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Leg 3, Day 37 – A Sister’s perspective
By Day 37 – A sister’s perspective
Meg has always been one to throw herself into challenges for charity, which we have all admired her for, but this row has been the biggest challenge to date!
In 2007, at the age of 17, she shaved her head in front of the whole school for Children in Need and raised over £1,000. In 2008, she ran the London Marathon, and then in 2011, Meg was Expedition Leader for a Kilimanjaro climb with her University, raising funds for a charity called Dig Deep. This involved recruiting and leading a team of students that raised £26,000. She then went onto be a part of an expedition that climbed Machu Picchu for the same charity the following year.
When Meg told me about the row, I had really mixed feelings. Part of me thought WOW what an amazing thing to do and also for two fantastic charities that mean something to the both of us, but then a part of me thought WOW, one small little boat out there in the Pacific with four girls in it – all a bit daunting if you ask me.
I couldn’t be any prouder of my big sis than I am today. Often I hear people saying “Oh, wouldn’t it be amazing to do this and that with my life”… and then never seem to fulfill these different dreams for one reason or another. Meg, and all of the Coxless Crew have taught me a lesson. We can all live by ‘what ifs’ everyday but wouldn’t it be great if we could change these into ‘I did it’ after people’s fears are faced after completing an individual challenge. That is what the #mypacific concept is – overcoming personal fears.
At the end of 2013 our Dad had a massive accident whilst training for a half marathon that he and Meg were supposed to be completing the following week. This threw our lives up into the air and tore us both to absolute shreds. Things became very difficult for us and we had no choice but to come together as a team. As our dad is still getting over his accident, our relationship with him has also suffered, and two years on and I can honestly say that as well as Meg being my sister, she is also my best friend. I am trying to express a message here that we will now always continue to live by….appreciate what you have in life because you never know when that could be taken away from you.
Growing up, Meg was always the bossy one who used to do all of the talking for me (It was always questioned why I was a late speaker). I used to point and squawk like a parrot and Meg would translate into exactly what I wanted. Meg and I had an amazing childhood, thanks to our mum, big Sal – a completely selfless, absolute inspiration for us both. We spent our time making mud pies and trying to find some poor animals to feed it to, or doing the hopscotch in the garden. We used to have a big pond outside our house, and every year we would both find the joy out of seeing how many tadpoles we could find and bring out of the pond into our hand, and watching them develop.
Every day I watch Doris, the little pink boat rowing along and getting closer and closer to Cairns battling anything that the Pacific throws at her. I know that each stroke is bringing my big sis, and The Coxless Crew closer and closer to having their feet back on the ground. I never ever thought I would say this, but I can’t wait to hear Meg’s voice, even if it is nagging me about something!
I really couldn’t be any prouder of the six girls in this challenge. They are amazing and I know from the bottom of my heart I could never complete a challenge like it. I am sure there are very mixed feelings at the moment, “the next time we hit land, we won’t be leaving it again on a boat” and the “Wow, what an amazing challenge with six special women that is about to end”. I wish I was there to see them when they arrive in Cairns. The amount of money that they have raised and are continuing to raise will have such a massive impact on their two chosen charities, and I know there are people that will be eternally grateful for it. Sending so much love and good luck to the girls for the rest of the journey
Amy
xxxx
Update: we have reached half way to Cairns! To celebrate, me and Ems are putting together a two course Christmas hat luncheon out on the Deck. In other news, we found out yesterday that Laura’s parents have actually been on The Dawn Princess (Harry’s boat). They sent him an email, and here is the response below:
‘First of all, thank you for your incredibly thoughtful email. It’s not often I receive mail onboard and I must say, I’m impressed it found me so quickly! My senior officer and I have not stopped talking about our encounter with the girls and Doris. We initially made contact via radio as we thought they may be in some sort of difficulty. However we were then completely taken aback by not only their positivity and enthusiasm, but also their willingness to share their incredible story with us. It really is remarkable what Laura and her teammates are undertaking. Every chance I get I load up the blog and see what they’ve been up to. The morning after we passed each other, I firstly informed the Captain of the girls adventure and then our Cruise Director so that he could publically inform all on board of this amazing story, making reference to the coxlesscrew.com website. We currently have 2986 people on board from a huge range of nationalities, so hopefully this will help draw even more attention to the cause! What a coincidence that you yourself have cruised on the Dawn Princess! And even sat in the Captain’s chair! This is something I’m still working towards! I have been with Princess for just over 5 years now since I left school at 18, and I’m finding the life at sea to be an incredibly interesting and educational one. I can also honestly say that I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to sail past Laura and the girls. It was our pleasure to talk to them, and we’re even more pleased to know it gave them a boost! I will try to contact the girls directly through their website to let them know we’re all behind them and wishing them all the best on this leg of the journey. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all of us on the Dawn Princess!
kind Regards,Harry Ford
The Twelve Days of Christmas
On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me a striped cane of candy.
