Day 60 – Introducing who’s behind Doris@coxlesscrew.com
Everyday we look forward to switching on our iridium go and receiving your emails that have been sent to doris@coxlesscrew.com, it’s honestly the highlight of our day. As we only have 1 email account on the boat and it takes some time to download text, we set up doris@ so that emails could be filtered from signatures, smiley faces, attachments etc. & then forwarded on to us. There is one amazing little fairy that does this for us, once again volunteering her precious time… Kirsten Samuel. I had mentioned Kirsten in a previous blog of Nat’s this week, when asked which friends or family I’d have in the boat, kirst is on my list. However I’d like to point out this is hypothetical as having previously asked Kirsten there was no hesitation in her response- No! After taking Kirst kayaking and seeing her go white as a sheet on millpond waters, I can see why, although I guess I can’t comment after being sea sick for 10days straight! The reason I would have K in the boat is because she is a glass half full type of girl. She is one of the most generous people I know and is always so thoughtful regardless how busy she is. When Kirst and I met she was a patient of mine at Pure Sports Medicine, we clicked almost immediately and I knew then that we’d become good friends. At the time Kirsten was one of the leading females working at HP(Hewlett Packard). When I started getting involved in the row, she took the bold step to retire from HP and set up her own business. In less than a year she had set up Kamwell (www.kamwell.com) and now just 2years on she has a thriving, successful business. I’m so proud of her, Kirsten is without a doubt one of the most dedicated, focused and caring people I know. Regardless of how busy she is, she always makes time for you and the fact that she fits in sorting our emails, whilst running her own business and not to mention preparing for her own wedding in less than 3months time, the girl is a machine and an inspiration.
If you’d like to send us or Kirsten an email, then we’d love to hear from you at doris@coxlesscrew.com.
Personal messages:
Hannah Head – thank you for your lovely email, can’t believe you were in California that wedding sounds epic! Also, 10km swim missus is monumental! Let me know if you’re doing it for charity and can you send me the date when it is? Loads of love to Henry and little Arlo plus Butler of course xx
Michelle – how did the sports day go? Did you win the mums race?? X
Heather – is Pip still chewing the house up and how’s Adams training, can you let me know the date of his cycle? X
It appears that our plan of a final week of gently surfing the waves into Hawaii, living the easy life, tapping Doris gently along and spotting wildlife on our way may have been a little optimistic….We are currently on the edge of Tropical Storm Ela.
Tony has been constantly updating us as things develop and we also received an email from the US Coastguard in Honolulu advising us of the situation. Tropical Storm Ela is located to our southeast and has a maximum sustained wind speed of 31kts. It is moving northwest, so we are passing just to the north of it. It caused our wind to build to 28kts overnight last night with some stronger gusts. The swell was very high and in those conditions we don’t make a great deal of difference by rowing, so the safest thing was to put a line out overnight to keep Doris steady and to stay in the cabins rather than risk rowing in the dark on such high seas.
Ems and I were in the fore cabin, the smaller of our two cabins. The cabin was extremely hot and sweaty and attempts to open the hatch to ventilate were few and far between as this risks letting in water and an open hatch compromises Doris’s ability to self right should she capsize. To give you a bit of a feel for it, imagine yourself in a sauna the size of a cosy one man tent and then discovering that there is another person in there with you! The fore cabin is not quite long enough for me to fully stretch out my legs and is not wide enough for two people to lie without touching each other. Ems and I lay in a pool of our combined sweat for more than 10 hours, each of us only able to move position when the other did as well. Needless to say, we were both ecstatic to get out of the cabin and onto deck this morning in the fresh air!
As Ela continues to overtake us, we will pass close to the centre where there’s much less wind, although the sea will remain bouncy. As the wind starts to build again it will fill from the south, gradually turning more south easterly. At the back of the storm the wind speed will be lower than it was last night, but the change in direction will likely mix up the swell making for a choppy sea.
We’re all very splashed and salty, but the conditions are no worse than we saw on the way out of San Francisco and we all remain happy and excited to be within a few days of Hawaii. As Tony said in his email, we should see Ela as just another character building experience. Also, if you’re going to have a Tropical Storm, it might as well have a good name. We love that this storm is called Ela as our amazing social media support back in the UK is also called Ella. We would have loved to have her join us on Doris. At least now she’s on the Pacific with us!
