Eleanor Carey | Writer
Eleanor Carey
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24.01.2022 Day 33 of 62 en route to Hawaii on our 2018 crossing of the Pacific by ocean rowing boat. . . . I don’t know how many days at sea it was cloudy for, but it was almost the entire first 30 days. The excitement in this diary entry is palpable with the amount of stars, planets and a moonrise all rolled in together! The night sky is unlike anything I’ve ever seen out there. Equally the sunrises and sunsets. ... . . . On land, when you look at the sky you normally only get to see part of it. Even watching a sunset there is usually a building or trees or a hill blocking out a huge part of that canopy above. But out there, on a boat that doesn’t rise higher than your hip, it absolutely engulfs you. It wraps you up and surrounds you like the most exquisite blanket. . . . Never in my life had I spent so many waking hours outside at night under the open sky. Never before had I had the time or patience to go outside and find not one, not two, not three, but four planets. Four! Which is half of them! (At least I think it is. I’m not really up to date about whether Pluto is or isn’t a planet currently ). . . . Really grateful here to @meg_hoskin because she had the foresight to download a stargazing app before we set off to keep a track of it all. . . . Another fun but necessary activity on the boat was cracking out the BGAN terminal - that is, the Broadband Global Area Network! To answer your questions, yes there is internet in the middle of the ocean. Yes it is very expensive. . . . The process of connecting to the internet is fun. It involves someone balancing on deck with the terminal pointed specifically towards the satellite, having to stay in place through the entire process. The terminal is connected to a wifi router via ethernet cable, which is then only activated at a specific time once the connection has been established. Due to the ridiculously expensive data costs (in the realm of $14AUD per 1MB, so for $1000 you only get about 70MB which expires after a month, keeping in mind we were at sea for 2 months sending video back), you don’t want to be connected for any longer than necessary! See more
24.01.2022 Day 36 of 62 of our 2018 #oceanrow from California to Hawaii. . . . The weather was still lumpy, bumpy and choppy creating pain and discomfort for all of us. I think the tiredness and length of being away from land and loved ones was really starting to take a toll by this stage.... . . . Cazz has been working her way through the audiobook of A Fault In Our Stars which I had seen the movie a few years ago. So when I came on shift at 8.30am we decided to leave it playing, but the sadness of it all got to me with (spoiler alert) Augustus’, a 17yo kid, deteriorating health. . . . All of a sudden I was wailing!!! Tears streaming down in a full ugly cry. Even in the moment I could see the ridiculousness (meanwhile Cazz rowing away, puzzled and laughing behind me - what kind of robot doesn’t cry at this stuff?!) and ended up roaring with laughter myself. But still crying. But laughing. . . . Between the craughing and the choppy seas it wasn’t shaping up tone the best day and further deteriorated with some more bad hits from broken waves. . . . All of us were covered in bruises and we would often point out to each other the most obscure located ones that we couldn’t see without the help of a mirror. . . . By the time it got to 5.30pm and the end of my afternoon shift I was absolutely jack of it. The straw that broke the camel’s back was getting hit in the head with an oar about 5min before my shift was up and I am a bit embarrassed to admit I cracked the shits and stormed off the oars early (which we never did!) to get away from relentless torment of the sea. Take THAT ocean!! . . . #oceanrowing #worldrecord #adventure #humanpoweredadventure #humanpoweredjourney #endurance #resilience #growthmindset #thisgirlcan #getoutside #juststart #teamwork #seasick #rowing #greatpacificrace #tantrum #inthewars See more
24.01.2022 Day 32 of 62 in the diary entries of our ocean row which was underway exactly a year ago. . . . We awoke from the squished piglets episode and everyone was sore! It was so cramped that we all had to roll over at the same time otherwise it was impossible. We set the rudder to maintain our direction at a bearing of 259 (which is West-Southwest) and we would wake up every hour or so to double check we were still going vaguely in the right direction, being swept along by the cur...rent. . . . It was a bizarre experience after rowing 24/7 to let go of that control and strange to see that we were still making progress purely with the current. Really, it felt a bit like cheating! But as soon as the sun rose, we resumed our 3 hours on, 3 hours off shift patterns