On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me two boats a passing.
On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me three sharks a circling.
On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me four Christmas hats.
Leg 3, Day 36 – Choose your attitude – Ems vs. Ems
By Day 36 – Choose your attitude – Ems vs. Ems
Leg two of our journey between Hawaii and Samoa was a tough one. The painfully slow progress and battling hard every day against adverse currents frustrated me massively and led to a spiralling of negative thoughts and a dislike of being on the oars. Over the last couple of weeks we have had a bit of déjà vu as we have been again fighting negative currents and after a racing start our progress became frustratingly slow. I was worried, as I’m sure was the rest of the team, that I would struggle with this and give in to the frustration again. However thanks to the amazing Keith, our sports psych, who I had spoken to often during the last part of the second leg and who I spent time debriefing and talking through coping strategies with while we were in Samoa, and my lovely team mates who have supported me in the tough times and also while testing out different techniques this leg has been very different. I feel like I have dealt pretty well with the challenges which the ocean has thrown at us over the last few weeks.
One of the main fuels for my frustration in leg two was constant calculating of how long it was going to take us to reach our destination depending on the speed which we were currently travelling. This combined with adding extra time with every current which took us in the opposite direction to Samoa was enough to drive anybody crazy! This leg I have made a conscious effort not to do this. Even when we were making amazing progress I never allowed myself to get carried away with excitement about an arrival date. I have been making a huge effort to stay in the moment, to take the time every shift on the oars to appreciate where we are, the beauty of the water, the waves and the endless skies. Despite still not exactly loving the rowing I have been able to remind myself every day how lucky we are to be out here.
The frustration felt with our progress also led to my trying to row my heart out to fight the currents and winds on my own on the boat. I ended up aching, exhausted and dreading each session on the oars. I needed to have a plan for this leg to prevent the same thing happening again and in Samoa with Keith decided that when conditions were tough I needed to define success for that shift for myself. Whether that be a target speed or direction, holding position or just rowing at a sustainable pace for two hours or keeping up conversation with my rowing partner as a distraction. I have also been determinedly not paying too much attention to the speed reading on our deck repeater and only worrying about keeping the heading on the required degrees. I also worked in Samoa to put together some positive imagery surrounding rowing for using on the oars when I was struggling to stay in the moment and enjoy a shift. I have always used imagery surrounding racing to put myself in a ‘power up’ or ‘game time’ state with a lot of success as part of the performance enhancing strategies we put together with Keith before we started the row. However this required something a little different. Images of peaceful rowing below the lock at Marlow, a calm summers day on the Bristol docks, freezing cold sunrises out at Ely when training for the boat race and weekends spent in the sunshine on the canal in Stroud all made the cut and are helpful for chilling out on the oars.
This row is proving to be more than just a physical journey across the ocean and I am learning a lot of skills which I’m sure will be transferable to life when we return from the row. When I first joined the Coxless Crew team and first met Keith I was a little scared by how accurate my NEO personality profile was but impressed by his insight and the strategies he gave us to develop skills individually and as a team. I’m not going to lie though, I found our initial team sessions a little stressful. However throughout the journey to the start line and in particular since we’ve been on the boat Keith has proved to be a great sounding board, giver of good advice and general legend. Thanks Keith! Thanks also to everyone who has sent supportive messages and encouragement to Doris and on my blogs. It is a massive help to know that I have so much support back from so many people.