Less than 500 miles to go!! Woohoooo. We’ve now got strong wind and big seas again. We haven’t seen this type of sea state since we left San Fran! The swell is large and we climb slowly up the walls of water and dip or surf down them on the other side picking up speed. Occasionally we get waves washing over Doris’ deck giving us a soaking once again.
The moon is rising late these days so the night shifts are challenging as you cannot see the waves in the deep darkness. Note worthy events are:
1. LP got hit in the throat by a large flying fish!! Unfortunately her and her jacket stunk of fish but on a positive note the fish did rebound straight back into the water and therefore survived!
2. We rowed through a tropical downpour with heavy rain and wind hitting us hard. All we could do was look incredulously at one another, laugh and continue rowing!
3. I actually got catapulted out of my shoes and seat with a sudden boat lurch as my shoes have stretched out of shape and are now too large!
4. With the rain has come lots of rainbows! Who doesn’t love a good rainbow?
5. We have had large flocks of Shearwater birds visiting us daily (Manx and black-vented Shearwaters) and a couple of Magnificent Frigates . They busy themselves with a feeding frenzy then pop by to check all is good with us. *Not long to go, but still time for the mighty Pacific to throw some surprises our way… x
A huge thank you for the great response. We received some amazing questions and if we had the time (and limitless internet credit) we would have loved to have answered them all!
Please find the 10 chosen questions below:
1. Cheryl Tree:
Hi all, In admiration for what you are all doing. My question is :
Referring to you two worthy charities and the difficult life events they support people through. What small things do you think friends and society can do to further help and support people with Breast cancer or those living with life changing injuries? these charities help immensely but is there anything you’d like to encourage from others?
LP: lovely question Cheryl. I’m certainly no expert at this so this is just in my opinion and the limited experience I have had from a physio perspective, but I guess one thing is for people to remember that the person in question is still a person and for you to put yourself in their shoes. What I mean by that, is to see and treat them as you would do normally and how you would like to be treated, don’t just see them as a cancer victim or someone with a disability. Often it’s hard to think of things to say when you hear of the diagnosis, but If they’re your friend or family, then be supportive through continuing to do and talk about the things you always have done. Create distractions and other interests rather than focussing on the problem continually as they will have enough doctors and medical staff that will do that for them.
2. Steve in Marlow:
Hi inspirational women! My question is: which toe or finger hurts the most for each of you as you complete this section? Fair winds and smooth seas! Steve
Natalia – right hand middle finger and left hand ring finger
Izzy – middle finger on my right hand
Emma – right hand ring finger which is split at the bottom.
LP – right hand middle and ring finger, left hand middle and ring fingers.
3. dovegreyreader:
Before the episode of the Broken Kindle what were you reading, how on earth are you managing without it (I might cry if it was me!) and I am intrigued to know if any of the others are reading and if so, what are the best mid-Pacific ocean books?
Natalia – 100 Year Old Man that jumped out the window (audio book), The Secret garden (audiobook)
I will definitely stock up on audiobooks and podcasts in Hawaii as I would love to listen to more.
Izzy – I’m on book number 10 or 11! Laura is kindly lending me her kindle now mine has broken. Among others I’ve really enjoyed Unbroken, Wild and A man called Ove, and I was mid way through Shantaram on the broken kindle.
Emma – I read the Mockingjay and Divergent on Izzy’s kindle before it broke. Good easy to read entertainment. I’ve also listened to The Book Thief, 100 Year Old Man and Secret Garden audio books. I’m also a fan of the ‘no such thing as a fish’ and ‘the infinite monkey cage’ podcasts in an attempt to increase my general knowledge.
4. Sam/Mike S:
Sam : What is the dreamiest meal combo that you want awaiting you when you finish your epic row? Even when I do a ridiculously unepic 10k Run I will definitely spend a lot of time considering the foodie reward that will refuel me afterwards (perhaps that’s just me)….after your killer rowing exploits I can’t imagine what you’ll be hankering after!?!?
Natalia – Frozen yogurt (first things first) then as much fresh fruit and vegetables as I can have. The meal I am most looking forward to is a breakfast! Poached eggs, muffins, avocado, fresh tomato and salad, washed down with a chai latte.