again to maximise the number of miles we could do after having received the all clear to row at full power again. . . . The food cravings were at it again in full swing! I just wanted anything and everything I could possibly get my hands on that wasn’t our freeze-dried meal packs. Fresh food - veges, salads, meat were super high on the list as there wasn’t anything that really can replace the taste, texture and nutrition that these have on land. The things I’d had enough of were pasta, rice and the very specific feeling in your mouth that is re-hydrated minced beef - the basis of the majority of our meals onboard. . . . Later that night, my whole body just felt sore and everything seemed to be out of whack. The physical toll combined with the frustration of not being able to stay on bearing during my shift made me crack. I cried. Punched things. Yelled at inanimate objects and the sea. Not that it made a difference of course, except to release a little steam. The good times don’t last, but luckily neither do the bad ones. . . . #oceanrowing #worldrecord #adventure #humanpoweredadventure #humanpoweredjourney #endurance #resilience #growthmindset #thisgirlcan #getoutside #juststart #teamwork #seasick #rowing #greatpacificrace See more
23.01.2022 Day 30 of 62 and very nearly halfway through of the ocean row from Monterey to Honolulu last year! . . . We were still rowing 2 hours on/4 hours off to ensure we didn’t get too close to Hurricane Fabio. It was a really interesting section of the row that to be honest, I had quite forgotten about until re-reading all these entries! ... . . . The special thing about it was every shift, having 2 hours completely alone to listen to whatever you wanted and have all the headspace in the world. From 2.30-4.30am this day though, I chose to finish off with a bit of Christmas in July! Whatever it takes to get you through, right?! . . . Now I don’t know why and it’s not my fault, but growing up there were always 2 main Christmas albums in our house. One was Celine Dion’s These Are The Special Times and (because Mum really liked the tv show) Ally McBeal: A Very Ally Christmas. Listening to these brought up so many feelings of family and was about as close as I could get to them out there! (No but really, I 100% recommend if you need new inspiration this Christmas.) . . . Hurricane Fabio had been downgraded to Tropical Storm Fabio and we were starting to feel fairly confident we wouldn’t have to deal with conditions that were too severe. The currents and winds were a little more in our favour and we had managed 37nm (nautical miles) in a 24 hour period, which is 68.5km. This was all achieved with only one person on the oars at a time, compared to about a week before when we all absolutely busted our guts with 2 people on for two thirds of the time to get about the same distance. . . . For that day and the couple of days before, I was really thinking a lot about undertaking hard things and still believe and agree with everything I wrote over that time. Access to concepts and people is absolutely invaluable in making things achievable and doable that before seemed impossible. . . . Because of course, something will seem impossible (eg. rowing an ocean, or whatever your equivalent is) if you have never met or known someone in person that had done it before. Meeting someone like that in person, is truly transformative for accessibility and self-belief. See more
21.01.2022 Day 24 of 62 in our 2018 journey from Hawaii to California via ocean rowing boat. . . . Not surprising that after nearly a month of the same routine, same grey weather, same view that it was feeling a bit ground hoggy! The day to day routine out there was this:... . . . 8.30 - 11.30am - three hour row shift. The first hour would be with Cazz, then she would roll off to rest. Middle hour rowing alone, last hour rowing with Meg and then I would roll off. Cazz would call Stokey our weather router via the satellite phone each morning to see what weather was headed our way and give us new direction or waypoints. . . . 11.30 - 2.30pm - time to make lunch while Meg was rowing solo - this meant asking what everyone wanted to eat and hatch diving for their chosen meal packs. Beef stew, chicken fried rice, spicy pork noodle and spaghetti bolognese were some of the regular options. I’d get the jetboil out from underneath the cabin floor, hook it onto the wall outside, screw in the gas and light it up. We always said whoever was cooking should get paid danger money for handling fire and boiling water in a boat pitching up and down constantly! Once lunch was finished I’d try and have a bit of a rest, usually a 45 minute sleep before getting ready to go back out and row. . . . 2.30 - 5.30pm - 3 hour shift, the second and final rowing shift in daylight hours. . . . 