sea survival training.
We arrived at the Survival Wisdom centre at the beautiful Mount Edgecumbe country park, accompanied by the brilliant Dean from Timecode Pro (www.timecodepro.co.uk), who generously came with us to film our training.
The day began with a welcome cup of tea and introductions to our instructors: Richard, Jase and Alf. The team at Survival Wisdom specialise in “giving you the resilience to deal with challenging environments across the globe and enduring, crucial skills for any situation”. They have a scarily impressive portfolio of military experience gained working and training in some of the most challenging environments in the world, including sea, jungle, desert and extreme cold environments, so we were in very safe hands!
Monday was a day in the classroom broken down into 4 main sessions:
(1) Overview of sea survival and a discussion of hazard awareness and risk reduction specifically in the context of our Pacific Ocean row
(2) The psychology of survival
(3) A discussion of the safety equipment that we will have with us for our row
(4) A ‘dry’ run through of life raft drills, man (or lady!) overboard drills and use of flares
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The sessions were incredibly valuable. The Survival Wisdom team had done their homework and had a close look at our planned route and equipment list, so all of their advice was tailored toour challenge.
It is crucial to our team that we approach our row as safely as possible and reduce all potential risks as much as we can. As part of this, we will be making sure that we have all of the best safety equipment and know how to use it. Before we go, we will also identify all potential hazards and prepare detailed ‘what ifs’, setting out the actions that we will take if particular sets of circumstances arise. It was reassuring to run through some of these scenarios with Survival Wisdom and to hear their positive thoughts on our approach and to get some brilliant additional suggestions from the team.
The ‘dry’ run through was a good learning experience, as well as great fun. We started with a quick session outside where Jase went over how to activate white collision flares. We then headed back to the classroom to practice the actions required for getting ourselves into a liferaft. Doris is a completely self-righting boat, so we should never need to get into our Crewsaver Life raft, however we need to be well prepared for the worse case scenario.
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On Tuesday, we had a chance to put the previous day’s learning into practice. We headed out on Doris early in the morning from the Mayflower Marina in Plymouth, who generously hosted us for the day (www.mayflowermarina.co.uk), and rowed out into Cawsand Bay. Conditions were windy and bumpy enough that 3 of us were a little sea sick. That didn’t hold us back though, and we met Richard and Jase from Survival Wisdom out in the bay with Alastair and one of his colleagues from All Marine Engineering Services (www.allmarineengineering.co.uk) with their boat.
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We started off by practising our liferaft drill. We were wearing our amazing Crewsaver ErgoFit smocks, salopettes and 190N life
jackets and we jumped off Doris into the water with our grab bag of crucial safety equipment. We grouped together into a ‘crocodile’ and swam together to the liferaft.
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Once inside, we ran through the list of immediate actions to be taken on entering the liferaft (bailing excess water, inflating the final bits of the raft, closing the doors, deploying the para anchor etc). The conditions were choppy, which made the drill more realistic. We even spotted a twister on the horizon(!) and Emma and Laura were battling with sea sickness throughout, but they didn’t let that distract them from the task in hand.
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After the liferaft drill, we practiced our man over board drill from Doris. Getting back into Doris from the water was more challenging than getting into the liferaft, but we all managed it unassisted. We also practised lifting an “unconscious” Laura into the boat. After the successful drills, we headed back into the Mayflower Marina and to Jolly Jacks Bar Bistro for a well earned fish and chip lunch and a debrief. There we met Sally Baum, Heather and the team at Jolly Jacks who came on board as sponsors of our row after just a quick meeting and we were completely blown away by their kindness, enthusiasm and generosity.
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There isn’t room in this blog to set out all of the numerous learning outcomes of our sea survival training, but if there are 3 things that we will all take away from our time with Survival Wisdom, they are probably these:
(1) Everything we take on Doris must have a purpose (and, if it can, more than one purpose, as there isn’t much room on
board!)
(2) Be aware of possible risks, or ‘lemons’. Identify them and don’t let them accumulate – we don’t want too many lemons on the boat!
(3) When faced with a challenging situation, there is no substitute for having a cup of tea and taking the time to make a good team decision about how to deal with it.
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A huge thanks again to Dean from Timecode Pro, the teams at Survival Wisdom and All Marine Engineering Services, the Mayflower Marina and Jolly Jacks for all of your support and for making it a great couple of days in Plymouth.
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Training and brainstorming

