09 Jun 2006, Christ Church, Oxford
9/6/06
What a nice surprise, when something arrives on budget, ahead of schedule, and exceeds expectations.
I was living in my old college, University College Oxford, for much of June, and it seemed like a good opportunity to get my Atlantic blade painted up, as there are signwriters in Oxford that specialise in that sort of thing. But I was chatting with an aspiring ocean rower, Sarah Outen from St Hugh's (conspicuously bald, having just shaved off her alopecia-stricken hair - watch out for her in ocean-rowing circles), and she recommended that instead of the signwriters I should go to the Clerk of Works at Christ Church.
So I tracked down Karl Lemar, blade in hand. This was one of the two oars that lost its spoon on the Atlantic, and at the time I'd chucked it in the forward cabin, already thinking it might make a good trophy. I'd then whiled away several rowing shifts designing a suitable symbol in my mind, but when I tried to draw my design on paper I couldn't manage to make it look right.
So it was rather a half-baked idea that I presented to Karl. 'Err, well I think I'd like the yin and yang symbol in the middle, and a compass, and a couple of crossed oars, with maybe a dolphin and a rose in there somewhere.'
Turned out Karl was no stranger to the sea himself, having spent 25 years as a submariner, and although he was a man of few words, I got the impression he was pleased to help.
Front of blade
Detail on back of blade
I am very impressed and extremely pleased with the results. He'd brought all the elements together with far more artistic flair than I'd managed in all my hours of pondering. I've already booked him in to do the Pacific oars - although hopefully those spoons will have to be cut off rather than being severed by the force of waves in mid-ocean.
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03 Feb 2005, Yorkshire
Yesterday someone asked a very good question - won't I lose all my hard-earned fitness if I spend April swanning around on the yacht Steamy Windows?
I'd been worried about this, so I'd done some research. Apparently endurance fitness is much more resilient than, say, strength. If my training programme was based around building up lots of muscle bulk by lifting weights in the gym, that muscle would very rapidly disappear at sea when it's not needed. But my training programme is geared towards building up endurance, and that shouldn't suffer too much if I take 3 weeks off.
In fact, the break from routine could do me a lot of good - physical adaptations take place during rest, not during exercise, so a good training programme should include adequate recovery. And psychologically, it will be good to have a break from these long slogs on the WaterRower.
It's not like I'll be totally inactive, either - during the 2 weeks at sea I guess I'll be running around bracing the mainsail, or whatever the hell it is that sailors do. And I'm told that just being on a boat will be good for my core strength, as you're constantly using your back and stomach muscles to hold yourself upright against the motion of the boat.
And while we're ashore I can go running. So I think I'll be OK.
The ocean experience will be absolutely invaluable. I'll hopefully find my sea legs, which could make the difference between success and failure in the race. I've heard it rumoured that alleged 'food poisoning' has defeated a significant number of ocean rowers.
I'll also be able to practice my navigation, make sure my technology works at sea, learn about marine instrumentation, use Russ's Atlantic planner to plan my race course, and most importantly, test out my Green People sun cream.... Definitely worth skipping a few gym sessions for!
Roz Savage travel writer and photographer
Website: www.rozsavage.com E-mail: roz@rozsavage.com
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