5.30 - 8.30pm - Gorge on a snack pack (usually Oreos, fruit roll up, some nuts, maybe a rice crispy bar), check the in reach for texts from home, then Meg would make dinner. . . . 8.30 - 11.30pm - 3 hour night time row shift . . . 11.30pm - 2.30am - try and sleep for as much as possible after water wiping and sudocreme-ing your bum (to avoid and manage pizza bum), but you get woken up every hour by other people in and out of the cabin. Pretty much for the whole row, nobody got more than an hour of uninterrupted sleep. . . . 2.30 - 5.30am - this for me was always the most difficult shift of the day, waking up in the middle of the night, cold and wet (even in bed) and the absolute last thing you want to do is get up and row! . . . Eat, sleep, row, repeat. This was the routine for 62 days, non stop. See more
21.01.2022 Day 41 of 62 in our ocean rowing journey from #california to #hawaii. . . . The talk on food is never ending! My favourite meal pack by far was Salmon and Broccoli. I think I have described it before - the pasta, the creamy sauce, the little salmon pieces, the broccoli florets. Weirdest thing is I thought it sounded by far the worst meal pack before we got on the boat and I actually bargained with @meg_hoskin and @cazzlander to get rid of some of mine!... . . . Getting closer to the end it was of great importance to calculate just how many Salmon and Broccolis I had left so I could eat them as frequently as possible without running out too far from the end. All our meals were eaten with the one utensil - a long handled spoon from @vango_outdoor which still gives me strong feelings to this day. Yes, from a spoon. . . . Day 41 brought our final Present Moment visit. We had been waiting for days to see them as they had been behind us to check on Bojangles. The winds became so light that they had immense trouble catching us which is hilarious given the pace that ocean rowing boats can muster! . . . @erdeneruc was our chief safety officer for the race. If you haven’t heard of him before, do yourself a favour and check him out. He completed THE FIRST completely human powered circumnavigation of the globe - by foot, by cycle and by rowing. He holds the world record for the most number of days at sea in an ocean rowing boat - over a year - and holds some 13 or 14 other Guinness world records. . . . He was like our dad at sea. Always reassuring, always there for us with the calmest, deep voice on the end of the radio. . . . It was bittersweet, seeing them sail off into the sunset knowing the next time we would see them would probably be at the finish line. . . . That elusive place that was ever closer but still so far away. . . . #oceanrowing #worldrecord #adventure #humanpoweredadventure #humanpoweredjourney #endurance #resilience #growthmindset #thisgirlcan #getoutside #juststart #teamwork #seasick #rowing #greatpacificrace #presentmoment #oceandad #grateful See more
18.01.2022 Day 35 of 62 for my 2018 diary entries of our journey from mainland #USA to #OahuHawaii. . . . I remember this day well. When the wind gets to 25 knots (or almost 50km/h) and above it starts to have a pretty decent effect on the water. When there’s minimal swell and minimal swell you can have an almost glassy ocean, but as soon as there’s wind it disrupts the surface. The more wind, the bumpier the water.... . . . When it’s windy and bumpy like that, rowing becomes very frustrating. As you put your oar in the water, it is about a foot higher than your shin. But then you hit a bump which raises the other end of your oar sharply, having a see saw effect to slam it down into your leg. We were constantly covered in bruises and the vast majority we didn’t know exactly what shift or what wave caused them. . . . Overall since the first couple of weeks the weather was relatively calm so we were likely due for a bout of tougher conditions again and we got them. . . . Cazz has finished her shift at 9.30pm and headed back into the cabin. I think there was still the last of the twilight around when that spine tingling sound started from on my left hand side: the deep, crushing sound of broken water. It got faster and so much louder as it approached, as they always did. I turned to face it and registered a wall of white water that was bigger than any I’d seen before. . . . There isn’t anything you can do but brace. And in the split second before you start to plan for every possible scenario: if the boat capsizes, I hope it re-rights itself. I hope I don’t get knocked out by an oar in the process. If the boat capsizes and doesn’t come back around again, do I try to hold my breath and wait? Or do I grab the knife mounted on deck next to me and cut my safety line, risking getting separated from the boat? Which is certain death. . . . This was the ultimate question every time. Would I rather go quickly by drowning trapped underneath the boat, or go slowly after treading water in the middle of the night for as long as I could. . . . Luckily, I never had to make that decision. See more