UPDATE: Last night after Megs and my crazy rain storm LP and Nats saw a family of sharks circling the boat. There was little Alonzo, his older brother Juan and dad Eduardo. Meg and I have taken it upon ourselves to become the Christmas fairies and are providing little festive treats for each of the 12 days of Christmas. Day one was candy canes and then yesterday we made hot chocolate and baileys for our middle of the night shifts. It was the tastiest drink I’ve had in a long time. Today we created goodie bags with some festive games and an invitation to the Coxless Crew Christmas party. Early this morning Megs and I were woken from our slumber by an approaching fishing boat. LP had contacted them on the VHF but a language barrier meant that they thought we might need help so they headed over to check up on us. They called us small boat and as they approached we told them we were ok and they said bye bye small boat and headed back off on their fishing trip. Today it is hot hot hot and the towels and sleeping sheets are drying nicely. Yay!
I’ll leave you with the start of our very own Christmas song…. To be completed.
On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me a striped cane of candy.
On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me two boats a passing.
On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me three sharks a circling.
Leg 3, Day 35 – Doris is coming home
By Day 35 – Doris is coming home
Some of you may have noticed on our social media that, thanks to Transglobal Express, we can confirm that Doris will be coming home with us to the UK! A huge thanks to Izzy and our sponsors who have all been working hard to see if anyone could help us to get her home. After having an unexpected detour to Santa Barbara in the first month and our expedition now nearly 9 months rather than the planned 6, our contingency budget has been exhausted. Combined with having lost our shipping sponsor prior to leaving and having that unexpected spend, we unfortunately knew that we lacked the funds to get her home and if it wasn’t for Transglobal Express, we would have had to leave her in Australia for sale. Thankfully, Anton Bowring of the Transglobe Expedition Trust (one of our top supporters – see Izzy’s blog from Leg 1), put Izzy in touch with Lawson Archer of Transglobal Express and it was from here that they kindly offered to fully fund the shipment. Transglobal Express offer freight services, parcel delivery and international couriers, so basically can send anything anywhere in the world, including a 29ft, 1 tonne, pink ocean rowing boat! We are so happy and grateful to have them on board, supporting our challenge and bringing Doris home.
So many of you have asked what next with Doris? Certainly in the first couple of months after her arrival back to the UK, we would like to host a couple of events where you, and certain schools interested, can come to see Doris and have a guided tour. After this, with outstanding costs for the remainder of the expedition, we unfortunately will have to sell her and the remainder of funds will go to our charities. That is unless there are any sponsors out there that would love to see Doris homed in a museum such as the Maritime Museum in Falmouth, Cornwall, where she could potentially be housed in the ‘women at sea’ section? Maybe then her legacy can live on for years to come. Doris without a doubt has been our solid 7th member of the team, she’s stoic, resilient and persistent to battle through the waves and wind, totally in keeping with our team ‘spirit’ values. If anyone is interested in investing in Doris for future use, then costing and detail of full equipment listing etc. will be drawn up on completion of our row and once Doris has made it safely back to the UK. For any enquiries prior to this, please contact info@coxlesscrew.com.
Update:
At this precise moment, I’m feeling rather guilty. Nat and I are sitting inside our cozy cabin with Christmas lights flashing and tucking into our noodles and shepherds pie, whilst Meg and Ems are out on the oars weathering one of the most intense rain and thunder storms we’ve seen since the doldrums. I guess at least they’re getting a good wash! Although I’ve just looked out of the cabin to see the pair of them now rowing whilst wearing snorkel masks! Hilarious sight to see.
In our shift prior, Nat and I spotted something grey/brown in the water, slightly smaller than Fernando but possibly his son, so we’ve named our new sharky ‘Alonso’.
Otherwise, as you’ve no doubt seen, our progress once again has been slowed. I’m not going to lie, at this stage in the game we should be accustomed to it, but with Christmas around the corner any delays are becoming rather frustrating.
Leg 3, Day 34 – Feel the fear and do it anyway
Day 34 – Feel the fear and do it anyway
But what is fear? And how does it differentiate from being scared? It’s a subject that myself and Ems were discussing on the oars last night, and as with the majority of conversations on Doris without the use of Google, it remains an inconclusive discussion. Surely it’s subjective and the above words mean something different to everyone? Pre-row this is something that Keith, our sports psych asked me to consider, and in doing so, collate a list of my fears of rowing the Pacific. Along with this, I was also to work on a list of things I was scared of, and to prepare a plan known as a ‘what if’ plan. The idea of this is to basically have a plan in place, and ways to deal with any situation that may arise that I was already scared of. The result being that having talked about the given situations prior to them happening would enable our body to go into survival mode if the said ‘what if’ arises as opposed to freaking out.
