Day 36 – Finding speed

Our crews have been focussing on speed. Both crews have been working on reducing weight wherever they can with the aim to increasing their speed. It’s fascinating that both crews have had the same focus at exactly the same time. The central lockers of the boat are sealed from the rest of the boat and do have hatch covers but they do fill with water gradually especially in rough weather. These only contain ballast water which can be drunk as emergency water rations if necessary but which don’t matter if they are submerged in water. Especially early on the additional extra weight is an advantage and can help to stabilise the boat and make the rowers feel safer but now that additional weight is starting to weigh heavy on the crews. Pumping this out can save the crews at least an extra 20-30kgs.

Rowing Stones have also admitted that they might have packed a little bit more food than was absolutely necessary. They have the minimum food requirements plus some quite unique additional snacks including 2kgs of marzipan, 4kgs of olive oil, 14kg of wet meals and in total about 255kgs of food. That is a tremendous amount of food to be taking which obviously has an effect on the boat’s weight and handling. They’re eating as much as they like but every day they aren’t eating all of their meals and snacks.

We’re eating like pigs, but still piling up spares.

Rowing Stones

Whilst the extra weight may not be favoured the addition of supplies is, at least from an event organisers perspective. Personally, I’ve spent time on an ocean rowing boat when the food has run out and it’s not fun. Calories is the same as fuel for an engine and if you can’t fuel the engine then eventually the fire goes out. It’s great to hear that they have enough food to push all the way to the finish and beyond.

Ocean’s Elite have also been focussing on speed too. They’ve scrubbed the barnacles off the bottom of the boat which can grow and slow down a vessel’s progress. They’ve also pumped water out of that central locker which has helped save weight. They’ve also reported that they have been able to start surfing the waves in the strong conditions they’ve been experiencing recently, although that period of waves above 3m high is starting to die off now.

It certainly feels as though the crews are starting to focus now on their arrival now. They’re close to busting through that 1000nm to go marker which is such a mentally positive point and we look forward to celebrating with them soon.