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Leg 2, Day 51 – Roly and Poly
By Day 51 – Roly and Poly
We spend a lot of time with Roly and Poly on board Doris. About 6 quality hours with each of them every single day to be precise. Roly and Poly are our two rowing seats, Roly at the front in the stern and Poly at the back in the bows. They are made of wood (the only wooden thing on the boat) and slide up and down the deck on 8 roller blade wheels. Four of these wheels are upright and roll along the top of the deck and four are sideways underneath the seat and roll along the sides of the deck to keep the seat moving in a straight line. These wheels were the bane of my life for the first leg requiring a lot of maintenance and DIY. Inside the wheels are bearings which let them roll smoothly and in the first leg the wheels kept coming loose and damaging the bearings making the seats not roll so I spent a lot of time removing wheels and replacing bearings – not the most easy thing to do on a moving ocean rowing boat and meaning that either Roly or Poly was taken out of action for a while. Thankfully after some modifications with the help of Tony and a brand new set of full ceramic bearings from our sponsors RM Bearings we seem to have solved the problem this leg ‘touch wood’.
Since we sit on Roly or Poly for 12 hours each day, comfort is very important. We velcro foam cushions covered in a green waterproof cover onto the wooden seats to provide cushioning (although after 51 days they are starting to loose their padding ability) and then place a sheepskin on top. We each have our own personal sheepskin as the lanolin in the wool is soothing to angry bums and they are all named to tell them apart. LP also uses a ‘booster seat’ giving her extra height to ease the pressure on her hip and making the rest of us look like we are rowing in go karts.
Roly and Poly bring with them different responsibilities. The rower sitting in Roly in the front is responsible for the steering and sits looking at the bulkhead of the aft cabin. This contains the deck repeater telling us what heading we are travelling at and what our course over ground is, the aft cabin hatch which depending on the time of day can provide entertainment by watching the rowers inside and the stickers we have been putting up to mark off the days which we have been at sea. The rower sitting in Poly has less responsibility but duties include shuffling sheepskins to and from the fore cabin, rummaging for snack packs and staying in time with the rower in front. The view from Poly is mainly of the back of the rower in front and you are mainly isolated from any conversations between Roly and the aft cabin due to the sound of the wind and waves. The positive of Poly is that you get complete privacy when frequenting the bucket (unless there is someone in the fore cabin) although it does come with an increased splashing potential in most conditions.
UPDATE: Two nights ago Nat and I were on the oars in the darkness when we spotted some strange lights on the horizon. With the two of us this happens more than you might think so we waited to see if they would rise and were therefore stars. They didn’t and it become obvious that there were two boats, one passing in front of us and one behind. Like buses, you don’t see a boat for 45 days and then two come along at once. They were large fishing boats on their way to a fishing ground. Unfortunately they didn’t respond to our calls on the VHF so we didn’t get to have a chat but it is nice to know that there are other people out there!
Today we also got to chat to Meg and Izzy on the phone who are doing a 24 hour ergathon to raise money for our charities. They were 12 hours in when we spoke to them and doing amazingly although despite our testing conditions and salt water showers today I would still rather be here than sat on an erg for 12 hours!
We are still edging painfully slowly but surely towards the equator and are looking forward to the rituals and celebrations when that finally happens.
Losing Sight of Shore – Sarah Moshman Blog
By Losing Sight of Shore – Sarah Moshman Blog
” You can never cross an ocean until you have the courage to lose sight of shore ” Christopher Columbus
Losing Sight of Shore will be a documentary created by Sarah Moshman about a Pacific odyssey in a 29ft rowing boat called Doris.
The amazing Sarah was introduced to us via Womanthology, an online magazine promoting and celebrating the achievements of women. After an initial Skype introduction between Sarah and ourselves we fell in love with her instantly. You cannot help but feel the pure passion that Sarah exudes and we could honestly not think of anyone we would rather have to tell our story to the world. She shares in our values completely and is one of the most inspirational women we know. She instantly become an integral part of the team and her smiling face at each stopover is almost as good as our first shower! Sarah is honest, compassionate, incredibly talented and we are happily leaving the sharing of this journey in her capable hands. Check out more information about Sarah below and the Losing Sight of Shore Facebook and Twitter pages to keep updated with the latest happenings of the documentary. Check out the trailer below!
