Happy new year Jimmy! How are you and how have things been going?
Hello guys! We’ve just entered the final 1000 nautical miles, and this means we are now on the American side of the Atlantic, which gives us warmer weather and more favourable conditions. Up until now we’ve been battling for positions and are currently in second, however conditions change quickly and anything can happen!
Amazing, we’ve all been glued to the tracker and following your progress. Especially recently with your move into second place, it’s been impressive to watch. What do you think has been the most challenging part of the race so far?
Geordie, as you’ll know with our military background, no good plan survives first contact. That’s been the case with us throughout the entirety of this race. At the very beginning we went out all guns blazing and rowed two hours on forty minutes off, which put us in first place overall, but absolutely exhausted us.
That exhaustion and sleep deprivation was one of the most savage experiences I have had, mixed with our complete power failure on the first Tuesday of the race. Due to this, we essentially lost all comms with the outside world, which was a mental challenge more than anything else. So there have been battles on all fronts: the mind, the body, and the soul.
We’ve seen some epic storms which have nearly capsized us, twice. And broken one oar… that’s when you really realise the power of mother nature! Christmas Eve/Day and New Year’s Eve/Day delivered storms of biblical proportions, 30-40 foot swells, which meant sometimes we were rowing for six hours non-stop.