17.01.2022 Day 45 of 62 in our 2018 ocean rowing journey. . . . Seems to be a pattern through this section of decreased writing. Signs that the lifestyle was becoming more and more normal, less things surprising us.... . . . The calculations were continuous with the drive to reach the finish line getting ever stronger. Always doing the maths if we do x miles per day it will take us x more days or if we can keep at this speed we will get there x much faster. . . . I think this was getting towards the time that @meg_hoskin pulled out her copy of Lonely Planet Hawaii downloaded onto her kindle before she left. . . . We started to dream of the soft, fluffy hotel beds, the countless restaurants cooking their fresh produce, the completely outrageous thought of WALKING sent me into a complete tailspin. . . . Because the boat is so small, and the deck is so crowded you can’t walk out there. It is literally impossible. The maximum you can manage is about 2 steps down and even then you’re holding onto the guard rails (and by guard rails I mean length of rope between the two ends!) and your feet are spread wide apart to avoid spraining your ankle stepping on the life raft. Or even more importantly, to try and avoid setting off the life raft by accidentally stepping on it. . . . Walking is something we so take for granted. It is an opportunity to clear your mind, remove yourself from a stressful situation, a mode of transport, a form of exercise. And one of these days it would be returned as a possibility for us. . . . Hence the countdown and the calculations continued. . . . #oceanrowing #worldrecord #adventure #humanpoweredadventure #humanpoweredjourney #endurance #resilience #growthmindset #thisgirlcan #getoutside #juststart #teamwork #seasick #rowing #greatpacificrace #walking #mentalhealth #physicalhealth #escape See more
16.01.2022 Day 34 of 62 of our 2018 ocean row from #California to #Hawaii! . . . Drumroll please because this was the day that we finally reached the warm place! The ever promised, continually desired ever since day 1 of the race. The first weeks were brutally cold, especially at night time when drenched with unexpected waves. We never would have thought it would take until day 34 to put a pair of shorts on!... . . . This brought a new set of challenges with it. One for me was the extra time preparing for daytime row shifts because the area I had to sunscreen went from the back of my hands and face, to now sunscreening legs too. Lots of people have asked how my skin fared out there and to be honest it was much less onerous than I expected mainly due to being covered up for the vast majority of the journey. . . . Another new (well, kind of but kind of not) challenge was with the flying fish. If you’ve never seen a one, they probably look exactly how you’re imagining. A small fish body with wings, kinda like if a dragonfly mated with a tuna. These fish have the ability to jump out of the water and actually fly, changing directing and soaring over waves and everything! Sometimes they are in flocks and you just see this swarm of fish flying over the water. It is insane. . . . The problem with flying fish is that when they timed it wrong, they ended up in our boat or literally on us. They would end up in the hoods of our jackets or hitting you in the head or legs. They would end up inside the cabin, sometimes finding their squished little bodies down the cracks of our mattress, no idea how they got there. The second photo is one little guy that landed straight on my leg! At their biggest, they can be up to 3 inches long and 2cm thick and hurt quite a bit when they made impact. . . . The nights were always the biggest influx of flying fish onto the boat as they seemed to be attracted to our red and green nav lights. Every morning we would clear the deck of fish from the ones we missed in the darkness overnight, usually finding 10-20 fish each time. Reflecting on things like this that are such a normal, everyday occurrence at sea that are so far from reality here on land. See more