Sarah Moshman is an Emmy® Award Winning documentary filmmaker and TV Producer, but most importantly she loves to empower women! Growing up in Chicago, IL Sarah found her passion for filmmaking at an early age once she realized how the camera truly gave her a voice. She attended the University of Miami where she studied Video-Film and then moved out to Los Angeles, CA to pursue her dream of working in TV & film. Sarah worked in reality television as a field producer for networks like ABC, NBC, MTV, Lifetime and the Food Network. Documentary filmmaking has always been her passion, and it was in 2012 when she came up with the idea to create The Empowerment Project: Ordinary Women Doing Extraordinary Things as a way to change the way women are portrayed in the media by traveling around the US and interviewing inspirational women from all walks of life. Sarah’s career has taken an exciting turn as she and her producing partner Dana Michelle Cook now have the privilege of screening the film and speaking in schools across the country about following a dream and not being afraid to fail. The Empowerment Project has won several film festival awards, two Gracies awards including Outstanding Directing and has screened over 100 times around the US and Canada. Sarah is thrilled to be directing her second feature documentary Losing Sight of Shore with the Coxless Crew who have set out to row the Pacific Ocean.
Leg 2, Day 49: Pink Pacific Parlour
By Day 49: Pink Pacific Parlour
At night Doris becomes ‘Chez Doris’, by day, Doris is known to be host to the ‘Pink Pacific Parlour’. The floating beauty parlour travelling across the Pacific Ocean. Doris really does have an eclectic array of skills, so I thought I’d introduce you to the wide range of beauty treatments and grooming facilities we have available on board. If you are to ever frequent the beauty parlour aboard Doris, note that the experience is for long stay only of approximate 6 months duration, minimum stay 2 months, with pick up or drop offs in San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Hawaii, Samoa and Cairns. The spa facilities are certainly world class, including salt water bathing, fresh tropical rain showers, cabin sauna and possible natural jacuzzi depending on the storm conditions or what your team mates have recently eaten. Please note, you will need to bring your own clothing and dry towel, plus be prepared to be coated in a thick layer of UVA protecting moisturiser, for the duration of your stay.
Here is the list of available treatments…..
Grooming
Self waxing: Doris is a proud distributor of Veet waxing strips also available for sensitive skin. There are a plethora of sizes to account for all body areas where required.
Express hair removal:An alternative option to waxing is that of a razor.
Eyebrow shape: tweezers and a small handheld mirror make this possible and keep any slugs at bay.
Whilst it is deemed sexy and manly for a man to grow a beard on his ocean crossing, for a female to grow leg, underarm or bikini line, I can’t imagine we’d receive the same response. I had planned to wax my legs on reaching the equator hoping this would have been around 4weeks, now after 7 the furry animals would certainly challenge those legs of any male. So being rather repulsed by them, I figured they had to go, so I opted for a full leg wax with Veet self strips followed by a soothing aloe Vera balm.
Hair wash and air blow dry
There are 2 available options here for the process to which the hair is washed:
– salt water rinse: this involves leaning over the side of the boat and immersing the head in the sea to first wet the hair. Following this the shampoo can be applied and massaged into the scalp, before using the drinks bottle to rinse the soap suds away with clean water.
– fresh water immersion: with a half filled bucket of clean, fresh water, you can dunk your head into the bucket with a snug fit (advisable not to do in stormy sea states for risk of getting stuck). The shampoo process is then the same as above.
Once clean, the hair is brushed with a ‘tangle teaser’ (amazing brush!), then there is an opportunity to be taught how to French plait your own hair by the others onboard.
Skin treatments:
For the derrière, the following step by step process is advisable:
- A lavage with fresh, desalinated water
- Rest time to air dry
- application of a soothing Sudacrem balm
- sitting on a lanolin, filled fresh sheep skin for 2hrs
- application of a wet wipe
- a dusting with Johnsons talcum powder infused with Aloe Vera and vitamin E.
Salt water exfoliation
Once doused in a salt water splash, it’s left to dry in the residual sun which will then leave the salt deposits for skin exfoliation.
Tanning options
For the look equivalent to that of Ross from ‘Friends’ when he accidentally has x4 strength 8 spray tans on his front only, then simply rowing for the x4 day shifts should suffice. For tanning of the back of the legs and derrière, unfortunately options are limited to land based only.
