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4 women, 3000 miles, 1 ocean
Departure January 4th,
From : La Gomera, Spain
Arrival March 9,
Position: 16°59'50 N 61°45'00 W
Distance From Start: 2551 miles
Distance To Finish: 0 miles
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Help us close our Budget!
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POST 10/03
10 March, the arrival
http://atlantique.blogs.liberation.fr/
It was magical, simply magical, to make out land, in the distance, once the clouds of the nuit had drifted away. Because yes, our arrival was Ulyssean, to say the least… The gods didn’t want to let us through: torrential rains, Northern winds, then Southern ones, but in any case not Easter, and sideways lull for the last 72 hours at sea.
It was both the longest and shortest morning we ever experienced. Land was coming closer both too quickly and too slowly. It was there. 20 nautical miles from the finish line (1), we contacted the security boat of the island by radio (APSAR): “Apsar, Apsar, Apsar, this is RamDam, RamDam, RamDam. We are 20 nm from the finish line”. It was amazing. Amazing to get that message accross, amazing to see land. Things got quicker, land was getting closer.
The security boat met us 2 nm (2) before the finish line. We saw well known and less well known faces, just faces. The heart quickened a few minutes after, we heard “Hou hou hou hou!!!”, and the sound of a motor boat. It was the boat of our Gaul friends!!! On a fishing boat, boosted by an outboard motor, we saw men in the distance, balloons in their hands. Oh God! It’s amazing, it’s them!!! They were getting closer, were circling us. The two rowers who were resting starting jumping for joy (Catherine and Quitterie), the two who were rowing (Laurence and Laurence), well, were rowing for joy!
The foghorn sounded in the air. “Piiiiiiiinnnnnnn!!!”. Here we were, the finish line, the race was over. We arrived first in our category, fourth out of all categories. Catherine and Quitterie dove into the water to reach our friends’ boat and kiss them on both cheeks before taking over for Laurence and Laurence.
A second warm welcome was waiting for us further: the finish line was off the island, we had 4 nm left to go to reach the marina. We were escorted by many boats, bungees (3), of which one of the two Frenchmen who had arrived the previous evening (Karukera). The arrival in the harbor was magical. There were 500 of us. Even more. It was an explosion of joy, a crowd was waiting for us. So many faces, so many smiles, so many tears, what an energy in the crowd. We docked. One foot on land, we jumped into the arms of those who were there. Shaking, we made our first steps on solid ground, our hearts overflowing, our legs shaking. Noise, people, emotions, a lot of emotions.
What we’ve managed to do, we did it thanks to you, thanks to the support of every one of you. In the storms, the wind, through peaks and troughs of 5m, it’s in you that we found the energy to keep going, without ever saying die. Thanks to all of you. To our sponsors, to our ground team who always believed in us, and to all of the ones who were with us during the cross. We are happy and honored to have shared and lived our dream with you.
(1) Finish Line:
Latitude (North/South coordinates): between 17º00 North and 16º59 North
Longitude (East/West coordinates): 61º44.8 (let’s just say that we know this coordinate by heart !!)
(2) nm = nautical mille = 1 852m
(3) Bungee: small boat (1m50 long more or less, with a small motor) that large sailboats have. It allows passengers to let the boat drop at sea and visit the surrounding waters.
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| POST 9/03
64 days, 4 hours and 19 minutes...
They did it! Catherine Rémy, Quitterie Marque, Laurence de Rancourt and Laurence Grand Clément have just cross the line, THE line,after having rowed during 64 days, 4 hours and 19 minutes.
The RamesDames Team reach today the 4th place of the race. They are the first female boat and first "four-rowers-boat" to arrive! BRAVO! Pictures will be send verry soon from Antigua where the team will stay until the end of the week.
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POST 9/03
Terre en vue ! Terre en vue !
- SMS from Catherine (under coverage!), 12h39 today i.e. 11h39 GMT: LAND!
ETA: 18 hours, local time in Antigua i.e. midnight in Paris.
-very bad meteo conditions during the week-end.
-march 8th: Laurence G. birthday, celebrating her 32 years on the sea, Women's day, and Karukera arrival.
-today, march 9th, Rames Dames arrival is forecasted around 12pm local time i.e. 5pm in Paris and 4pm GMT...to be followen in real time, not on this blog, but, for practical reasons, on Facebook group or on Rames Dames's wall. Stay connected!
Last news from the front, with a navigation status yesterday at 2pm.
The girls are going to be carried away bellow 16N50' today, pushed by wind and current towards the south. Yet, tomorrow, a south east-south flow will establish which they would benefit from, in order to reposition at 17N0' then road towards the west in a flow establishing east.
It is mandatory to position at 17N before reaching the island otherwise unpredictable currents can appear between the islands.
Last days stories:
During saturday night, they faced contradictory winds then south wind. Very big waves crossed the boat. Quite dangerous.
During sunday night, from midnight to 4am, north east wind blowing 30 kt/35kt...which is called "grand frais" in marine language... although the girls had spontaneously called it tempest! It has been hard to handle, very intense, so much that they couldn't change quart. In the mean time, the current was pushing them to the south against their will. The wind was supposed to turn yesterday night.
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POST 6/03
And if the support does not come, use the pharmacy!
They make progress, they progress… Thank you for your miriads of encouragements!
Today, this is the last thematic post.
Being autonomous, yet and again. It has obliged us to prepare for many things, and in particular for a pharmacy. Here is a quick overview of what we would advise to take on your next crossing of the Atlantic (or other oceans).
We have followed two advices: the pharmacy that is mandatory as part of the race’s rules and the « small plus » recommended by the breeders of rowers.
Let’s start with the medical kit per say. It is composed of a anti-pain products, from paracetamol to opioïde for the lonely nights (WE ARE JOKING !). We also have a set of antibiotics covering a range of infections (ORL, skin, urine, intestines, etc.). The third major category: the bandages, to heal small and major wounds. Fourth category, the must « miscellaneous », or « diverse » that includes a range of standard treatments for eyes, stomach, and intestines (necessary to fight against sea sickness and stomach ache, two classical disease from crossing oceans), allergies and skin. Finally, let’s not forget the section « tools, » such as the thermometer, the magnifying glass, the life blanket and others.
The healing kit, is our day to day ally. It makes our life more beautiful (and us too!). It includes stuffs to protect our butt, our hands, our skin. Sun, salt, humidity being our daily enemies. The objective is to prevent wounds as much as possible, because nothing can heal on board. Therefore, we have a huge amount of sun cream, cream for baby butts (if it is good for them, it is good for us!), anti-blister gel (it makes the skin more supple), but also multi-vitamins pills and ointment to relax our back.
We want to thank all of the “breeders of rowers” that have advised us: Dr: Jacques D et Alexandra H., Pharmacist: Clémence M et Mayli W., Rowers: Bruno F. et Fabien D.
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| POST 5/03Could you come and rescue me? I am in the middle of the Ocean...
A quick update on navigation as of March 3rd – mid day.
* The girls have found the current corridor that they were looking for over the past few days, thus an average speed that has increased!
