another slog and flying fish anyone? 20:55.993N 26:45.532W
Row Across The Pond
Richard Hoyland and Steve Coe
Wed 20 Jan 2010 18:40
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Musings of steve....
last night was my toughest yet... i had the late start shift
which starts at 8 pm. richard was on first for two hours then me for two etc
until 8 in the morning. the second of these two shifts is the tough one and i
was up for this one.. over the last few days we had been making slow progress,
each mile was fought for with determination and discipline... So tiredness was
already building up.. during the night my eyes were rolling, i was fighting not
to close my eyes, determined not to give in to the minds attempt at shutting
down. the instruments on the bulk head, illuminated in red so as not to
affect night vision were dancing around and i was struggling to focus.
Physcological warefare was needed and I had start singing, now that is
enough to keep anyone or anything awake. Fortuanlety not even i could hear
my singing as my voice was completely lost in the sound from the crashing waves
all around. Yet another reprieve was given and i got through the first shift,
two more on this night to go. I knew it was to be a long night and the other two
shifts did not dissapoint and i can't tell you how i managed to keep going
until the life of another day appeared over the horizon... Sun Rise, that was a
good one! Another 12 or so miles clocked up nearer to our target...
Richards on second shift tonight and i think i can sense his mental
preparation for a long night ahead, It only recently this has happened and
ordinarily the nights (for me) have not been too bad. Just perhaps a few more
nights to acclimatise. We are accompanied by two or three massive multi coloured
fish.. they may even be blue and yellow fish tuna, but at a guess they are about
4 to 5 long and have been tailing us all day. Perhaps we look as appetising to
them as they do to us.. the only thing is they are so large we physically would
not be able get them on board.. although there would be enough meat on them to
last us all the way to Antigua.. The description for todays rowing is like
trying to row through treacle.. every stroke of the blades slips
through the water with relative ease but the response of the boat is
to be believed.. I wish there was a magic technique but sadly I am running
out of technical variations that might make a difference,,, I thinks
it just like it is cos it is...
for those who are not familiar with our boat, it is approx 23'
long x 7' wide, has a cabin aft for accomodation barely big enough for one, let
alone two. This primarily is our sleeping and resting area. It is insulated to
keep the heat out during the day, but this is compromised largely by the hatches
being open and closed. The hatches need to be closed of a night time whilst one
rows and one sleeps, and the reason why they must be closed is in case the boat
flips.. dont worry the boats are built pretty stable, (AH, thats why they
are so slow!!!!!) but a precautionary measure nonetheless. By
the way, nobody told us it was gonna be cold at night.. well
relatively anyway. It is always damp and whilst rowing you generate your own
heat. Whislt in the 'turkey oven' resting accomadation you are pretty well
stripped of all damp clothing. When shift change comes along, you get into
almost all clothing, including something called B1s (foulies, probably), step
outside into the darkness and feel the temperature difference of maybe 10 - 15
degrees.. acclimatisation is needed and once on the oars and rowing
commences, clothes become uncomfortable and they begin to be removed..
Soon think I wont bother with all that nonsense and just get cold for the
first 15 mins transition... Am I selling it to any wanna be ocean rowers... 23
mins to my next shift so gotta go,,, by the way writing ths has spanned two of
,my shift breaks, love it..
Babs dissapointed, with short response to last big blogg..
to my bro and sister, perhaps you stopped emailing now
we're not leading the field???? we're saving
ourselves...
to my other bro look forward to hearing from you but may be a
difficult time
Milke, Hope you enjoying your birthday still, believe you had
a couple of outings arranged...?
Sam, I Think richard is the grumpy one! (Richard annotates at
this point...."in his dreams")
No discussion today about ironing, needs must... gotta
go.
Download from Richard's fuddled brain...
its's true sign of getting close to the trade winds when the
flying fish start to appear (salty seadog that I am). They've started
flying into the boat at night on our beloved night shifts, so in the morning the
first job is to clear off the little critters. It's only a question of time
before one of us get a fish in the face in the middle of the night :-)
Tempted to leave my sunglasses on, just in case.
Yesterday I was rowing along (as I do) and a whole
gang/shoal/school/mob (delete as appropriate) of silver fish flew out of the air
and followed the boat..it was like the most spectacular firework display as the
sunlight flashed off of their scales. Then a massive blue fish flew
vertically out of the water about 2 metres, did a flip and splashed back into
the water...fabulous...now where did I put that video camera? everything happens
so quickly out here that my videos are going to be sparse :-( Mostly pictures of
the boring bits of life.....but I did get the shark on camera!
I was thinking over (during the night) how this adventure
would change me, and obviously there's still a long way to go, but I don't see
how it couldn't. So far the biggie is appreciate all the people around
you..they're special and a world without them would be a horrible place...it
takes total social deprivation to get you to wake up and smell the coffee (not
that Steve isn't keeping me entertained). Another is, you think you've got
problems...try rowing 3000 miles in a lump of plywood...puts it all into
perspective doesn't it!
To David, yes, there is absolutely no light pollution out here
the night skys are unbelievable, and any information you cn mail to us is very
much appreciated.
Pete, thanks for the jokes, even if they are australian ;-)
p.s. I understand that City beat United this week (Lou tells me that it was an
exciting match)
To Ben, Willow and Freya...hope you are enjoying school and
helping out around the house :-)
To Fiona, many thanks for the text, they keep us going through
the pain.
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