Yesterday Natalia, Emma, Laura, Izzy and Lizanne (via Skype) headed to near Bradford upon Avon to spend the day with Keith, our team psychologist (of Zeus Performance Psychology). We were hosted by Keith at his beautiful home and spent the day looking ahead at “stage 3″ of the row project. Among other things, we considered what we want to achieve as a team in the coming months, our team dynamics now that we are back on dry land, and what we each want to take from the row individually going forward.
At lunch time, we got the chance to catch up with Keith’s wife Helen and daughter Eloise (nearly 3 now) and Pam, Helen’s mother. As is always the case when we meet as a team and meet with Keith, we talked all day and could have kept going long after we had to leave! Thanks to Keith, we left the session with more clarity and focus.
Tomorrow we have another team catch up. Among other things, we will be polishing our presentation for the Night of Adventure that we are speaking at tomorrow night. It’s a great line up of speakers and we are really excited to be among them.
As an all female team, who have just set 2 world records, achieving world firsts ahead of the boys, International Womens Day certainly seemed more poignant to us this year!
We are a team of ordinary women that went beyond having just a dream, we made that dream a reality and achieved what many thought would be impossible, what many thought we would fail at. It didn’t come without a few waves of ups and downs and set backs, but collectively, as a team, we stuck to our values, remained resilient in situations we faced and drew on perseverance when it mattered, which proved many people wrong about us. We weren’t just a bunch of girls in a pink boat that would fall out with each other or turn back and quit at the slightest difficulty, we were a team of women that had prepared and planned our row over 3 years previously, had tested ourselves mentally and physically in our preparations and left no stone unturned that we could have planned for. We drew strength from one another, cared for each other when someone was down, drew on humour to keep us going and allowed emotions to be shared and free flowing so that vulnerabilities were not hidden. We coped well with change and adapted quickly through the process as each leg we had a new team member. These are qualities that most women share, these are qualities that are fundamental to a dynamic and functional team, these are qualities that resonate effectiveness in any team setting, whether that’s business or sport. With equality in business still far from showing parity and in sport the exposure for women in sport is still lagging behind, hopefully days like International Womens Day, can express and share the amazing work women out there do and what great benefits a female angle can bring to a team to create diversity.
We have been and still are in ‘oar’ (sorry couldn’t help it!) of so many women that have helped and inspired us to achieve our goal, so here’s just a few, that on this International Womens Day (IWD)we wanted to celebrate…..
Our very own Sarah Moshman. The queen behind the camera who has already won an Emmy for a previous documentary, who led the Empowerment Project to celebrate women who are making waves in science, the military, media etc. https://indieflix.com/indie-films/the-empowerment-project-ordinary-women-doing-extra-36648/ and who is showing how it’s done as a female Director in an industry dominated by males.
Kate Philp, who was a Royal Artillary Officer who became a below knee amputee when she was injured in Afghanistan in 2008. Kate would have fought in the minority to be a female on the frontline, she would have fought to rehabilitate mentally and physically after she was injured and she has continued to fight in making sure she has a new life journey to success, which is reflected in her achievement when she reached the South Pole with Walking With The Wounded. She’s a true inspiration that whenever I started to moan about pain when I was out in the ocean, she made me stop and push on.
Patricia Elouahabi, loving wife to Rashid and mother to Yasin, who died just 6 months after Yasin was born in her fight against Breast Cancer.
Chrissie Wellington, one of my heroes who I am now fortunate enough to call a friend. Chrissie is a 4 times World Ironman Champion, her timings would come in the top 5 of the mens, she has set up Park Run and campaigned for the Womens Tour Du France. Chrissie fights for what she believes in, she’s dedicated and passionate and does everything with a smile!
Helena Morrissey, CEO of Newton Investment, on the board of 30% club, has 9 children and is a loving wife. This is a woman that epitomizes ‘you CAN’.
Sarah Outen, has just completed her around the world London 2 London challenge via, kayak, bike and rowing boat, all whilst sharing her journey, inspiring school kids along the way and continuing to look forwards to see how she can create environments for people to say yes to more opportunities outside the norm.
Julia Immonen, a beautiful woman inside and out, who has stirred change through her campaigns to stop human trafficking. Her efforts have fed through the channels of sport by setting up Sport For Freedom and Julia herself has completed rowing the Atlantic as a team and numerous cycling multi-day events.