Izzy: I’ve been craving a BBQ with sweetcorn and lots of yummy salads to accompany the meat. Frozen yoghurt for pudding. Yoghurt and fresh fruit for breakfast.
Emma: I’m looking forward to a big salad with some real meat followed up with some frozen yoghurt and lots of fresh fruit. Also some fresh bread will have to feature somewhere.
LP – I would love one of my aunty Marie’s Cornish pasties or my mums roast beef but as neither are possible until I get back home, then I’d certainly be content with a fillet steak medium rare, fresh grilled tomato, green beans and spinach, bearnaise sauce and chunky chips, with a large ice cold and fresh lemon coke and frozen yoghurt with fresh fruit for dessert- delish!
As you can see the one thing we all have in common is the frozen yoghurt. This is going to therefore be our first port of call. Yoghurt Land here we come on touch down in Hawaii!!
5. Linda and Peter Toy:
How will you celebrate when you get your first sighting of Hawaii?????? We can only imagine your excitement at the thought of nearing completion of leg 1 !!!!!
Natalia – The moment that we first sight land will no doubt be met with loud cries of joy. The real excitement and 100% relaxation will only be once our feet are on solid ground and we feel the water from that first shower hit our faces! However, we will be ensuring that we take an hour’s social time as a team to celebrate the sight of land and swig from the bottle of bubbly we have from Ems’ birthday! I for one will call it a glitter day and ensure that I cover the others in sparkles!!
Emma: As we come into sight of land we will likely be pretty busy monitoring our AIS for other boats and checking our course is safe around the coast. However we will also take the time for a celebration of our achievements as a team while it is still just the 4 of us before we reach the craziness of land and the real world!
LP- Peter I’m sure you will recall my exhilaration when I went on Oblivion with you at Alton Towers! Now triple that and that will most probably get close to my response when we see land. Although this will be nothing in comparison to when we see land in Australia!
6. Annette Ovens:
Having just had a weeks sailing, I was wondering what you use to protect your skin – and how many bottles!?
Natalia -Hey Annette. Rocky Mountain SPF 50 sun block for our face and body plus face sticks. We ordered 20 litres for the whole trip and reapply every daytime rowing shift (every 2 hours). We also cover up wherever possible when it’s not too hot.
7. Gayle:
What is the science behind the 2 hour shifts? It seems unbelievably hard to sleep less than 2 hours each changeover. I personally would prefer longer work effort and longer sleep but I presume there is a sound reason for two hours – is it a physical or psychological decision?
LP – hi gayle. It is a mixture of both physical and psychological for the 2hr shifts. During a normal 8hr sleep you go through a number of sleep cycles, polyphasic sleeping like we’re doing, means we aim to get just one sleep cycle in before we wake up, then repeat that on at least 4 off shifts so that in total we would accumulate a 4.5hr sleep per day. If you extend beyond a 1.5hr sleep, you fall into deeper sleep and it’s therefore harder to wake up from. Secondly as you mentioned physically, it’s manageable 2hrs on the oars but any longer than that and you start to get uncomfortable with the repetitive motion. Therefore 2hrs/2hrs off has become a steady practice, but some people do mix it up.
8. JG:
Lizanne will be joining you shortly. The members of the crew remaining after Isabel has departed will have had a long time to develop their social cohesion with each other. How do you plan to help Lizanne slip into the fourth slot and quickly become a balancing member of the team?
LP & Emma: Keith our Sport Psych back in the UK, has been working hard to prepare both Lizanne and ourselves for integration into the team. We have spoken to Lizanne via our sat phone whilst out at sea as well as regular contact on email. Secondly we have put together a full handover plan for her in Hawaii including a lot of work on our individual hot buttons (what gets the best and worst out of ourselves) roles and routines on the boat plus running through our individual NEO personality scores to see how we all react in certain situations. We’ll also run through our safety drills and what if scenarios on Doris before we depart. It is going to be important for the 3 of us to remember that Lizanne will be experiencing everything for the first time and things that we have become used to will be out of her comfort zone to start with.
9. Jeff J:
So at some point you will cross the international date line. When you do will you do two blogs with the same date or skip a day entirely??? Follow up question, when you cross a time zone does that screw up the two hour shifts?
Remember always laugh and enjoy life. You only get one!!!!