So yesterday, I felt my fear and did it anyway. It was a fear that I knew that I would be likely to face, but due to the rougher sea state that we have been experiencing it was also likely that I might not get the opportunity to actually face it.
– Swimming in the Pacific Ocean –
To be honest, it is not specifically swimming in the Pacific which was on my ‘what if’ plan, and fears list, but instead the potential sighting and/or contact with a shark. If you’ve been with me when I’ve been water skiing for the majority of my life, whether it’s in Sandwich Bay in Kent, or the South of France, you would have seen the panic in my face at falling off of the water-skis and waiting in the deep water for our boat to come back around and throw me out the rope. The thoughts running through my mind of whether I’d rather the shark bite my rear end, or my feet with the ski’s on! Irrational as it may sound, we all have these fears that we can’t explain, and whether it’s watching Jaws as a child, or is a fear that has appeared completely out of the blue I have no idea.
Ems and I lay in the cabin yesterday after putting up our Christmas decorations when we heard Laura say ‘can I suggest that we swim in the next hour?’. My heart pounded, and I lay there, silently hoping the idea might pass and I wouldn’t have to say the obvious ‘yes, absolutely, yes’. But it didn’t, and of course, an opportunity of a lifetime arose, and myself and Laura got ready for a dip. So, Snorkels on, Laura armed with her dads Volvo ice scraper ready for some overdue barnacle scraping, a quick pre-swim underwater shark check with a face plant into the warm Pacific; all clear, so in we plopped. Entering the water, it felt so amazing. Space! Space to stretch. Space to kick. Space to move our muscles in a different way to the last 33 days! But then the fear. Almost feeling my heart pop out of my mouth, I clung like my life depended on it to Doris, trusting that she would hide me from any roaming sharks! But then building up the courage to look around under water, and wow!
There’s not even words to describe the expanse of the unknown, the unknown that we are actually rowing on top of. Without stating the obvious, and of course not that I was expecting to touch the bottom of the Pacific Ocean at a minimum of 3km deep, but it just goes down and down and down into an abyss of electric blue, now tainted with flying barnacles falling deeper and deeper into the below having been released from under Doris with Laura and her power scraping. Still clinging to Doris, I checked the surrounding area for any shark sightings, as brave Laura’s very poor wingman in the operation. And then, I couldn’t do it anymore, my body was shaking, and it was time to jump out. Looking up at Doris and being athletically challenged at the best of times, I was extremely happy that we had decided to put out the safety ladder, despite the girls saying it was easy to jump out without it!
Landing onto the boat, and realising that actually we had the whole other side of Doris to clean, Ems took the baton and jumped in with Laura as I shark watched from out of the water. I sat there overlooking the biggest ocean in the world and became a little bit emotionally overwhelmed that I had just swam (if you can call it that) in her. Despite not seeing a shark, placing myself in a situation where my fear of sharks actually became rational, as opposed to skiing in Kent where the most you see is a seagull that wants to know if you have any food or not felt great!
What’s your biggest fear?
Update: It’s been a busy 24 hours! Last night at sunset, we heard Laura on the oars shout that she could hear a blow hole, so we all jumped out of the cabin, and coming towards us was a huge whale. Not sure what it was as we saw it really quickly and then it disappeared into the deep, But wow! Then, last night after Nat saying that we hadn’t seen an aeroplane pass us, me and Ems saw one fly across the whole sky. Perhaps the big octopus will be next after all! We also came within 6 miles of another passenger ship and could see it on the horizon due to the bright lights coming off of it. Finally, finally we can see Vanuatu in the distance – its a straight line to Cairns from here!
Day 3, Leg 33 – Events and observations
By Each leg of our odyssey is a separate entity. We have had a different personality and team dynamic to get used to as we have had Izzy, then Lizanne and now Meg join us on our journey, different wildlife, changing sea state, areas of the ocean and weather conditions. The variety that this has created for me, LP and Ems is invaluable and none more so than this last part of the expedition. The only other human interaction we have had that is not with each other (apart from with families) is with the passing boats and these have been very few and far between.
