& 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
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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