Day 13 – Progress
With their various technical issues resolved the crews have been able to get what they do best, rowing. The conditions are broadly favourable and after some encouragement to go faster, Rowing Stones have had an excellent night on the oars and made some great progress. Despite having two additional rowers / engines compared to Ocean’s Elite their pace recently had reduced slightly compared to week one and without any change to their speed we were starting to wonder if they had enough food for the whole trip. However, it’s all that food which we believe to be some of the problem. All crews are required to carry a minimum amount of food for the trip and the amount of food Rowing Stones carried not only was too much for the lockers under the deck but also the cabins so they actually had four big bags of food lashed to the deck when they departed Gran Canaria. Food is good but it is all additional weight and will push the boat more into the water, creating more drag and slowing things down.
That additional weight shows itself more by the differences in boat speed more in stronger wind conditions as the heavier boat will be blown less by the wind. Whereas in conditions where there is less wind the presence of additional engines / rowers will have more of an impact. As they get deeper into the trip more and more food will be consumed and the lighter and lighter the boat will become, making the boat faster and faster. We have also received a message from a sailor who will be crossing the Atlantic and will be departing the Canary Islands towards the end of December. He has offered to head towards the crew and if the weather is favourable, drop off some additional supplies.
However it is clear from their messages that just going fast isn’t the only thing that the crew are focussing on and I’m personally thrilled to see that they are also focussing on enjoying the journey and looking after each other.
Morale is good. A few of us have gone through some lows over the past few days, and the team has rallied around every time, donating a shift, or prepping some tea. It’s really great to see the solidarity and friendship onboard. We’re really in it together, and help out each other where needed.
Rowing Stones
Tonight is our third “Diner de coloc” (translate “Flatmates dinner”), ritual we borrowed from the folks at Lazare. That means we cook some sterilised food (not freeze dried, so an actual nice meal!!), have some apero (crackers and paté), and enjoy the moment. We have those every Thursday and Sunday, works great to keep the carrot close to the donkey
Long may this focus on fraternal support continue. The crews will need all the support they can get over the next 3 days as the wind speeds increase and waves build. It’s going to start getting rough and nasty for them in the last few days before Christmas, but the good news is that it will only last three days and by Christmas Eve will be starting to drop off and be far lighter conditions.