I’ve just finished a rotation with Megs and it’s been an interesting ride. We’ve laughed hysterically and had deep, moving and thought provoking chat. We’ve shared perspectives on the row and on life, on religion, death, routine, gender, travel…and this can easily all happen in just one 2 hour row shift!!
Our last sunset shift was a great one. We had some chill-out music playing on the radio and were winding down for our first sleep shift. It was very overcast but this seemed to make the water look even clearer than normal although it was dull. Suddenly, out of the blue I heard a thud and then a flapping and knew that a large sized fish had landed on Doris. I jumped up and moved further forward to get out of the way of the unlucky fish. It was writhing around in a blind panic. My first thought was to call LP (our night in shining armour), as she was the large fish picker upper. I shouted for her to come as quick as possible and turned back to the fish. Meg had made her way forward from the back rowing position and having read my other blog from leg 2, was attempting the same ‘use the sheepskin to cover fish and pick it up before it dies and release back into the ocean’ approach. She was successful and the fish swam off. It was about 2ft long, quite round and flat, silver and with a big eye. It looked similar to a Butterfish. Looks like we now have two fish rescuers aboard!
We sat back down to row again and allowed the excitement to settle, when about 5 minutes later we were surrounded by Mahi Mahi. They glowed a luminescent blue and were playing around us like dolphins and living up to their nickname of dolphin fish. We have never seen such large Mahi Mahi (they are giants), never seen such an incredible show of belly flopping jumps that went on around us and also never seen such high clearance in the jumps.
In the dead of a pitch black night shift a huge sized flying fish (the biggest we’ve seen) smacked LP in the back. What’s with the super sized wildlife at the moment? Perhaps Giant Octopus or Blue Whale will be next!
Where are the aeroplanes?? We have not seen one plane since leaving Samoa. It’s all very strange.
We had our first sighting a passenger ship. It was very exciting. The Dawn Princess passed as close as 3 miles from us and provided an impressive light display in an otherwise starless, moonless night. 1st Officer Harry initially made contact with us as he saw us on the AIS and wanted to double check all was ok as we were travelling at such a slow speed! This is something we always have to explain. LP ended up having a long chat and found out that they are doing 2 week cruises of New Caledonia from Sydney. I think LP’s over active imagination combined with being at sea for 8 months meant she was rather taken with 1st Officer Harry. With a beautiful voice and an interest in our expedition, the conversation with Harry has definitely been one of LP’s highlights!
Christmas decorating has begun. We’re getting all festive on Doris.
It’s been strange being out here and having no signs of Xmas whatsoever. No concept of days of the week, months of the year or seasons. What time is it? What day is it? Where are we, who are we and what exactly are we doing? x
Leg 3, Day 32 – Emma’s ice cream parlour
So ‘The Coxless Crew ‘have told us about their sad losses, mugs, sporks, Tupperware dishes and the like well, Emma, as a child, was well known for her ice cream parlour that collects all the kitchen bits that seem to have no home. Let me explain, as a little girl our first port of call when anything went missing was to ask Emma. It was always when she was washing up as a child that things disappeared they were never to be seen again so the family joke was that they were in her ice cream parlour. So girls, all your sad losses just ask Ems about her parlour!
So what is Ems really like? Well, quiet (except when in dispute with her siblings!) strong, thoughtful and always up for a challenge. Her idea of a gap year was to do a Three month Jungle survival course which included living in the jungle for three days alone. Her idea of a marathon was to do this up Mont Blanc or one being a lonely number, a double marathon in Berlin or triple in Pembrokeshire; She rowed with Marlow Rowing club but strived to be an Olympian, sadly her family genes were vertically challenged , you may have noticed she is on the short side for a rower! So we are often asked ‘were we shocked when Ems told you that she was going to row an ocean, the answer is simply No!. What about the Pacific Ocean, well still No!, It sounded just the sort of thing Ems would think was a good thing to do. Having rowed for England and been in the Cambridge boat race team, in one of the few years that they won, rowing across the Pacific was no surprise at all.
