Day 64 – A Mixture of Events

Laura Penhaul By

Day 64 blog- a mixture of events

I always imagined, that after 2weeks at sea i’d be struggling to find things to blog about, but yet on day 64 I have at least 3 key events that I want to share with you but with no time to separate them before we arrive in Hawaii, I’ve bundled them into this one blog.

Firstly, it was my parents 40th wedding anniversary at the weekend and I hear that their celebrations with friends was more eventful than a 21st birthday party! So many things i’d love to write about my folks and their lovely friends, but I’ll save this for another blog. One key thing though, is that my parents’ beautiful relationship is why they are amazing role models to me and why I dream of one day finding a man that will put up with me for 40 years.

Secondly, Adam Sargent (@beersargent) is a good friend of mine after he married one of my best friends Heather. As you’ll notice in his twitter handle, his job title for many years has been a ‘beer specialist’. As you can imagine, sport was never high on the agenda and was a constant debate that we’d have between us. Until 6 months ago, Adam hadn’t sat on the saddle of a bike since a child, which is why I was taken aback when I saw his Facebook post at new year which said he’d signed up to do a 204mile cycle ride in aid of his late father for a cardiac charity. Cycling is my preferred sport and any cyclist will tend to have a love of bikes and often more than one stashed in the garage. Seeing as I was now rowing and will be out of the country for 6months, I offered my Giant TCR to Adam as it was actually too big for me anyway so I figured would suit him. Seeing the start of his training was slow (ie. didn’t collect the bike until March!), I thought I’d offer an incentive that he could keep the bike as long as he finished the race. Yesterday I got a wonderful text from Ads which brought a tear to my eye, he had completed the race! Even after many times of wanting to give up he didn’t & made it across the line in last place. I can’t explain how proud I am to see him complete this & if this row creates any small motivation or inspiration to others like this, then we are truly humbled.

So, finally and certainly not least, following Izzy’s wonderful blog yesterday, I couldn’t blog today without saying a few words about Izz. I’ve realised that today will be my very last day of ever rowing with Izzy before we rotate our pairs tomorrow. Never again will we row in Doris together… Such a surreal thought.

Miss Burnham has without a doubt, been a pillar of strength to the row and to the team, both in her efforts of getting Doris prepped for the startline and whilst out at sea.

In true Izzy style, I will list here the things that I will miss the most about Izzy (note they are numerical and no more or less than 10);
1) her singing – without question izzy has the best voice by far out of any of us and whether day or night, with or without music, her dulcet tones were the Sound of Music in the Pacific.

2) Amazing Narrator – I have never met someone who can narrate in such detail, a movie/ book/story such as Izzy. Lord of the Rings with all their complicated character names and places, just dripped off the tongue like it was normal language, I felt like I’d watched the film after she finished, truly brilliant.

3) the brain – Izz is special. She has a gift like no other. In our sleep deprived, lack of energy or focused state, she can read a poem of 8 or more verses and no lie, within less than 5 minutes she would have remembered the whole poem word for word! Unbelievable!

4) ‘right then..’ – whenever Izz is about to do something, she psychs herself up and starts a sentence with ‘right then…’ And you wait to hear what next but nothing else is said, rather the phrase is just repeated until she starts to move (love this!).

5) quote queen – whether a quote from a movie, a song, a poem or a person, Izz would name it and it would be word for word. She always wondered why none of us wanted to play the ‘guess the quote’ game surprised that our minds didn’t quite work the same.

6) thoughtfulness – Izzy is always the one to remember a birthday or what people’s favourite things are. She is observational from afar and subtly picks you up if you were down.

7) peanut M&M’s – who will now eat all the packets of peanut M&M’s when izzy is gone?!

8) Love of her family – Izz has shared so many stories of her family in great detail that I feel I know Philippa and Emily (her sisters) extremely well.

9) kind and caring- I saw this first hand, after 5 days of vomiting and not being a fit state, partnering with izzy, she continued to support me whilst I was at my most vulnerable.

10) reading machine- most of us have listened to audiobooks and maybe managed to read 1book if we’re lucky, but Izz has exceeded that by far and has read over 10books!

Thankfully for the birds and the fish I understand that Lizanne has a wonderful singing voice, so this will make a good replacement. We will however miss the Burnham but will look forward to the regular updates from back home and can’t wait for the reunion after Australia!

Xx

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3 Comments

  1. Anna C says:

    So … in just a few days I will have to change my evening routine and find another website to look at before turning in during the next week. It is so exciting to watch that pink dot get ever-closer to Hawaii, but no doubt my excitement is nothing compared to yours.
    Izzy, I am not surprised at what Laura says about you – you’re a star! But so are you all. (Crazy stars, of course!)
    Time to get back to emailing people to encourage them to support your causes … maybe that’s what we should all do to replace the dot watching for the week. Keep rowing and stay safe!

  2. It is fantastic to see your little pink boat hovering over the top of the Hawaiian Islands on the map. Who will be the first to spot land? Once you have rounded Diamond Head and surfed across the waves on Waikiki Beach the Hawaii Sailing Club will be in front of you!!!!! We look forward to seeing you all step onto dry land and the first leg in the bag!
    It will be an amazing moment for you all and a wonderful achievement.

  3. Simon TY says:

    OMG you look,close now……when do you see land ? Any other bird life to keep you company ? Yachts yet ? In touch presumably by now with local coast guards ? There are soooo many things to ask. Hope that you can add a little more once on dry land ( without for one second stopping enjoying the few wonderful days of rest, stillness and quiet).

    Xxxx

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