Polo and More, Barbados 2014 Issue 9 | Page 84

& More 2015 The team in La Gomera, Canary Islands deep in preparation for the impending journey ahead Bobby gives a ‘thumbs up’ on the high seas with James at the rear 82 adventure of this magnitude. They say that getting to the start line is half the battle. No truer words have ever been spoken! The costs of the trip are greater than an Antarctic exploration trip; sponsorship plays a key role in supplying kit for the team and food for the journey etc. The team also spent 8 days in Devon getting necessary courses and certificates under our belts to be given permission to leave the shores of Spanish controlled- La Gomera. These included sea survival, first aid at sea, navigation and yacht masters. Two weeks before the start date (3rd December) 16 team s comprising of 1/2/4/5 man teams from Australia, Sweden and the UK, to name a few, descended upon the small island of La Gomera in the Canaries to finish the final preparations for the race ahead. All the equipment was scrupulously checked by the duty officers (similar to military police) and once power anchors, 75 days of rations, wet weather gear and enough Sudocrem to lather an army were packed in tight, batteries checked etc. etc. etc. ad infinitum, we were lowered into the water for race start. There was a buzz amongst the crews with a mixture of trepidation, excitement and confusion about whose idea this was. The army team,including a double amputee and single amputee in their four man team, likened it to when they went to Afghanistan for the first time. The feeling of not knowing what was out there and what was going to happen was very strange; knowing that your fate was by and large out of your own hands. To this extent, when we were well into the trip and in one of the worse storms we encountered, and after two members of the crew had been thrown overboard, I saw a very non-religious crewman praying! There is a great line in ‘Any Given Sunday’ where Al Pacino says; “there are no atheists in foxholes” I found this very apt to our situation. When the 40 ft waves abated and we were left with small rolling waves from trade winds, sometimes giving our boat “Tiny Dancer” an extra 3-4 knots of speed, we enjoyed listening to audiobooks and music. There was much chatter on deck in the day time shifts but at night tiredness would get us due to each pair doing 2hrs on the oars followed by two hours off, every day, day and night, giving each pair 3 shifts in daylight and 3 in the dark. We would burn 6000 calories per day so the team would need to focus on each team member making sure they put this back into their bodies. After a month and we realised morale was low and body weight was decreasing we made 24 hr planned schedules in terms of water intake, food and sleep. This is all geared towards survival and getting the most out of our bodies when we were on the oars. We shared jokes and stories from time to time but with nothing to think about other than our arrival in antigua, collectively we became very competitive and focussed on our closest threat to winning the race- The army team -Row to Recovery. We landed in Antigua on the 21st January 2014, 48 days and 7 minutes after the fog horn went off in La Gomera. It is difficult to describe the feelings we felt after such a prolonged period at sea with so many near death experiences and mental meltdowns! We were relieved but also sad , knowing we were leaving the boat and the ocean behind. The ocean that had played with us continuously but in the end delivered us to land and our loved ones safely. Boats were tooting their fog horns as we meandered the winding inlet of Nelsons Harbour to the final curve when we saw our family and friends on the dock. Adrenaline and heightened emotions powered those last strokes to the waiting embraces of the people who had filled our minds for the last two months. I would do it all again for the arrival alone. Of course they always say that behind every great man, there is a woman, and this instance was no different.. except in this case it was 4 guys, and the woman in question was Lucy Northmoore, PR guru and Chef de Equipe... to whom we owe an immense debt of gratitude