I expect we’ll work out what we’re doing about blogs when we get there – it seems a long way off! It will probably depend on how many other tasks we have to do in our off shifts at the time.
Crossing a time zone does not impact on our shift pattern. We simply continue 2 hours on 2 hours off all the way. We communicate with Tony regarding forecast etc on UTC time. We have also only just ceremoniously changed our personal watches from San Francisco time to Hawaii time!
10. Babs:
Everyone talks about ‘hitting the wall’ when they do a marathon ( not that I would know!) but in rowing terms, when was the worst time for each of you, and how did you overcome it?
You are now seeing what the last 4 years in the planning has done to help you achieve this epic row. We are all so proud of you, and can’t wait to see you complete the first leg, not long now girls, keep safe xx
Natalia – Apart from the obvious disappointment of having to return to land after leaving San Francisco, I think the hardest thing for me was about 4/5 days where the conditions had been cold and wet and hadn’t shown us any variety. The monotony of the 24 hour day began to get to me and frustration creeped in. I always try to bring myself back to the moment and for this period I really had to take it stroke by stroke.
Izzy – the final night rowing into Santa Barbara was a personal low. We had one very very cold, wet shift where we were making hardly any progress. It was more challenging than normal to stay positive knowing that we were going back to land.
Emma: The only time I have wished myself off the boat was after about 5 days of being constantly cold and wet to the point that I wasn’t warming up in my sleeping bag at night. At that point we were also making very slow progress. Taking it one shift at a time was the only way to get through it and it passed pretty quickly.
LP: After 2 weeks of sea sickness and then facing the fact that we had to turn back to land, this without a doubt made me question that it wasn’t going to happen. The positivity and strength of the team together meant that these thoughts lasted for less than 2hrs before we were getting excited about food and showers!
11. Derek M:
To keep your minds off of “rowing”, I’m keeping my questions very light-hearted and somewhat childish:
I know that you absolutely LOVE your crew mates and wouldn’t want to do this adventure with anyone else but them. BUT just for fun…
1.) If you had to toss your 3 crew mates overboard and select “3 Celebrities” to join you on this long adventure (assuming they could all row too) who would you choose & why?
2.) Same scenario but choose “3 Friends/Family members”
I can’t even imagine the mental challenges that you are facing through your amazing journey. I can only encourage you to press on because you continue to inspire women, men, children, cities, nations….the world!
Natalia:
1.A. The Dalai llama – to keep me mindful and at peace with myself, my team and Mother Nature! An enlightened being with humour and stories to learn from. B. The amazing Sir Ranulph Fiennes. Adventurer extraordinaire. So many incredible stories to share. He’s funny and awe inspiring and has been through it all! C. TBC…still thinking about a female partner in crime
2.This is easy. My brother, Jared. He’s funny, interesting, entertaining, super fit and strong, determined, an out of the box thinker and is a fab handyman. I couldn’t think of anyone better and would LOVE to row an ocean with him. Our dear friend Rik who is just an all round legend and never fails to make me laugh and then last but never ever least is my best friend in the whole wide world, Elisa. She is magical and knows me better than I know myself!
LP:
1. David Attenborough – for his amazing narration and endless knowledge of the sea creatures we always question. Heather Stanning (GB Gold rower & army officer) lovely personality, strength on the oars and great army mentality. Hugh Jackman – for obvious reasons!
2. My auntie Marie as I’m sure she’d figure out a way to make pasties on the boat. Michelle Robertson – 1 of my best friends who knows me inside out, she has an amazing attitude and is great fun to be around. Kirsten Samuel – great friend that is such a strength of character, full of positivity and kindness.
Izzy:
1. A. Katherine Grainger – GB Olympic rower. She’s a lovely person and a perfect example of why you should never give up. B. John Bishop – comedian. He’s funny, sporty, and I’ve been reading his autobiography on Laura’s kindle and he has a fascinating life story to tell. C. Ben Howard – singer songwriter. I’ve been listening to his music all the way across from San Francisco and would love a live version on the boat.
2. A. My little sister, Philippa, who is an excellent rower, has a fab sense of humour and brings light to every situation. B. My friend Katie Nixon, who I spend a lot of time in the mountains with. She is one of the most positive people I know and I can sing songs and talk rubbish to her all day long. C. My friend Caz Bullard, adventure racer supreme and all round sporting superstar. Super experienced and wonderful company.
