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| Wild thing - I think I love you! |
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| Written by Lin & Rachel at sea | |
| Friday, 01 February 2008 | |
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With our families now having booked flights and accommodation, we are hoping to make landfall on 16th February – but of course the Ocean may have other ideas by then! Yesterday we made huge progress West, but most of that was on rough water and steering rather than rowing. By 1am, conditions were pretty horrible on deck and as Lin is suffering a little from her injury, we decided to drift for the rest of the night. Safety comes first on this boat.
This morning we woke to find a wild and untamed sea outside. The waves are massive and frequently come over the gunwhales, but it’s still sunny, very windy and we can laugh about it at the moment! Bizarrely, we’re worried about arriving in Antigua too soon – after two and a half months of trying to go as fast as possible! We drifted around 10 miles North in the night but are making good progress back to 17 degrees now, which is where we’d like to stay around for the approach to Antigua. We also had a text from Elin and Herdip on Dream Maker, telling us that we’d over taken them in the night and why didn’t we stop for a cup of tea! We phoned them up for a chat as we have no idea how we over took them – we were fast asleep! They seem to be caught in the same conditions as they are so close but reported on many other boats in the fleet further West being stuck on sea anchor – commiserations to them as it’s horrible for any length of time. On a more serious note, we’d like to share some statistics with you about why we’re doing this. As you’ll know, one of our aims is to raise one hundred thousand pounds for Breast Cancer Care. This charity provides free information and advice to anyone with concerns about breast cancer. They are the only charity in the UK to offer this unique kind of support. Breast Cancer Care has a website for more information and supplies literature, helplines, an ‘ask the nurse’ service, forums and plenty more for anyone diagnosed with breast cancer or anyone who just needs more advice about it. Every year in the UK, 44,000 women and 300 men are diagnosed with breast cancer, which means that every 13 minutes, someone receives the devastating news. To put this in perspective, it means that since we set off on 2 December, 7,383 people have been diagnosed and are now living with breast cancer. You may even know someone yourself? As the dire month after Christmas is now over and pay cheques have come in, we’re asking if you can spare a small amount that could help make a real difference to someone with breast cancer. If you can help, please go to www.justgiving.com/atlanticrowing and make a donation. If you aren’t living in the UK, you can still donatle using a credit card – just check the exchange rate first as donations are in pounds sterling. Messages: Most of the messages now are really exciting, telling us how fast we are going and that we are actually overtaking or catching up with other boats. Of course we also have those from our family saying when their flights will be arriving etc. – more mixed emotions! Debra S – we too are gutted you can’t come out to see us in due to your hectic lifestyle but we both agreed that we should come down to Devon to see you as soon as we can get us all in one place! Jo & Louise – equally we’re really gutted that you can’t make it out to Antigua after all the things you’ve done for us throughout the campaign and during the race itself. We will return bearing gifts and would like to take you both out to dinner on our return. It’s the least we can do so we won’t take no for an answer on that! Roger – thank you for your words of encouragement. It’s all very exciting out here right now! Can’t wait to share it all with you and Amanda over a beer or two at the Skiff Club. Lin’s Mum – thank you for trying to find out what the fishes are that Rachel was swimming with. Katriona – well done on getting your medal – you’re a complete star and we can’t wait to see it. Dave Evans – thankfully no hangover but I’m sure that will change when we get to Antigua – mega celebrations to be had after this little trip eh! Love and Hugs to you all from Lin & Rachel |
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| Last Updated ( Saturday, 02 February 2008 ) |