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San Francisco Day 3
By San Francisco Day 3
The morning began with a group skype session with Keith (our sports psych) and then the four of us split up to do slightly different tasks that needed to be done.
I have now taken on the responsibility of mindfulness and fun monitor for the team
Laura went to collect Tony (our shore support) from the airport and after a group lunch, she headed off to drop him at the hostel where he was due to stay. This seemed to be one of the worst parts of San Fran, filled with many homeless people, drug users and basically was the type of place you would want to drive through and keep your doors locked!! Clearly we couldn’t put our Tony there. We brought him back to stay with us for the night and will find him somewhere more suitable tomorrow!
Early evening we headed over the Golden Gate Bridge to Presidio Yacht Club where we will be launching from and where we had been asked to talk about our upcoming expedition to the club’s members. Their view out over the bay is priceless. Our warm welcome from Jason, Dutch, Rear Commodore Steve and his wife and Vice Commodore Jen was overwhelming! We gave our presentation, joined the 50 yacht club members for a gumbo dinner and then after hugs all round headed out for a drink in a recommended bar called the Tipsy Pig. This was obviously instigated by me, the fun monitor!! Vice Commodore Jen and couple of her friends James and Octavia offered to accompany us.
We headed back over the Golden Gate Bridge and into a new area of town we hadn’t been before. Everyone was in high spirits and we were looking forward to a couple of drinks (extra calories – so all good).
We were driving happily when blue lights flashed and we heard a loud speaker behind us saying ‘Pull over please’. Laura slowed and was about to do as instructed but then the loud speaker said, ‘No – not here. Head to the parking bay’. Ok….we did as instructed and were about to pull over when we were reprimanded again with a ‘Not to the left – over there on the right’.
Luckily after a light telling off for not coming to a complete standstill at a stop street, we were sent on our way.
We headed into the bar where everyone had to show ID (very American) and to my horror I realised that I didn’t have any!! I only had a copy of my passport (not accepted apparently) and so to the fun monitor’s dismay I stopped everyone entering. Luckily the security guy took pity on me and as well as offering to buy me a drink if I went home and got my ID (!?!), also very kindly directed us to a near by haunt that would allow me entry.
Fun resumed and we all had a drink, chatted to some random locals and then headed home just after midnight.
A great day for the team. A little bit of team psych, a little local PR for the expedition, being stopped by the Police and then a little social time… x
Day 2 in San Francisco
By Day 2 in San Francisco
Yesterday started with an hours yoga and core workout in the local park in the sunshine along with the dog walkers, dancers and other exercisers.
After some work back at the apartment we headed out to do the shopping for our snack packs with the amazing Anna from Svendsens Boat Yard. After experiencing the nightmare Friday afternoon traffic in San Fran we finally made it to the massive Costco and loaded up 3 large trolleys with dried fruit, nuts and chocolate. We made it to the checkout and were mortified when none of our UK cards were accepted by the Costco system (note to anyone shopping in the US!) To our embarrassment we had to accept Anna’s offer to use her card and then pay her back. Now we just have to pack them up into 220 individual day packs and then fit it all onto Doris.
We also heard from the customs brokers over here in San Francisco today and it seems like there’s going to be a little bit of a delay getting hold of Doris. Her container has been selected for inspection by customs but we hope to have her at Alameda Marina on Tuesday. We’ll keep you posted if this is likely to affect our departure day.
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!
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).
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!!
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.
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.
A week of training
The last week has been full of training for our team. On Monday Izzy and I caught up with Alex Wolf, head strength and conditioning coach at the English Institute of Sport who has been writing our training program to get us big and strong. It was good to know that significant progress has been made in both the big and strong departments!
Tuesday was time for a trip down to Southampton for a day of medical training with Medical Support Offshore who will provide our medical cover whilst we are out on the Pacific. We spent a full day brushing up on our first aid skills with a focus on situations which are more likely to occur on the boat and how and when to use the different medications which we have in our med kits. It was amazing to have such a bespoke training course which has increased all of our confidence with medical situations and how to keep things simple and not allow minor issues to develop into bigger problems. It is also great to know that the MSOS team will be on the end of the phone or email whenever we need them for advice or a second opinion.
We stayed down South on Tuesday night and even managed to have a pub dinner with a well-deserved glass of wine with almost no row chat.
Wednesday was a different type of training as we headed over to Raymarine to do some training with Alan on our E7 chart plotter and Evo autopilot. Although we have used this equipment during our training rows it was really useful to get some in depth knowledge about how it all works and how to set it up personally for each of us. The Raymarine kit will play an important part in our everyday rowing and it is fabulous to have the confidence in how to use it. We also managed to catch up with the rest of the Raymarine team who are hugely supportive of our project and it was great to see them all before we leave.
All in all a great week and we are feeling more prepared every day for our imminent departure. Exciting times!
Busy bees!
