Three months. Phewee. It’s really quite a long time. If someone drew a boat-shaped outline on the floor, 23 feet by 6, and told you that you weren’t allowed outside it, nor was anybody else allowed inside it, for three months, it would sound a bit like – well, like solitary confinement. Then stick a rowing machine in the middle of it, and you’ve got solitary confinement with hard labour.

The food is probably better than in prison (I’m guessing here, never having been in prison myself) but there’s nobody to serve it to me. This is a self-catering cell. The upside is that there is no jailer ordering me around, telling me what to do and when. Only my own conscience.

As to whether this gives me a sense of freedom – I suppose that is up to me. I can look on it as “here I am, confined to this tiny boat for months at a time”, or I can take the positive view: “look at this huge sky, and this vast ocean, and nobody to get in the way of my view – wow!”

I’m sure there’s a message in there, to the effect that no matter how constrained our circumstances, we can still exercise free will to the extent that we choose how we perceive our situation. But as we’ve just had a Philosophy Friday I am going to leave that to you to ponder.

Other Stuff:

Some interesting waves today, described thus by my weatherman, Lee Bruce: “wave forecast shows total height of 6m, occasional 7.5m. But that’s a combination of SSW swell, very long-period SW swell (17-19 seconds), SE-ish swell, and ESE/SE wind waves.” 7.5 metres is about 24 feet, which sounds huge, but actually it hasn’t been too bad. Because it is such a long-period swell, my boat goes up, and then it goes down, rather than the violent rocking that results from shorter, choppier waves. In fact, I quite enjoy the big swells – they mean I get a good view out across the ocean from the top, and I do like a wave with a view!

However, having said that, I am under a big storm cloud as I write this and the ocean is getting rather feisty. So I will keep this short and get safely horizontal as soon as I can. Gusts of 30 knots are forecast for tonight.

Still edging up to that magical halfway mark. It could well be tomorrow. I have my celebratory treats at the ready.

At last I had a dream with Johnny Depp in it. We were both in a film – he was starring, I just had a small role – but I did have a scene with the man himself. Lots of my friends were in it too. And I discovered to my surprise that one of the other stars, Scarlett Johanssen, is only four foot tall. Much shorter than me. Ah yes, it was a very good dream!

Good luck to Diana Nyad, the 61-year-old about to attempt to swim from Cuba to Key West. I am very impressed already, whether she makes it or not – but I hope she does and wish her all the best! (Thanks to Rich Hular for the info.)

Thanks, Eric, for the joke about the gravediggers/septic tank installers. Made me laugh out loud!

Quote: “Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of reaching out to fix the part of the world that is within our reach. Any small, calm thing that one soul can do to help another soul, to assist some portion of this poor suffering world, will help immensely.” (Clarissa Pinkola Estes, writer)

Sponsored Miles: Doug Grandt (Larry), Anne and Peter Thomson, David Martin and Todd Lowe, thank you for sponsoring miles rowed.

(Why Roz’s progress is not shown)

Vegemite - pride of Australia!

My Number One FAQ is “What do you eat?” Yesterday I was asked this three times. Other days it’s even more. In the last 5 years I must have answered this question about a thousand times. I should start charging for the answer.

So, in the (probably vain) hope that I can pre-empt the question at least until I launch, I have decided to post a blog about it.

Of course, food is important at sea, as it is anywhere else, come to that! I do like good food, and during my rowing adventures it acquires even greater importance, as a welcome break from rowing and a highlight of the day. A good dinner can restore flagging morale like nothing else. Over the years I have put much thought into what to take.

First, it has to meet certain criteria:

- last for up to 4 months without refrigeration

- not take up too much space

- not get crushed too easily

- be resistant to damage by heat or damp

- be quick and easy to prepare

- be nutritious enough to sustain prolonged physical exertion

Then there are my personal additional criteria. In a perfect world, my rations would also be:

- organic

- sustainable

- local

- mostly vegan or vegetarian (although somewhat flexible on this)

- in biodegradable packaging

- ideally donated free of charge by sponsors

- and, of course, taste good!

It’s almost impossible to meet all of these criteria, all of the time, but over the years I have managed to get pretty close. So this year I will be taking with me:

Loads of lovely Larabars!

From Larabar of Colorado, 432 raw fruit and nut bars:

32 x Ginger Snap

32 x Apple Pie

48 x Banana Bread

48 x Cinnamon Roll

48 x Pecan Pie

60 x Peanut Butter Cookie

60 x PBJ

60 x Jocolat – Chocolate

60 x Jocolat – Chocolate Coffee

From Wilderness Family Naturals of Minnesota:

6 jars Chocolate syrup (yum!)