So what has this journey been like for us…Well there is the obsessional need to follow the pink dots. First thing in the morning no matter how early we get up we look to see, ‘where is Doris?’. Has Ems sent an email yet? And what is the weather like on The Pacific? I go to the stables both morning and night before and after work. I guess I feel closest to Ems at this time as when I watch the sunrise or sunset, see the moon and stars or clouds I often wonder what can the crew see now? Does it look the same from where they are? The evening is spent waiting for the blog to come in! Do we feel anxious, well yes every day and all day but the bright moment comes with cartoons from ‘The freaky wave’ (check these out on twitter) The humour given to every situation shared from Doris through their blogs cannot fail to amuse and make you laugh out loud! Another part of life that gives me both comfort but also never ceases to astound me is how many people ask after Doris and her very special and inspirational crew. I thought it was just me and the other Mums who look forward to reading the blogs but it seems there are so many people out there and you all do the same. We all live in the small town of Marlow on Thames and so many people are following this epic journey. I would like to say thank you, for supporting me and my family, but more so for supporting the team and their charities. This is a team who are so amazingly close and tight that even I feel left out when we are all together. They have an astounding bond linked by the passion to support, inspire and raise money to help their two charities, Breast Cancer Care and Walking with the Wounded, specifically the support of female soldiers who have been injured in war. I don’t think the Coxless Crew realise how amazing and inspiring they are to so many people who are watching their journey.
So my final thoughts are to share the huge pride that I feel, I have always felt for Ems. But to end this little glimpse of Ems and her family, Gramps would like to quote a poem from John Masefield:-
“I must down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull’s way and the whale’s way where the wind’s like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow ro(w)ver,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trip’s over”
Dry socks and fluffy towels would certainly help too!!!
UPDATE: We are finally less than 100nm to go to Vanuatu. The
last two weeks has definitely been a case of stroke by stroke, mile by mile and shift by shift as we have made painfully slow progress. We are all getting excited though because tomorrow we will be decorating Doris for Christmas and breaking out the Christmas tunes for the first time.
Leg 3, Day 31 – Aft cabin evolution
Day 31 – Aft cabin evolution
Being a team of six but only having four of us together at one time is an interesting thing. However, the two girls who are not physically on board Doris with us at any one time, are still with us in spirit to such an extent that it seems strange to think that they are not really there and are just on the oars/ in the cabin/ in the forecabin when you are elsewhere. Izzy, Lizanne and Meg have all brought something unique and special to the row and each leg seems to have suited perfectly the fourth team member. With three such different people, each leg of our journey has felt like an entirely different experience. It seems crazy to think that Nat, Laura and I have been living on Doris for 212 days now sharing a cabin the size of a small two man tent with three other people. Although we are only rarely all in the cabin together we do all keep our personal belongings there plus communal stuff. We cook, eat, wash, change, blog, film, sleep, all in this tiny space so it is not surprising that there is a tendency for some mess to occur. The state of the aft cabin seems to have been an evolving process as we have progressed along our journey.
In leg one Izz was our glue. As she did in the journey to the start line, on board Doris she kept us all in line. She instilled our routines, nagged us to tidy our pockets and check the hatches and cleaned the footwell (her least favourite place on the boat) regularly. Often she’d even tidy up after us when she couldn’t handle the mess. Frequently since Izz left the boat in Hawaii we use the phrase ‘Izzy would be having kittens’ in relation to the state of the aft cabin. In Santa Barbara we installed some bungee behind the pockets in the aft cabin so that we could store a water bottle and our snack pack securely next to our individual pockets. In Izzy’s time this is what they held.
During leg two it was obvious that among the four of us Lizanne was the one most affected by the messy and cramped conditions in the aft cabin and the hair and other dirt that collects in the nooks and crannies on the deck. We drove her crazy by leaving the washing up sponge outside and not rinsing our tuna packets. She made a valiant effort to keep things under control, making us a bin and a pen holder which we still have. However without the experience Izz had of organising us in the months leading up to the row, Lizanne was ultimately outnumbered three against one and had to learn to embrace our slightly messy existence.
For leg three our fourth team member is the lovely Meg. I can’t decide whether Meg isn’t bothered by the mess or whether she just thinks that this is how life is on an ocean rowing boat but either way she seems happy with the state of our living quarters. Our autopilot shelf has never held quite so much stuff (Izzy really would be having kittens) and the gaps between our pockets have never been piled quite so high. This is slightly perilous during the rough conditions we’ve been having and we often find that the alarm clock is missing from the shelf when it goes off and we have to hunt for it among our sleeping sheets as it gets more and more angry.