Emma:
1. I would take Kelly Holmes as she is fit, sporty and pretty hardcore when out of her comfort zone as seen in her recent trip to the jungle. Secondly Ed Sheeran with his guitar to provide musical accompaniment. Thirdly Russell Howard for some laughs.
2. Out of my friends and family I would probably take the 3 other members of the speedy Marlow lightweight four we raced for a couple of years Joey, Tamsin and Dani. All good rowers, good under pressure and a team better than the sum of its members.
In the last couple of days there have been a couple of exciting occurrences on board Doris. Firstly, last night we passed the 500 miles to go to Hawaii mark according to our chart plotter (and our guesstimate of exactly where the Hawaii Yacht Club is). In celebration we had a ceremonial changing of our watches on to Hawaii time having left them in San Francisco time since our departure. The winds have picked up substantially and we are surfing some big waves at speed in the right direction with even stronger winds to come. Tony and Lizanne have booked their flights to come and meet us and so it looks like we might actually be nearly there!
The second exciting occurrence also happened last night. You may remember from one of my previous blogs 8 days ago that we spoke to a cargo ship called Mokihana who had come to look for us and say hello on their journey between Honolulu and Long Beach. Well last night they passed us on their return journey and this time came close for a proper greeting. They started chatting to Nat on the VHF and then after our changeover I took over on the radio. Very kindly they wanted to deliver us a care package of fresh fruit and vegetable and candy. However we had to explain that we can’t receive anything on board without losing our unsupported status so they settled for coming alongside us with all their lights on, signaling to us with a torch and giving us a blast on their horn. It totally made our night and we feel like we have made some new friends. The Mokihana will be passing us again on Sunday on their way back which is something to look forward to but even more excitingly Katie the second mate is being left behind in Hawaii and has promised to deliver our care package in person when we arrive at the Hawaii Yacht Club. It’s amazing that even out here in the middle of the ocean we can still find new supporters and we’re really grateful to them for taking the time to come over chat to us and follow our journey.
The final incident of interest happened 2 days ago when Izz and I were rowing in the late afternoon shift. We have seen a lot more birds in recent days and had been enjoying watching a frigate dive down to the water to fish and then chase a flying fish as it flew and catch it in its beak. Then I suddenly heard a cry of ‘to the right’ from Izz and turned to see what can only be described as a flock of at least a hundred large flying fish soaring through the air towards us. It was a pretty amazing sight all with their outstretched wings although there was only a second to appreciate it before we had to duck to avoid being hit round the head by them. Amazingly only one landed on the boat and I managed to save him quickly and get him back in the water. Although I’m glad we experienced the flock of fish moment I’ll be quite happy when we are out of flying fish territory as having them land on you at regular intervals throughout the night, having to clean the deck and the smell of fish in the morning is getting a bit old!
Spirits are high on Doris and we are all looking forward to reaching land in about 10 days time when we can have a shower and some real food. However we are also being careful not to wish away our final days as a crew before Lizanne replaces Izzy and to continue to enjoy and appreciate our time on the ocean. Here’s to a fun and fast final (hopefully only) 10 days!
Who would have thought that 3 out of the 4 of us (guess who?!) were little spring chickens, we went to Brownies (I’d like to add I was In the best group Sprites!) and it was the motto of being ‘best prepared’ that you lived by. 20 odd years on and this couldn’t be more relevant. The row, as you know, has been 3.5 years in the making and all that time has been spent ensuring we were the best prepared we could be. This therefore involved a number of different courses and working with as many experts in their fields to ensure that we left as little as possible to chance and learnt how to cope with most situations. So who better to head to for advice and support than those with army and military experience, who have years of training, discipline, drilling routines and procedures over and over again. They’re also well versed at coping outside of their comfort zone, how to stay calm in pressured situations and how to work well as a team, all elements that are essential for us on our 29ft Doris. So we sought the help of Fieri (www.fierifrontline.biz) who are a team ofex army that apply the skills they’ve learnt, to aid in teaching management and leadership skills. They took us through our leadership training and showed us the art of good communication and teamwork when they organised a weekend to see how we reacted under duress of sleep deprivation and a 66km slog in 24hrs across the breacons in Wales.