Manicure/ Pedicure:
We specialise in the ‘102 year old’ hand look. The way this is developed is through:
– rowing for 2hrs in torrential rain and salt water dumps
– washing clothes in the bucket and then wringing them out to exfoliate the calluses To treat, pat dry the hands and feet, then apply copious amounts of talc powder.
Fish pedicure: Sitting on the side of the boat, allow the feet to rest in the water while the small fish of the sea rise up and nibble away at the dead skin. NB. Small risk is that something larger rises from the sea and you lose more than just deadskin on the sole.
A birthday parlour hamper:
This includes a casing of a zip lock bag within which are the following essentials:
- flannel
- handheld mirror
- tweezers
- nail clippers
- sudocreme
- talcum powder
- toothbrush
- toothpaste
- tangle teaser hair brush
- Elizabeth Arden 8hr cream
For those interested in a spa experience aboard the Pink Pacific Parlour, please contact doris@coxlesscrew.com to share your interest.
Update:
Same old same old aboard Doris today. The wind is ESE approximately 12knots and the current is westerly approximately 1.0knot, we are able to hold a 240degree course at an average of 1.5knots, so slowly but surely the mileage towards the equator is ticking away.
Keep your eyes out for the launch of our documentary film trailer ‘Loosing Sight of Shore’ by the amazing Director Sarah Moshman. We have yet to see this new trailer, so we will wait to hear from you what it’s like.
Leg 2, Day 48 – Breaking Routines
By Day 48 – Breaking Routines
I am always amazed at how the human body adapts to the different variables it gets exposed to and how there is always something left in your body to give even though you think you’ve given it all. It’s a topic I can ramble on about for hours.
We have now had almost 7 weeks of 2 hour stints; rowing, resting, rowing, sleeping, and so on. Due to the recent unfavourable conditions we had to break this routine for about 14 hours. After we deployed the para-anchor and had a team Greys Anatomy watching session a few days ago, I found that suddenly for a brief moment we were at a slight loss of what to do…!! We have been so set in our 2 hour lifestyle that breaking it felt like finishing a school term and not really knowing what to do with all that free time. We have one goal and that’s to move closer to our destination every day, so life on the boat with no rowing?? Absurd.
LP and I quickly snapped out of it and started the ‘The Ultimate Oreo Challenge’. It’s unfortunately not a “how many can you eat?” challenge, because at this point in time Oreos are too precious. Due to our delay in getting to Samoa we are going to run out of snack packs, and hence I need to imagine a life aboard Doris with no Oreos! (Don’t fret, we still have plenty of food, just not our snacks and sweets)
So the challenge is; getting an Oreo from your forehead, to your mouth, no hands, then getting it between your teeth and separating it in half, eating the one side that doesn’t have icing on, licking the icing off the other side, and then eating the other half of the Oreo….. Doing all of that with no hands, and no dropping it. LP does the latter part of this challenge while on the oars! It’s pretty impressive.
Laura and Lizanne doing the Oreo challenge
The four of us had a great time playing games and chatting before retiring to our humble abodes. Like Nat said, she went with Ems into the Fore cabin for the night while LP and I the Aft Cabin (slightly bigger). Worst night sleep of my life. After about 3 hours my body started to ache like I’d just run a marathon with a fridge on my back. I strangely welcomed the 2 hour alarm beckoning us to monitor our track and fill in the logbook. I am amazed, I longed for routine and so did my body.. It had gone into a complete inflammatory state with muscle spasm! It eased quickly with stretches and movement, but we all emerged from the cabins that morning groaning and moving like we were 101 yrs old.
It struck me then that the 8 hours sleep that was normal to us in our lives back on land, was suddenly too much for our bodies to handle. We got used to the 2 hour rhythm, and any more time gave leeway for inflammation to enter our repetitively strained joints and muscles. I started looking closely at our bodies to see exactly how they had changed since we started the row. More to come on this in detail.
Since I got on the boat I have wondered in astonishment how our bodies have coped so well with such little aches or pains. With Laura being a Physiotherapist and myself an Osteopath we do focus on preventative measures, but I’m still astonished. I guess it’s just another case of ‘sink or swim’, as rowing is the only way for us to get to our destination, and so our bodies instinctively adapt.
