Day 17 – music and our favourite things

Natalia Cohen By

Day 17 – Music and Our Favourite Things

Yaaaay…we have now officially broken our record for continuous time out at sea! We’re making good westward progress… albeit slowly. The days have begun to blur and I add an animal sticker to our aft bulk head every day so that we don’t lose track of the number of days we’ve been out here.

Chatting, story telling and listening to the sounds of the wind and the waves keep us all entertained but music has begun to play a significant part for all of us out here on the ocean waves.
During some shifts we decide to chat and in others we agree that we will be doing some personal music listening. Different shifts need certain types of music and I am beginning to work out what types of music will work best for me in certain situations and when I’m in certain moods.
Music is also one of the coping strategies that we have taught to use if and when certain situations arise.

As a luxury item on board Doris, we each have a personal iPod, and music is a great way to pass some of the 12 hours of rowing on the oars.
We all have quite varied music tastes in general but there is a good number of songs that we all happily sing a long to and really love. We do like a good sing a long!

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I’ve always had a love of music and it’s always been an important part of my life. I made a huge effort to travel the world and collect snippets of sound bites from all countries I’ve explored. The result is an amazingly varied collection and the memories that the songs bring flooding back always put a smile on my face.

So far, I’ve been slowly listening my way through the last 40 years of my life and re-living many of the eras, adventures and experiences with the girls by sharing the stories that they evoke.
It’s been amazing and humbling and I truly am blessed to have had such a full and colourful existence as well as a captive audience that have no choice but to sit there and listen!!

Sometimes the music just provides a subtle soundtrack for some reflective time staring out at the vast deep blue ocean and then other times that music serves purely as a distraction technique, or way to power up when your body or brain resists.

I’m partnered with Izz at the moment, who adores her music and is a wonderful singer…
Having re sung all the songs from the Sound of Music – we went on a mission to create a song of our own.
We leave you with this…

Our Favourite things

Oatcakes, dried mango and snack packs surprises
Warm sleeping bags and beautiful sunrises Dolphins and whales and easterly winds These are a few of our favourite things

When our bums hurt When the Velcro sticks When we’re feeling sad
We simply remember our favourite things And then we don’t feel so bad

Sunshine and starry nights and moonlight on the water
Laughter and story telling and 2 hour shifts that feel shorter
Albatrosses that soar by with long outstretched wings
These are a few of our favourite things

When the waves splash
When we’re cold and wet
When we’re feeling sad
We simply remember our favourite things And then we don’t feel so bad

Social time and passing ships and messages from home
Music and audiobooks and forecasts on the sat phone
Waiting to see what the next rowing shift brings
These are a few of our favourite things

When the muscles ache
When the hands claw
When we’re feeling sad
We simply remember our favourite things And then we don’t feel so bad

x

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6 Comments

  1. pat mitchell says:

    You are are doing great.

  2. Woohoo to good westerly progress and breaking through your previous time at sea record! Music is a must in life! Fun to be had in so many ways whether you can sing or not :) Absolutely love your version of ‘These are a few of our favourite things’…..genius! Keep singing ladies in your heart and soul (even if the voice wears out) and the mind and the arms will keep rowing! Xx

  3. ALC says:

    Perhaps there will be a Coxless Crew musical. You could all sing and dance and write your own music! Work on that and you’ll be in Hawaii before you know it. We love all of you. Special hugs and kisses for Natalia.

  4. Max Elstein says:

    We send our best wishes; keep singing your favourite songs. We very much admire your adventurous spirit and that of the Coxless Crew. Lots of Love. Cecile and Max

  5. Georgie says:

    Amazing lyrics!!! I reckon X factor when you all get back!!!! Xxxx sending love!!

  6. Suz Abayomi says:

    Love the ditty….keep up the amazing work girls! Ps. I can vouch for the fact that Iz has the voice of an angel xx

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