Our training with Fieri at the Brecon Beacons
We then worked with Survival Wisdom (www.survivalwisdom.com) who are ex Navy, and they helped us with our our sea survival training. I’d done the RYA course but didn’t find it very applicable learning skills in a pool when I knew we’d be out at sea if we had to employ those skills. So sea survival invited us to bring our Doris down to Plymouth to do a real, at sea drills and practice of man over board and evacuation to a life raft. They also ran us through our ‘what ifs’ scenarios and taught us the art of recognising when too many ‘lemons’ are building up (complacency that eventually leads to mishap). Finally, among other courses Medical Services off Shore (MSOS) gave us a great medical training day which included practice of suturing along with splinting and evacuating an unconscious rower.
So the reason for telling you all this, is that as much as courses are amazing, they are only useful if you repeat what you’ve learnt and continue to practice the drills. So this week we did exactly that. The plan is, that at least twice per leg, we practice our onboard safety drills, so that in the worst case scenario our actions are second nature in a stressful situation when decision making goes out the window. In our 1hr social time, we ran through the what if scenarios of an emergency evacuation due to collision with another boat and our man over board procedures. We then went on to practice how to maneuver an unconscious rower into the cabin whilst we’re bouncing around in the seas. Emma was the willing participant to play unconscious and then the 3 of us problem solved how to manoeuver Ems over the oars and into the cabin, but feet first so that the head could be easily accessible to the hatch. As ever, we worked together well as a team, we planned our steps to move her, we executed (with a lot of choice words and laughter) and we reviewed afterwards. Ems is the lightest out of all of us and must only weigh now about 58kg’s, but in our weakened state, bouncing seas and Bambi legs between us, it was an eye opener to see how difficult it was. Hopefully we will never have to employ these skills for real and if nothing else it gives us some variation on the boat and a source of banter for a few hours. Special thanks to Fieri, Surival Wisdom & MSOS for their expert advice and support.
We are extremely fortunate to have received support for our row from a number of sources: sponsors, experts, previous ocean rowers, family, friends, and even absolute strangers! While I was rowing this morning, I was thinking about one particular supporter that inspires me and that the team and I are immensely proud to have behind us: the Transglobe Expedition Trust (TET).
The Transglobe Expedition took place between 1979 and 1982 and was the first expedition to make a circumpolar navigation of the globe, traveling the world “vertically” traversing both of the poles using only surface transport. The TET is a charity which was established to perpetuate the memory of the Transglobe Expedition by supporting projects which follow in the expedition’s tradition of adventure and perseverance. We are hugely lucky to have the TET support our expedition, awarding us the largest grant that they have given to a single project to date. We can’t thank them enough for their trust in us and their support in getting us to the start line.
I remember reading in awe about the Transglobe Expedition growing up. Starting from Greenwich (UK) in 1979, adventurers including Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Charles R. Burton went south, arriving at the South Pole in December 1980. Over the next 14 months, they went north again, reaching the North Pole in April 1982. Travelling south once more, they arrived again in Greenwich in August 1982. The 100,000-mile route took the Transglobe Expedition team across deserts, through jungles, over huge unexplored parts of Antarctica, through the inhospitable North West Passage and across the Arctic Ocean. It was a great, British effort and a truly historic voyage, ranking among the great expeditions of all time.
I have always been struck by the scale and pioneering nature of the venture. What initially seemed like a crazy idea, ten years later had been nurtured, and through sheer hard work, made into a reality and successfully completed. The perseverance and will to succeed shown by the Transglobe Expedition team has always inspired me and we are honoured to have received their support for our row.
Although our journey pales in comparison to theirs, it appears that we share at least one similarity. As a crew, we agree that the most common reaction we receive when we tell people about the row is: “you’re mad!” It appears that the Transglobe team also received this response. Their expedition was described by its patron HRH the Prince of Wales as “mad, but marvellous”. We’re in good company then.
As we approach the final straight, it’s only natural that a little excitement is creeping into all of our minds ahead of our arrival into Hawaii and the completion of leg 1.
Our predictions of arrival dates that we all made on the 9th of June were as follows:
Izzy – 29 days – 8th of July
Laura – 36 days – 15th of July
Emma – 40 days – 19th of July
Natalia – 44 days – 23rd of July
So, given that anything can still happen, let’s see who is the closest.