England Womens Rugby team, having won the World Cup in 2014 for the first time in 20 years, this is one of many all female teams in sport that showed us how it’s done.
There are many more women that I could continue to talk about that inspired us as a team (my mum being one of them for me personally!), but there isn’t enough room on this page! A day like IWD gives us a chance to celebrate all those women that are stepping out their comfort zones to facilitate change, to help improve equality in the work place and inspire the next generation to believe they CAN. Thank you to all those women that inspired us and helped us to believe that we can.
We can’t believe a year has gone by since last Mother’s Day! (photo above)
All we can say right now is THANK YOU. Thank you to all of our mothers for their unfailing support, guidance, strength and love that they have shown us. We would not be the women we are today without you and words cannot express how much we appreciate everything you have done for us.
Looking forward to re-creating this photo later in the year with Lizanne, Adri, Meg and Sally!!
HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY to all those amazing women out there!! x
We have entered a challenging phase of our journey. The expedition is complete but our work is not yet done. We are all either in or looking for full time employment and will be committing extra time and dedication to driving the fundraising forward.
Now, more than ever, it’s all about increasing the awareness and support for our two very worthwhile charities Breast Cancer Care and Walking With The Wounded.
Once again we are all going to be working outside our comfort zones for the coming months.
The more speaking we do about our journey, the more apparent it becomes that there is so much to say. This was a multi-dimensional project, that’s for sure. When we are together we can easily talk for hours and hours but our presentations are targeted and specific. The skills we have learnt from the experience are numerous and we just want to share our insights with the world.
Some of the key areas that we can relate to any business and are all happy to talk about include:
Leadership
Team work/dynamics
Psychological training
Importance of preparation
Safety
Science
Adventure
Working outside your comfort zone
Mindfulness and positive mindset
Women empowerment
If anyone knows of any companies, businesses or events where After Dinner, keynote or motivational speakers are needed than please let us know.
Our speaking engagements are going to be a great way to encourage more followers and therefore more donations to our charities. Honestly speaking, this is the time where we need as much money, help and support from as many people as possible!
What will you get in return? A powerful and inspirational story that will not only make you stop and question a few things about yourself, surroundings and life but also some tools that you can use to take away and put into practice yourself x
Today was a team day. We met up with Andrew Duncan of New Level Results, who we have worked with since the planning stages of our row project (see Nat’s earlier blog) The Best Year Yet programme was instrumental in helping us set clear guidelines and goals to get us to the start line and then to use on the water. Today was an opportunity to reflect on what has gone before and to set up a new team plan for the next stage of our row as we continue with our fundraising and sharing our story.
Lizanne joined us by Skype from Cape Town and we were kindly hosted at the offices of Breast Cancer Care. We started by taking the time to do a debrief about the team’s time on the water. We listed our individual and team accomplishments and disappointments and what lessons we can learn from them going forward. In the afternoon, we made a start on our plan for the post-row world. What do we want to achieve in the the next six months? What is our plan for continuing to raise money for our charities, Walking With The Wounded and Breast Cancer care? Who will be responsible for what? How are we going to balance this with our personal and work lives? It was a great brainstorming session and we now have a clear Best Year Yet plan to work to going forward.
At lunchtime, we were able to share our story with the staff and volunteers of Breast Cancer Care. We were joined by the team in the London office and conferenced in the teams in Sheffield and Glasgow. We ran them through the highs and lows of life on the ocean, shared some photos, and answered their questions about our journey. Breast Cancer Care have been so supportive of our journey and it was wonderful to meet so many of the wider team face to face.
All in all, it was another busy, but productive day and, as always, great to have the whole team together (using the power of the Internet).
I can’t believe it’s been one month since we stepped foot on land and ended our oceanic journey and one year since my last birthday!
Time certainly flies.
It’s been a fantastic week. The sun has been shining, my body is slowly healing and I’ve spent quality time with beautiful friends – old and new.
I have always believed that being as healthy as you can and having strong relationships are the main things you need to maintain a positive mindset and happy existence. Everything else that happens in life is incidental. Wealth, success, fame, adventure; they all mean different things to different people and don’t necessarily make you happy.
This week I’ve been tending to my physical and emotional well-being.