15.01.2022 Day 21 of 62 for our 2018 ocean row from California to Hawaii and oh loooordy what a treat you’re in for today. . . . I deliberated long and hard about whether or not to actually post this one ... but in the end the truth won. Because this is what life is really like on an ocean rowing boat. There are no boundaries, nothing is off limits, everyone experiences everything together for better or for worse.... . . . Life is also mundane out there sometimes, as you can tell by the sheer excitement and glee of discovering I had peanut butter crackers in one of my snack packs which was a completely new taste after 3 weeks. In other food explanations, squash for any other nationalities is the British version of cordial which they are strangely fond of (hey @meg_hoskin @cazzlander - Cazz I think wouldn’t have survived without squash on the boat because she dislikes water ) . . . If you haven’t already (and only if you dare) swipe over to the second page of the diary entry. . . . Now like I said, I was so hesitant posting this but I did commit to giving the whole story out there. . . . Now one of the things I was most scared about before getting on the boat was going to the toilet. It’s just a small black bucket, on the deck. With the row schedule 24 hours a day, it means someone is always on deck which means there is usually someone watching you do your business. Confronting. . . . But it surprised me how little time it took to get used to it, and something that seemed so gross and weird and a bit creepy to become completely normal. . . . So normal, that you would have full conversations and even laugh or cry while going to the bathroom. . . . We did have a few guidelines around on the boat though: . . . 1. Try to go during the day, not at night. Statistically it takes longer to poop. At night you can’t see the waves coming and if you’re on the toilet for longer, you are at much higher risk of getting smashed by a wave with your pants down, therefore unless completely necessary don’t go at night. . . . 2. Very simply was don’t look me in the eyes while I’m wiping. . . . And that’s it really! If you’ve read this far, you could probably stomach an ocean row. See more
15.01.2022 Day 28 of 62 in the ocean rowing tale from Monterey to Honolulu. . . . In our first days at sea we experienced a severe storm. Coming into Day 28 we got the news from Stokey, our weather router via satellite phone that the tropical storm nearby us had strengthened into a hurricane. A Hurricane named Fabio.... . . . The 2018 Pacific season produced the highest accumulated cyclone energy on record with 23 total tropical storms and 13 hurricanes. . . . There was no point panicking about it, at this stage we had no idea how close we would get to the eye of the storm. We just had to wait and see. . . . The nature of ocean rowing, you can’t fight the currents and the winds, so there are only two possible options: keep rowing which would take us towards the hurricane, or stop rowing and drift, which would still take us towards the hurricane in a different direction. . . . Another third option is of course to go on para-anchor, but the conditions and danger weren’t bad enough for us to consider this just yet. . . . So hurricane looming, we just carried on rowing waiting to see what our fate would be and what would come to pass. . . . If you had told me this was going to happen prior to our departure, not going to lie it probably would have freaked me out and some level of panic would have occurred. . . . But hearing the news out there, once we knew what the boat could handle and equally knowing what the 3 of us could handle together, I was surprised how calm I felt. To be ok with the waiting and ok with not really having any control over the situation. . . . I can’t say it’s as easy with life back on land not to freak out and panic. Anyone who knows me would probably say I’m a pretty emotional person - sometimes for better and sometimes for worse. But at the very least now, I try to wait until the hurricane and it’s land equivalents have actually descended before having a reaction that’s too extreme or emotional. I definitely don’t always succeed, but I figure all you can do it try each day. . . . Moving right along, I will make brief mention only to the part about washing undies for the first time ... you can guess if you dare how many pairs I took on board! See more
15.01.2022 Day 42-43 of 62 from our 2018 #pacificocean row. . . . These were obviously a couple of very unremarkable days at sea. Couldn’t even muster the energy to comment on anything other than being bored!... . . . Well and truly Groundhog Day by this point. There are only so many times you can eat, sleep, row before it becomes so normal and an inherent part of who you are. . . . From memory, it was starting to get a lot warmer. The sun shining on our backs during the day, chasing it until it disappeared over the horizon. . . . We would spend hours talking about food. Dreaming of what we would cook, what we would buy at the supermarket, the first drink we would order when on land. . . . We would create mystery box challenges like on Masterchef, asking @meg_hoskin ok so if you had chicken breast, a lime and dark chocolate, what would you cook?! . . . Admittedly it wasn’t a great game and usually ended up with an answer like umm ... baked chicken breast with a lime and chocolate sauce?! . . . I had also taken to searching back in the photos on