As I’m sat here typing away in the hot festering cabin I cannot believe we have been at sea for over a week! Time is flying by.
It was a strange thing leaving the marina of La Gomera, as we rowed away slightly giggly and hysterically, it took us about a good 3 miles to realise that this was it- no turning back now. A sudden realisation that oh, actually, we can’t turn back – no more training rows. We looked back to the mountains of La Gomera and Tenerife and all thought to ourselves this is a bit mad really, are we really doing this? And on we went.
Hi ALL! Apologies for the radio silence, today is day 5 and the first day we’ve been able to consider sitting in a small hot cabin and write a blog without vomiting everywhere.
The first two days were exhausting, the weather – although great for a fast start – was a real baptism of fire. Strong winds, huge waves, torrential rain to the point that you couldn’t see and A LOT of sick from Lauren and Gee. I have so much respect for those two girls, they battled through every bout of vomit, got on the oars and stayed as cheery as you can do when feeling that ill. Gee was very grateful that we cleaned the bucket with angel smelling disinfectant in La Gomera! Olivia was a little sick and my iron stomach lived up to it’s to reputation.
Tuesday night had the fleet crowded around Wa’Omoni, the Antiguan team ‘Wadadlis’ boat for a rum (rocket fuel) party. These guys know how to row an ocean, and how to have fun with it! Packed into their R45 you will find pots and pans, a pressure cooker, packets of rice and tons of fishing kit! Based on the taste of their rum punch at the boat party – setting foot on Antigua is set to be bright! Read more
On Monday we landed in La Gomera, the island we are calling home for the next two weeks whoop whoop (Gee pictured to the left there dishing out beers aboard the ferry from Tenerife).After checking into our epic 8th floor apartment overlooking San Sebastian’s harbour, we were shortly reunited with Mrs Nelson, standing out brilliantly in her bright Codestone green.
Seeing all the little row boats lined up along the harbour wall is more than surreal. We are tucked away at the back of the fleet next to the only other all female crew, Yorkshire Rows. The boats are behind a locked fence that rowers and their families can access, the tourists arriving on the ferry every day relentlessly peek through the meshed wire pointing and taking photos.