No doubt we will settle back into a monophonic sleeping pattern when we get home, but before then I hope it is smooth rowing all the way to Samoa so that we can avoid having to “rest” for a few hours again. Sounds ridiculous to say it, right??
UPDATE: thanks so much to everyone who helped with the fishing advice, I’m on it. We’ve unfortunately not had one single flying fish land on the boat for weeks, hence why I’ve not used them.
Last night however LP and I had just finished our sunset rowing shift and on my way into the cabin I asked Nats and Ems to keep any flying fish for me if by chance they see any jump on board so I can use it for bait. I went inside and was talking to LP when 2 minutes later I heard a ‘plop’ next to me and we looked at Nat (facing into the cabin from the oars) thinking she threw something, she hadn’t. When Laura asked what that was I joked and said “a fish”. Funniest moment so far…. It was in fact a fish! In the footwell! A tiny flying fish. We all burst out laughing as I took my fish with the bbq tongs and kept it safely to use for bait the next morning.
Since my bait had literally landed into my lap, I was sure i’d catch something today. Sad to say I didn’t. Better luck tomorrow
Love Lizanne x
Leg 2, Day 47 – BAM wall & Fore cabin Hell
By Day 47 – BAM wall & Fore cabin Hell
The heat increases and the sweat begins to glisten on our skin. The space is minimal. Grey pockets line the walls bursting with various things from medical kit to hygiene items and random stuff for the boat. The very tip of the cabin has a huge bag of spare sheepskin rammed into it and surrounding that we have carefully jammed our wet weather gear, sleeping bags and spare lifejacket. Up by the hatch entrance is our laptop (for downloading footage) and chargers and all of our personal items are up near where our heads are positioned. We are completely wedged into this tiny space next to each other and lying shoulder to shoulder gives extra unwanted body heat. The space is so limited, to the extent where you cannot sit up straight or even stretch out and fully straighten your legs without touching the stowed stuff.
We’re in the fore cabin.
As Ems mentioned yesterday, the wind picked up and when rowing we were travelling in an unfavourable North-Westly direction at a fast speed. To stop us moving backwards we had to put out the para anchor for the night and head into the cabins. Ems and I went into the fore cabin and LP and LV into the aft cabin.
You would think that an opportunity to chill in a cabin, not have to row and to get a longer block of sleep would be a wonderful thing, wouldn’t you? You would be wrong!
This is how it goes…
Having fallen into a polyphasic sleep pattern over the last 46 days, we are now used to a short nap of about 75 minutes, so anything longer causes confusion. It’s a fitful sleep during the 10 hours we remain in the cabin and the body doesn’t handle it very well. Apart from a wall fan circulating warm air, the atmosphere is stifling. Hot, sweaty, and uncomfortable. The body begins to stiffen. The hands ache, back seizes up, and the hamstrings cramp. When we want to change position then it works best to do so in tandem. Ems rolls onto her left side and so I do the same. We don’t really feel like we have slept at all and when we get up at 6.30am with the sunrise, in a pool of our own sweat, we feel as if we’ve been hit by a truck! A layer of film over my eyes makes everything blurry and I cannot move my body. Ems and I groan, look at each other and then laugh.
This is what we call ‘fore cabin hell’!
So…this morning we lay unmoving staring up at the roof of the cabin in a daze. Hundreds of names stared back at us. My eyes slowly cleared and when I looked at the names, some familiar, others not, I smiled. The saving grace of the fore cabin is without a doubt the BAM (Buy a Mile) wall. This wall of names is what keeps us going. It’s what makes us push through the hard times and reminds us why we are doing this journey.
These names give us strength, help us persevere, make us smile and encourage us to keep on rowing!
These names and the beautiful people that they connected to continue to inspire us and words can’t express how much we appreciate your company.
As Ems mentioned in her bucket list blog, not everyone will get a chance to row across the Pacific, but with your name on the BAM wall, you CAN.
