Weather and some reflections 16:56.000N 49:02.000W
Row Across The Pond
Richard Hoyland and Steve Coe
Tue 2 Mar 2010 21:04
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steve
We are now blessed with fantastic tail winds and a following
sea,,, BUT we have a cross current which is making the rowing for any speed
really hard,,During the night a southerly wind and NW current made progress
slow.
Are we not deserving of some good luck??
We made a concerted effort to get south and have landed,
unpredicatably in this invisible current..
In comparison, (I never thought i would say this) but speed
was better had on flat , calm seas, even though the down side to those
conditions is the lack of any breeze to cool.. this causes heat exhaustion
especially where the only shelter from the sun is the oven like
cabin.
.
When tail winds seas arrive expectations run high,, they are
dashed,, we should be doing approx 2.5 to three knots we have had to work hard
for just 1 to 1.5
Moral on the little yellow boat is a bit low,,
The up side of the wind is we can rest in the oven/cabin
during shift breaks with more comfort...
I have missed numerous blog entries to congratulate the 12 man
boat, Great Britain 3 for crossing the Atlantic safely and
successfully,, Well done to all aboard.. Especially Bob who has made so much
effort to successfully row the atlantic..
Steve
Some blog readers will know some of the reasons why I am doing
this excessive rowing challenge, but not meaning to
oversimplify, to choose a challenge such as this, all you need a sense
of adventure and 'curious nature' and beyond that the reasons are not so easy to
explain.. For me though, the challenge needed to be a little more justifiable
and perhaps have a focus other than for my own satisfaction.
Today is a very significant day where my thoughts are very
much with my wife and family. I had for some time thought carefully abuout a
charitable cause that i could dedicate and raise funds for.. There were many
charities and each and every one very deserving. However, in a sad way
the choice was made a little easier for me when my late father in law was
referred to the Princess Alice Hopsice in Esher, I visited the hospice and was
quite staggered at the services they provide for their
patients.. Additionally, the care services working alongisde the
hospice included the Marie Curie Nurses who were angels in disguise
and helped Brian (father-in-law) and has family through
the most traumatic of times.. This is perhaps the sad part of growing
up, but I now understand the value and
importance of these, often silent providers of care services within our
community.
If you have already donated, on behalf of the charity, I would
like to say thank you. If you wish to donate to the Hospice there is a just
giving link via our web site.. Furthermore, If you ever see a collection for the
Marie Curie charity, then perhaps you may remember by association
with my little adventure and kindly donate.. For that I am sure your
donations will be gratefully received..
Rich...
One thought that has taken over today is the disbelief that
this will end at some stage. For over two months we have been working to the
same schedule of minimal sleep and excessive exercise and it's taking it's toll.
My hands take around 10 minutes to warm up before a shift as they are clawed
from all the rowing, I have pulled muscles in my left side and my knee is
starting to make strange noises ;-) I'm sure we'll keep going on, but it's
interesting to consider how much the human body can endure before
collapsing...we use only a miniscule of it's potential.
The miles seem to be clocked down quicker now and we seem to
be getting closer to the ellusive 50 mile days that will see us home in
two-three weeks time.
That's not the target..I've given up on those for the moment.
Happy to be rowing along at a good pace for now. Taking the
moments when they come, to grab the speed and then to not build your hopes
up...this is the way we are living at the moment. The weather is hot hot hot but
the winds are finally filling out behind us :-)
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