It's now 3 months on since we completed our epic row across the Atlantic and we've both started to settle back into 'normal' lives.

A few days ago, a friend of Lin's send us a funnly quote from Kenichi Ohmae: 'Rowing harder doesn't help if the boat is headed in the wrong direction'.

It reminded me of the nights we were so exhausted that we fell asleep at the oars, but kept rowing, normally in the wrong direction! Only to wake up in complete confusion a few minutes later, feeling terribly guilty! For Lin, it reminded her of the seemingly endless days when we got blown too far South and had to battle our way North again with every joint and muscle screaming for mercy. But sitting at our desks now, it all seems a very long time ago!

So just what have we been up to? Although we're enjoying some time without the immense pressure we've been under for the last few years, we're still busy fundraising and finding new ways to raise the profile of Breast Cancer Care, It's also been great to spent more time with our neglected families and partners.

Lin has applied for and got a new job. It's still in the London area, although it will involve a house move for her. She's also getting married to Charlie later on this year in Ivory Coast, Africa, so the plans are well underway. Unfortunately the physio on her injuries hasn't been successful and she's still in a lot of pain, so the next step is MRI scans to try and establish the cause of the problem.

Meanwhile, my niggling injuries have been pretty much sorted out and I've been busy writing and delivering a number of talks about the challenge - there are plenty more booked for the rest of the year too. Lin will be helping with a couple and I'm trying to get on the books of some speaking agencies. Feedback from all the talks has been really positive and it seems that the audiences have enjoyed hearing the story.

We often get asked about whether we plan to publish a book - or told that we should - and the answer is that we'd love to, but we need to find a publisher first. Unless of course we use one of ht emany 'self-publishing' services available on the internet. Looking into this and drafting an outline is likely to be my next big job!

Barbara Ivy came back to the UK safely on 22 March and is now living in the lap of luxury at Salop Leisure (thank you guys!). She is now for sale with the price tag of £25,000 and there is growing interest in her.

On 2 May though, I picked her up and we headed down the motorway to Brixham in Devon for the annual 'Try a boat' weekend, run by Plain Sailing. We went to the event last year and it was fantastic to go back and be able to tell everyone about what we'd done and great to see our old friends again, especially Tima nd Fiona who came to see us off in La Gomera and encouraged us all the way across.

Bizarrely, we bumped (not literally!) into Dr George, the boat's former owner, on the motorway and pulled off at the services so that he could catch up on our news and check that the love of his life (Barbara Ivy!) was doing OK!

Lin joined me in Brixham on the Friday night - we slept onboard one of the Plain Sailing yachts and it was pure luxury to be able to spread out comfortably in the lovely dry cabins (one each!) while being gently rocked to sleep rather than thrown around violently. The toilet had a door, we could make hot drinks easily and had hte use of the wonderful facilities provided at MDL's Brixham Marina. Whoever though boating could be so much fun?!

We're planning to take up the Plain Sailing team's offer of taking us through our Day Skipper qualification next year and I may be able to get involved in a couple of yacht deliveries eith them later thi syear to get some practice in. Neither of us knows anything much about sailing, but it's a great opportunity to learn new skills and might just satisfy our occasional craing for adrenalin. Lin has already had a go at Outrigger paddling, one of the things she promised herself while we were onboard.

Other opportunities are also cropping up regularly and I was thrilled to be invited to be an Ambassador for the Earls Court Boat Show later this year. Running for 5 days at the end of November, we'll have an Ocean Rowing display at he show and I'll be running a talk each day for show visitors. In addition, there's a chance that I might be taking part in one of hte Honda F4 series of power boat races!

June is going to be a busy mont and we're taking Barbara Ivy on the road again. On 12 June I'm at the HBOS Awards, 15 June we'll be at the Cricklade Town Festival and then from 20-22 June we'll be at the Women's Henley Regatta. On 28 June we have the Woodvale Challenge Prize Giving which is a great opportunity to meet up with all of hte other race competitors again for what's likely to be a 'darn good knees up' in London.

That's all for now but we'll keep youposted on news over the next few months.
Love & Hugs, Rachel and Lin

PS. Watch out for other Ocean Rowers on the water now:
Roz Savage - www.rozsavage.com
Scilly Boys - www.woodvale-challenge.com