Rich and I did our first live radio interview at sea for BBC Radio London Sports Show  (94.9 FM) last night. For those of you who missed it our want to have another listen please click on the below web link. Steve Bunce, the presenter, wants to speak to us again in a fortnight or so, so we’ll keep you posted.

http://rapidshare.com/files/338989544/Thursday_Night_Sport_Show_with_Steve.m
p3.html

Life on Red Arrow slowly moves on. Rich and I have now completed over 100 consecutive 2 hour rowing shifts each. Life is very primitive – row, eat, sleep then row, eat, sleep basically 24/7. I feel a bit like a cave man (although I’m not sure how much rowing they did) because we don’t walk anywhere either, we’re either always crawling on deck or sat down. The hardest stroke for me always seems to be the first stroke of each shift – getting some momentum into the 1 tonne Red Arrow and onto our heading takes some effort.

Days at Sea:                 18

Days remaining:           40 to 60 (approx) depending on conditions

Last 24 Hours:              Conditions have been fairly good. Sea state has been fairly calm and the winds have generally been following so we can’t complain. We’ve just been warned by Woodvale of weather coming from the North West (not favourable) that will affect the whole fleet between 27^th & 30^th January.

Other Boats:                 Still haven’t seen another boat nor have we seen one on radar or heard one on the VHS for a week.

Recent incidents:        

1. Sleep Deprivation

After feeling tired for a couple of days, sleep deprivation finally kicked in. I was doing the dreaded graveyard shift in the early hours of Thursday and was an hour into the shift and I’d been drifting in and out of sleep whilst I should have been eating up the miles on the oars. My body was exhausted, I had nothing left, it was shutting down and rather than collapse on deck for Rich to find me in the morning (he wouldn’t naturally wake up for his shift) I came back to the cabin to collapse. As soon as my head hit the pillow I was out for the count. We only lost an hour as Rich woke for his shift and then the brutal regime started again. I was hoping to complete every shift and not “fail” any of them but when your body has had enough, you’ve just got to listen.    

2. Another Wet Cabin

Yep, we didn’t learn our lesson from the first time although thankfully (for me anyway) on this occasion it was Rich who was in the cabin and had left the hatch open. You’ve 2 options during your 2 hour “off” shift – you can either sit out on deck and get burnt or sit in the cabin and sweat like you’re in a sauna. Today has been sunny so the cushions are strapped to the solar panels again.

3. Shin injuries

Not an injury I was expecting to get from ocean rowing but my shins are taking a battering. When the oar gets caught in the uneven water on the pull through it often sends the handle slamming into your shins. If I’d of known about this I would have brought my shin pads with me!

Looking forward to:      still our boat Christmas Day on Monday 25^th. The secret Santa is going to be really hard to work out!

Can Someone Help……………..

Rich and I were chatting the other day during one of our on deck random trivial chats about absolutely everything and I mentioned “ a.k.a” and to the best of my knowledge it stands for “otherwise known as” but then shouldn’t it be “o.k.a”? Someone must have the answer – it has been bugging me…….

 Text of the day goes to either Cath or Oli – sorry, I had to delete loads of texts as our inbox was full and not sure which one of our comedians it came from…………..

Pizza Express have just introduced tomato as an extra for their garlic bread with cheese. Now correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t that a pizza?

 It sounds straight out of the Jimmy Carr joke book!

A few personal messages from me………….

Downie -           the answer to your text is “before”! Hope all is well mate and we’ll give you a call soon.

Ryan -              thanks for your daily texts and so sorry to hear that work is unbearable. Durie is a really good guy – just hang in there and I’m sure he’ll come good. No last minute sprints from Red Arrow as the quicker we finish, the quicker I’ll have to come back to work!

Coach Amy -    You failed to mention in your gloating email telling us all about your trip to Rio and that you plan to “flush” on us when you are overhead that you are all LOVED UP. Update the boat please.   

Nine –              1^st time you’ve had sushi……Swifty needs to take you out more. Make sure you get proper flowers on Valentines Day this year – let me know. I hear you’re off to Vegas - which is probably the worst place that you can be going for Swifty to be doing things in moderation!

Tiger -              Let us know what you think of the Hell & Highwater DVD. Hope Jacqui and Tobes are well.

Dog Breath -     Has 6 year old Ryan been helping you use a PC as there is no way you could type 160 characters on your own. I told Rich the fruit bowl story and he was disgusted!

Debra –            We’re definitely pushing ourselves outside of our comfort zone. We’ve got no turtle following us – what are we doing wrong???   

Gozza -            love the text to Rich. Can you email me it so I can share with everyone as I’ll get dizzy trying to type that out. Glad you liked the hoodie and make sure you don’t let Ellie beat you (running that is).  

The row must go on – Antigua here we come.

Barnesy

p.s. if you are sending us a text via the iridium website then please either fill in your email address or put your name at the end of the text otherwise we’ve no idea who it is from. Thanking you..