6 x 1 lb Coconut powder (awesome when added to Thai curry!)

8 x 8oz Macadamia nuts

8 x 5.8oz Pecan nuts

8 x 6oz Almonds

8 x 8oz Brazils

8 x 4.5oz Walnuts

8 x 5.8oz Cashews

8 x 5oz Mixed nuts

8 x 8oz Pumpkin seeds

8 x 8oz Sunflower seeds

2 x Himalayan pink sea salt

8 x hot chocolate mix

4 x coconut spread

4 x freeze dried bananas

4 x freeze dried blueberries

4 x freeze dried raspberries

And plenty of good food from down under, too…..

Back Country Cuisine freeze-dried dinners from New Zealand. With all the stuff I add to it, one dinner lasts me for two nights. This is where the veggie side falls down a bit, but it really is nice to be able to have a hot dinner with some protein after a long day’s rowing. Kindly sponsored by Sea To Summit:

15 x Fish Pie

15 x Thai Chicken Curry

15 x Roast Chicken

15 x Babotjie

15 x Nasi Goreng

18kg rawfood crackers, made by ROAR Foods of Queensland, packaged in biodegradable plastic:

5 kgs of Pizza Base crackers

5 kgs of Sun Burgers

5 kgs of Mock Turkey Burgers (made with cashews and dried cranberries)

3 kgs of Beetroot crackers

Beans for sprouting - instructions thoughtfully included!

25 packs of Shaklee energy chews from California

12 cans of Red Feather Canned Butter from New Zealand, supplied by Ballantyne

8kg of beans for sprouting from Farmland Greens of Western Australia – I grow my own sprouts on board, using a Sproutamo pot, and they really pack a powerful nutritional punch, chock-full of fibre, enzymes, minerals…. and crunch!

6 jars of lemon marmalade and 6 jars of plum jam from Lemon Ladies of California

20 bags of fancy nuts from Samudra of Western Australia (Candy Spice Nuts, Power Max Macadamias, Cacao Cashew Clusters, Sunny Glow Almonds)

Fresh foods (for as long as they last):

Artisan bread, courtesy of Abhi’s Bread Shop in Fremantle (Fruit & nut, Rye & fruit, Spelt, Wholemeal sunflower, Polenta and sultana)

Avocadoes

Mangoes

Hummus (3 tubs, biodegradable)

2kg cheese (Emmental and/or Jarlsberg)

Hard-boiled eggs

Other goodies:

Tahini (8 jars)

Shoyu sauce (8 bottles, tahini and shoyu get mixed with beansprouts and nuts for a yummy lunch, with rawfood crackers on the side)

Honey, purchased from Bartholomew’s Meadery during our weekend in Denmark, Western Australia (2 jars)

Miso  (organic, 30 sachets)

Green & Blacks chocolate (5 bars)

Ginger tea (good for seasickness, 50 teabags)

Garam masala (3 jars)

And as my insurance policy, I will also be taking some vitamin supplements from my UK supplier, Biocare:

Vyta-Myn Complex 3 x 60 capsules

Osteoplex 2 x 90 capsules

Jointguard 15 x 300ml

Hair and Nail Complex 2 x 90 capsules

Dermaguard 3 x 60 capsules

…and of course, no trip from these shores would be adequately provisioned without a jar of Vegemite!!

I reckon I’ve got the food down to a pretty fine art now. Enough variety to keep it interesting, without mealtimes becoming a major decision-making process. Enough nutrition, but also enough yumminess to keep me happy.

What about you? If you were going to stockpile enough food to keep you going for 4 months, what would you take? And what would be your special treat?

Woody the Skateboarding Pirate

You know how immunization works? You are exposed to a little bit of infection so that you don’t get the full-blown illness? Well, I suppose Woody is my pirate immunization. I’m taking a little pirate so I don’t get a lot.

Woody has been loaned to me by my good friend Mariya, who I first met in Peru when I was looking for a climbing partner. It was actually Mariya’s hostel roommate, Mo, who replied to my advertisement, but Mariya came along for our acclimatization climb of Mount Pisco. When Mo went down with altitude sickness, it was just Mariya and I who reached the top of Mount Pisco with our guide. We both found it tough going, but slowly, slowly we made it, regularly reviving ourselves with our battle cry of “A las ninas!”

It was a formative experience, and Mariya and I have stayed in touch ever since.

I saw her a few times last month when I was attending the International Marine Debris conference in Hawaii, where she now lives and trains as an acupuncturist. On the last evening that I saw her, she told me she had something for me. She delved in her bag, apologizing for not having wrapped it, and pulled out a small object. “Hang on,” she said, “there’s another bit.” More delving.