* Given the forecast for the next 5 days, the girls should have ideally be positioned more South, for example at the 16th parallel, to let them pushed by the South East winds that will be blowing hard over the next 5 days. However, 4 days ago, the weather forecast was not so clear, and the risk to make additional miles was too important, so they decided to keep on 16°50'.
* Consequently, and given the weather forecast, they should not cross the 17°N30'... and for that, they will row with the drift to maintain a direction straight West, but with a slower speed (2.6kt) than if they were going into the direction of the wind (3.2Kt). However, as soon as the SE winds will come back to 15 – 20kt, they will have to take out the drift and go towards 300°….in the end, above 17°N, there are 5 days of slow East wind, potentially NE, so it is not too bad if the girls go back up to 17°30…. But higher would be penalizing…
« Unfortunately », they now need to row towards the arrival point and as such, the navigation options are getting quite limited.
How to get help?
Indeed, we have not needed help yet, and we hope that it will be the same for their last few days, but… how does it work in case of an emergency?
In case of an emergency, there are several ways to communicate our position. We would probably start with the satellite phone. We saved in that phone the CROSS phone number, our emergency centre. You have to realise that in such situations, it is better to talk in your native language. So in general, all the boats are calling the emergency centre of their own country, that in turn, transfers the information to the bodies that are best located to help.
In case of a life threatening danger, the boats are also sending an emergency message on the waves. It is then the duty of every boat getting the signal to change their direction to go and give support to the boat sending an SOS. Given the route in which we are rowing, it could take up to 48 hours statistically to get help.
The question also does apply to us, should we answer an emergency call ? Well, unfortunately, we cannot: we are not considered as « autonomous». We do not have the needed power to change direction and provide support to another boat. However, we can do everything possible to help, and in particular, transmitting this emergency on the waves.
In addition, the race (Woodvale) has 2 support boats at sea, «Aurora of London» and «Ocean Planet», to ensure a faster support in case of emergency. For example, if a crew decides to give up the race, the boats come and take the men on board and tow the boat to the nearest harbour.
If a boat runs out of food for example, but wants to continue the race, the support boats also come to rescue them (for those who decide on this option, we cannot talk about a race in full autonomy anymore!)
«Aurora of London» is a huge boat with 14 beds on board. Great comfort. It took part of « the Race » a few years ago. Aboard, 3 men and 1 woman.
«Ocean Planet» ran the Vendée Globe in 2003. It is a 60 foot open boat. In other words, this is a racing boat, very fast and very light. Comfort is very limited. Pete et Tony, the 2 men on board, have a daily routine quite close to ours… you can imagine !
No worries, until now, EVERYTHING IS FINE
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| POST 4/03 On board, it is tidy!
For the last few days, we have noticed that the girls are making good progress! We are hoping that this will last!
Awaiting for the Caribbean coasts, we continue our boat tour. After having told you about the food on board, telling you about our day to day life as rowers, and explaining you by the book our communication tools with dry land, we will now tell you about energy and maintenance of our boat.
Electricity and Water
We are sourcing our energy from the solar panels that are fixed to the hull of the boat. We have 3 of them, one at the prow and 2 at the poop. They are charging two batteries, of 105 amperes each during 20 hours (5*20 = 100, and the manufacturer is always planning for a bit more, therefore the 105 Ah).
We have on board two major uses of energy: the water maker and the automatic pilot. The water maker is only running one hour per day, to make the daily 20L. The automatic pilot, that is used to ensure that we are maintaining our direction, is only on when the sun allows for it.
We have indeed prioritised the electronic devices depending on the situations. In case of bad weather and lack of sun, we have to be careful not to use too much of our batteries that are only sourcing power from the solar panels. Thus, we have decided to run in priority the security and life saving devices: the water maker (we actually need to make stocks of water before a storm), and the radio devices (AIS (1), RTE (2), and the sailing lights at night).
The maintenance of the boat
Crossing the Atlantic is a living challenge. It is evolving with time, as we progress towards the Caribbean, just like the boat. We need to take care of our ship so that it gives the best of it.
Let’s start with the anatyphes: These small living systems are growing under the hull. If we are not paying attention to them, they can really slow us down as they multiply themselves and build a hull below the hull. To avoid this as much as possible, we have painted the hull with anti-fouling. This product slows down the appearance of these systems. In addition, every week, we are scraping the hull to get rid of these anatyphes that still succeed to hang on and grow. Some boats even have some on the oars!
The solar panels are worth taking care of. Responsible for providing us with energy on board, they are running 9 hours a day. In order to optimise their yield, we are simply swiping the surface with a sponge to rinse them from the salt that is depositing and hiding the cells. We are also protecting the automatic pilot as much as possible. It is also facing tough conditions, and the salt is a formidable enemy, just like constant humidity.
Finally, we are checking the sensitive areas every week: the wheels of our seats, the oars holders. Without the sliding, the crossing would be more difficult, a lot more difficult… and without the oars holders, no rowing! We are also checking the seals of the compartments and of the cabins. They must be perfectly watertight.
This routine is guaranteeing the longevity of our equipment. We are not allowed to break the rules. Taking care of a boat is just as important as taking care of ourselves, it is a sine qua non condition to keep on crossing.
NB: The wheels of the seats are about to break, but luckily, the Rames Dames should not need them anymore very soon!
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| POST 3/03 Rowing the Atlantic… is like crossing a desert!
Tuesday afternoon, we systematically receive a SMS from the race organizer regarding the weather forecast. This time, they were forecasting a «watery desert».
And just like in a lot of deserts, it has been warm, very warm, for a long time already. Temperature measured on March 2nd: on the deck, under the shadow (the shadow being a minuscule part of the deck): 33 degrees. Under the sun: 46 degrees. In the tiny cabin: 36 degrees. In the big cabin: 30 degrees.
Consequences:
1) When we are rowing and moving, we can stand being on the deck. But resting on the deck is unbearable.
2) The 2nd challenge of the crossing, is to be in the small cabin, where the heat is suffocating. Here too, we are rotating, between the big cabin that has 2 openings, that we can open when there are not too many waves, and the small one. When we exit the latter, it takes about 10 mn to emerge, since the heat is making us so sleepy.
We left La Gomera with a diverse set of clothes, as diverse as it could be on a boat, where everything that is not absolutely necessary is forbidden. For a while already, we have tend to wear the same clothes all the time. Each one of us has chosen its favourite tee-shirt, and short or trousers. We are putting them on after soaking them in water, to keep us fresh, temporarily at least.
Our shoes? The Sharx Shoes, are real slippers and are gently supporting our rowing. They are a must to walk on the boat that is burning. We have been wearing them since La Gomera, and 3 months later, they almost belong to our body!
Today, March 3rd, the conditions are slightly different. Not only Laurence G. has conjunctivitis, but the wind is for the first time, around 20 knots. Our speed is also a first. We have to pay attention to our direction because the winds are coming from the South. We cannot use them fully since we are already at the same latitude as Antigua.
The air is fresher, and it feels good. On the deck, the waves are spraying us, but…. We now need to close all the openings of the big cabin, because of the waves. Therefore, you got it, it is just like a sauna in the big cabin!
