ROCK THE BOAT!
Rock the boat!
It was a bit quiet newsletter-wise, sorry for that. The good news is we have not been sleeping, but training hard indoors and outdoors. Time for an update!
Due to Corona regulations we had to improvise and therefore trained less in our Queen of Hearts than we wanted. But still we have spent quite some time on board whenever we could.
It’s not just the rowing itself that’s important, we also develop a routine on board. We start feeling at home by now even though we do realize that the Atlantic is very different from our main training area, the IJsselmeer. Just before our country went into the ‘intelligent lockdown’ in March, we were out for the weekend. The forecast was stormy and indeed it was! We were rowing like there was no tomorrow and still we hardly moved headwind. Ooops, how will that be in Ocean conditions… It felt unstable then, but now we are so used to all the instability that we hardly notice her moving about.
Since the regulations have been smoothed a bit we go out for the weekend and we always look forward to that. We pack our bags, some training gear and food, sun cream and hat, motivating music and lots of water. Of course our favorite ‘autodrop’ and sometimes a nice dram, like last weekend to mark the summer solistice. Our Queen of Hearts, the Rannoch 45 Elite, has enough compartments to sometimes wonder what is hidden where. Therefore we stick letters on the lids and prepare a list. On the ocean it will be different but for now we work with a dinner compartment, breakfast, snacks, water/drinks and jetboil/cutlery and such.
We also have men on board. Men, yup, we can’t go without. There’s Bennie, Willem and Mark. The two autopilots we have on board we named after the owners of the boat, that’s the ‘De Waard Transport BV’. Mark Schoorl (de Zeilkoning) looks after our safety equipment and provides us with all the equipment needed. When we use our lifelines and belts, we think of Mark and always make sure we send pictures with us showing buckled up safely.
On the water, many people turn their heads when they see this green, strange floating object. Plenty of pictures are taken and everybody is waving at us. When we call in a marina, we hardly have time to cook a meal. So much enthusiasm we meet, it’s truly heart-warming! That’s why we are very motivated to move on. So is the organization of the race, Atlantic Campaigns. The race is still on!
Heads up for all of all of you, rowers and supporters
Stay healthy&safe, and optimistic!
Atlantic Dutchesses