my phone for any pictures of food. My favourite ones to gaze over longingly on breaks included my niece’s 1st birthday cake, a juicy cheeseburger with chips, and a giant salad made on top of half a roast pumpkin with radishes and a balsamic glaze. . . . People would send us jokes and riddles over the @garmin inreach and @cazzlander’s sister would send us geography questions that we would sometimes work on for days. . . . We had listened to all our music over and over again and were starting to request each other’s phones to be plugged into the sound system when we were on solo shifts to keep ourselves entertained. . . . Just another day at sea. . . . #oceanrowing #worldrecord #adventure #humanpoweredadventure #humanpoweredjourney #endurance #resilience #growthmindset #thisgirlcan #getoutside #juststart #teamwork #seasick #rowing #greatpacificrace #lettersfromhome #hungry #fooddreams #foodporn See more
14.01.2022 Day 53 of 62 in our 2018 ocean row from California to Hawaii. . . . After spending so long in the open ocean without an object in sight to be concerned about hitting, it was strange to have to consider this possibility as we drew closer to land.... . . . With nearly 500 miles to go, we had to carefully consider our approach to the Hawaiian islands. As you can see on the map, our final destination Oahu was past a few other islands. (We always talked about how rude it was that they didn’t set the finish line on the island of Maui which is the closest one to California! ) . . . North of #Maui and #Molokai were these FAGs. I had been hearing on and off about these FAGs but it wasn’t until we drew closer to them that I realised what they actually were - Fish Aggregating Devices - and were also called FADs. Whoops. . . . On our approach we weren’t sure whether they had a light or not, so collectively we were concerned about hitting them in the middle of the night and having all of our Great Pacific Race dreams dashed so close to the end. . . . After discussing with Stokey, Erden and Chris we decided on the best approach and then stuck to our guns. . . . Note that our track in orange on the map is not from day 53 and we weren’t this close to land yet, map just included for context of the Hawaiian islands. . . . #oceanrowing #worldrecord #adventure #humanpoweredadventure #humanpoweredjourney #endurance #resilience #growthmindset #thisgirlcan #getoutside #juststart #teamwork #seasick #rowing #greatpacificrace #speaker #professionalspeaker #fads #fish #waypoint #hawaiianislands #nearlythere See more
13.01.2022 Day 25 of 62, throwback to one year ago when we were rowing across the Pacific Ocean. . . . The only way to differentiate time out in the middle of the ocean is by creating your own milestones. For me it was counting down every 7 days to pepperoni day and separating out the 6 letters I took from family and friends so that I always had something to look forward to. ... . . . We still hadn’t reached the warm place nor the trade winds or currents yet, and no matter how much progress we made it always seemed like they were the same distance away. . . . On every row shift, we would decide what we wanted to listen to and we churned our way through a huge quantity of podcasts and audiobooks over the couple of months. Absolute godsend for our sanity. One of my favourites that is still with me to this day was Richard Branson’s latest book Finding My Virginity. He has always written a lot - letters, journals, books, the whole lot. . . . Writing is a habit which I have always admired in others, and although I had finished writing a book about the cycle trip I did in Europe a few years ago I still didn’t consider myself a writer. I always thought it must come naturally to some people and that it wasn’t effortful for them - people like Richard Branson. But he spoke about it in terms of writing being a habit, the same way you go to the gym or practice a musical instrument. It is just something that you have to DO and build into your routine. . . . I don’t think there are any writers in the world that would say writing isn’t effortful for them, at least some of the time. I think it is a common misconception that the arts and anything creative you just wait for the inspiration to strike and that is when you do the work. But if we rely on that, it will never get done. . . . Listening to this book for me helped to identify that I had a strong desire to write, but that I needed to develop the habit and the discipline around it. I’m still working on it to this day, but certainly as you keep practicing and working that muscle it becomes a little easier. As long as you keep showing up, and just do something. Anything. See more
12.01.2022 New article up ... How do you row an ocean? More specifically, how do you decide to row an ocean?... The answer is again and again and again.