Another piece of news: one of our 3 solar panels does not charge anymore, for an unknown reason. We are therefore turning on the GPS the least frequently possible when it usually works continuously. We do not turn on the computer, and we are saving the available electricity for the most important: the water maker and the automatic pilot.
All this not to complain, but simply to tell you what our conditions are!
Everyday is different, of course, but here are a few things that will give you an idea of our day to day.
First, you have to imagine that we are living on a floating environment, swinging, left and right. All of our moves are very careful, as awkward as one can be on a moving floor. Add to this a bit of tiredness and you will get our level of laziness. Because indeed, everything is a true mission on board: going and getting the camera, boiling water, changing tee-shirt or putting cream on. All this makes us…. very thoughtful about any single move!
As far as food is concerned, we are taking out every day our four daily food bags from the compartment where we stocked them. We can add to them the seasoning of the week (sauces, chocolate, honey and others) stocked in the rear cabin. We should highlight that we had planned for our food by day rather than by type.
We could have chosen to stock pastas with pastas, deserts with deserts, bars with bars, but all this would not have had much sense in our moving environment where any single move mobilises 200% of our skills. Instead, we prepared before our departure small plastic bags containing pastas, deserts, bars and others. By day and by person. This way, we just need to dig in the right compartment. Only the seasonings have not been «daily rationed».
Also, we regularly check the balance of the boat, the «trimming». In other words, we are checking on the ability of our boat to maintain a course. If the weight makes its balanced on the right or the left side, this will be something that we have to correct while rowing….!
We are of course all the time secured to the life line of the boat (a rope fixed on the deck, running from the prow to the poop). This also applies to all the other things on the deck: our cups, the life raft, the knives, everything, everything. Everything is secured to the boat.
Oh, yes, and, well… we almost forgot to mention… ! Of course, we are rowing!
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| POST 1/03 How do you want your dehydrated food cooked?
The girls are on the final line but things are not so simple… yet again, the weather is bad. The winds are opposite and the waves are sideway. Thursday evening, they took an aperitif… to get over the fact that they had to put the sea anchor (only for the night from Thursday to Friday). Making prognostic on the date of arrival is now out of question, it is too disappointing to systematically see this date slip! They prefer to move on, tour after tour of rowing.
Moreover, Quitterie hurt her back, probably the consequence of a bad posture. She had to stop rowing during a few hours, but now, she is back again!
Today, the Rames Dames would like to tell the other crews of the race that they are thinking a lot about them, and especially to the boats Limited Intelligence (www.insightatlantic.com), Karukera (http://www.transatrame2009.com/), Mission Atlantic (http://www.atlanticwaterbabes.com/), Spirit of MA ( http://www.team-heatwave.com/ ) et Atlantic Element (http://atlanticelement.co.uk/index.html ).
And now, let’s talk a bit about food and sea sickness!
The very good surprise is that the dehydrated food is delicious ! Except the ones that we did vomit the 1st week and that we cannot even look at anymore. Same for the unsalted water: it is actually quite good!
This is good news because we were told that we would lose our taste, but, we did not !
Sea sickness has disappeared for a long while, except when we have the sea anchor, because the boat is swinging with the waves. Only Laurence R had a bit of stomach ache, but only at night.
What about your stocks of food ?
The organisation of the race imposed us to take 90 days of food, because of the bad weather conditions that could increase the time of the crossing.
We had 300 chocolate bars and today, there is slightly less than 2/3. We also had 50 tourones, 40 packs of concentrated milk, 20 kg of oleaginous… since we have a lot of choice, we are not bored.
Wastes
Our wastes are essentially due to consumer goods that we took on board : food bags, cream packs (toothpaste, sun cream and others), and the gas bottles. We are keeping them on the boat, in a dedicated compartment that we are checking regularly for hygiene reasons. The rules of the race include the obligation to arrive in Antigua with the same material as in La Gomera. It allows however an exception for gas bottles. Gas (we used small camping type bottles) are used to heat water for the dehydrated food, soups and coffees. Once empty, keeping them on board in dangerous because the bottle can leak and let the remainder gas escape. If we throw them in the water, them will soon be corroded and they will probably explode quickly. The ocean will eat them in one shot, which would not be the case for a plastic bag for instance. Therefore, we decided to follow the advice of our infamous predecessors, and let these bottles to their fate… We also trash at sea the biodegradable wipes that we are using to wash ourselves.
A big thank you for all of your messages on this blog, on the race website and on our facebook group . They are communicated to us regularly by the On shore team and are very important to us!
Please do not hesitate to ask any question you may have on the blog : the crew on shore or the Rames Dames themselves will try to answer them !
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| POST 25/02 Alone in the world
« When the weather is good, we push hard, when it is bad, we fight hard». Here is one of the last messages that we received from the Rames Dames who are currently facing bad weather, or at least opposite winds… therefore the very slow moves over the past few hours. But they hold morale up, keep rowing hard and continue in their (very good) progress!
You are crossing the Atlantic, indeed, but in the context of a race, the Woodvale. How do you live the competition aspect of it?
For us, this is above all the opportunity to go beyond our own limits. We are not looking for beating such and such boat, but we do not accept not to give the best of ourselves. A few boats in the race are, on the other hand, very into the competition: they want to win against such and such boat or simply, arrive first in their category.
That being said, the final outcome of the race has always interested us ! In particular, we are looking for a good position for France!
The organisation of the race offered to us the possibility to receive the position of each boat every day. This was a difficult choice: do we want to know where is such or such boat? Do we want to know that after a bad day, we have been going backwards?
In the end, we decided not to get this information. We feared that it would be too disappointing and that it could challenge the decisions we would take in terms of navigation. We have always taken our decisions with a long term objective. Therefore, receiving the position of all boats every day, or even 3 times a day, was taking the risk to constantly question our decisions and change our minds…
The arrival is coming up soon and you know that you should be in the top positions. However, you have started to row only a year before the race started and only 6 months for Laurence R, as opposed to many boats that are coming from the world of rowing. How do you explain that?
We are indeed very surprised by our position ! It is difficult to explain because we do not see the other boats at sea ! However, here are a few possible explanations:
- Of course, there are tactical choices for the navigation
- We are very committed; we are rowing hard and this in a consistent manner
- we have an automatic pilot, when other crews have less precise instruments. Therefore, we are going through more straight lines when other boats may zig zag.
- We are 4
- To quote Maud Fontenoy, « girls are organised »! Life on-board is quite fluid, thanks to a major organisation
- We anticipate a lot, we have done many preventive actions, and therefore, we did not injure ourselves, when other crews may have
Can you please describe to us what you are seeing since your departure ? Of course, there is the sea, but what else?
We have not seen the other boats of the race since the first or second day. And the only other boat that we have seen since then is a sailing boat. Beyond that, we are all alone! At night, we sometimes see lights far away, probably big boats. And that is it.
Same for the Earth ! We have not seen it since the second day ! Actually, our sight is estimated to 50 nautical miles, which corresponds approximately to the distance that we travel every day. In other words, this means that every night, we will reach the point we saw at the horizon the night before.