This is the last opportunity for everyone to join our journey as the deadline for BAM names is fast approaching.
x ———-We would love you to travel every stroke of our journey with us———- x
Buy A Mile
Leg 2, Day 46 – A friend
Day 46 – A friend
Today we came within 5nm of another ocean rowing boat and enjoyed a chat about all things Pacific on our VHF radio. John Beeden is a solo rower who has previously rowed the Atlantic and is now taking on the Pacific, also rowing from San Francisco to Cairns. However, since it is only him on board his boat he can carry enough supplies for the full journey and therefore is not stopping along the way. John is also supported by Tony and we have both been being kept up to date with the others progress. Recently we have been getting closer and closer as we are both stuck in the awkward currents of the doldrums and yesterday Tony messaged us to say that we would pass within 12-15nm of each other in the next 24 hours. This morning John’s boat, Socks II appeared on our AIS and was only 5nm away so obviously we got on the radio to have a catch up. It was nice to know that we aren’t the only ones struggling with the conditions and frustrated with the slow progress. I have the utmost respect for John and for Sarah Outen, currently battling it out on the North Atlantic, for being able to do this on their own with only their own heads to get them out of any low moods or frustrations. We all have our moments on Doris but luckily we are never all having a rough time at the same time and so there is always someone to lift you up, make you laugh and jolly you along when it gets tough.
I was also happy that John agreed with me that this is not what we expected from the doldrums. I was expecting mainly flat calm seas with burning sun and high humidity, broken up with squalls of wind and torrential tropical rain. Now we have had some of this but we have also had a lot of pretty strong and always unfavourably directed winds. Last night we had about 12 hours of torrential rain with strong wind and waves breaking over the boat. This was paired with thick cloud and a new moon meaning that all around was an inky impenetrable blackness which hid the waves until they hit the boat knocking us off our seats and soaking us in salty spray. Fortunately we managed to make progress in a reasonable direction all night despite the conditions, at times reaching the dizzy heights of 2.5kts. For the first time this leg I actually got quite cold on the oars and was glad to escape to the warm cabin for a snooze, although after LP and I’s second night shift it was a tough call as to what was wetter, me or my towel!
However, shortly after speaking to John this morning the wind picked up further and despite our best efforts and hardest rowing we couldn’t do anything other than go north west. Sadly this is not the way to Samoa and so we had to deploy the para anchor to prevent us being blown North by the wind. You would think that by the law of averages or probability or something, we would have come across a southerly current or easterly wind somewhere along the way but no such luck. Sometimes it feels like we’ll be stuck in the doldrums forever and become the legend of the small pink boat going round in circles that sailors will talk of. As we know though every cloud has a silver lining and it gave us the chance to all gather in the aft cabin for some social time. Laughing til we cried over group selfies with the photo booth app and a bit of Greys Anatomy raised the mood in the Coxless Crew camp and then some games and dinner outside on deck watching the sunset finished off the day nicely after a frustrating couple of weeks. Now we are retiring to the cabins to wait for the wind to die down or change direction enough to allow us to make some progress again. now we are waiting it out until the wind dies down or changes direction enough to allow us to make some progress again.
Leg 2, Day 45 – Role Models
Day 45: Role Models
Since a child, my role models have evolved over the years but they have certainly been influential in my decision making and opportunities that I’ve ceased. At the ripe age of 3 (that’s as far back as I can remember!) my mum was without a doubt my idol. I wanted to become a nurse just like my mum as she was (and still is) the best nurse, so kind, caring and would go that extra mile for any patient to ensure they got the best care. So with my plastic medical kit and little nurses hat, I was set! Granted the nursing ambition morphed to being a Physio but mum has certainly taught me plenty of skills that help me today. I never knew or appreciated what it meant to be a working mum or the influence that would have on me, but seeing my mum raise us kids, keep a household, work full time plus study when we started school so she achieved her diploma in nursing and continue to never stop learning or developing, my mum without a doubt is my best role model. But yet how is it that in 2015 we’re still fighting for the recognition of females in sport, in business, in media, in life, to show children of today and generations to come, the widespread female role models that they can endeavour to become. Don’t get me wrong, there is certainly a vast improvement over the last decade, but it is far from where it could be. Also I don’t want to detract from the fact that there are many men that are huge role models and have certainly been inspirational to me in my life. I guess I’ve always been one to say ‘if they can do it then so can I’ and it never crossed my mind whether they were male or female. This also however, makes it exciting to be part of the era that is working to improve female awareness and hopefully with this row, as the first ever team to row the Pacific, we can make some small contribution towards it. ‘Inch by inch, play by play…. Life is a game of inches…. We fight for that inch’ (Any Given Sunday quote).