By As we head into the final couple of weeks before we leave the UK for San Francisco and the start of our row, it is full steam ahead on all fronts. Our friends and family witness us rushing around like headless chickens day in day out. But what is it that we are actually doing? Well, I thought I’d shed some light on it all by listing just a few of the things that we are getting on with every day.
- Media – we want to raise as much awareness for our charities as possible, so we are busy sending out press releases and arranging and attending radio and TV interviews. We were on BBC London the week before last. If you missed it, you can see it here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OzpmXB9pH1Y
- Presentations – we are speaking at conferences, schools and corporates to share the story behind our row and hopefully inspire others to follow our progress on the water, fundraise for us, or to take on their own challenges.
- Logistics and equipment – sourcing last minute bits of equipment, arranging for the boat to be wrapped with our sponsors’ logos, applying the graphics for our Buy A Mile inspiration wall in our cabin, arranging shipment of food out to Hawaii and Samoa….There is a lot going on!!
- Fundraising – we are working with our amazing charities, Breast Cancer Care and Walking With The Wounded to set everything up so that we can raise as much money as we can for them while we are out at sea.
- Accounting, legal and project management – a project of this scale needs to be run properly and the fantastic teams at Accord Accountants and Redd solicitors are very generously offering us invaluable accountancy and legal support. We have been working with Andrew Duncan from New Level Results to ensure that we are setting clear goals, running our project efficiently and making 2015 our Best Year Yet.
- Support team plan – the outstanding Tony Humphreys will be providing us with 24-7 shore support during our row. We are meeting with Tony in the run-up to launch to finalise our communications and operations plan. We are also working with our team of supporters in the UK to make sure that our website, Facebook and Twitter will be regularly updated with the messages that we send back from the Pacific so that people will be able to follow our progress.
- Psych preparation – we are continuing to work with the amazing performance psychologist Keith Goddard to make sure that individually and as a team we are in the best possible mental shape when we are on the start line in April.
- Training – over the course of this week and next week we are doing medical training with MSOS, training on our navigation equipment with the fantastic team at Raymarine and training on our ocean safety equipment with the amazing Crewsaver. We will also be running over our ‘what if’ scenarios one more time to make sure that we are prepared as we can be for the different scenarios that we might face while at sea.
- Physiological testing – we have just had health checks with Cardiac Risk in the Young and just before we depart will be returning to GSK Human Performance Lab, who are helping us to prepare as best we can for the physical challenges we will face.
- Physical training – we’re fitting in a heavy program of weights prescribed by Alex Wolf from the English Institute of Sport, pilates with support from Josie at Urban Cave and, of course, a little bit of time on the rowing machine.
- Eating – we’re likely to be calorie deficient when we are out on the water, so we are busy piling on the pounds!
- Sponsorship – we have some incredible sponsors supporting us and we need to keep them updated with how preparations are going. We are also still looking for additional corporate sponsorship, so we spend lots of time researching, emailing and meeting with potential sponsors. If you are interested in sponsoring our row, please get in touch.
- Farewell drinks – we’re making the arrangements for the drinks reception that we are hosting on Thursday 26th March at 7pm at London Rowing Club to say a big thank you and farewell to our friends, family, supporters and sponsors. We would love to see as many people there as possible! Email info@coxlesscrew.com if you want to join us.
A Mother’s strength…
By Patricia Elouahabi, a mother who found a profound inner strength to deal with an aggressive form of breast cancer during her pregnancy, died 6 months after her baby was born. Her husband Rashid, will never forget Patricia’s incredible resilience and spirit and baby Yasin’s who also fought for 3 months in intensive care. The Coxless Crew (aiming to be the first four’s boat to row across the Pacific), will be sharing this story, amongst others, by facing their own adversities and creating awareness for women like Patricia and their two charities they are rowing for, Breast Cancer Care and Walking With The Wounded!
“There will come a point when we will all be tested. Tricia faced her battle and so did Yasin. As long as we are willing to fight, we will always succeed.” Rashid Elouahabi
Mother’s day is a time to celebrate and reflect the courage, inspiration and wisdom that mothers seem to automatically have. The Coxless Crew (aiming to be the first fours boat to row across the Pacific Ocean) wanted to share one of their stories of a particular mother that has made a huge impact on their lives.
Patricia Elouahabi, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer when she fell pregnant with her first child in 2012. Having been informed that she would need radical surgery as well as strong treatment, that would affect her unborn baby, she fought through the symptoms of the cancer during her pregnancy and despite knowing that it was detrimental to her own health, wanted to ensure that her son would have the best chance and be the strongest that he could be. They were given a reprieve of a ‘2 week’ window which meant that their little baby boy Yasin could be delivered by C-section at 28 weeks old, weighing in at only 2 pounds!
Two days after the delivery, Patricia began the arduous journey of chemotherapy and radiotherapy followed by a major chest surgery. Even during the hardship of the therapies, Trish would take herself to the intensive care unit to spend the day with Yasin, wanting to feed, wash and change him, regardless of how weak she may have felt. She found an incredible inner strength and continued to be positive and smile for her son and husband. However after 3 months of treatment, battling against the odds, Patricia was diagnosed with secondaries in her spine. She was given 3 months to live that was cut even shorter.