We have not seen any floating trash! The water is blue, transparent!
The amazing thing, that we never ended seeing, are birds ! We can see sterns, gulls and also birds with a long and thin tail.
As far as fishes are concerned, the subject is wide. We can see fishes regularly, there are more or less big. We saw dolphins, whales, and also most probably sharks. Supposedly, none of them represent a risk for the boat. There is also a multitude of multicolour fishes under our hull. When we had the sea anchor, we saw a zebra fish.
The most surprising are the flying fishes. We are seeing them since the beginning, but not every day, or actually, not every night, because they tend to appear at night. They are jumping 2 meters high, they are bouncing on the surface of the water, and are banging against the hull of the boat. Many of them are trying to fly across the boat, across the width or the length of it. And many of them fail and fall on the boat, banging our back, or falling on our lap…. We then stop rowing and we put them back in the water!
You have a blog, a web site, a profile and a Facebook group, you answer interviews… why are you communicating so much?
First to « reassure » our families and friends…. Then to have other people discover our adventure, to make people dream! It is important that our experience is shared!
It is not too late to subscribe to this blog (this does not work with Chrome, you must use Mozilla or IE), join the group of supporters on Facebook, or become friends with the Rames Dames (always on Facebook). In particular if you want to be warned in real time of the arrival of the girls in Antigua.
In terms of communication, can you talk to us about the telecommunication devices that you are using ?
A major difference between our crossing and the one of our famous predecessors like Gérard d'Aboville (1) or more recently of the crew of the Mondiale (2) is in particular our communication tools. Here is a list of the equipment that we have on board:
There is of course the infamous radio VHF (Very High Frequency). This allows us to communicate with a similar radio located in a perimeter of 5 nm (3). This distance depends on the height of the boat compared to the sea level: the higher we are, the more distance we can cover in terms of receiving / emitting signals. As far as we are concerned, we are on the surface of the water, so it is about 5nm. In practice, we are using it to communicate with a boat close by or with the Ground when we will be approaching coasts.
We also have a AIS (Automatic Identification System). This device allows to communicate automatically with the boats around us some information such as our position, the MMSI number (identification number of the boat), the width, length and direction. Equipped with this device, we are transmitting to our « neighbours » the data that are related to our boat, and we receive theirs. Connected to the GPS (Global Positioning System), this device allows us to read all this easily on a screen : the boat appears on the map with its ID card. We know who is who! Similar to the VHF radio, the AIS is using the long wave , waves longer than those of the RADAR. These devices authorise the reception/transmission even if there is an obstacle between the transmitter and the receptor, as for example bad weather (high waves) or if the target is hidden behind another boat. Therefore, they are extremely useful, especially in the crowded zones.
We have a RTE (Radar Target Enhancer). This is one of the device that is reassuring our friends and families the most. It gets the RADAR signals emitted by a boat (or something else) and send them back by amplifying them. It is composed of an antenna that is getting and transmitting signals and of a small device, fixed in the rear cabin, that amplifies the signal. This is all very nice, but what is it used for? Well, concretely, when our boat is swept by the RADAR of a boat around, the RTE makes sure that we appear clearly and largely on the screen of that boat, increasing our visibility. The RADAR is indeed a system that is sweeping our environment by emitting waves around it and by measuring the waves in return. The bigger the returned wave is, the bigger the target that has returned the signal is. We are returning a big signal thanks to the RTE, the RADAR therefore thinks that we are a liner. Also, a very practical detail, this device has an alarm that is ringing as soon as we are swept by a RADAR, warning us this way of a boat close by.
Let’s not forget one of our master piece, the satellite phone. It works just like a telephone, except that it does not use antennas but satellites to transmit signals. This is the phone that allows us to call our friends and families and to send posts for the blog. We can indeed connect it to our laptop and use it as a modem. It transmits data via satellite, using the internet. This is therefore both a phone and an antenna / modem. Its bandwidth is however very very small, no to mention that we are not surfing on the web ! We are only sending and receiving small files: we are getting your supporting words and we are sending our posts.
(1) Crossing the Atlantic from Cape Cod (Massachusetts, USA) to Ouessant (France) in 1980 in 71 days and 23 hours.
(2) Crossing the Atlantic from the Canaries Islands in 35 days and 8 hours, in 1992, world record for several years.
(3) 1 nautical mile = 1 minute angle = 1/60th of a degree = 1.852 m
NB: We are talking here about angle in the sense of latitude/longitude. It corresponds to the length of the arc at the surface of the Earth and of an angle taken in the centre of Earth.
Example: 360 degrees = the entire circumference of Earth = 360*60 nm = 21.600nm
Thank you for your encouragements that are carrying us!
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| POST 19/02
Who spreads wind, harvests tempo
This song of MC Solaar is one of the many songs that lights up and puts rhythm into our nights (we call « night » the time from midnight to 6am), but for the last few days, this message has had a particular meaning for us. We do not know if we have indeed spread wind, but we have harvested a true tempo! As a matter of fact, after 42 days at sea in quite poor and definitely atypical conditions, we were told that THE window was finally coming: 7 days without any lows, sustained winds (the end of « windless ») and pushing us in the right direction. The trade winds, in which we had lost faith, would actually make their come back. In turn, we would already project ourselves into a fantastic journey rhythmed by the music Walkyrie.
However, over the past 4 days, what have we found? A strange jam party… On the casting of rhythm makers, let’s first mention the opposite currents : discreet but creative, they create whirlpools to surprise us and push us North, North East or South East. They even surprised us and pushed us backwards as we were performing some maintenance on our wheels, during which we had to stop rowing. Then comes the twisted sea, series of waves coming from all directions that are disrupting our beautiful gesture and are obliging us to connect back with our … « Tibiaaaaaa ! » To round all this up, we had an unexpected guest yesterday : a South-East wind (ie, coming from South East) as we were trying to go South to benefit from better conditions.
All that to say that, indeed, we are still rowing with the same ardour ; but no, it does not go really fast… We are now avoiding to look at the GPS at the end of each turn, or we intentionally forget our initial position as we started rowing, in order not to be demoralised after having contributed with a true effort during 1h30 to 2h. Coincidently, after a small mistake with our batteries, we need to save our energy carefully, and therefore use our GPS sparingly…
As MC Solaar is saying : « No morale on these few words… the essential is to stand for it », we are trying to stand for it, especially thanks to your supporting words !
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POST 16/02
Everything that you always wanted to know about the Rames Dames!
The team on shore has interviewed the Rames Dames via their satellite phone, based on several calls as the connection is poor. In this post, and the ones to come, you will find the answers to all the questions that you are asking yourself.
It has been 42 days that you are at sea and that you are each rowing 12 hours a day. How do you feel physically?
We do not have any eschar and this is good news, because statistically, we had 80% chances to have some. It is driven by 2 things. First, we never row more than 2 hours in a row, as advised. Second, we are extremely careful. We are taking a lot of time to take care of ourselves, to spread many different creams on our body several times a day, or even after each turn of rowing.
We do not have any particular pain or wounds, but we have been stiff for the past 10 days, in particular in the thighs. The muscles that are the most at work are: the thighs, the butt, the back, the shoulders, and the arms. The arms represent only 20% of the muscles at work !