09.01.2022 Day 37 of 62 and we are on the countdown to making it halfway for distance! . . . Although we were nearly 2/3 of the time at sea down, we were still just under halfway for the actual distance. The reason for this is the trade winds and currents that pick up considerably at that mark, meaning that we went from covering 20nm per day in the first section to the last section being able to do double that and more.... . . . I feel like this entry is much of the norm at sea and going through the motions. Podcasts, audiobooks, albums, lunch, dinner, snack packs and pain. . . . #oceanrowing #worldrecord #adventure #humanpoweredadventure #humanpoweredjourney #endurance #resilience #growthmindset #thisgirlcan #getoutside #juststart #teamwork #seasick #rowing #greatpacificrace #tradewinds #current #routine #thenorm See more
09.01.2022 Day 40 of 62 in our 2018 journey from mainland USA out to the Hawaiian island of Oahu. . . . Another significant milestone was achieved by fiiiiinally achieving 50nm rowed in a 24 hour period! Helped by some current and winds with a good helping of hard work. ... . . . The obsession with snack packs continues and we were starting to get more of an idea about when we *might* finish. We had to take enough food - that’s snack packs and meal packs - to last us 70 days at sea, so we were beginning to believe we would have some leeway in eating more each day. And by eating more I mean eating the good bits out of all our snack packs! . . . I think for all of us, the Oreos were a huge hit. If you’ve never tried them, try the double stuffed ones because they are so good! Somehow after eating them every day at sea and vomiting them up I’ve still come out of it loving them. It’s a miracle! . . . Also the milestone of the number of days at sea beginning with a 4 (of 40) felt huge. The difference in 39 days vs 40 was phenomal to my mindset and made the end feel that much more tangible. . . . Day 40 also brought the opening of letter number 5 of 6 and huge shoutout here to the beautiful @ash_barrow who hit a gal right in the feels in the middle of the ocean and reminded me of some relevant advice. . . . #oceanrowing #worldrecord #adventure #humanpoweredadventure #humanpoweredjourney #endurance #resilience #growthmindset #thisgirlcan #getoutside #juststart #teamwork #seasick #rowing #greatpacificrace #lettersfromhome #uncomfortable #doublestuf See more
07.01.2022 Day 38 of 62 of our ocean row from California to Hawaii. . . . Time to cover off an important (and time consuming) aspect of ocean rowing. Pizza Bum.... . . . Pizza Bum is a common complaint among rowers at sea and occurs due to spending significant periods of time perched on one’s bottom. 12 hours per day sitting on a cushioned and wet rowing seat, sliding back and forth, in thermals and salopettes that are also wet creates an environment where the skin degrades and these sores appear. . . . The salt water is one of the big contributors because our bodies just aren’t designed to be in contact with that amount of salt all the time. In the rare instances that your thermals and salopettes do actually manage to dry, tiny sharp salt crystals are left that irritate your skin with any friction. . . . Pizza Bum can present in a couple of forms if you can stomach looking at the photos #sorrynotsorry! One type is like giant pimples right under your sit bones. If you’ve ever had a bad blind pimple (perhaps on your face as a teenager) you might remember how painful they can be. So imagine that kind of pain and then sit your whole weight onto it and that’s what pizza bum feels like. . . . We would often spend the first few minutes of a shift or any time we stood up or changed seats wiggling our bums around and using our hands to pull and push our bum cheeks in different directions to find a spot that wasn’t enormously painful to sit on. . . . The second form pizza bum can take is in the second photo where layers of skin are sheared away in wide sections - that was from about week 2 whereas the other picture was a different pizza bum bout in week 5. . . . All jokes aside though, it can become very serious if not looked after properly. The sores can open up and become infected and this did happen to one member of the Uniting Nations Crew. The only way to treat is with antibiotics and spending 3-4 days in a side lying position letting the sores air - no sitting down allowed. . . . Because you can’t see your bum without a mirror, it truly becomes a team effort to monitor each other’s bums and flag if any particular area is worsening. See more
07.01.2022 Day 51 of 62 in our 2018 ocean row and we are really starting to get to the pointy end now! . . . A huge amount of time now is spent counting down to the finish line. Calculations of speed and distance again and again, accounting for every eventuality and option.... . . . We were managing to do 9nm per 3 hour shift which is almost 17km. This is an absolutely phenomenal pace when you consider that at the beginning of the race some days we could only manage 20nm total! . . . After being stuck in that eddy, the UN boys made it to land and we were getting messages galore via the Garmin inreach. We heard how they had beer brought out to them on their boat - NB: only after the official finish line which is created in between the Diamond Head Lighthouse and the Diamond Head buoy. In order for it to be an unassisted crossing, you cannot accept any help or physical items