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Four ambitious and well-prepared women, set off with
the Atlantic Rowing Race fleet, departing from La Gomera in the Canary Islands
and finishing 3,000 miles away in Antigua in their boat Rowgirls Shelterbox.
Their epic journey will help raise funds for Rotary
Shelterboxes. This passage will provide the fleet with the best possible
conditions, taking advantage of the predominantly south westerly flowing
current from the Canaries to South America as well as exploiting the surface
current created by the favourable prevailing wind. The race window will also
avoid the hurricane season in the Caribbean.
Deemed The ‘World’s Toughest Rowing
Race’, the Atlantic Rowing Race 2005 follows in the footsteps of the
previous four rowing races in 1997, 2001, 2003 and 2004 with records waiting to
be broken. Rowgirls Shelterbox will become home for the Rowgirls and is fully
equipped with a water making machine, solar panels to power the GPS system, on
board computer and a webcam. All the equipment needed to row Rowgirls
Shelterbox – oars, custom made seats etc.
They have also taken all the food required for the
entire journey and at 6000 calories a day each that is a lot of chocolate,
three times as much as we would normally eat. One question always pops up is:
“How do you go to the loo?” It has been recommended that they use a
bed pan on a rope – ‘bucket and chuck it’! One piece of advice
is that as the weather is hot and sunny, clothing becomes damp and
salt-encrusted, causing very unpleasant chaffing, so many chose to row naked.
A daily schedule of rowing 2 hours on and 2 hours off
has been recommended, alternating sleep and rowing. This means that the boat
will always make progress and someone will always be on the look out for
tankers. Aside from rowing they will be confirming course, cooking up sumptuous
meals (of dried carbohydrates and boil-in-the bag pudding) and enjoying the
sunsets.
Hopefully on-board tensions will be avoided with the
odd game, perhaps hide and seek or ‘I spy’! John Bryant, Rotary Club
of Dunstable said “We are delighted to support the Rowgirls, as Claire is
a local girl, and my club has committed to fund two Shelterboxes at a cost of
£490 each. I urge other Rotary clubs to recognise the Rowgirls
achievement and support their appeal for Shelterboxes.”
Progress of Rowgirls Shelterbox can be followed on
www.rowgirls.com |
