Events

San Francisco Day 4

Laura Penhaul By

Today started waking to a 06:45 alarm, with sun shining through the windows and the excitement of bouncing out of bed to go for a run. It’s been literally months since we last ran, as we’ve had to keep cardiovascular exercise to a minimum in order to put the weight on and bulk up with eating and gym work. But today was the first day with Tony (our shore support) joining us, so we ignored our strength and conditioning coach’s advice and went for a run – it was gorgeous! However, running when I was 58kgs certainly felt a lot easier than being at 70kg’s!!

So Ems and I joined Tony for a 5 mile jog down to the water and along to the bridge. San Fran is seriously a great lifestyle and place to live. There were loads of people out running – a 10km race was about to start, a sea swim race was starting where everyone was donning their wetsuits and there were even some gig boat rowers out in front of Alcatraz – absolutely beautiful view!

Early morning Alcatraz

Back at the apartment we whipped up an avocado, bacon and eggs breakie to get the calories up after running. Then it was en route with the team to Svendsen’s boat yard to start the day of packing our snack packs! Ems had carefully worked out calories and amounts so that in total we will have 2,000 calories in our snack packs once our protein shake and bar is added from Maximuscle.

Production line

I left the team to get cracking whilst I went out to buy the outstanding snacks. $450 later I had finished our shop and realised the hire car needed a top up of petrol. Thinking this would be a simple process, I trundled off to a Shell garage and came across the first hurdle …. ‘Gasoline’ only – no option for diesel or petrol! I’m driving a massive SUV so I assumed it was diesel, but there were no options! Second hiccup, how to pay! ….. I tried to pay at the pump then it asked for a zip code (clearly a UK post code doesn’t work!). Then it blocked me from using the pump and I had to ask a nearby American how to use it! Highly amusing and it reminded me how everyday is an adventure and a learning curve….

When I got back to Svendsen’s, the production line was in full swing. We made 220 snack packs. Dried fruit, nuts, biscuits and beef jerky were divided up into small bags and added to each snack pack along with cereal bars, crackers, chocolate, tea bags, boiled sweets and mints and hot chocolate sachets. We have also set aside some items to eat in the first few days that we think we will be able to tolerate when we’re feeling really seasick. I loved the organization and the team was working really efficiently. Seeing everything go into the bags made me feel really excited that we were finally packing, although I felt slightly sick at the amount of stuff that we will be eating!

Dried fruit packing! Laura's tea shop Cereal bar monitor

 

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San Francisco Day 3

Natalia Cohen By

San Francisco Day 3

Golden Gate Bridge

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).

Dinner at Presidio Yacht Club

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

CC and Tony

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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!

Sara Cox

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).

V02 max

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!!

One Show

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.

San Fran Day 1

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.

Pier 39

Pier 39 Sea Lions

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Busy bees!

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!!
  • 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.
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Coxless Crew meets Kylie!!

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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)

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Kylie and Coxless Crew

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

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Doris visits Marlow

Emma Mitchell By

On Saturday we brought Doris on a little road trip to Marlow to go for a row on the Thames and introduce her to the town. She arrived on Friday evening and with a little help from Ella and the Knill family we got her on the water and over the river to the Compleat Angler hotel who had kindly offered her a safe home for the night.

Doris at the Compleat Angler

Sunday morning arrived with sunshine and blue skies. Our beautiful pink Breast Cancer Care gazebo and the rowing machine were installed in Higginson Park and Doris was rowed over to join in the fun. With the strong stream and Doris being so much heavier than my usual rowing boats it was the slowest I’ve ever rowed up this stretch of river but pretty special to be showing off Doris where I learnt to row.

Local star Ems

First up was the chance to take some prize winners out for a paddle and the chance to experience life in the aft cabin. Martin was up first followed by Katie and Ewan and all three had a go at rowing the boat. It was great to be able to show some of our supporters what life will be like for us when we are out on the ocean.

The Crew, the Mayor and Naomi

For the rest of the day we were inundated with visitors including Suzanne Brown, Mayor of Marlow, the local press and lots of friends, family and supporters. We were also treated to a visit from Olympic and paralympic rowing stars Naomi Riches, Heather Stanning, Katherine Grainger, Beth Rodford and Sarah Winckless. Heather kindly christened Doris with some champagne in an official naming ceremony and then came for a row with us. It was so great to have so much support behind us and we had a really fantastic day talking to so many interested people.

Naming ceremony for Doris

The weekend finished off with a training session at Marlow Rowing Club on Sunday morning followed by the usual logistical fun involved in getting Doris back on the trailer and safely home to Christchurch. The next few weekends will be spent in final preparations and packing before we put her into a shipping container ready to start the journey to San Francisco. Stay posted for updates on next weekend’s capsize drills.

