Archive for January, 2016

It’s the debate of doing a ‘Cracknell versus Fogle’; James Cracknell being an Olympic gold medallist in rowing and renown for pushing his body to the extreme, often passing out before giving up, compared to Ben Fogle, a tv presenter with no competitive history to date. If anyone saw the Atlantic Row race where these pair were in the competition together, they had a documentary filmed and aired on BBC called ‘Hell and High Water’. The underlying message that came from their row was how as a team you need to be aligned in what your aim is. For Fogle, his aim was getting from A to B and just finishing the race. For Cracknell, it was getting from A to B the fastest, and, with performance in his blood, winning the race was his motivation. So, although the pair had the same end goal of reaching Antigua, their thoughts on how they got there were very different. This led to numerous disagreements on the boat and for Cracknell a great deal of frustration, for Fogle a real hardship and negative journey, never feeling he could do enough. However, the interviews post row show how actually the diversity between the pair brought them together; Cracknell said that he grew absolute upmost respect for Fogle for his unrelenting contribution and he wouldn’t have rowed with anyone else as he taught Cracknell how to enjoy the journey. Fogle too reported that without Cracknell they would have never made it to Antigua and he had taught him so much about stepping outside his comfort zone to see what the body can really do. The pair have gone on to do a number of further expeditions together and I don’t know if it was a myth, but word on the street was that Cracknell was best man at Fogle’s wedding, so although there were disagreements, their relationship grew rather than suffered. A perfect example of how opposites can actually work together.

So why do I reminisce about this story…. well right now we are approximately 650nm away from Cairns, which if we can keep 50nm days, means we’re just 14 days away from our arrival and this is pretty convenient seeing as the food audit yesterday highlighted we only have 14 days worth of main meals left. So, I come to find myself in a ‘Cracknell’ headspace. Without a doubt I have enjoyed this journey, thanks largely to the influence of my team mates, but it’s no secret that I am ready to step off Doris as the typical feeling of the finish line being in sight but yet still so far away. Yet I know half the team are more in a ‘Fogle’ headspace and, rightly so, have highlighted how they wish to enjoy these lasting 2/3weeks aboard Doris. So, with now an added time pressure of our food running out, our parents all having booked flights with return flight dates cutting it fine for our arrival, combined with us having no wind and little current to assist us, if we don’t step up our performance then we won’t be arriving in 2 weeks. If we make the next two weeks about performance only, it’ll make our last two weeks on Doris hell and those less used to being in a performance environment with pressure will really struggle mentally and potentially ruin this whole experience. However, if we focus solely on enjoying the journey and pretty much going with the flow, then we’ll never get there before the end of January or even February at this rate! So, I ask myself, how can we collaborate a Cracknell and Fogle approach so that we are all facing the same direction together?

I brought the team together for a quick pow wow today to see where we all were in our expectations and thoughts about finishing. I used the tool of the 7 hats that Keith our Psych had introduced to us; blue hat first to state the facts i.e. 14 days of main meals, 50nm p/day needed to arrive in 14 days, black and white hats to state my opinions both positive and negative on the situation I.e. Our end goal is the same but the path we’re taking is maybe different within the team, red and yellow hats to highlight my emotions around the subject I.e. Feelings of frustration and then the green hat, ideas as to how we can overcome the differences and realign. Then there was a chance for each crew member to voice their own opinions/ emotions/ ideas. Collectively we agreed that we need to step it up but not so much that we loose the enjoyment of it, so plan of action is to state at the beginning of the shift with our row partner, as to how the shift should look like i.e. row hard for an hour and then steady for 45 mins. Ems too is going to give each of us more row tips to aid in efficiency of our rowing technique where we may have got complacent. We’re also going to tighten up on our handovers on the oars to minimise time loss between shifts. Small things that soon add up but are simple to change, all whilst ensuring we keep some enjoyment in our music shifts and Megs also is going to look into rewards for days that pass rather than just mileage. So fundamentally we’re collaborating the two approaches so we are all on the same page/same boat and going in the right direction together.

