Day 23 on Oyster Shack Ocean Challenger
( Last Updated: 15-01-2008 )
Food at sea
Unfortunately the food onboard Oyster Shack Ocean Challenger does not reflect the menu of the restaurant chain from which it gets its name.
We have two hot meals a day. Breakfast generally happens at 8am and consists of either porridge or Hot Cereal Start. Both are great and can be given a little extra kick by adding some Honey Stinger Honey, ummm, yummy! The next cooked meal is taken just before sunset at about 6pm. A greater variety is to be had here but we seem to have packed more 'Chicken with Vegetables and Noodles' than anything else so we are all a bit bored of it by now.
These are all ready meals. All we have to do is to boil some water and add to the prepared pack, stir and leave to soak. It takes just 5 min and as our cooking station is in the well where the stroke oarsman places his feet, two crew stay at the oars and keep rowing!
With such a high workload these two meals do not provide nearly enough calories to keep us all at full strength so between shifts and during the night we snack on things such as Honey Stinger Protein Bars and Mule Energy Bars. These are both designed specially to give athletes what they need so they can keep going harder, faster and further. They seem to be doing the job as we have just passed the ‘1000nm to go' marker and have enjoyed some of our best days of the journey so far.
Mike Martin - Oyster Shack Ocean Challenger at sea 15 Jan 08
Random Musings
Following on from Mike's piece on food, I am well known as having a healthy appetite so you'll not be surprised if I say that I am permanently hungry. The porridge is great and goes well with reconstituted strawberries. By contrast the Spag Bol is grim as it always ends up being crusty and hard and gives me constipation. I am also starting to lose weight and muscle mass. Oh how I am looking forward to a hamburger and chips with a cold drink in Antigua!!
The boat has been holding up well. The only difficulty is the desalinater, which is now fed from a header tank strapped to the deck. This has to be filled regularly by one of the oarsmen, which means resting the oars for a moment. Not a problem but it can be annoying especially when you have a good rhythm going.
Apart from losing weight we are all in reasonable health. We all have our sores and strains but our bottoms are improving, mine especially. I take fungal antibiotics to help my bottom recover and ibuprofen to ease the pain of the sores and strained hanstrings, which works well for me. However we are all pretty tired. It is very hot by day with temperatures at 30°C in the cabin and even hotter on the oars - a real ‘sweat-a-thon'. It is not surprising that we do our best rowing during the cool of the night.
The tiredness and the night can lead to your eyes playing tricks on you. Splashes of phosphorescence are often mistaken for flares; clouds take on the shape of strange objects and stars begin to spin so that they resemble UFOs! More alarming is the way the white tops of the waves become very bright in the moonlight and can be mistaken for cargo ships baring down on our little boat!
We have experienced a few heavy squalls, which by night can be cold and scary. However by day they offer the opportunity of a fresh water shower. You really can't imagine how refreshing it is to be salt free, if only for a few moments before the next wave breaks over the bow!
We have not seen much wildlife though a pod of twelve small dolphins paid us a visit yesterday morning while Simon was making breakfast. They were about 4ft long and difficult to see at first as the ocean is dark grey until sunrise and then becomes azure blue.
We have had a few days of generally good weather though both the wind and the waves do vary. It is great when both are from the stern but more often than not, one or the other will be 15° off our course, which makes for interesting rowing. Every now and again both are out of sync and when this happens it's like rowing through concrete. Then suddenly the water comes to life again and away we go.
Our morale, having been boosted by crossing the halfway point, has had a further boost now that there is less than 1,000nm to go. It is also really helpful to have an overlap on the competitors in the Atlantic Rowing Race 2007. We know them all after out 10 days in La Gomera together, so it gives great pleasure as we pass them one by one. It is a pity that we never see them as most are over 100nm to our south but we speak to some on the satellite phone and wish them well.
The weather forecast is good for the next few days after which we may have a short tricky period before more settled weather sets in that should support us all the way to Antigua. As a result of our better distances in recent days and in the expectation of good weather for the final run in we think we still have an outside chance of beating the current record.
Thanks to all our supporters. Your messages are much appreciated and make us determined to succeed in our goal so please keep them coming. Also please don't forget that we are rowing for Wateraid. Why not make a donation now from the website. Even a £1 would help.
George Oliver - Oyster Shack Ocean Challenger at sea 15 Jan 08