Day 7 – One week in
We expect our rowers to take a week before they really get used to being at sea. Now they’ve got their feet under the table, we asked for their best and the worst bits of their first week.
Cockleshell Endeavour are obviously enjoying the nature of the challenge. When asked about the best bits they quoted a member of the crew who used their boat Endurance last year.
“Four hombres against the oggin”
David Bruce – Cockleshell Endeavour Allum 2000
For their worst bits the crew highlighted the gold packets in the snack packs. Together with the slightly cryptic follow up “if you know you know”
Each crew carries at least 50 days of food with a minimum calorific content of 4,500kCal per rower per day. We know that the team arrived in Gran Canaria a little shy of their required caloric content. Thankfully, Atlantic Dagger had the opposite issue. They had packed enough food to last a Greek Trireme for a global circumnavigation. A short conversation ensued seeing meals being exchanged for handshakes and hugs. 10/10 for community spirit.
Atlantic Dagger’s highlights were rather different. Their highlights included the night sky including some incredible shooting stars and phosphorescence. Being on the ocean means that you’re hundreds of miles away from the light pollution which makes many stars tough to see. In the UK it’s rare that you get to see the sky without some large cloud obscuring half the view. The Ursid meteor shower peaks a little earlier in December. So the crews are lucky to have seen the tail end of the meteors showering down, illuminating the nights sky. Magical.
For their worst thing to date the crew chose to highlight the last shift before breakfast. Rowing can be monotonous and boring. Rowing in the dark when the air temperature is at its coldest is not much fun. Even the promise of breakfast filling empty tummies after your shift won’t be enough to liven up the dull graveyard shift.
Although as if to liven things up a little the crew have been dancing around each other today. We wonder if they’re planning to meet up for a new year’s celebrations. Only time will tell.