The next Coxless Crew event in Marlow will be a talk kindly sponsored by Court Gardens on Wednesday 11th February. Tickets are £12 and include a buffet provided by Court Gardens and a presentation about the row, the training and preparation so far and the reasons why we are doing it. To book a place contact Rotarian Sara Bowater on 07850 036236 or Sara@sbowater.co.uk.

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Doris does London

Emma Mitchell By

There’s never a dull moment for us in the Coxless Crew and eventful weekends have become worryingly normal. Doris’ visit to London was no different…

It all started on Friday when we headed to Poplar to launch Doris from the public slipway next to Poplar Blackwall and District Rowing Club. This was challenge number one. The ups and downs of the slipway meant that no matter what we tried (and we tried everything from setting up pulleys to chocking up the wheels to taking a diagonal route down the slip) we couldn’t get Doris down to the water without grounding her on the concrete. We spent about an hour and a half trying this while Alan, the legend from Globe Rowing Club who had come out in his boat to be our support crew, bobbed around on the water waiting for us. Finally we had to hitch the trailer back up and head to a new slipway just down the road. Here we managed with a bit of manoeuvring and another pulley to get Doris down to the water and with a big shove from Laura we were out on the water. By this time it was pretty dark and we were running a little short on time to make it to St Katherine’s Docks so the pressure was on. Luckily we had Jacob on board. Jacob had never met us before but had kindly come along to take some photos of us rowing Doris through London from the support boat. He got a bit more than he bargained for, having to act as an extra pair of hands with the trailer and then having to travel with us on Doris since he couldn’t get to the support boat. He’s now a pro at using the VHF radio, AIS and chartplotter and is definitely a new member of the team. Plus his photos are beautiful so we hope we haven’t scared him off! After a truly beautiful row through a lit up London we arrived at St Katherine’s Docks, our home for the weekend. We settled Doris in, had a well-deserved dinner and headed home.

Photos below are by Jacob Perlmutter:

Doris and Tower Bridge

Tower Bridge

On Saturday we woke up to a cold but beautiful sunny day which was perfect for a day spent introducing Doris to the public. It was lovely to see all the interest in our project and to introduce some of our sponsors to the boat. She was particularly popular with the kids who got to come aboard and see where we would row and get inside our cabin. Along with our brilliant helpers for the day we spread the word about our row and added lots of names to our inspiration wall.

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Sunday we left St Katherine’s bright and early and had a lovely row down to Greenwich Yacht Club where we planned to get the boat out of the water. We arrived and were met by the lovely Ian. We were quite worried by exactly how we were going to get Doris out of the water as the tide was going out quickly and the slipway was also on two levels but were comforted by Ian who assured us that there’s always a way. It turned out that the way was for him to get the slipmaster out to lift Doris out of the water on slings. This ended up being a bit of a mad dash in the 5 minutes before the water would have been too low and meant that Laura arrived with the trailer to see Doris hanging in the air on slings.

Another eventful weekend over, which couldn’t have happened without all of the support we had from friends, families and people we had never met. Recently we spoke at a Hero’s Night organised by Will aka Super Cycling Man. All of the other speakers had completed their own expeditions and their heroes were the people they met along the way. We won’t have that on our row as the only people we’ll see are each other on the boat. However this weekend has highlighted again that our heroes are the people we are meeting along our journey to the start line. So I wanted to give a special thank you to a few of Coxless Crew’s heroes from this weekend.

  • Jacob Perlmutter – came along to take some photos, ended up helping us get the boat on the water for 2 hours and then coming for an hours row down the river having to use the radio and help us navigate making him 2 hours late for his evening plans.
  • Alan from Globe Rowing Club who was our support boat on the row down to Tower Bridge and became our advisor on the ways of the Thames.
  • St Katherine’s Docks – not only gave Doris a berth for the weekend but also put us up in their beautiful floating marketing suite.
  • Sarah from Breast Cancer Care who spent the whole of Saturday with us helping to tell our story.
  • Claire and Harry from Raymarine who also came along to help us out.
  • Ian the legend from Greenwich Yacht Club who when we arrived to use their slipway on Sunday with not enough water to get Doris on the trailer winched us out using the slip master.
  • Everyone who brought a mile of our journey and who’s names on our inspiration wall will help us across the Pacific.

And last but not least my wonderful teammates who will be my heroes when we are out on the ocean with only each other to rely on.

  • Laura – who can drive a 29ft ocean rowing boat through central London and has got us all hooked on xfactor.
  • Izzy – rustled up a support boat last minute, who had written our weeks to do list before we even got home and is the only one of us who can sing in tune.
  • Nat – the only person I know who can accost a passing tour and get their guide to stop and translate our story into Dutch for his tour group

Doris&Tower

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