UPDATE: Today I am a little bored of looking at the ocean. A little bored of the blue and grey colours, the regular soakings with salt water and our slow progress. I would like to see some trees, some fields and hills and go for a walk. Yesterday we had a sudden, exciting, increase in our speed and in 8 hours covered 12nm which is more than our daily progress recently. Sadly it didn’t last the night although we are hopeful that it is a hint of what is soon to come. Last night was black with no moon and a lot of clouds. The wind picked up again and we were subjected once again to regular salt water showers. However the huge bonus was that the flying fish don’t seem to like the rougher conditions and stayed away from Doris in the most part. Our beautiful mahi mahi nightly escort is back again and they surfed alongside us in the waves all night and regularly leaped out of the water with a big bellyflopping splash.
Leg 3, Day 30 – Gadget toes Mitchell
Day 30 – Gadget toes Mitchell
So as promised, following on from my last blog, each blog will now be a recount of each of the girls, their contribution and why they’ve made this journey so amazing.
As you’ve most probably learnt my now, this whole row has made me more in touch with my emotions than ever before, so you’ll understand when I say that writing about each of the girls makes me a little teary eyed, but none more than speaking of Emma and our journey together.
When I first met Emma (aka; Ems, Mitchell, gadget toes (they have a mind of their own!), sniffer (Ems can be found sniffing everything before use), the quiet one (self explanatory)) she was one of 18 who had come over to the Isle of Wight to meet us for the row. Emma stood out to me, amongst a group of raging extroverts as she was different, Emma sat back and let others take the lime light. When asked, it was evident that Emma had taken everything in but would only share her thoughts when prompted. It wasn’t until at lunchtime that she was sitting within a group that I saw the roles reversed, everyone transfixed and silent as Emma retold her story of having just returned from Belize where she learnt to survive in a jungle for 4 months and had returned to the UK with a machete in her luggage! This is the thing about Ems, she is honestly one of the most fascinating, interesting people I’ve met as you really have no idea when meeting her what experiences she’s had. If it was anyone of us, you’d know about it within the first hour for sure! Who would have thought, that a quiet, smiley, Cambridge Graduate has not only survived the jungle, but has roller bladed the Berlin marathon, run a marathon, run 3 marathons in 3 days, gone to circus school to learn the trapeze & rode the Black horse in the Lloyds TSB advert! To think she’s also got a Cambridge blue for rowing and winning the women’s race in 2006, oh and not to forget, she has a PhD in neuropharmacology. Seriously, she absolutely amazes me, but yet above all this she has no idea what she’s achieved and is so understated.
When Ems and I started to work together it wasn’t quite plain sailing. Take one strong minded extrovert and one quietly determined introvert, our communications were a tad opposite. I talk, think, talk, Ems thinks, talks, thinks. I will verbalise everything as it happens and as I’m thinking, Ems won’t say a word unless spoken to or asked. To say I got a little frustrated in the early days was an understatement, I had no idea what was going on behind those eyes, did she hate me, did she think I was stupid, how was she feeling? What were her thoughts? As a person who cares about what people think of her and shares everything, you can imagine where my thoughts ran away with me, but more importantly, did she have some great ideas about things but hadn’t shared them because I hadn’t asked? Ems is actually fairly simply stated, if asked how she is, the response you will get is nearly always ‘I’m fine’, of course from my perspective, I never thought this could be the case so would always pry for more and once introduced to our sport psych Keith, he too has driven Ems to delve into the depths of emotions and feelings. I will never forget the look on her face the first time she met Keith at Paddington station, rabbit in highlights comes to mind! Yet to think 2 years on and now you can’t stop Ems from dropping Keith an email or two & being best pals, love it.
Ems is one of the most thoughtful people I know. She may not express it verbally but will do it in her actions. On my 31st birthday, after being in the team for just 4months, Ems had made me the most beautiful present that was totally unexpected, a box full of little presents for the row; something sweet when I need a pick up (chocolate), something to do when we’re bored (a card game of questions), something for fun (a small paper kite), something for a laugh (face paints) etc. For this years birthday which was 3 days before we flew to San Fran, Ems had made me the most amazing birthday cake, topped with blue piped icing and an icing shape of us rowing Doris with mint choc matchsticks for oars, it was amazing.