This row has always been about the journey, more of a ‘Fogle’ approach, it was specifically not part of a competitive race such as that of the Atlantic for that very reason. Coming from someone who can be slightly competitive and serious about training, being part of a race would have had very different aims and certainly would have brought my ‘Cracknell’ side out a lot earlier! With this row we have had goals to still meet but agreed on the flexibility of being able to enjoy the wildlife that we have encountered, added in socials as a team in the middle of the Pacific, enjoyed swims etc. so that we remain socially cohesive as a team and without a doubt I wouldn’t ever have changed our approach to this journey. Given the conditions, the set backs and delays that we’ve faced, if we were a team that were serious all the time and focussed purely on the numbers, I believe we wouldn’t be here today and if we were, we certainly wouldn’t be here with smiles on our faces, having enjoyed the ups and downs and I very much doubt we would be stepping off the boat as lifelong friends. Within the diversity of the team, without realising it, there has always been a reasonable balance of Cracknell v. Fogle outlooks and opinions. No different to before, this team will pull together and dig deep when needed and laugh throughout the whole process. This row has shown us how performance and enjoyment can coexist, but maybe ask yourself whether you need a little more Cracknell or Fogle in your life to give you the motivation or the enjoyment you need to succeed.

Update:
Today has been a scorcher! I think my body has got out of the habit of dealing with pan flat conditions, still air and stifling heat, because at midday today, rowing was torture! That being said it is bitter sweet, beautiful scenery and no salty splashes, but that also means no prevailing winds or currents to push us along to Cairns, so back to snail pace for a day. doh! X

Day 54 – Rotations

In the real world, we choose when we wish to socialise with a friend, how long we wish to spend with them, and what we do when we meet up for a catch up. There are some friends that you might see once a month, and some once a day, yet here on Doris in our Pacific Ocean bubble, we spend each waking hour with the same person for 5-7 days before rotating partners. We spend 24 hours a day with this person. We row, we eat and we sleep and whilst doing so catch up with the person that we haven’t really seen for 10 – 14 days (two rotations). So for this blog, I thought I’d give you some more details on how and why we rotate rowers and shift patterns.

So how does it work? Every 5-7 days one person from each shift pattern will swap. It normally happens one hour into an afternoon rowing shift for one person, and one hour into a rest shift for the other. On saying goodbye to your rowing partner of the previous 5 – 7 days it is always quite emotional and you feel as if you are heading to a far away place. Yet instead, you are merely sharing the exact same cabin with the next partner, and remain only metres away from your previous partner at all times. Weird! It’s also a really great breath of fresh air jumping on the oars with a new(ish) person, and catching up on all of their news over the past 10 – 14 days. You wouldn’t believe how despite sharing the same 29 foot space on Doris, how little the two shift patterns communicate. Unless a social is planned for the whole team, it is much less than you would expect, with changeovers every two hours being the most time we really get to chat, and at night time it’s often more of a friendly grunt than chit chat. The hatch door remains a window from the cabin onto the other shift, and from the rowing seat into the cabin, and yet it is only in calm seas that we can hold the door ajar and chat.

Changing rowing partner is one thing, but shift rotations also work as one of the ways to break up the monotony of the shift pattern. There are pro’s and cons to both the early and the late shift patterns. One has the sunrise and one has the sunset, the temperatures for sleeping – on the early shift the first evening sleep is hot, whereas on the late one the morning sleep is rather sweaty.

I love the diversity that changing shift patterns gives to our week. The experiences that I have with each rower and the topics of conversation are so different. With LP, nights of gobbledygook that make us both laugh whilst telling story after story to keep ourselves awake. With Ems, the constant challenge of towel drying has me in fits of laughter, and any story of hers that starts with ‘when I was in Belize’ you know will be a good’un. Then there’s Nat – deep conversations that go off at the most abstract tangents and change from serious to laughter that makes my sides hurt – each one of these girls brings so much happiness to my life on the ocean I can’t imagine anyone else I’d like to do this journey with.