Emma, Laura and I met up for a training and brainstorming session this weekend.
We headed down to The Train Station gym in Wandsworth, which is an amazing place!
Our ‘Train Wreck’ class was was run by the wonderful Jim Stubbs and boy did he work us. To give you a little insight into how we felt at the end of the 45 minute session, this is how the class is described on their website: Train Wreck

“We said all our classes were suitable for everyone. This one isn’t… This is our homage to the hardcore exerciser. You will need to be comfortable using all the different kit and happy to leave dignity at the door. This is a session that will push you to your limits in all aspects of the fitness spectrum. No fixed agenda – the structure will change all the time so be prepared for anything.”

I can safely say that I was struggling to breathe at the end of this!! To get a snapshot of what was involved, here is a quick ‘lighthearted’ video from the session. As you can see we were looking super sexy at the end of it!! Training Session…

We stayed in the gym after the session to go through our personal strength and conditioning programs and refine form and technique. The main areas that that we need to strengthen to start is our core/trunk area. Repetitions of static positions is necessary initially to begin building this strength.

Emma core

After a quick lunch, we began our brainstorming session.
Obviously there is a huge amount to coordinate for an expedition of this magnitude.
Main areas discussed included Media/PR, Sponsorship, our Schools Project (soon to be launched) and values.

Physically and mentally it was a really productive day…but still a long way to go.
Keep following to become part of our journey as we’d love you all to travel with us…
Natalia x

For those intrigued to check out The Train Station gym, have a look at what they offer here: TTS

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The team reunites

Natalia Cohen By

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Rowing the solent, photo shoots, The Bornmourth Air Show, and the team reunites. We’ve just had a wonderfully productive weekend down in Christchurch.

After our night on Doris (slept like a baby) and expedition food breakfast, Saturday saw Laura, Izzy and I rowing in the most challenging conditions so far. During the 6 hours we were out, we got our first real feeling for how the boat handles, dealing with seasickness, blisters and using the bucket!

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On Sunday morning, Emma returned from her expedition trip in Brazil and it was very exciting to have the team together. We took the opportunity to take some group shots and then had a team debrief and outlined further training weekends and plan of action for the next month.

Keep following…

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A weekend on Doris

Natalia Cohen By

This weekend saw us road tripping down to Christchurch to spend a little time on Doris. After a quick stopover in Bath to meet up with Keith (our sports psychologist), we went through some results from a recent psychometric test and grabbed dinner at a great local pub.

A fundamental part of the row is obviously the mental preparation that the team will have to undergo. A portion of this will involve an in-depth analysis of personality traits and how each individual’s character and behavioural patterns will affect not only their reactions to certain situations, but also team dynamics. This is going to be a fascinating process that will affect the row itself as well as getting the boat to the start line. We will cover this in more depth in a later post.

We arrived into Christchurch late and decided to head straight to bed in preparation for the day of rowing ahead. Izzy and Natalia slept head to toe in close quarters in Doris’ aft cabin, and Laura in the fore-cabin.

In the Aft cabin

In the Aft cabin

To simulate a night on the ocean in a storm scenario (minus the movement), we decided to keep all hatches closed and see how much condensation build up there was and humidity and temperature increase.

We were up bright and early, eating our expedition food (freeze dried) and preparing for our row around Christchurch Bay. It was great to get out for a few hours in the windy conditions with the tail end of hurricane Bertha about to blow through, and giving us the chance to work on some of our boat manoeuvres.

Izzy and Natalia on the oars

Izzy and Natalia on the oars

We would have loved to have gotten further out to sea and played around more in rougher conditions but to do that safely on our next outing, we require a support boat to get us well away from the shoreline.

Even though we were back in port earlier than expected, we made use of the remaining time productively by familiarising ourselves more with Doris, sharpening our rope skills and sampling more expedition food. We’re beginning to rate the meals so we can decide which we want to take with us!

We spent another night all cosy inside Doris while the wind howled and rain lashed the outside. Sunday morning saw another sampling of expedition food breakfast before we said farewell to Doris and headed back to London.
A great weekend had by all!

A blustery morning on Doris

A blustery morning on Doris

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