The last month has probably been the busiest yet for Lin and Rachel, as the countdown is on and departure day gets even nearer. A month ago they were also wondering how to ensure enough funds came in to make absolutely certain that they will be on the start line on 2nd December, but happily it seems they have overcome this obstacle too.

Rachel attended the Breast Cancer Care fashion show a few weeks ago and found it to be an emotional and eye-opening event. All of the models (both men and women) were either recovering from or battling with breast cancer, but the event is a complete celebration of life. The brave models stand proud on the catwalk and stick a hypothetical two fingers up at the disease. There isnt a dry eye in the room and Rachel came away feeling incredibly motivated. Just thinking about inspirational people like this will help keep the rowers going when it gets tough.

Next came a big fundraiser with a big effort to make it happen. It started on 10th Ocotober when Rachel left home at 6am. Two taxis and five trains later she arrived at Lin's house to pick up the car and drive 50 miles to collect the boat. A further 150 miles and she arrived at the Celtic Manor hotel near Cardiff ready for the Bank of Scotland Dealer Finance annual conference.

With the boat in position, she worked on it till 9pm when tiredness kicked in. The next day after a hectic conference, Lin joined her, having driven from London just for the event.

And what an evening it was. The rowers had to pluck up the courage to stand on stage and speak in front of 300 people. Even if they were shaking from head to toe, no one seemed to notice and the staff of Bank of Scotland Dealer Finance generously raised a huge total of £5,448 for the challenge. the team also saw their ability to raise awareness too, particularly when they mentioned the 300 men who are diagnosed with breast cancer each year. More than one of the men in the audience could be seen patting their chests!

The next day Lin left early to go back to work in London and Rachel hitched up the boat again to move her to Salop Leisure where they were going to pack her up. Lin meanwhile headed North again after work, arriving at Rachel's house in Chester at 1am - a couple of very long days for them both!

Saturday dawned and they packed up the cars and headed to Shrewsbury. Salop Leisure has been a long term supporter of the team and this time provided two valeting bays for the team to use to pack the food, kit and boat. Ned, their coach, also joined them to finish a couple of last minute jobs and spent an extremely boring but valuable afternoon vaccuum packing fruit cake for the food bags.

{mosimage}Most of Saturday was spent making up the 90 days of food rations that the team has to take. Once they saw the bags laid out row upon row, they wondered how on earth it was all going to fit into the boat. Jokes about fitting elephants into Minis and fridges flew around, but the girls were already tired and starting to worry a little.

Revived by England's win over France that night, they set off to do battle with the food bags early on Sunday. And a battle it was. While Lin fitted 3 months of food into a space the size of the average bath, Rachel set to organising the grab bag, safety kit bag and medical kit.


{mosimage}By the end of the day, it was done and bar the coffee and hot chocolate, baby wipes and sunscreen, everything was in the TARDIS-boat. The only problem is that they will literally have to munch their way through 2 weeks of food before they see the floor of the front cabin again.

Exhausted, they spent the next week finalising plans for their Bon Voyage party and ordering the last few items ready to go in the boat before shipping on 22nd October. Somehow, rowing for 12 hours each a day is looking remarkably restful right now and people are constantly surprised to find out that both rowers are still working full time.

The media campaign continues well with a number of radio interviews recently. Plus, make sure you buy the December issue of Practical Boat Owner, out in November, when a feature of the team will be running.

But finally, back to the financial situation. A month ago the team needed a few thousand more to make the start line in La Gomera and desperately needed some new sponsors to help make this possible. When it started to seem impossible, four companies stepped in to help - Sequoia, Floodwall, Accident Exchange and Atlantic Customer Solutions have donated £6,000 between them which will get the team to the start line and make a healthy contribution to the charity too.

In addition, help has also come from ADEC Marine who have kindly donated our flares and reflective tape, McMurdo who have loaned a top of the range Epirb, Ortlieb who provided a substantial discount on their virtually indestructible water bags for the ballast, Cafe Direct who have supplied coffee and hot chocolate, and ASDA Winsford who let the team loose in the aisles to collect some essentials.

So, feeling exhausted but very positive the team approach their last few weeks in the UK. This has been a long journey for both women but the final hurdle (albeit a rather large Atlantic Ocean) is in sight.

The team will be finishing the distributed newsletters before they go, but make sure to check their website regularly as they will be posting messages as often as possible to keep you up to date. More details will follow.

Question of the Month - Will they be in contact and contactable on the boat?

Yes, but contact will be limited. The team will have a number of ways to communicate from onboard, and the good news is that you can send text messages to them via the Iridium website.

If another boat is in range, within roughly 5-30 miles, they have a VHF radio on board and can talk to others. They will also be taking 2 satellite phones with them and a spare sim card to allow for malfunctions, kindly loaned by G Comm. They are taking a special laptop, supplied by Stone Computers so that they can post messages on the website and send images for publishing too.

For such a small and simple looking vessel, the Barbara Ivy is surprisingly well kitted out with the very latest safety equipment and the team are extremely well prepared for the challenge ahead.

This month's photo: Packing the food at Salop

Dates for your Diary

20 October - Floating Farewell Party, London
22 Ocotber - boat travels to shipping agent in Newark
25 October - boat is shipped to La Gomera
2 November - personal appearance - ASDA Winsford's pharmacy opening
16 November - both rowers finish at work
19 November - fly to La Gomera, Canary Islands
2 December 2007 - RACE START!