The FriendShip Journal - Episode 6
News from the Ocean
Happy Christmas!
15 days done, 1,213 NM rowed, 738 NM since the last email – amazing!
The Friendship are now more than 40% of the way to Antigua.
Week two on the ocean has passed and its certainly brought with it some ups and downs for the team. They have begun to settle into their routine, getting more used to the sleeping, eating, rowing pattern, despite blisters building up on blisters and the bum sores continuing to grow!
Since turning on to the westerly course heading in Antigua’s direction, the trade winds have been doing their job, helping to push Eppy along quickly, reaching a top speed of 12.9 knots - thanks to a huge wave which suddenly picked them up in the middle of their daily team meeting! The beginning of last week saw some very confused seas that made rowing challenging and resting even more so. Strange dreams and semi-hallucinations have become the norm with Jack being slightly surprised that Barak Obama was not taking over his shift on the oars as he had dreamt! This is probably something to do with the fact that he is currently listening to Michelle Obama’s autobiography.
Another common theme of the nights are the flying fish. The boys first discovered these by hearing the odd thwack on the side of the boat and decided it must be small fish hitting them. This was quickly confirmed by Hamish who took a flying fish to the face! They all now row at night slightly tense, aware of the continual threat of a very fishy slap in the face.
Christmas day on board was different to the traditional Christmas day to say the least. The conditions on Christmas Eve night were pretty tough and after a bout of very untuneful carols, they settled into a slog of a night shift. However, on Christmas day morning the stockings from their parents and the homemade Christmas pudding did a lot to lift the spirits, as did 3 hours of listening to the Michael Bublé Christmas album on repeat (Arthur disagrees with this last point).
The wind and waves started to pick up as Christmas drew to a close. A speedy night ensued, flying down some massive waves, and the team woke up to the news that they were one of the fastest teams in the fleet overnight and had made good ground on the leading boats.
The boys would love to say happy Christmas to all of their supporters. They continue to hugely appreciate all of the incredibly generous donations which are spurring them on day by day. The total has now reached an amazing £76,520 and please continue to donate via the link below.