I’ve been stretching and strengthening my body slowly by doing some walking, pilates and yoga. It’s going to be a gradual process getting my tone back and increasing my strength again, but I’m being gentle with myself and enjoying the non-impact exercise. I’ve had a dental check up and tooth clean (very necessary after the 9 months of snack pack consuming) and received results back from my blood test showing that I have no deficiencies.
One of my biggest health concerns caused by our relentless sun exposure has also now been alleviated after a visit to the dermatologist and a skin check completed with the all clear given.
As well as spending a lot of time with my amazing brother and father (my mum is in Cape Town), I have been catching up with a number of friends and enjoying quality time with special people that I share a long history and deep connection with.
On my birthday yesterday I received messages from friends from all over the world (Facebook is a wonderful thing!) and it gave me an opportunity to reflect on the incredible relationships I have developed over my 41 years of life and in particular over the last year with the girls. There is definitely something to be said for having strong, supportive, positive relationships with your family, friends, partners and/or community.
As I head to Oxfordshire this weekend to continue birthday celebrations and spend time with my best friend in the whole wide world, I have just watched a very wonderful TED talk about ‘What makes a good life?’ by Robert Waldinger who actually shares my belief on the importance of good relationships.
Having done a 75-year-old study on adult development he has access to data on true happiness and satisfaction and what it is that actually does keep us happy and healthy are in fact having close relationships and real social connections.
So as we move into the weekend, I urge you to re-connect with an old friend, forgive someone you’ve been holding a grudge against for so long that you can’t even remember why or make the time to connect genuinely with your partner/friend/parent/sibling/self.
Life is short and the one thing we have in common is that we all want to live it happily and healthily! x
Tonight was an exciting night as Megs, LP and I met up in London to attend the UK premiere of The Finest Hours. Looking a lot more glamorous than we are used to seeing each other we turned up at The Ham Yard Hotel where we were photographed and interviewed on the red carpet before enjoying champagne and canapés. Then we headed into the screening where one of the stars of the film Holliday Grainger told us a l ittle about the making of the film before we settled down to enjoy the drama. The film is about what is still the greatest small boat rescue in coast guard history. A crew of four set out in the 12 man coastguard boat in a huge storm to help men stuck in the stern of a tanker which has split in half. Despite loosing their compass they manage to find the ship and rescue the 32 men left on board. Watching their small boat battle through the huge waves brought back memories of the bad weather which we encountered on Doris and made us appreciate how sturdy and safe she felt in the waves. It also made us appreciate the mild Pacific weather after watching them put in the snow, rain and crashing waves without even any proper waterproofs. All in all a great evening and thanks so much to Premiere Comms for inviting us.
This last week at home has been very special. Spending it with my family & friends who have been there for me from the start. A time to say thank you in person for all the support I’ve received and to share with those that have been so influential to me wanting to make it home to Cornwall.
It has been so lovely to spend quality time this week with my parents. They have sat on the sidelines, gone through the emotional roller coaster & many times put on a brave face to support me when it was the last thing they ever wanted to see me do. I love my folks very much and will forever be in debt to the love they have always given to me. Now it’s my time to spoil them!
I got to see a lot of my family this week, which was amazing. Although makes me want zto start up a regular family gathering that’s not just at christmas.
My best friends too were all together for the first time in an age! It was so much fun catching up with them, although after a morning in a soft play with Michelle’s two kids and Sarah’s one, I can safely say that rowing an ocean is less hard work than juggling having 2 children (Michelle you’re my hero!). Meanwhile I got to meet my best friends baby who is called Max & only 3 weeks old you can already see he’ll be fighting the girls off!
So amongst the socialising, eating and drinking, I got to catch up on some X Factor, Greys Anatomy plus watch the beating the Italians got from England Rugby. ‘Twas a perfect week!
” The strength of the team is each individual member.
The strength of each member is the team.”
Phil Jackson
The experience we have shared during this extraordinary journey will forever connect the 6 of us and we look forward to being united as a team in May 2016.
In April/May we will be holding a friends/family/followers event as well as our charity auction (which will be a high end fundraising gala dinner).
We will keep you posted regarding both events.
We are incredibly excited to meet everyone who has supported, inspired and motivated us over the last 9 months. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you x
(photos courtesy of Sarah Moshman and Alana Fickes)
By 
By 
By 
By 
