a 'shift in the life of an ocean rower'...and what direction? 19:28.321n 34:15.665
Row Across The Pond
Richard Hoyland and Steve Coe
Thu 4 Feb 2010 18:17
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Steve...
Ok,,, its 0200hrs and its a typical shift changeover, just
this one is night time to add a bit of drama..
The sky is inky dark and you can just about make out details
on boat.. and getting around the rolling pitching & pitching boat
requires care,falling over the side is not a good idea. 5 mins before
changeover Rich is in the cabin getting ready, Visible throught the hatch is his
torso and head which seem disprortionately large in size against
the cabin door size which is about 60cms square, The door opens and rich
exctacates himself miraculously throught this tiny accessway. He sits on a
little seat in front of the hatch and counts down the last minute of my rowing
shift, half minute he shouts out above the wind, 15 seconds, time up,, I
slide the oars in and secure them from potential sea damage.. I remove my
soft seat pads, a mix of various materials to my storage to the right
side of the boat,, we both then carefully move past each other, (not much said).
Each of us going to their right and holding on for fear of losing
balance, Rich then takes the rowing for 2
hours..
I proceed hastily to an earned rest. Open cabin
door, remove rowing shoes, lift one leg over door
threshold, place inside of cabin well, lower my whole torso and
place arm, shoulder and then head through hatchway then push my whole
body through opening and sit knees bent and head just touching cabin
roof inside hatchway.. remove gloves, hat and head torch,,, collapse onto
matress and sigh a big sigh of relief for the well
needed rest,, Lie down and push one self to lie head towards back
of boat . remove one leg of shorts, gonna be back in oars again in 2
hours so no need to remove completely, just allows a bit more comfort,
Then remove lycra top like a houdini movement in a space with min head room of
only 50cms, again only remove one arm and torso, this goes back on again too
in an hour or so,,, Again allow a couple of moments to relish this
blissful comfort.. Nurse carefully those tender ares which after thurty odd
days need careful management.. all in all not so bad...mmm . Mostly using
alcohol gel & sudocreme..
10 MINUTES,, I hear richard shout from outside on the oars...
OK, i shout back just having woken,, Where did that hour and half go???
Mostly, beforehe calls I am already awake having now got into the pattern
of sleeping for 1.50 mins,,, Lying on my back, I hook back
of my heals on matress and pull my whole body weight down towards foot well, sit
up and replace clothes, gather head torch and most difficult of all OPEN the
hatch to the world again, Next extract yourself through this even more tiny
hatch, (gets smaller when tired), Grab a chocolate bar or energy drink and count
down the time change over again,,, back on the oars again ROW,,
Now, why am I doing this????
cos there is nobody else here to do it for me,,,
Richard...
We've been tackling the cunning art of navigation on our
little plywood home and trying to figure out whether we should be sticking to a
direct route to Antigua or going with the prevailing conditions and running with
the weather. This becomes a really sensitive point mostly in the middle of the
night during the shift changes...image two grumpy sleep deprived blokes trying
to communicate concepts such as wind direction changes+the nuances of wave
type+changes to weighpoints in the GPS+alterations to targets on the compass.
It's as much as most blokes can do to choose a shirt to go to work in for that
working day (I include me in this category, when I usual wake for work at
6:20am). Most decisions we make on the boat are for fundamental
reasons and have large implications....
One decision we got right early on in the race was to quickly
deploy the para-anchor shortly after leaving Gomera (which saved us being blown
South)...one decision we got wrong was a recent evening shift when we tried
to keep to an impossible bearing (leading us to lose loads of
speed).
The point to make here is that our lives on board have been
stripped down to a simplicity that requires no thinking about the trivial...I
have two pairs of rowing shorts (the closest will do), I have one mug for
coffee, I have one rowing seat to sit on with one cushion (not shared mind you).
If you can strip the trivial out, life becomes so much simpler...so the next
time I'm in Starbucks it's not a super-frappamochaccino with vanilla, it's a
white coffee for me :-) Maybe the row will leave a lasting mark on me in that
respect, hopefully it will...it's refreshing to be living without any of the
fancy by products of a modern life and everyone should try it for a while. (I'll
not be getting rid of the 50 inch plasma though..that would be
crazy).
Having said that here's my list of things I would kill
for....
1. Cold drinks...coke, beer...mmmmmm
2. Fruit and veg..something that isn't dehydrated
3. Human beings (and family) to talk to...I thoroughly intend
to talk to everyone in English Harbour, Antigua, when we arrive
4. An armchair that is soft, doesnt move around and doesnt
kick you in the ribs
5. A bed with clean soft fluffy sheets and a down pillow,
fluffy duvet.....nice
...see most of those weren't that extravagant..so it tends to
be the simple things in life that give us the most pleasure :-)
Making good speed today, fingers crossed...no more wildlife to
report, just the birds that visit us every few hours. Scraping the boat
later...so hopefully no sharks :-)
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