Explore Adventure Holidays

Editor’s note.

This is possibly the last on-board blog from the girls. They are that close to the end. Mel mentions that they are going to be going for it in the next few days, chasing down the boys ahead and keeping in front of the boys they’ve overtaken. There will be a big update once they hit land of course!

Current Position

Mel – Blog w/c 15th March

Hurrah – we’re back in 13th place – it’s great to see the hard work we’ve put in over the last few days has paid off. We upped the hours on the blades from 12 (which was what we’d normally be doing) to 16 – and then upped it again to 18 at the weekend, which is what we feel is the absolute maximum. It’s damn hard work but we managed to “hoik” ourselves back from 17th to 13th it was all worth it.

The extra hours on the blades do have a huge impact on us as we get very little sleep now (not that we got very much before) and we still need to eat and do our daily chores; making water, navigation etc., so with any spare time, chores have to come first and sleep second. But we only have a few more days to go, so we’re hoping we can do without sleep.

Existence has become very functional – just row, eat sleep, row eat, sleep. It could easily become a chore, but we try not to let that happen. On Friday it was absolutely sweltering hot and despite the fact that we were chasing down boys, we just jumped in the sea and went swimming. It had got so hot that we didn’t know what to do with ourselves and it’s actually quite torturous to sit rowing with the sea so close so we thought, “you know what, we’re going to take 10 minutes out and go for a swim”.

On Saturday night we drank our last alcohol on board. We had white wine sachets. We very much enjoyed those, watching the sun go down, so although it’s hard work on Explore it can be fun too. As much as we want to be in Antigua, we’re very aware that we only have a few days left on Explore and we want to savour them. Despite the hardships, we really are loving this and we’ll miss it when it’s all over.

Message from Explore’s  PR & Sponsorships Manager: We’re into the final few days of Team Explore’s epic journey across the Atlantic now and they are putting everything into it as they fight to win the British Record. They need to row at least 40 nautical miles each and every day to stand a chance and at the moment they’re travelling around 42 every 24 hours. They’re doing extra shifts at the oars so sleeping less and having to get through pain barriers every day with sores, blisters and aching muscles, but as Annie says in her latest blog, “We’re on the home stretch now and the last thing I want to be saying to myself when it’s all over is, “If only”!

Again, take a few moments to send them some encouragement as every positive message they get in the next few days will spur them on. They are only 300nm from the finish line, so it could all be over by this time next week!!
http://www.atlanticworldfirst.co.uk/sayhello.php

Since the last blog the weather conditions have done sort of what they were supposed to have done. But we need them to improve and improve fast if we’re to achieve that GB record.

The swell has moved behind us over night, but the wind is still blowing strongly form the south. We need every day now, to be pretty much a 40 mile+ day, so we’ll be doing everything in our capability to achieve that including extra hours on the oars. That will of course mean less sleep but the sleep we do grab in between watches will be even more appreciated. We’re on the home stretch now and the last thing I want to be saying to myself when it’s all over is, “If only”!

Nothing much changes on an ocean rowing boat, so it’s hard for me to know exactly what you might like reading. Our thoughts and decisions remain pretty much the same day by day…

”What direction shall we take? I know…let’s go west to Antigua.

What shall we eat today? I know, let’s have freeze-dried chicken or freeze-dried lamb. (Not that it matters as I can’t really tell the difference anyway.) What shall I wear? Pants or no pants?

What shall I treat my thong with? Talc, Sudocrem, TCP maybe.

Do I need to drink more water? Of course I do.

Do I need to wash my hair? Of course I do.

Can I be bothered? Of course I can’t. “

It makes you realise how utterly unpredictabl         e your life at home can be. You never know who will be on the other end of the phone, knock on the door, who you’ll meet in the street or where you’ll end up when you get in your car.

I miss home life quite a lot. But something tells me I’m going to miss life on this little red boat quite a lot too.

Annie xx

Mel’s Blog – Monday 8th

Note – due to satellite comms problems, this blog is being published a little later than it should be, but hopefully it all makes sense anyway.

Hi everyone

Hope you all had good weekends having roast dinners, reading papers, socialising, going for walks in the countryside and other things which seem a world away to us.

Unfortunately we had what has become a typical weekend of battling unfavourable weather. The wind has been going gradually south and building and by yesterday (Sunday) we had made progress west in our boat which loves to go sideways. All we could do was north-west, but that was preferable to being on para-anchor. Progress has been quite slow and has required every ounce of energy on every stroke. During the worst hours we were only moving at 0.5 of a knot and half of that was in the wrong direction. Rowing is usually a pleasurable experience and when you place the blades in the water and drive down with the legs you can feel the boat pick up and as soon as you drag the blade through the water you can feel the boat go under you as you up the slide. It was so far from that yesterday it was laughable. Forget treacle, this was like rowing in setting concrete. Moving the boat required an almighty effort and up the slide you could feel her going backwards or sideways! And all that for 0.25 of a knot!

Effort like that costs though. We’re both feeling it today, pretty much everywhere. Thankfully the wind died off early evening and we were able to make progress west again. Today has been mostly west, although the wind is still gradually forcing us north-west at times. It’s supposed to die off and then come back from the east later today. We sincerely hope it does because at the moment, conditions are making that bar in Antigua seem a long way off.

Mel. xx

Annie’s Blog – Friday 5th March: Making Progress

The wind continues to be behind us and the swell with us so Explore is still racing on towards Antigua and all is good on board.

We’re currently trying out a new watch system, 3 hours on and 3 hours off during the night  instead of 2. Mel and I are both liking it – I feel if you can manage 2 hours o the blades, there’s no reason you can’t manage one more. But the real benefit comes in the off-watch. 3 hours sleep in one stretch is absolute luxury. Saying that though we are currently finding that neither of us can get enough sleep – the second we stop rowing it seems like we’re asleep. Why we’re suddenly more tired than we have been I don’t know. I guess 2 months at sea, exercising 12 hours a day is finally getting to us.

The other thing we can’t get enough of is food. I’m sure we’d eat while still rowing and during our sleep if at all possible. We’re probably going to be the only crew that actually puts on weight rather than lose it – and there was me planning out my new size 10 wardrobe. Oh foolish me!

All things considered though we’re both holding up well. I think I can speak for Mel too when I say our bums are still our most problematic areas – even the most hardcore pain killers are not reaching the spot. Thankfully the severe pain comes and goes. Last night I was trying to devise a plan where I could row standing up, but now I feel fine. My bum obviously has a mind of its own, which is a little worrying.

One thing that happened when we both were both on deck at the same time was we were privileged to be given a display of synchronised swimming by a group of dolphins – what is the collective noun for dolphins anyhow? (it’s a pod – Ed.)

They were leaping about all in perfect harmony and seemed utterly happy and carefree. There was probably mass fishy slaughter going on under the surface that we were totally unaware of.

Anyhow, time for a quick snooze and a bite to eat before I hit the blades again

Annie xx

We will be tracking Annie and Mel’s progress and posting more of their blogs here. Keep up to date and find out why we are supporting them here. Track their progress across the Atlantic here.