A perfect example to show that female equality is still far from where it can be, is the fight that Chrissie Wellington (4 times world IronWoman Champion) and fellow female professional cyclists had when campaigning for there to be a female Tour De France. Only last year in 2014 did the organisers finally allow a 1 day female race after many refusals and campaigning to get it launched. It seems archaic that in this day there would be resistance to it, but hopefully in years to come these ideas will be greeted with open arms. The likes of Television presenter Clare Balding is certainly making waves to break this cycle and her support within the media is commendable. In the last few years Sky have devoted a channel to women sport, BBC Five Live have ‘women’s hour’ and there are increasing award ceremonies for women in sport, all helping to provide exposure of some amazing female role models in sport.
‘Strong is beautiful’ is a coined phrase from the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) which is helping to break the stereotype of young girls seeing size 6 models and wishing to be them. Instead, thankfully with the help of London 2012 and the huge success of females winning Gold for GB, young females are getting exposure to the great role models such as Jessica Ennis-Hill. Not only does Jessica highlight how you can be a girl who trains in the gym and does weights, but she’s a perfect example of how competing in sport doesn’t mean losing your femininity. She shows you how you CAN have everything. There’s so many misconceptions that if you’re a girl that’s ambitious, interested in sport or adventure then you’re more likely to be a ‘Tom boy’ and not into fashion or beauty, nor into relationships or desires for having a family as of course you’re too independent and focussed to think of anything else. I think I can speak on behalf of the majority, that this is very far from the truth. Jessica as well as Jo Pavey at British Athletics or more recently Anna Watkins at GB Rowing are great models to show that you can have a family and come back to compete successfully. Jessica Ennis-Hill has just returned from having a child last year and won Gold in Heptathlon at the Athletics World Championships this month, Jo Pavey last year at Europeans won her first gold in middle distance running and she too has children and Anna Watkins has just announced she’s returning to compete for a place in a boat for Rio next year. Helena Morrissey again breaks the stereotype in business, that having children stops you achieving. Helena has 8 children with her husband and has gone on to be the CEO of Newton Investment Group and runs the 30%club in the UK for driving 30%of women to be on the FTSE 100. These are just a few examples of many women out there who are great role models to show that you can have a family and be successful or ambitious.
We are very fortunate to be working with Sarah Moshman, who is one of the few female film Directors out there, which Nat will be enlightening you soon about in a following blog. Sarah heard of our story via womanthology, an online website bringing female achievements to the global net. Sarah made a film called the ‘Empowerment Project’ (www.empowermentproject.com) an amazing documentary touring the U.S. to interview key inspirational women. All of the women were amazing, but 3 that stood out to me were:
Admiral Michelle J. Howard; the first four star female admiral in the US military. Like many of the women that we talk about with Walking With The Wounded, I have upmost respect for those women that have fought in a mans world to achieve equality.
Dr. Sandy Magnus; One of 57 women to become an astronaut and go into space. To work for NASA on this level you have to have an outstanding education in science and engineering, alongside the physical requirements needed in preparation for 6 months in space.
Mina Bissell; A Distinguished Scientist and Cancer Biologist having been involved in some breakthrough Cancer research. A name that you would never have heard of and without doubt there are many more that have also made commendable contributions, that would provide amazing role models in science.
All these women that I have mentioned in this blog, are just a small percentage of the empowering women that are out there but are un-sung heroes in my eyes. So if your little girl or boy asks about role models, then here’s just a few to start them off.
Update: Another day of battling the current and changeable squally winds that one minute try to drive us North and then West, so staying positive has been a challenge in itself. However, the mood yesterday was lifted by an exciting sat phone call with Sarah Moshman. Sarah had a surprise for us which will be announced to you all in the coming weeks, needless to say we were like excitable teenagers. Finally, in the vastness of the Pacific, the biggest Ocean in the world and us doing a ‘sport’ (if you can call it that?!) that at any one time there will be a maximum of 50 people in the world doing it, what are the chances that we come within 17 miles of a solo ocean rower. We couldn’t see him but Tony had alerted us to John Beeden’s position, I only wish we could stop by to share stories, maybe do a food swap and hitch a tow across the equator!
Leg 2, Day 44 – The waves are alive with the sound of music
Day 44 – The waves are alive with the sound of music
Like Nat tells me regularly; a picture speaks a thousand words. Music is almost like that to me, telling a story.
