Life on the Boat in Bad Weather June 16

Life on the Boat in Bad Weather

By Deb for Angela June 16, 2010

This is information that I have received over several days. If it seems a little disjointed that is why.

They have had lots of bad weather for about the last week. They have spent more time on anchor than they would have liked. The boat is a 24-foot long, 6 foot wide. It is the same size as RowofLife, which is a pair’s boat. Go Commando was actually made with slightly bigger cabins to accommodate 4 rowers. The row around Great Britain is about half as long as each of the rows across the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. It would be difficult to put enough food and supplies on the boat for a longer row. There is not enough room in the cabins for both rowers to be inside at the same time. When the SeaGals are on anchor, the still change watches every 2 hours (3 hours at night) and the people that would be rowing are out on the deck in the weather. Angela says in a text message, “On deck on anchor in piss down rain cold is just try and stay warm and during day is do chores fix things clean things tidy up the boat and ourselves.” A couple of nights ago she said in a text, “Storm last night big waves crashing over the deck. Nearly rolled over. Still on anchor waiting for change in weather. It is miserable here.” The weather sometimes makes it difficult to sleep. Angela texts, with the “turbulent waters” it is “like trying to sleep on a bucking horse”

I asked if they used the jet boil for a bon fire on the deck and started singing camp songs. Angela texted, “We do jetboil hot beverages at night but no songs. Not really a singing bunch.”

When they started their trip, almost everything was “fend for yourself”. They were not much of a team and definitely not as organized as they could have been. They did not have prior experience ocean rowing; they did not seem to understand the importance of having chores of cooking etc. assigned to a team members. With the time on anchor, they have done better with the food. There is some shared cooking instead of everyone fending for themselves. The clothes washing, however is still fend for yourself. If there is no hanging room left, you have to wait for another day to wash. There is 3 to 4 weeks of tough rowing left. As there are more challenges, we hope that there will be more team and less of an individual focus.