Archive for March, 2014

This is why it’s called a Challenge!

Laura Penhaul By

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Currently being the 30th March, we technically should be packing our bags, spending time with our loving family and friends, stuffing our faces with endless amounts of food and drink in a last ditch attempt to pile on the kg’s in the final few weeks before departure. However, as many of you know, we have been on the hunt for a sponsor over the last few months and although we now have some amazing product sponsors, we unfortunately have yet to raise the funds that we need to get Doris shipped out to America. So our timeline dictated and our advisors kindly pointed us to the decision that we had to make, so we have postponed the row to 2015.

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We have a tight weather window between April-June, in order to leave America outside of the typhoon season and ensure we arrive into Australia before the weather again gets unpredictable in December. So not having the funds we need, moving it a month will have little affect, so we had to postpone it a year. As much as this was extremely difficult to come to terms with, especially after 2 years in the making so far and writing it in black and white isn’t easy, once the decision was actually made, everything became a lot clearer. We can get fully up to speed with becoming electricians/ mechanics/ DIY experts on our Doris over the next year, we can take Doris around the Isle of Wight, across the Channel and into the North Sea like we had planned for 2014. This will all test our sea skills and get to know Doris inside out and hopefully through some rough weather in order to give us an insight of things to come. It means we can work further on team dynamics, psychological preparations, fitness and doing things in our training that we enjoy!

The most important thing, is that extra time gives us more time to prepare and with this challenge we have no intention of ‘attempting’ to row the Pacific, but to successfully achieve rowing the Pacific & preparation is key to that success.

The commitment and dedication that this row takes is hard for anyone to take on, you have to make a number of sacrifices to your work, family and friends and your life can feel like it’s on ‘hold’ for that period of time. Having to push the row to 2015 is asking for everyone to commit a further 2 years of their life to it, so understandably this has been a decision that not everyone has been able to make. All the girls that have been involved in the row to date, have fully contributed and made the row what it is today. Although some people may no longer be involved within the rowing team, they will always be a valued member of the crew, and it is all their combined hard work and efforts that have made it happen, and that will never be forgotten.

Andrew Brown - Atlantic Solo winner 2012 Andrew Brown – Project Manager

Lucy Vaughan-Griffith - PR LeadLucy Vaughan-Griffith – PR Manager

With a year to go, we are going into 2014-2015 with an esteemed advisory board behind us, a Project Manager now in place with Andrew Brown who rowed the Atlantic in 2012 as a Solo and a PR Manager Lucy who has a wealth of knowledge and expertise. Doris our boat, is fully equipped and on the water for the next year of practice thanks to Rossiters and we have huge thanks to our ongoing support from our current sponsors; Raymarine, Victron, CrewSaver, Crew Clothing, Azo Print, Solbian, Lewmar, Marlow, McMurdo, Fusion electronics, Barden, International Paint, SOSrehydrate, iCom, IMP, Marine Bedding, Vivobarefoot, Drift & The Rowing Company. Not to mention the support that we’ve gained from those of you that are a part of our journey through Buying A Mile https://coxlesscrew.com/buy-a-mile/ and for Saucy Horse, Berry Asset Management, Will It Make the Boat Go Faster, William Towers and Salt-Away for being a part of our Company Raffle https://coxlesscrew.com/coxless-company-raffle/.

So the up and coming couple of months will see a more structured team recruitment process involving interviews and team testing which you will all get a chance to follow and be part of if you’re interested https://coxlesscrew.com/join-us/! Team training which will involve a couple of us taking part in the Ride 24 London to Cornwall 310 miles in 24 hours ride, outings in Doris and her first encounter with the Isle of Wight in June prior to the Round The Island Race and plenty more events that we look forward to sharing with you.

Thank you to everyone for your ongoing support, we’re looking forward to an exciting year ahead!

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