The gentle rhythmic sound of the oars pulling through the water, waves splashing against the cabin walls, the frequent rain sounding on the roof, usually starting gentle and building up to a loud crescendo, and the quiet or excited natter of the rowers; that sound will resound in our minds when we reminisce back one day about that time we lived on the Ocean.
Apart from these, the sound that will propel us back to sitting on the oars are the songs that we listen to either through the deck speakers, or earphones. Music is an incredibly powerful tool we use to occupy our minds, inspire us to dig that little bit deeper and push harder, and can take us into a world where our minds run away with us as we think about various random things on the oars.
Isn’t it amazing how music can be made by someone who can’t hear? It speaks volumes for the vibrations that eventually enters into our ears and is perceived as sound. It means music can be felt, if you listen hard enough…. Music changes moods. You can emphasise or calm down emotions of anger, sadness, loneliness, happiness, excitement and inspiration. Before getting on the boat Keith, our Sports Psychologist got us to write down our Hot Buttons; what are the three things that gets the best out of you, and what are the three things that gets the worst (it’s a good question, try and answer it!) anyway, I wrote ‘music’ as something that gets the best out of me. Psych me up with a good song and I’ll be happy.
I love all kinds of music (mostly) and I love exploring and hearing new music. All the different blends and flavours of songs and albums from the four of us has melted together beautifully. It’s been great to see that our music tastes on the boat are also very similar, and the range is huge. From Whitney Houston and RnB to Nat’s Spanish music, everything is covered. Each leg of this journey will sound different. Different conversations, different audiobooks, different voices, different music… So I’d like to give you a little idea of what our Pacific Life Leg 2 sounds like.
This is the go-to playlist I made and is played on the deck speakers usually during the Sunset Shift:
Are You With Me / Lost Frequencies (Radio Edit and Harold van Lennep Piano Edit)
Day Dreams / Midi Matilda
Goodbye (feat. Lyse) / Feder
Looking Too Closely / Fink
Headlights (feat. Ilsey) / Robin Schulz
Howling (Âme Remix) / Ry & Frank Wiedemann
Liberation (Radio Edit) / Harold van Lennep
Liberty City (Lost Frequencies Radio Edit) / Krono
Sweet Goodbye (feat. Cimo Frankel) / Krono
Outside (feat. Ellie Goulding) / Calvin Harris
Photograph / Ed Sheeran
Recover / Chvrches
Tether / Chvrches
Under The Tide / Chvrches
The Mother We Share / Chvrches
Reality (feat. Janieck Devy) / Lost Frequencies
Rêveries (feat. Marie Beekman) / Shaparder & LRX
Almost Home (Sebastien Remix) / Damien Jurado & Moby
Africa /Toto
Cut Your teeth (Kygo Remix) / Kyla La Grange & Kygo
Same My Name (Cyril Hahn Remix) / Destiny’s Child
Car Radio / Twenty One Pilots
Ain’t Nobody (Loves Me Better) (feat. Jasmine) / Felix Jaehn
Help Me Lose My Mind (feat. London Grammar) / Disclosure
Love Me Like You Do / Ellie Goulding
Anything Can Happen / Ellie Goulding
I Love You Always Forever / Donna Lewis
Lady Soul / DJ Jazzy D
Fast Car / Tracy Chapman
One Of Us / Joan Osborne What a Wonderful World / Louis Armstrong
Boys of Summer / Gram
Among other favourites are Nat’s Electro-Tango, Latin music, Buddha Bar, Cafe Delmar and other world music that she has collected on her vast travels. Top 40 Hits have firmly planted it’s way into the earphones of everyone when we need something a little more up beat to face the waves. For me a bit of Bethel music during my morning quiet time. Last but not least, you’ll never guess that what pulls us out of the depth of despair, as we fight yet another current are the cheerful teenagers who emerge from us as we belt out songs by The Backstreet Boys.
There’s an infinite amount of music out there, which excites me a lot! Each era of our lives sound different, and I love that you can revisit it, like going back and reading a diary. So I’m already looking forward to sitting on the beach in Cape Town, listening to my “diary” and reminiscing about shouting at the ocean as she made Doris impossible to steer.
