Days before the race...
We flew out to the Canary Islands on Tuesday, the 15th of November. When
we
landed in Tenerife, it was easy to spot one or two of the other rowing
teams
i.e. those people with their own plane load of bags. The day after we
arrived, we were reunited with Christina. It was good to see her again
and
thankfully there wasn’t a scratch on her from the trip over here
from
Ireland.
It was great to see all the other boats and meet the teams. There
are some
amazing people out here. For the first week, all the boats were out
of the
water beside each other in a little compound near the marina, where
all the
teams were busy working away on their boats, installing equipment,
making
last minute changes as well as packing supplies.
All boats were scrutinized by the event organisers Woodvale Events,
to make
sure we are all fully prepared for the upcoming voyage across the Atlantic.
We also had a medical kit examination to ensure that we not only have
all
the recommended medical kit contents but that we know what everything
is for
and how to use it.
One of the boats beside us, a French boat called ¨bout de vie¨ is
being
rowed by two amputees. Frank and Dominique have one leg and are two
of the
most amazing people I have ever met. Frank lost his leg in the Lebanon
in
1983 and Dominique, a fireman, was accidentally shot in the line of
duty and
lost his leg. Not only are they two amazing people but two nicer guys
you
couldn’t meet.
We spent the next few days fitting our vent, anti fouling the boat
(which
prevents barnacles growing on the hull while we are at sea), setting
up our
steering system, fitting some new footplates, setting up our sea anchor
and
drogues as well as a million other things. It is very important that
as we
pack our supplies we distribute the weight evenly around the boat so
that
she sits nice and flat in the water.
Our Spanish isn’t great so getting supplies locally was basically
like a big
game of charades - I reckon we would give Twink and Derek Davis a run
for
their money now. I have to say we did spend some time looking at other
boats and some of the high tech equipment on board and think wow or "why
didn't we think of that". However I have to say that although
we may be one
of the more basic boats in the race, we are very happy with our set
up.
Things are very simple and straightforward which I think is good, the
less
that can go wrong the better.
Both Tori and I feel so alive and inspired out here. Its great to
be
surrounded by fellow dreamers who are so keen to realise their dream
of
rowing across an ocean. I find myself feeding off their energy, there
really is a tremendous buzz out here. Most of the teams are really
sound, a
few clowns but by and large everyone is really nice and very helpful.
Eamonn and Peter Kavanagh, the owners and builders of our boat arrived
out
here on Tuesday, 22nd of November to see us off and it has been absolutely
fantastic to have them around giving us last minute advice and tips
for our
crossing. I can honestly say that we would not have made it this far
without their help and guidance.
Everything was running fairly smoothly up to a few days before the
race when
we realised we had forgotten our USB cables for our I pods which we
needed
to charge them on the boat. After spending a day looking everywhere
all
over both LA Gomera and Tenerife, we realised that our I pod which
is a Zen
Sleek Creative is apparently a very new model and is not out here yet.
I
cannot stress to anyone how important music is on this trip as both
to keep
the mind occupied on those long lonely nights of rowing but also to
pump us
up when needs be. Nothing like a bit of ACDC or a blast of "eye
of the
tiger" to get you going.
Thanks to many of my friends and especially my Dad at home who I think
called everyone apart from Bertie Ahern, we managed to get them put
onto an
Aer Lingus flight out here so that they arrived on time. So our music
dilemma was sorted out and I cannot begin to explain how big a relief
that
was. 2nd problem was our video camera equipment could not get out here
on
time and we could not get what we needed out here. As I write these
notes
(2 days before the race start), we are still trying to pull something
out of
the bag, so to speak as we do have a production company in Ireland
who are
very interested in making a documentary on our trip, fingers crossed
on that
one. Whatever about a documentary, it would be really nice just for
ourselves to have some footage of our trip.
So Friday arrived, two days before the race start. We had the official
race
party on Friday night, at which it was announced that the race was
being
postponed until Wednesday, the 30th of November because of a nearby
tropical
storm. We will encounter storms on this trip but the problem now is
that we
are not clear of land so the danger is that the boats could get and
would
have got blown back onto one of the Islands if we had left on Sunday.
As I write these notes, it is Monday, the wind is howling and gusting
at
about 45 miles an hour outside, the swell isn’t huge but the
race organisers
were definitely right to postpone the start. The forecast is for north
westerly winds on Wednesday which is great as these will push us south
and
help us clear the Canary Islands. After that it’s up to us.
The next update will come via our satellite phone through Limerick
95fm and
the Gerry Ryan show this coming Friday. We will also be updating this
site
ourselves as we go typically every four to five days. For anyone who
is
reading this, if you have not already done so, please text the word "row" to
57252 to donate €2 to Concern and get as many people as you know
to do the
same. After you send your text you will receive a reply saying thank
you
And asking you to reply with "yes" if you would like to receive
your own
personal update each week from Tori and I in the Atlantic, this will
only
cost you €2 each week and it goes to Concern. Please get as many
people as
you can to contribute this way.
Both Tori and I are very excited about finally setting off on our
adventure.
I'll sign off for now. You can follow our daily progress on the official
race website - www.atlanticrowingrace.co.uk and
then every few days this site
will be updated with our personal log.
Let the games begin !!