We are very careful about standing straight not to hurt our back. As a matter of fact, our back does not hurt. However, our hands are starting to suffer… We are now sometimes waking up with what we call « the witches hands », which means hooked hands, professional distortion due to the position of the hands on the rows.
How do your days look like, what is your planning, and in particular, what do you do when you are not rowing ? Aren’t you bored?
Every day is quite rhythmed and does look like the day before! The day light starts at 7:30 and the night starts at 18:40. We are rowing by pair and we are changing pairs every 15 days. During the day, we are rowing for 1h30 and then we have 1h30 to rest. At night, same thing, but with turns of 2 hours to be able to sleep a little longer. During the day, it is really hot. Actually, we are rowing better at night! We have had an amazing full moon, we are listening to music, we are hearing the regular sound of waves, of the rows, of the wind, it is magical!
The rowing hours are very intense, no time to get bored. For now, we are not bored of rowing.
When we are not rowing, we are not bored either! Here is what we are doing during the 12 hours of daily « rest »: we sleep, we eat, we clean ourselves, and we take care of our body (see above). Sometimes, we read in our cabin, the door of which stays open during the day due to the heat. We also need to take care of the boat, the automatic pilot, the solar panels etc. We are calling our families roughly once per week, as well as the team on shore, and of course the journalists for the interviews. Actually, we are very busy and we do not have time to do it all (The team on shore confirms that the calls are always shortened by the typical sentence « I have to leave you now to get ready for my rowing turn»). Indeed, for hygiene reasons, we are getting changed after each rowing turn and put our rowing clothes back on before the next rowing turn. That alone takes a lot of time since every move on the boat is perilous and requires 150% focus.
The boat is not designed to rest on the deck: there is no other place that the ones for rowing and the presence of another person on the deck is destabilising the boat. Actually, the best when we are not rowing, is to be in the cabin, even if it is hot and small inside. We should also highlight that we are always secured to the boat, even when we are not rowing, and in particular when we are diving into the sea (!!!) once a day to rinse ourselves and to relax.
We are writing a logbook to take note of everything that happens. And finally, here is the event that is bringing rhythm to our days: around 13h, the call of JP, for the navigation check. He is encouraging us, giving us the weather forecast for the next 3 days, our position in the race, and feedback on the last 24 hours. We decide together with him on our trajectory, which depends on the weather forecast and on our morale (do we need to go fast to achieve results in the short term, or do we agree to do a detour that could pay off in the longer run?). Doesn’t JP’s call remind you of Charlie’s Angel?
Another Event, every 3 days this time : a break of 15 minutes, to adjust to time difference. This is the only time when no one is rowing. We use this time to test the boat, to discuss the 4 of us, to deal with potential technical issues… (camera, automatic pilot, solar panels, water maker…)
Interview to be continued in the next posts !
A big thank you for your many messages on this blog, on the race website and on our facebook group. They are passed on to us regularly by the team on shore and we are very impatient for the next ones!
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POST 11/02
Weight. A friend to be kind to.
This is sometimes a difficult, sometimes a funny topic. For us, it’s mostly a question of balance!
Here is a little quizz on our boat:
1. How much does the empty boat weigh (only the structure of the boat)?
a. 2 tons
b. 10 tons
c. 400kg
2. How much does a week of food for all four of us weigh?
a. 70kg
b. 35kg
c. It depends. Does it necessarily have to be a multiple of 7?
3. How much does the full boat weigh (with the food and all the equipment)?
a. 1.3 tons
b. 55kg, like my ideal weight (in my dreams)
c. 12 tons
4. How much did the heaviest guy at the beginning of the race weigh?
a. 106kg
b. 108kg
c. 112kg
Answers: 1-c, 2-b, 3-a, 4-c
Weight will be a crucial point for us. There’s first of all the balance between port and starboard. With 35kg of food disappearing every week, we have to rebalance our boat regularly. We loaded the boat in order to chose, each week, food from alternating port and starboard compartments, starting from the ends (stern and bow). Hmmm… that doesn’t seem very clear…
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POST 02/02February 1st: Life on a floating anchor
It has been 3 days that we are on floating anchor.
It is a parachute of 1m50 of diameter connected to the boat by a rope of 80m (or 30m depending on the weather). Deployed, it slows down the boat, avoiding that way to slid too much in case of contrary winds.
The storm is hitting us with a front wind, and even if we were rowing, we would not succeed to fight against the West winds that were pushing us towards the African coasts, “Trade winds, trade wins, they were telling us!”
We leverage the first day to perform the maintenance on board and in particular, to repair the seats whose wheels were starting to get tired.
We have also slept a good night of 12 hours (the first night of more that 2 hours !), nothing better to get back into shape! And then? Yes indeed, this is The question (after “to be or not to be” of course).
Well, we are trying to keep up a certain rhythm without disturbing one another! Because we need to tell you, we are not relaxing on the boat… No! Our boat is designed to row ! Two rowing, Two resting. 4 resting and we are stepping on each other !
We need to add to this the rumbling of the sea, we did not put the anchor for no reason. That way, as you can guess, the swell is not in our favour. Let’s not be dramatic about it, everything is going well, we are resting and we are waiting impatiently the time to start rowing again !
This little break allowed us to breath a bit and to test our morale.
And hop ! We are not letting it go ! We are going to cross this ocean !
[NB : This post was sent Saturday afternoon, but from the latest news that we received on the phone, the girls have started to row again on Sunday afternoon]
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POST 30/01January 30th: Follow the wind...
A south-western wind ! Ouch ! Unusual at this time of the year (“the seasons are all mixed up, that’s for sure”)
The weather maps last Sunday were right (SO – 15kt/20kt). We were left with two options:
1) Row in 150 deg at 1.8 kt, which is equivalent to a Southern progression of 1.55 kt, Eastern of 0.9 kt
2) Parachute and drift 66 deg at 0.5 kt, in other words 0.45kt E and 0.2kt N.
We settled for the second option, which meant less route loss for a very slight southern gain.
We therefore unfurled our parachute around one o’clock on Wednesday, until Thursday morning. The parachute is a piece of cloth (not a sail!) that anchors us down to the sea to avoid being pulled back by the wind. It obviously it’s great for our morale to move backwards, seeing the record of the crossing recede, but we have to stay optimistic, and keep in mind our mail goal: cross the Atlantic...
The next 20 hours are also going to be used for rest and for reconditioning the material. In particular, the ball bearings of our seats are beginning to oxidize, and we are thinking about dunking them in olive oil, before covering them with Vaseline to weatherproof them. To be continued…
We have to remain patient and maintain the group’s dynamics.
The group and its dynamics
Here we are, all four of us, supporting one another, we don’t have anyone else to count on. It’s a weird impression. A very strong experience.
We tried to anticipate this situation as much as possible before setting off. We discussed and shared our goals. We even signed a charter. It’s posted in our back cabin. The charter sets down the main principles we want to honor during the crossing. Benevolence for example. We set it up as the highest principle. Seen from the ground, all of this may sound a little superfluous, but you have to imagine four people, on a 9m long and 2m wide boat, tired, often mistreated by the natural elements. There’s no room on board for any misunderstanding. Let’s also mention among the values we cherish, give the best of yourself, be disciplined, AND, always keep your sense of humor!
