Boat's ready...but what about the flares and the weather :-(
Row Across The Pond
Richard Hoyland and Steve Coe
Tue 1 Dec 2009 19:46
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With five days to go we've got the boat ready for
the start. We've fine tuned all elements that will make life on the boat more
bearable and hopefully safer for the journey. Now it's things outside of our
control that seem to be starting to impact our chance to leave La Gomera on the
6th December.
We've heard that there's a weather front heading in to the island which could bring 20 - 25 knot
winds to the area...which is not unusual for the race but could be a problem
with fresh faced Atlantic rowers hitting the high seas for the first time :-)
They suspect that there would be a good deal of sea sickness and hence
retirements if we were to start out in rough weather. All very sensible but
frustrating.
The other factor is that all the flares for the
race have not arrived and we can't start without them. They are due to arrive on
Monday so it could be Tuesday at the earliest for the race to start. This is a
real didappointment for family and friends who have organised
flights/accomodation to see us at the race start. Fingers crossed that
this gets sorted quickly and we manage to ensure family are still
around for the race kick off.
It's not an unpleasant place to spend a few extra
days but we all just want to start the race and get the job done. We could have
a mini-race on Sunday to keep us amused, the Gomera Cup which will be time on
the water, but ultimately we will be coming back to port :-(
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