Turns out the first object was Woody the pirate, and the second object was….. his skateboard. Obviously. Where would a pirate be without his skateboard? Makes perfect sense actually – if you have a wooden peg leg, I suppose a skateboard is quite a good way to get around. Especially if you stick to it magnetically, as Woody does.

Woody travelled around the world with Mariya for a year, and kept her safe from harm. I’m hoping he’ll do the same for me on the Indian Ocean this year.

Other Stuff:

More work on the boat today – still packing, sorting, arranging. I seem to have more food than ever this year, so much that I’m finding it difficult to find appropriate storage places for it all. I’ve probably got enough for at least 6 months, so running out of food is at least one thing I don’t need to worry about.

Available in your local bookstore now! Also on Amazon.com.

In the fourth retrospective on Stage 2 of the Pacific, I’m considering two of my favorite subjects – food and books. Both played a significant role in my voyage – mostly as bribes to myself to get through the next rowing shift. We all need our treats!

Favorite foods:

1.    Wilderness Family Naturals products – a new sponsor – turned out to be a real winner. Loved the fact that the nuts were all sprouted and then dehydrated at low temperatures – super healthy. The chocolate syrup was a sweet treat, and the Coconut Powder was a fantastic addition to freeze-dried curries.
2.    Also a huge fan of the Living Nutz donations – Bodacious Banana Bread walnuts, Passionate Pesto walnuts, Zesty Almond Bliss, and Absolute Chi Teriyaki Almonds.
3.    The rawfood crackers made for me with love and pride by Marlene Depierre were fantastic. My favourites were the mock turkey (minced cashew nuts and cranberries), walnut pumpkin crackers (Mexican flavor), and “cookies” made with mango, banana, goji berries, dates, sunflower and pumpkin seeds – and the latest superfood, chia.
4.    A few special treats bought for me in Hawaii by Lorrin Lee – Kopali Organics Dried Mango, Go Raw Spirulina Superchips, carob energy nuggets, and Sun Power Natural Chocolate Chip Cookies. All utterly delicious.
5.    Plus, of course, my faithful Larabars. New favorite flavor is Peanut Butter Cookie, with Pecan Pie, Cinnamon Roll and Banana Bread following very close behind. With strategic rations of Jocalat Chocolate Coffee bars to get me through late evening rowing shifts.

Favorite books:

I listened to a total of 73 books on this voyage, thanks to Audible.com and Audible.co.uk – and Leo Laporte, who gave me his iPod with his own selection of books. Worthy of particular mention – in no particular order:

NON-FICTION

1.    Long Walk to Freedom, by Nelson Mandela
Inspiring autobiography of a legend.

2.    Lost on Planet China, by J Maarten Troost
Informative and amusing, a very personal view of contemporary China as it appears to the outsider.

3.    Around Ireland with a Fridge, by Tony Hawks
An entertaining tale of eccentric British adventure.

4.    Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortensen
An uplifting story of a man with a mission. If you liked Mountains Beyond Mountains, by Tracey Kidder, you’ll love this too.

5.    Vet in Harness, by James Herriott
The entertaining adventures of a vet in the Yorkshire Dales in the 1930s. Provoked a strong yearning to live in a simpler time.

6.    Shantaram, by Gregory David Roberts
Epic – lasted me for days. Sometimes teeters on the brink of an ego trip, but generally a great story full of colourful characters and some interesting philosophical asides.

7.    Hemingway Adventure, by Michael Palin
I listened to all of Michael Palin’s books, but this was my favorite for its insights into the fascinating character of Hemingway, coupled with Palin’s usual excellent travel writing.

8.    Predictable Irrationality, by Dan Ariely
A fascinating insight into human psychology.

FICTION

9.    The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho
Life-changing, and something new to discover every time I read it.

10.    The Risk Pool, by Richard Russo
I love to lose myself in the small town dramas of Richard Russo’s books. Great characterisations.

11.    The Time Traveller’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger
A page-turner of a story, with thought-provoking themes of free will versus fate.

12.    Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman
An offbeat story of an underground London peopled by weird and wonderful characters. I will never again be able to stand on Earls Court station without thinking of the Earl and his court.

13.    Siddartha, by Herman Hesse
A beautiful story of a quest for enlightenment. If you’ve read and enjoyed The Alchemist, try this one too.

Other Stuff:

And speaking of books, today a momentous occasion. I held a copy of a book in my hands, gazing at the cover. It read, Rowing The Atlantic, by Roz Savage. My baby. Very exciting. Book tour starts October 6, the official publication date.