We also did two or three little exercises to learn to know ourselves better. Because knowing who we are will probably be one of our assets for the crossing… and is also one of our goals! Here, for example, is the “forest” exercise. Imagine you are in a forest. What do you do there ? What do you see ? How do you feel ? Suddenly, a bear comes out. What does it look like? What it is doing? How do you feel? What do you do? We will give you the analysis of your reaction at the end of this post!
Personality-wise, we are all pretty different. We are relatively complementary. We had a projected debrief thanks to Sylvie L. (she will remain anonymous), who joined us to celebrate the year 2010. Catherine, for example, was elected “cheer leader” (in English). We should note here that Sylvie L. is an overbooked working girl, very in touch with the people around her, and very use to feedbacks, but, but, but, who doesn’t always find her words in French! (ok Sylvie, if you are reading this post, and if you are translating it in English, we’re joking!).
Anyways, getting back to our subject, we are very different, and quite complementary. Most important, we have learned to read each other’s signals, in order to avoid making wrong interpretations. The main pitfall being, quite simply, silence. Not saying anything is not sulking, it’s just being in your thoughts (or in your absence of thoughts, since we have become pretty primitive after a few weeks of rowing…!)
Living on a boat with three other people means sharing, accepting, giving, and receiving. A lot. A beautiful human adventure.
Interpretation of the psychological test :
The forest illustrates the vision that you have of life right now, and how you feel in it. The bear symbolizes obstacles, and how you react to difficulties (I, for instance, hide behind a tree, if this can reassure our readers…)
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POST 25/01January 25th: Seasickness, burp
It has now been 20 days that we are on the sea. The boat is lighter by 105kg (yes indeed 3 weeks of food!) and our moral is very good because we are progressing at good speed these last couple of days and benefited from good waves. Too bad, Raymond has not followed us and took off to the Cap Vert, but Felix! He is showing his wide beak two or three times a day.
Do not let it go! This remains our driving force because weather of next week will not be in our favour and the swell will grow around Wednesday with waves between 3 and 5m. Of course, we believe that we should not experience seasickness after a few weeks on the ocean, but you never know…
Seasickness is a wide topic. Even if we prepare for it, there is nothing to do about it, there only needs to be a stronger swell than what your body is used to and hop, well actually, burp.
We prepared ourselves to seasickness before the departure, because everything that we do before will not have to be done afterwards. So one after the other, we went to the backside cabin to set up the GPS, read the satellite phone instructions or perform other activities that oblige us to stay focused on a fixed point as the boat is swinging. Burp. This way, we got our body used to a certain level of swell. As we went to the open sea, we obviously encountered more difficult conditions… We have experienced strong even very strong seasickness. Actually, it all depends on the person. Because we are not equal against seasickness, just as we are not all equal against mountain sickness. The same applies to acclimatization: we could be acclimatized to 4.000m, but not for 5.000m, just as we could be safe with waves of 4m, but throwing up our guts with waves of 5m.
To fight against seasickness, we have planned for several medicine, pills and others. The best of our range, our secret weapon, is a patch that you stick behind the ear. It sends to sleep the inner ear that in turn, stops making trouble and lets the rower row. To these medicine, we can add a healthy day to day discipline to avoid becoming sick. Prevent and heal, we are fighting on all sides! The things that are increasing the chances of sea sickness are grouped under « the 3F » (Food, Fatigue, Freezing). The heat will spare us from the Freezing part. As far as Food and Fatigue are concerned, it is true that we should avoid to fall into the vicious circle.
We look far away and we breathe!
PS: a big thank you for all of your supporting words that the Ground team passes on to us by phone from France, they are giving us courage!
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POST 18/0118th of January: Navigation
[Ground team]. The « Rames Dames » haven’t reached the 20th parallel yet, but they seem to be rowing west now (the risk of depression, announced around the 12th and 13th, is gone). A few impressions, jotted down before the start of the race, on Navigation.
Crossing an ocean by rowboat is a lot of rowing, of course, but it’s also choosing your route. Navigation is one of the pillars of this adventure.
The idea is simple. We must go West. Simple, but not that simple…. We have to take three main variables into account: the winds, the current, and the swell. The winds, even without a sail, are an important factor. They will be our allies on the second half of the trip, when we will have gone south enough to catch the Alizees. To reach them, we will have to row south of the Canaries Archipelago. The current, the Gulf Stream, should also push us along. This year, it’s not all that certain. Finally, the swell, which is a consequence of the winds of the last few days, has a double face for us. It’s an ally if it’s going in our direction, from East to West. The idea, in that case, is to surf on it, in order to move forwards quickly and “effortlessly”: like surfers, we row strongly to go fast enough for the wave to carry us along with it. We can then benefit from its speed (10-12 knots, versus 2-3 in cruising speed) for a few dozen seconds. On the other hand, if it moves in another direction, not that of our course (cross or head), it will be tough to deal with. We will have waves against us, or, even more annoying, crosswaves. It will be harder to row in these conditions.
We have a basic strategy, that we adapt according to the daily wind, current and swell conditions. We’ve mapped out a 100 m corridor around our “base case” route. If, for instance, the waves are crosswaves, we can choose to slightly change our direction so as not to have them across, but on the contrary take advantage of them as best as possible. Apart from this, our route is relatively simple: we will leave the Canaries heading South/South-West, which will take us North of the Cape Verde, and then, we will head West, very slightly South-West. The “very slightly South-West” will depend on the day to day weather conditions.
This is because, more generally, we have a “southern compromise” to deal with. We can choose to go a bit more South to take advantage of more favorable conditions, such as the wind, but we have to bear in mind the fact that it will make our route longer. We therefore have to balance the speed gained due to favorable conditions with the distance this adds to our route.
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POST 14/01
13th of January: Raymond
Here we are on the water since 10 days. We are starting to see some wildlife around us. First of all, there is Raymond, the little black and yellow fish, about 12cm long, that has settled home under our boat. He is following us since the beginning, under the shadow of the hull, nice and quiet! We meet with Raymond every day at shower time, when we jump in the water to relax a bit.
There are also bigger non identified fishes. We hesitate between dolphins, sharks, swordfishes or tunas. Well, big fishes 2m long with a fin. They come to see us in the morning in general.
And, we were about to forget the best, a whale! A WHALE! She appeared on Saturday on a flat ocean as we were burning under the sun, hoping for a bit of wind. Majestic, she made her characteristic pschiiiiiiit and showed us the round of her back…. Fantastic!!
As far as the rowers are concerned, everything is fine. We are still quite North… but it is difficult to thrive South / South West when the wind and the waves are coming from the West… Yes indeed, here, we are not fighting the elements; on the contrary, it is quite a subtle optimisation game of local conditions. The ocean is letting us go or not, we are only a small boat. As a matter of fact, it is funny, at night, we really have the impression to ride across the stars. Imagine a sky full of stars, a dark night, wind in the hair, we are on a flying carpet!
