Day 22 – Exhaustion

ByChris Martin

It’s a marathon not a sprint was one of the main focusses we briefed the team on before departure. Unsurprisingly rowing for 12 hours a day and then there’s the real job of squeezing in eating, drinking, cleaning, getting dressed and undressed, sending messages home and resting / sleeping in the other 12 hours. This means that fairly frequently the job of sleeping and recovery falls down the schedule meaning that exhaustion kicks in.

Added to that challenge is the fact that the cabin is roasting hot from the sun for a fair portion of the day and it doesn’t get much cooler at night so the quality of rest you get isn’t great. If you are rowing in a boat with the standard schedule of 2 hours on 2 hours off then by the time you actually get off the oars and into the cabin, take off your lifejacket and tether, get changed / undressed and get ready for sleep that you’ll maybe have 1 hour 40 minutes before you have to be waking up and getting dressed and ready to get back onto the oars again. This brutal schedule affects different people in very different ways but everyone will feel the effects of such a lot of physical effort combined with minimal opportunities to recover.

Rowing Stones have been feeling these effects most strongly in the last few days but have come together as a team to ensure that those crew members who need a rest have been given that chance to recover. Sometimes all it needs is the understanding of your crewmates, some water with electrolytes in, a big meal and a 12 hour sleep to recharge your internal batteries and get back onto top form again. If nothing else this shows the value in having a strong team around you who are all looking out for each other and focussed on your welfare.

Rowing Stones yesterday also reported that the weather was nice and they saw a massive yellow sponge surrounded by many little fishes. We’re not sure what this could be but suspect that it may have been another piece of abandoned fishing equipment. At least it took their minds off being quite so tired for a few minutes.

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