Without a doubt, I can’t think of anyone else that I’d want as my wingman for an expedition like this. Emma is a ‘Tony Humphreys’ in the making! On the boat practically, Ems is the DIY queen, fixing anything and everything especially if it squeaks! She has organised the snack packs and the packing of Doris, supports with the navigation and worked with Tony on the logistics, not to mention being the strongest rower bringing with her 14years of experience. She is the most task focussed person I know and will give the team 150% to show we can get through some difficult conditions, only sometimes this has unfortunately been detriment to herself. Watching Ems lose her happy place in leg two was soul destroying, but one thing to highlight, is that it is testament to her strength and determination that she continued to power through. There are not many people that would be having internal struggles and yet still have got on the oars every shift, or have got back on the boat in Samoa. Emma faces things head on and I hope at the end of this, she realises what a true inspiration she has been and is to many. Ems certainly has been one of 5 that hve inspired me and motivated me to get on the oars every shift and stay focussed all the way to the finish line in Cairns! Thank you Emma for being you.
Music to remind me of Ems: Alphabet Aerobics rap (watch this space for our duet!)
Leg 3, Day 29 – Women in History
Day 29 – Women in History
Gender equality has always been a topic of conversation in all parts of my life. Coming from a family of lots of girls, turned independent women, and then going onto study English literature whereby I took particular interest in topics of gender and sexuality; it is a subject that I am hugely passionate about. I’m proud to call myself a feminist.
It was in the summer, when I received a letter from Melody Bottle, one of my grandparents’ friends, a woman in her 70’s with so much zest and passion for life and quite honestly one of the biggest babes of all babettes. In her letter, she said how lucky I was to be a part of the Coxless Crew, but she didn’t label the luck in the same way that others had. Instead she discussed it in the bigger scale of us as a team of six women, being fortunate enough to live in a society where it is socially acceptable to put our lives on hold and make history for women. She was a sailor herself in her youth, and said that she was always looking for an adventure, but instead, she conformed to society’s expectation of a woman, and in her twenties married and had children. She really is an absolute inspiration, and it’s people like Melody that come to my mind on days like today when the currents are holding us back.
Melody’s words had completely opened up another perspective for me, as I began to realise how true she was and how lucky we are to live in a society that is not patriarchal. To get the opportunity to partake in challenges such as this, without having ones role as a woman questioned is something that we shouldn’t take for granted. Nevertheless, I believe that we still have a long way to go, and looking at the media in the last year highlighting the difference in average pay between the sexes still questions just how equal we are. Personally however, I don’t feel that in my life that I have ever been directly subjected to inequality, nor have I ever not been given an opportunity because I am a woman. I discussed this with the girls, and they all had different views. Nats agreed with me, whereas Ems talked about Cambridge boat club and how the men’s team had funded kit and a nice boathouse in comparison to the girls shed, and kit that they had to pay for themselves. Laura also discussed how the world of sport and sports media is still male dominated, but with London 2012 highlighting the success of women in sport, this has certainly helped improve awareness. Next step equality of women in sport.
Before I left to fly to Samoa, I went and watched the film Suffragette, it was so insightful into exactly what these women went through in order to get us to where we are today. They fought and achieved the vote for women over the age of 30 in 1918 after years of hardship. In the film, the protagonist becomes a suffragette, and as a result, we see that her husband is embarrassed by her actions and beliefs and she is caste out of the family home. The support that we have had in undertaking this challenge has been incredible and I’m so proud to be a part of the Coxless Crew. For me, the thought that we might inspire other women to follow their dreams and fight for what they believe is what keeps me rowing. In 2015, Saudi Arabia gave women the right to vote. This fills me with hope that across the world there are women continuing to fight, proving that with a little bit of strength, perseverance, integrity, resilience, inspiration, and trust anything is possible.
Update: Today could possibly be the last day that I eat Maggi noodles. The girls appear to be quite good at stashing supplies for further in the journey, however I’ve been living in the noodle moment, and will have to suffer the consequences. On the plus side, the mighty Pacific offered us a belly flopping mahi mahi, and a sea turtle that we named Tim. Wow, this wildlife tour really is getting very exciting and I was quite overwhelmed by the whole experience. Who needs whales. As I’m sure you can see, the pink dot is currently moving slower than a snail, I think even the turtle overtook us quite rapidly. Here’s to less current soon.
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