We are trying to head South to catch the tradewinds. They seem to settle around the 21st parallel. Altogether, all together, for the tradewinds to come up!!!
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9th of January: a Rock and Roll Start
We have now been in open waters for 4 days. We set off on a sporty start, with waves 4-5 m high. Really beautiful. Really magical. One thing leading to the next, we were pretty sick. But we managed, always on time for our shift, that’s the rule!
Today, our sailor’s foot is better, and the weather is calm. We are using the opportunity to give you news. Our hands are fine, and so are our feet and our bums, and our stomachs are better, we can finally enjoy a good little meal!
On the wildlife side, we’ve seen birds. They fly very close to sea level, they are black, they have the shape of swallows, we are wondering what they are. We also a a little flying fish that winded up on our deck. Poor thing!
We lost the automatic pilot in the hustle-bustle of the departure. We are letting it rest in the back cabine, let’s hope it’ll feel better after a week of being dry… We also lost our video camera… Hmmm… despite the fact that it’s Anne Quemere’s and Bruno Froideval’s supplier, and that it’s already equipped rowers… Oh well, we’re also letting it rest.
The biggest news, is that we can finally DO thing on the boat (besides rowing and sleeping), it’s a first!!! We repaired the foot steering system (controlling the rudder with our feet), and today, we are even washing our clothes!
The difficult start only put us in good spirits and reinforced our determination.
We are heading straight West.
The sunrises and sunsets are wonderful. Nights are beautiful.
Thank you for all of your support, we think about all of you often!
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The preparation on the ground and the departure
[Note from the support crew] The first contact by satellite phone took place today with the crew on board. The Rames Dames have now started the acclimatization period» ! During this week (two, three, the whole crossing maybe??), the girls are experiencing seasickness. Awaiting for them to get used to the perpetual movement of the sea, here are some notes taken before the departure!
The weather forecast has been very hectic, in particular in La Gomera, the departure of our adventure…!
We have developed here our routine. We generally say that it takes a human being 7 days to get used to a new environment, after which, he/she gets in a routine. Well, for us, we could say that it feels just like if we were born in San Sebastian de La Gomera!
We have rented an apartment very close to the Marina where our ship is fully charging with sun before we take off for the crossing. A nice day to day has emerged: shopping to the supermarket close by, bread in THE good bakery of the neighbourhood, get-together at the pub on the main place to discuss weather forecast and to change the world.
As far as our training goes, we have been rowing every day, which gave us the opportunity to improve a lot of details. We could therefore optimise the packing on the boat, the automatic pilot, the ties on board, the set up of the camera, the pictures, all these details will be adjustments that we will not have to do in the middle of the ocean.
As we stayed here longer than anticipated, we were also able to get to know better the other rowers. During the first two weeks, we mostly focused on the boat, without taking much time to discuss with our colleagues in crossing. With more time, we were able to get to know a crowd of fantastic people and grow a feeling of belonging as a fleet!
Here we are, now is time to get started, the departure that we have awaited for so long that it started to become the Arlésienne. Here we are, on the departure line, with all of our co-ocean rowers. Together, we are taking off!
[Note from the support crew] Big thank you for all of your support and kind words that we will pass on to the crew on board all along the race.
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January 4th: The Departure
Here we go. We are leaving today, at 13h30 UTC (thus 14h30 French time)
Very happy to take off ! Very happy, and in addition, it is funny, a slight pinch, a slight heart squeeze. Yes, here we are, we are leaving. There is no question about optimising such or such anymore (an infinite playground, as you can imagine), when we shall go, we shall go. So let’s go! We will head South to escape as much as possible the lows that are passing by the 28 – 25th parallel.
Last night, we had a good diner, followed by a good night. This morning, we shared croissants with our neighbours, English fire fighters who are taking off rowing also today. We have packed the last two or three things left over on the boat today. We are hoping that we will not be too sick out there.
Thank you all again for your kind and supporting words, they move us very much, even more today as it is the D-Day!
PS : A few people seem to have doubts whether we will give some news during the crossing. We want to reassure everyone that this is obviously not the end of the blog, but the exact opposite! We will write and give you news throughout the crossing. You can count on us!
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December 31th: Textile and crossing
Things are getting more clear, as the date of January 4th 2010 (2010!) has been officially announced yesterday afternoon. We are excited! But, we stay pragmatic, the weather forecast being an exact science of 4 days only!
- The port authorities are aware of our departure and will assist it. The seven islands of the Canaries archipelago (Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, Grand Canarie, Tenerife, La Gomera, La Palma, et El Hierro) are connected to one another by ferries, some of them even by flight. Here, in La Gomera, there are about a dozen of ferries coming in and out every day.
- The Spanish authorities should give the green light given the 4-5 days window ahead. Because no, we cannot leave the Canary Islands to cross the Atlantic without an administrative approval.
What are we going to wear during the crossing? Great question.
We have privileged the thin and long clothes in order to protect us from the sun, without suffering from it.
In terms of material, we have decided for cotton and synthetic, yes! Both my captain. The synthetic is drying really fast, and will be the favourite one for the rowing shifts. Indeed, resisting to humidity is without a doubt a real challenge. A challenge first to protect the food and the equipment, but also, simply, to keep our skin in a good shape! To that end, we will dry ourselves systematically after each shift and in that logic, we will wear cotton while resting, softer for the skin.
In addition, we have planned to do laundry every week. Beyond the hygiene aspect of it, a t-shirt-that-smells-good (in one word) will be a source of happiness by itself once we are off shore! We will keep them dry in small plastic bags (advice taken from the SNSM sailors). A technical detail: some of our clothes have had a particular treatment, they were bathed in a liquid containing Silver particules. The latter have indeed anti-spongic and anti-bacterian properties. We will test them!
Here, each crew has its own approach to the day-to-day. Eager to forget about the Garden of Eden, some English men do not hesitate to say that they will cross « only with one sock »...We will keep our choice, convinced that we need to protect ourselves from the sun, just like from heat and humidity…!
We shall not forget the cold nights and the tropical rains as we start from the Canary Islands, and to face them, we have a warm jacket, sailing pants and a rain coat. After the 25th parallel, there is a great chance that we will not use them much anymore…!
What are we going to wear for New Year’s Eve? An excellent question too. Now this is different! Well, actually no, it is the same thing in fact because we only have here with us our clothes for the crossing. We will honour France by bringing champagne and foie gras, but we will not be dressed in Haute Couture!
We wish you all a very happy new year,
Thank you all for your interest, for your kind words, and for your encouragement, they move us very much! Very much!
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December 28th : Crossing, is anticipating
The weather forecast is optimistic. Well almost.
Well, because the most awaited window is soon to come: we should be able to take off on the 2nd or the 3rd of January 2010 (2010!). The high is finally here, it will protect us from the lows that took the liberty to come down to the Canary Islands. We will
then be able to thrive South to catch the trade winds.