To give you an idea, I have written below our shift patterns. Currently myself and Nat are on the late shift, and Ems and LP are on the early:

– Late shift –
07:30 – 09:30 – row
09:30 – 11:30 – sleep
11:30 – 13:30 – row
13:30 – 15:30 – awake
15:30 – 17:30 – row
17:30 – 19:30 – awake
19:30 – 21:30 – row
21:30 – 23:30 – sleep
23:30 – 01:30 – row
01:30 – 03:30 – sleep
03:30 – 05:30 – row
05:30 – 07:30 – sleep

– Early shift –
07:30 – 09:30 – sleep
09:30 – 11:30 – row
11:30 – 13:30 – awake
13:30 – 15:30 – row
15:30 – 17:30 – awake
17:30 – 19:30 – row
19:30 – 21:30 – sleep
21:30 – 23:30 – row
23:30 – 01:30 – sleep
01:30 – 03:30 – row
03:30 – 05:30 – sleep
05:30 – 07:30 – row

Update: Today quite frankly I’m absolutely exhausted. Last night I napped on the oars, had my first experience of speaking gobbledygook to Natalia in my rendition of The Devil Wears Prada, and even in the daylight my eyes are struggling to stay open. We have just done our food audit on board Doris. We have 14 days left of main meals, amongst other snacks and breakfasts etc. Here’s to moving faster and finding a westerly current soon! On a positive note, we had a visitor this morning so close to the boat we could have touched it – a sea turtle by the name of Billy. He was so cute going through the water doing Breast stroke and coming up for air! We tried to get him on the go pro from underwater, but every time, Billy shot off away from the boat – he must be camera shy!

As another year draws to an end, it is natural to look back over the last 12 months and reflect on what has happened. What you have accomplished, what has made you smile, what has worked well and what needs some extra attention. Where you have been and where you are right now, mentally, as well as looking forward to where you could possibly go.

This year has definitely been a special and unique one for me and my 5 new friends that I have had the fortune to share one of the most ridiculous, incredible and challenging journeys I’ve ever been on with. We decided to have a little New Years ceremony on Doris and I asked everyone to answer the below questions that my best friend Elisa sent me a few years ago:

What are you the most proud of achieving this year?
What brought you the greatest joy?
What mantra sustained you?
What did you learn to let go of?
What did you learn about yourself?
What are your hopes for 2016?

We all said the Row for the first question. It is unusual yet amazing to share the same answer to one of these questions and I think for all of us it has hopefully begun a process by which we will all be able to sit back and eventually realise the enormity of what it is we have in fact achieved.

New Years Eve is probably the only time of the year when I enforce 4 NYE customs I have developed over time on others. They are:
1. Have a small ceremony where everyone takes the time to fully appreciate the past year by asking themselves questions and then deciding what they are looking for from the following year.
2. Say ‘white rabbit’ three times as the clock strikes midnight as if you utter these words before any other words on the first of the month (so the 1st month of a new year is even more special), then you will have a lucky month (or in this case – year).
3. Wear yellow pants (underwear)! This is a tradition that I adopted from my time in Peru. You have to have the underwear bought for you (can’t buy it for yourself) and if you wear it through the new year, you will have a lucky year.
4. Be sparkly!!

So…during the Coxless Crew double New Years Eve/Day celebrations (our local time and UK time) this is what we did.

Local time NYE
– midnight ceremony after saying white rabbit x 3 and whilst all wearing yellow pants on our heads
– toasting with hot chocolate and Baileys (that’s the last of it now)
– waving glow sticks and the stars providing the sparkle, woohooo’ing under the night sky in the middle of the almighty Pacific and hugging each other

UK time NYE (2pm our time)
– saying white rabbit x 3 whilst all wearing yellow pants and sparkles (glitter, face jewels and temporary tattoos)
– toasting Neptune and then each other with rum and enjoying a dessert creation by Ems and LP
– letting off party poppers and flying paper banners
– having a little dance, Wooohoooo’ing into the almighty Pacific and hugging each other

News Years is one of my favourite times of the year. It’s the perfect opportunity to start a fresh and write a new chapter of your life story. Although the beginning of every new day is filled with endless possibility, there is something even better about dreaming big, setting your intention for the start of the new year and making a personal pact to fulfil certain resolutions.

*~~~~~~~~ “If you want to fly, give up everything that weighs you down.” ~~~~~~~~*

So…as we enter into 2016, let’s all ask ourselves those questions, carry forward the lessons learnt and shed the skin of anything unwanted from the last year and fly spectacularly into the year ahead x

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE…with lots of love, happiness, health, travel, adventure, SPIRIT, laughter and sparkle….let’s make it one to remember x