from another vessel. . . . We were sitting on the boat just imagining the emotions that they must have been experiencing, feeling so close to them yet so far all at once. . . . Michael messaged and said that all the horrible nights are worth it! . . . But in all seriousness, even little encouragements like that mean the world out there. A special shoutout in this sense to @cazzlander’s host from Monterey, Zach. You see we overtook Zach’s living room to pack our meals before the race. For every day we each had a ziplock bag with 3 freezedried meal packs in it. . . . While we were out training, Zach and his housemate took the time and effort to make handwritten motivational notes to secretly slip into our ziploc bags, meaning that we would find them intermittently through the journey. . . . The joy in finding one of these little notes I cannot even explain! Such incredible wisdom for life hidden away in them, my particular favourites were Be like a post stamp. Stick to something until you get there! and Beyoncé wasn’t built in a day. . . . #oceanrowing #worldrecord #adventure #humanpoweredadventure #humanpoweredjourney #endurance #resilience #growthmindset #thisgirlcan #getoutside #juststart #teamwork #seasick #rowing #greatpacificrace #speaker #professionalspeaker #motivation #finishline See more
07.01.2022 Day 27 of 62 in our 2018 ocean row from California to Hawaii. . . . By this stage, with the seasickness having gone away for over a week and having gotten used to living at sea, the processing power of my brain was starring to get freed up to reflect more.... . . . I realised how much in day to day life we bribe ourselves to get through to the next moment, get the piece of work done, in a never ending cycle. I had been at sea for almost a month yet would still have thoughts every shift of eg. after this you can go and get a burrito or after this you can go to the bakery. Maybe the food deprivation and hunger had something to do with this but I was still amazed about the automatic way these thoughts would arrive, completely subconsciously. . . . These were obviously neural pathways that I used a lot (who am I kidding, still use a lot) in terms of motivation and bribery to complete tasks, that until the reward was removed and not an option I didn’t realise how frequently they came up. . . . The other really common ones were telling myself I could go to bed early that night or sleep in on the weekend to deal with the fatigue. Neither of these were an option on the boat, but yet I still tried to convince myself daily with these strategies. . . . So then with all of the regular motivators and bribes removed, I found myself asking what became the replacement, conscious motivator for those 2 months? For me it was many things. The most immediate was that if I didn’t get up and row, we would only be at sea for longer, increasing the risk of sickness, death or running out of food. Another big one was not wanting to let my teammates down, as we had all made this commitment to give it everything. . . . The biggest and most intangible one though was a drive to finish the journey. Ever since the idea arrived, it was like a fire had arrived inside me that was unquenchable by anything else than ocean rowing. The fire was so strong it could drive me when nothing else could. . . . I believe that for every human, something exists that can ignite this fire inside of them. I’m interested to know if anyone else has had this experience or if you’re in search of it? See more
05.01.2022 Last, but certainly not least, this journey wouldn’t have been possible without the help and support in epic proportions from so many people! A giant, enormous thank you to . . . The amazing Chris Martin from @newoceanwave. A legend in ocean rowing having made the first crossing from Japan to San Fransisco with Mick Dawson. Without his dedication and support, none of this would have been possible and he was there every step of the way with us. Thank you Chris!... . . . To everyone else at the Great Pacific Race who supported us - @erdeneruc, @nico.onyx, @hokephotog, @adacuciuc, Justin Adkin, Jay Huber and Mark. These guys kept us afloat, gave us extra knowledge needed, supported us emotionally, took photos, followed us at sea and most of all are just the best people to be around when you’re about to do something as ridiculous as row an ocean! . . . Big thanks to Stokey Woodall, who was our weather router on the end of the satellite phone every day, keeping us on course, out of hurricanes and ensured we ended up in the right part of Hawaii! . . . To the beautiful Flagg family who hosted myself and @meg_hoskin - Ryan @raflaggand, Marni @marniflagg12, and of course to Merielle who gave up her bunk beds and her whole room for us to take over! The family wouldn’t be complete without Cinnamon too of course, the most beautiful caramel coloured doggo you will ever meet. Thank you for opening your home to us! . . . Massive shoutout and thanks to all of our sponsors! @oakley, @audible, @summit_to_eat, @roobar_raw, @queezibics_travel_sickness, @rowtex_rowingclothes,@esph_fitforlife, @bamboo_clothing, @armadillomerino, @overboardbags, @firepotfood, @drinkoxylentbreathelife, @kokuasuncare, @peppersmithuk, @sharkbanz, @pyramidproducts, @bacchusyachtingseaschool, Vogan Accountancy and Kipper Sailing. All incredible products, all did the job insanely well. Thank you for your support! . . . [Continued ] @ Honolulu, Hawaii See more