Well almost, because the so called high (let's name it Roger) is neither strong or well established, for now Roger is alike the weather this year. « A never seen before». The authorities of the race have gathered the 31 crews this morning. We shall get prepared to face a very challenging weather, in particular in terms of waves (more than 6m) and of winds (head winds), a never seen in the previous races. The highs are not strong enough, the trade winds are not well established, we should predict the worse, « the remainder will be bonus ». The world record may not be for 2010. To be continued... the natural elements being a big part of rowing across oceans. Often Nature varies.
Have we all well prepared? The autonomy obliges us to answer many questions before the departure. Several chapters. First, the pharmacy, of course, to prevent and heal small and big wounds on board, in particular to fight against sea sickness that will be very popular this year. The food was also a masterpiece of the preparation: we have put on board our meals for the 90 days to come! We planned for lots, security is a must. Even more given the conditions that we are expecting. We instilled through it a kind of motivation: we have enough to please ourselves from the 1st to the 65th day, day after which, the quality is dropping drastically, with chili con carne, British style, dehydrated, a whole program. Let's not forget the tools and the maintenance of the boat as such. We should be able to repair everything on board. Finally, dernier-mais-pas-le-moins (we are trying to honor here the language of Moliere) the day-to-day, the hygiene: how many bar soaps are we going to use over the next 2 months? Shampoo? Hand wash laundry? Not forgetting the unforgettable use of toilet paper. By person by week. We do not lie on board, we tell each other everything!
Everything seems to be in order, we should be ready for a departure in January.
We wish you all a very Happy Holiday Season!
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« I have not beaten the Pacific, the Pacific has let me go » said Gérard d’Aboville. A nice word that illustrates well our expectations. Well, in our case, « we have not beaten the Atlantic, it has not let us go yet » ! As it stands, for sure, Christmas will take place on dry land, the departure of the race is delayed to December 29th ((« potential date » as our English mates say)
A sort of ideas fair is taking place on the island « hey, you are doing it that way for the sliding? », « Oh, yes, not bad your system for the mattresses ». A good friendship has grown amongst participants, bounded by the common desire to take off.
The real life of a village has emerged.
The race includes 31 crews, English for the most part : 6 solos, 21 doubles, 3 four, 1 twelve. The background varies from one boat to the next. Overall, all the crews are truly nice, all more or less fan of self-derision. One crew has even named their boat « Limited Intelligence ». A tiny minority takes it slightly too seriously, straight up, deep look, the type of guys who have a strong opinion on just about everything, even on the penguinstic origins of the iceland drift.
Crew members are from 18 to 61 years old. The youngest boy will cross with his father. The oldest one is a retired business man found of open spaces. There is a bit of everything, doctors, fire fighters, an actor, financial analysts (absolutely!), sport teachers, and even engineers ES.
In the end, what is all bonding us, beyond the will to connect two continents, is both the investment in our preparation and the humility with which we face this challenge. Oh, yes, and of course, patience !
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14/12/09 But what is the weather doing ?
Things are getting clearer… with a departure at the earliest on December 22nd …!
The news has puzzled the four of us quite a bit. There is impatience, of course, but there is also our lives on earth…Clearly philosophy is an art that we nurture, but it is of little help to explain concretely to our employers that the planning is sliding: «Hello? Yes, yes …everything is going well … by the way, regarding the date of arrival [and therefore of our return back to work] , hum… this year, damn…it is just amazing the number of storms on the 28th parallel…»
But, why these storms, how does it work? Here are a few explanations. To leave the Canary Islands (Latitude: 28°N), we need a window of 4 days. By window, we mean window «without-backward-winds-that-would-push-us-to-Africa». The idea is to be able to go South, down to the 20th parallel, to catch the Trades, these winds that blow from East to West.
They will, together with the current (Gulf Stream), be our allies during the whole crossing until the Caribbean (Latitude: 17°N). This year, the Trade wins are not well established yet: instead of blowing at the 20th parallel, they are really low, at the 15th parallel, thus even South to the Caribbean!
We can imagine this as a lack of barrier for the depressions that in turn allow themselves to go South, down to the latitude of the Canary Islands. We can see clearly on the statistical maps of the winds and currants at this time of the year (December) that … there’s no damn season anymore my good Lord!
We shall not forget however, that weather forecasts are only reliable up to 4 days, beyond which everything is possible. Yes, we can!
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20/11/09
News from the team
That's it, THAT'S IT ! The four rowmates have left home to go to the Canary Islands, starting point of the adventure.
Luggage, logistic has been a bit technical. The ground team has indeed been sollicitated ("Come on, please, can you take this ? I am sure it will fit in your bag, pleeeease...") and the airline ground personnel as well ("Now, let me explain to you, we are actually going to row across the Atlantic, so really, it will be very nice of you if you could for instance...")
In La Gomera, they will work on their boat, load it with food and equipment, check every single piece of equipment. The devil is in the
detail...Once on the ocean, they will be able to count on nobody but themselves ("a bit like a Sunday afternoon when all shops are close!")
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28/10/09 News from the team
Last tour in England for the team with two main goals in mind: complete boat equipement and get RYA (Royal Yatch Association) degrees to comply with the Race Rules.
Both were achieved!
- The boat was shipped from London on Oct 22nd. It will arrive in the Canaries Islands before the team get there (November 22nd). It has been packed with food, creams, equipment, and pharmacy.
- AND the team got First Aid At Sea degree, Survival At See degree, Ocean Navigation degree, so that now, anybody can get sick onboard they'll be able to manage, anything can happen, they'll feel at home in the life boat, and, last but not least, the GPS can collapse, they'll navigate using the stars, the sun and the moon.
No need to precise that the conclusion of the training is that there is no doubt: GPS is definitely handier than the sextant/map/plotter trio, especially on a rowing boat!
Ah... science and progress...
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23/09/09 News from the team
The team was in Plymouth (Cornwall, UK) with a heavy schedule.
Departure is getting closer and closer, and many little things need to be looked at!
Laurence
and Catherine have run from the boat yard to the Marina, from the
Marina to the supermarket, from the supermarket to the specialized
shops, from the specialized shops to etc, etc, etc!!!
Fortunately, Charlotte was there to help the 2 rowers with their long checklist.
The boat has been slightly modified, part of the food has been bought, tests have been carried out on a full scale. So exciting!
And guess what... The weather was warm and sunny.... Un-be-lie-va-ble for Cornwall!
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28/08/09 News from the team
The team
got to Plymouth to train for the 1st time on the boat, THE boat. They
spent 4 days in Cornwall, rowing around, off the Cornwall coasts.
They got a real taste of what their
everyday life would be like during the race; eating dehydrated food,
sleeping in the cabins, rowing all day long (not at night though),
playing with the GPS, testing creams to prevent blisters, and assessing
every day event in the context of the boat ;)
They rowed every 2 hours, 12hours per day.
They took out of this training an
invaluable action list, full of small things to do which will make
their life easier onboard. La Vie en Rose!
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14/07/09 News from the team
13th
and 14th of July, our team was gathered for its first training together
in Arcachon region. The rowing association from Claouey welcomed us
with an unprecedented warmth and professionalism. Besides testing the
coordination, this was also an opportunity to assess some equipments,
especially sunglasses from our sponsor Demetz.....read more
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