UPDATE: I had my first sense of humor failure today as the steering once again became so difficult to control. The ocean was turning us into all directions apart from the direction we needed to go into. I had a moment. Then a brief laugh from all the girls on the change-over as Ems and Laura heard my shouting. It felt like an initiation…. So proud to say, NOW I’m an ocean rower.
Also, help needed. I’ve started fishing and haven’t caught anything. We didn’t bring any bait on board (as the girls did no fishing on leg 1) so my options are human food. We have a rope with a colourful squid-like thing at the bottom with the hook. I’ve tried dried apricots, dried mango and nuts as bait…. Would have been a miracle if I caught something I’m sure. So any fishermen advice for 4 girls on a pink boat? We have pouches of tuna….?
Leg 2, Day 43 – Lights, Camera, Action…
Lights, cameras, action…
Memory is a funny thing. Some people have amazing memories (like Izzy) and others have terrible ones (like me!) I can be half way through watching a film and then suddenly realise that I’ve actually see it before and I struggle to access the facts and information I used to brief my clients about every 2 weeks when I was a tour leader years ago, yet I repeated it over and over again back then flawlessly.
What really astounds me though, is the way an era of your life can end and within days or weeks it can seem like such a distant memory, apart from the subtle way it may have changed or shaped you. For me, the best way to help recall these experiences we have, the people we meet and the eras that pass us by, is through a lens.
I fell in love with photography when I was in Egypt in 2000 and bought my first SLR camera when I headed to Nepal a year later on a tour leading contract.
There is something magical about capturing a moment and then having it forever frozen in time.
Photographs, like music, have that incredible power to transport you instantly back to a point in time and to inspire a range of emotion. For me, photography is a great passion, a memory aid and a huge part of my life.
This being said, moving images or film goes that one step further, by allowing you to re-live a moment more fully and to experience the whole picture. The image, the sound, the surrounding atmosphere and, I suppose, the feelings of the people are more obvious. It is easier to envisage yourself in the places being portrayed and to empathise with the characters.
We do our best to paint the most honest and vivid picture we can about life out here on the almighty Pacific, through our words (blogs), but the plan is to allow you all to enter our world visually too by means of a documentary that we are having made about the journey.
‘Losing Sight of Shore’ will be created by the amazing Sarah Moshman, who is our wonderfully talented and inspirational documentary director/producer (there will be a blog to follow shortly all about her and her incredible work).
None of us is used to being in front of a camera and for me in particular I would always prefer to be behind one, so this is yet another example of all of us being outside our comfort zones.
Sarah is capturing all the footage on land and has therefore been with at the start in San Francisco, in Santa Barbara, Hawaii and will be at all subsequent stopovers, doing interviews, filming the first steps back on land and talking about the highs and the lows amongst other things.
It is the 4 of us on the boat, each leg, that are responsible for capturing all the footage of life on Doris and the journey and my job is to oversee that this is being done adequately and to collate and save it safely for Sarah. Every week I download all this footage to hard drives and these are what Sarah collects on land to sift through.
The equipment we have is:
-A Sony FDR-AX100 shooting in 4K -GoPro Hero Silver 4 shooting in 2.7K
-GoPro HERO HD Underwater Action Camera
We have a new GoPro selfie stick for this leg which is allowing us to get a birds eye view which I love, and I have put GoPro mounts in numerous positions on the boat in the hope of capturing different angles. We also have a head strap that we use occasionally.
We do a combination of video diary-ing, general footage of us rowing in varying sea states, inside the cabins, random events and filming of our surroundings eg sunsets, underwater activity and oars pulling through the water etc
Always yearning to freeze some of these moments, I still do take photographs and I know that these (as well as the documentary) will become my future memory jogging tool and allow me to be nostalgic and reminisce about a once in a lifetime adventure!
What would you find interesting to observe? What would make your experience of following our journey more complete? If there is anything in particular you think we should film, then we’d love to know about it. x
*photo attached to this blog is one of my favourites from this leg so far. Black and white shot of Lizanne in the mean and moody doldrums.
UPDATE:
The last 12 hours have been good ones. We’re managing to make good progress South again and only have about 200 nm to go until we hit the equator! Woooohhoooo! Exciting times. LV and I had Bernie the beautiful Blue-footed Booby join us for one of our night shifts and we were also visited again today by Marvin the Marlin.
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