The mind is a truly wonderful thing! I found myself uncharacteristically out of the moment today, and my thoughts began to wander. Before I knew it I had this overwhelming feeling and all I could hear screaming in my brain was,
“I don’t want to row anymore!!”
My runaway mind continued,
“I’ve had enough of this backward and forwards sliding motion. I’m over it! I would like variety. I just want to be able to move my body in a different way!! I don’t want to row anymore!”
Me being me, and always one to share my feelings, I felt the need to release my thoughts and thereby acknowledge them, but not give them any power and then let them go before returning back to the safest place to be…the moment.
As luck would have it, I was in the middle of a ‘Spanish speaking only’ rowing shift with Izz and so when I did my shout out to the skies above and surrounding sea, it was only her that understood me.
In hindsight this was definitely a good thing, as I have been told before by Keith that I need to be a little mindful with what I share with the team as it could possibly have an undesirable effect!
Obviously the moment passed (as they always do) and not rowing is never going to be an option. I however thought I would share my small outburst with you all none the less, as I challenge anyone who has rowed for 70 days (having never rowed before getting involved in this expedition), to not have a fleeting moment pass when that thought doesn’t cross their mind!
Today LP and I also jumped in the ocean to do some barnacle scraping and it gave me the opportunity to move my body in a different way. I swam and I even did some running in the sea! It felt AMAZING!
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Anyway now it’s all down to you guys. We’re giving you all the opportunity today to find out the answers to any questions you may have about our extraordinary journey or the team.
The lovely Ella will choose a selection of 10 of the best/most interesting questions posted on the blog and send them to us to answer.
We’re intrigued to see what you come up with and very much look forward to hearing from you all x
So, I’m Meg, houmous connoisseur and lover of all things sunshiny! I’ve never rowed, never been in the deep ocean, never had proper biceps, and am terrified of sharks – and here I am, beyond excited to get on the boat with the girls for the last leg of our 8446 mile journey from San Francisco to Cairns!
I’m on land, in a relationship with the gym, and in a love triangle with the leg press and the chest press somewhere under the arches of Bethnal Green station. Amongst a combination of grunting sounds and huge bulging muscles, as well as some interesting outfit choices that don’t leave much to the imagination is where you’ll find me – totally beginning to admire other peoples muscles, and the work that goes into creating these magical beauties. I’m currently in a conundrum of what to name my growing biceps, (suggestions welcomed) and the habit of asking anyone I meet if they wish to have a feel of my gluteus maximus has become a daily norm. Further to this, asking for seconds at a dinner party, with the only excuse of ‘my trainer told me too’ (that’s the fabulous Alex Wolf) who is helping us to look like Michelin wo(men), is a necessity in our pound gaining plans.
What I’d do without Lizanne, my weekly Skype partner! From rational to the irrational, we chat about anything that comes to mind – From the ‘what if a jellyfish lands on my head’, to the newest topic of hair management, and the potential embracing of dreadlocks (my dream)! Thanks to Keith for helping us in our mental preparation, we have laughed endlessly at each other whilst we munch on another cream cake.
Running things on land amongst a small team of us, and whilst the girls continue to row onwards, has really made me realise just how important teamwork is. I spent last weekend on The Isle of Wight with Raymarine who have provided us with our navigation equipment and met so many amazing people who were so supportive. On top of that, the inundated amount of emails/tweets/comments via all of our social media outlets is overwhelming, and we can’t thank you all enough. Every little mention gets us ever nearer to raising the 250k for these amazing charities! Please continue to share our story as we get further into our journey – we still have a long way to go in crossing the Pacific and reaching Cairns.
So anyway – here we are on land – Myself and Lizanne, (and our growing bellies and muscles) quite literally rolling with the waves that bring the girls – The Coxless Crew – onwards and closer to Hawaii as we wait for them, support them, and send them positive vibes as we prepare for our time on Doris.
We have mentioned our team values in many of our blogs as they are something that we work to on Doris on a daily basis. Strength, Perseverance, Integrity, Resilience, Inspiration and Trust make up our team SPIRIT. Before we left the UK we blogged about these values and what they meant to us, however I have been reflecting on exactly how we are living these values and what they actually look like on board a 29ft ocean rowing boat.