Although this story does not have a fairytale ending, it shows the immense strength of human spirit and the resilience and strength shown by not only Patricia but also her husband Rashid.
It is this story, as well as others, that are the source of inspiration for the Coxless Crew taking on their huge challenge and they want to take this opportunity to share the wise words from Patricia and to celebrate the strength of all mothers everywhere.
‘Live and laugh every day, spend time with your family and love your family, live with nothing left un-said or undone, knowing that if today was your last there would be no regrets.’ Patricia Elouahabi
An introduction to Doris
Doris is our boat and arguably the most important member of our team. She is a beautiful, pink 4-person rowing boat made especially for the Coxless Crew by Rossiters in Christchurch.
How is she made?
Doris is made from fibreglass, carbon fibre and other composite materials. Ocean rowing boats are designed to withstand the worst weather that the ocean can throw at them and to keep their crew safe. Doris is designed to self-right if she capsizes. She has a watertight cabin at each end with the rowing deck in the middle.
How big is she?
Doris is 29ft long (8.84m) and 7ft (2.13m) wide. That’s about the length of a medium sized caravan. She’s really not very big. In fact, the current men’s world long jump record is 29ft 4 inches (8.95m), so Mike Powell could jump over her! Doris weighs approximately 800kg and once fully packed with our supplies she will weigh in at around 1 ton.
The deck
On deck there are two rowing positions. The set up is similar to that in a sculling boat, with each rower having two oars and a sliding seat. Under the deck there is storage space which is accessed through hatches on deck. We will store our food, ropes, tools, spare parts and other equipment in these hatches, along with fresh water ballast to keep Doris stable in the water and as a back up should our desalinator break.
The cabins
Two of the crew will be rowing at any one time while the other two will be in the cabins eating, sleeping, relaxing or carrying out navigation, communications or maintenance tasks.
The aft cabin is where we will spend most of our time. It is the bigger of the two cabins and contains our desalinator, navigation systems and communication systems. It is approximately the size of a small-to-medium two-man tent. The forward cabin is smaller and will mainly be used for storage, unless bad weather conditions require that we cease rowing, in which case two members of the crew will need to be in each cabin.
Our cabin walls will be decorated with the names of all the people who have bought a mile of our row (https://coxlesscrew.com/buy-a-mile/). When we are having a difficult day it will be great to be able to look at our inspiration walls to remind us of all the people that are supporting us.
Why the name Doris?
Doris (/ˈdɔərɨs/; Δωρίς), is a Greek name meaning ‘gift’ and in Greek mythology was an Oceanid, or a sea nymph, whose name represented the bounty of the sea. She was the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys and the wife of Nereus. She was also aunt to Atlas, the titan who was made to carry the sky upon his shoulders. We also just really liked the name.
Coxless Crew meets Kylie!!
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)
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
Shipping Doris!
Thursday was a big day for the Coxless Crew. I went down to Southampton docks to oversee putting Doris into a container to be shipped to San Francisco. She will travel across the Atlantic, through the Panama Canal and up the West Coast of America before we see her again!
The drive down from London was under blue skies and it looked like it would be a beautiful day to see Doris off on her journey. Sadly, by the time we arrived at Rossiters boat yard in Christchurch some good old English rain had set in and was to last for the rest of the day. I met with the Cris and the team at Rossiters to make a few last minute adjustments to Doris. Our final Solbian solar panel was installed and some adjustments made to our Lewmar hatches and to the area on deck where we will be stowing our Crewsaver life raft.
Tony Humphreys, who will be our on-shore support during our row, was on hand to oversea the final packing of the hatches and cabins and to tow Doris on the trailer through the New Forest across to Southampton docks.
On arrival in a very very wet Southampton we had a warm welcome from the team at J&A Marshall Ltd and from Brian from PSP Logistics. Then the real fun started. I must admit, I had no idea how to go about getting a 29ft ocean rowing boat weighing nearly a tonne off a trailer and into a 40ft container! But, as ever, Tony had all the answers.
Step no.1: lift Doris off trailer using huge yellow container handler and long slings
Step no.2: lower Doris down until she is resting at one end on a small set of wheels (a dolly trolly)
Step no.3: with the stern end supported on the dolly, support the bow end by suspending it from a forklift truck and then remove the support of the slings
Step no.4: keeping Doris level, drive the forklift forward to slide her on the dolly into the container
Step no. 5: lower Doris using the forklift until she is resting on a row of tyres along the bottom of the container and then and strap her in
And it was easy as that! Thank you to everyone who helped out yesterday and along the way to get Doris ready for her journey.
Saying goodbye to Doris has made our departure suddenly feel just around the corner. It is exciting, but also a reminder of how much there is still to do before we head off to San Francisco ourselves. The next few weeks will be filled with training, press events, sponsorship meetings, fundraising and much much more, so watch this space!
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