Strength – The strength of our team and supporting each other in those moments when we are feeling less strong is key to life on Doris. Physical strength is also obviously important when rowing for 12 hours a day and committing to this rowing in a positive way when we are feeling tired and achy is another type of strength. Physical strength has extended recently now that we have started to develop bums,session claw hand and loose our grip strength. It is getting harder to open and close the hatch handles, Nat can no longer get the SD cards out of the cameras or open the charging port on the iPad and my responsibilities on board have extended to the important job of opener of Laura’s chocolate pudding.
Perseverance – We have had to channel a lot of perseverance since we left San Francisco with unexpected stopovers, adverse winds and currents and over 30 days of rowing at less than 1knot. We are all pretty good at never giving up and searching for a solution to the problems we encounter. Perseverance also rears its head in other day to day activities such as the daily snack pack rummage. Nat is the queen of the rummage pulling out more and more packs from the hatch in the belief that somewhere in there is the snack pack of her dreams. We are also persevering on a nightly basis in our mission to save as many flying fish as possible. During the night we end up with literally up to a hundred small blue dragon like fish landing on our boat. Sometimes you hear them flapping around and you rush to try to pick them up and drop them overboard in time. The other day in one two hour shift 4 fish landed in my lap, one hit me in the head and another on the shoulder. I think I managed to save 3 of them. After the distress of the first morning seeing Doris look like a flying fish graveyard we are all working hard on our fish saving skills. Alan our autopilot also deserves a mention here as he is currently persevering at trying to hold us on a bearing now that we have slowed to a painfully slow pace again stuck in a northerly current.
Integrity – Out in the Pacific when sharing a 29ft space with three other people there is no room, for being anything other than your real self. It is refreshing to be completely open and vulnerable with the rest of the team and see how this contributes to our effectiveness as a team. Likewise there is no room in our cosy home for any unsaid pebbles in shoes or hiding your feelings about things. The work we did with Keith before leaving the UK got us used to giving feedback to each other and receiving this feedback in an open manner. In our occasional moments of annoyance things are aired in the open and then we move on straight away with no hard feelings or grudges, trusting that our team is still strong. It makes life so much simpler and is definitely something I will try to carry over into the real world. On a weekly basis we complete a situation report to send to Keith where we rate things like physical, mental, health and sleepiness as well as reflecting on anything that is keeping us up at night. This gives us the opportunity to discuss any issues we are going through either as a team or individually.
Resilience – When discussing before the row what resilience meant to us as a team we came up with reliability, a can do attitude, never giving up and a belief that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Again we have had plenty of situations so far which have required all of these characteristics. I add to these the ability to keep our sense of humour no matter what the ocean can throw at us. I’m sure I’ve said this before but I don’t think I’ve ever laughed as much, as consistently as we have out here on the Pacific. It is obvious that the mood in our team remains positive and we are all committed to completing what we have started.
Inspiration – During our journey so far we have all drawn inspiration from a number of areas. Our BAM wall is one of these and in any low moments a trip to the fore cabin to lie back and look up at the hundreds of names of people who are supporting us inspires all of us to get back out there on the oars. The work of our two amazing charities Breast Cancer Care and Walking With The Wounded and the resilience of the people who they support is also a huge inspiration to us and we are proud to be able to give something back to them through our fundraising efforts. Similarly our ambassadors have all inspired us through their achievements and leave us knowing that you can never achieve anything without hard work, dedication and a belief in your end goal. We hope that by sharing our journey through these blogs and later with our documentary we will be able to show people that you can achieve anything that you put your mind to and inspire them to take on whatever challenges are thrown at them.
Trust – Out here on the ocean we are each other’s main support network and together are our own little ocean going family. For our team to work so well it is important that we trust each other fully to take responsibility for our roles on the boat and to take care of ourselves. On a purely safety basis this is obviously important but equally we trust each other enough to know that endless help and support is right there if needed and that we can rely on each other to do what we say we will. Other forms of trust on Doris include the trust in our boat that she can surf the waves and take care of us in big seas. Trust that the jet boil will work and allow us to cook our meals every day. Trust that all of our electronics and communications equipment will continue to work. Probably most importantly, trust that there are some things that happen on Doris that will stay on Doris, for example photos of shower time!!
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