Lots of travel at the moment. Thank heavens for those carbon offsets. Just arrived in Hawaii this morning on the red-eye from Fiji. I had planned to spend a week here, but there is just too much cool stuff happening in New York for Climate Week – the premiere of The Age Of Stupid, the Climate Ride from New York to DC, and the president of Kiribati there on an official visit. So I’m going. I just can’t stay away with so much eco-action going on. So tomorrow night I fly to San Francisco to exchange my warm weather clothes for autumn clothes, then straight on to New York. It’s all a bit crazy, but with Copenhagen just around the corner, there is no time to lose!

Even in the Bible they only go off into the wilderness for forty days
and forty nights at a time. Yet here I am, in my watery wilderness,
forty days in and in all likelihood more than another forty to go.

Someone asked if time seems to pass more quickly when I am at sea – or
more slowly. It's hard to say. It's not so much a question of whether
the time is fast or slow. It's just different, very different.

Ashore, there is so much to do – a typical day in Hawaii before I left
would include maybe some email exchanges with my editor in New York,
planning for speaking engagements, a conference call with an
environmental organization, a media interview, some fundraising activity
for either the expedition or film project, a meeting with a local
technology company, as well as trying to keep my email inbox under
control.

On the ocean, I row, eat, sleep, and blog. And not a great deal else.
It's a very different tempo, liberating in its simplicity. I can't
totally leave behind the cares of shore life – I'm still in daily
contact with Nicole, who is keeping everything ticking along in my
absence, and we discuss our plans for the rest of the year – but mostly
my world is sea, sky, and a little silver rowboat.

On the Atlantic, my first ocean row, I struggled to shift into this
different rhythm. I was desperately impatient to get to Antigua, and my
impatience nearly drove me crazy. My mind was racing ahead, yearning to
be back on dry land, while my boat crawled along at 2 knots.

To save my sanity, I had to learn to take it one day at a time. No point
thinking about all the miles ahead. I could only row one mile at a time,
and that was the next one. Just keep knocking off the miles, and
eventually I'd get there.

Now I often think back to that lesson when I feel daunted by the scale
of a task. I can only do the next step, then the next, then the next.
The biggest fundraising campaign starts with the first phone call.
Writing a book starts with the first page. And, of course, the longest
journey starts with the first step. Or oarstroke.

[photo: as a postscript to yesterday's blog – a photo of my onboard
vegetable patch, the beansprouter]

Other Stuff:

This morning I crossed into single digits – I am now less than 10
degrees north of the Equator. There has been quite a bit of weather
today – a couple of sharp rainstorms this morning – but I don't think
that these are symptoms of the ITCZ, as I still seem to be in the
consistent trade winds, blowing from the East, at 15-20 knots. So life
goes on. Winds blowing me west, I'm aiming south, and so we have a
strange kind of right-angled tug-of-war. A very interesting forecast
from weatherguy.com today – see the bottom of this blog.

Today's video (click on the latest YouTube icon on the RozTracker) is
about food. Following on from yesterday's blog, I show the contents of
the food lockers in my cabin. Enjoy!

Thanks for all the great comments. Mum is now home from hospital and
recovering well from her hip replacement and emails them through to me.
She has to send them before she goes to bed in England, which is a few
hours before I post my blog, so I might not get the later comments until
the next day. Just so you know! A few special mentions:

Frank, wife and daughter – thank you for your kind and eloquent message.

Re the children's book – I have a draft of one, but it's really not my
area of expertise. I've got a couple of options of proper children's
writers who might take on the project. To be pursued when I get back to
dry land.

Christa – Things to make from Larabar wrappers – the idea would be to
auction off the item on eBay (as Karen Morss correctly guessed), so I
don't really mind what it is. Maybe a small purse? Or bracelet? Or
several bracelets even? I'll keep munching away and figure something out
when I get back to dry land.

UncaDoug – thanks for the entertainment and the New Moon update.

LeAnn – will be sure to take you up on the offer of dinner if/when I'm
in Houston. Thank you!

Lesley Ewing – great to hear from you. Thanks for the bake sale
fundraiser – and the donation. You're great!

Nancy – thanks for calling The Ellen Show on my behalf. Would be great
to put in an appearance!

Russell – haha!

Marcus and Anna – well done on finishing your epic JUNK bike ride! It
was great to be able to see you off from Vancouver. Wish I could have
been there to welcome you into Mexico. Hope you had a great time, and
I'm sure you had a huge impact in raising awareness of plastic pollution
in the oceans. See you again soon!

Hi Mariya!!!

Quick answers to quick questions:

Q: Wondering what your sleeping arrangements are like? Is there a door
you can shut to keep out stray waves? But doesn't it get too hot? How
much headroom is there inside the compartment?
A: Enclosed cabin with waterproof hatch. Just about high enough to sit
up in. Yes, it gets darned hot during the day, which is why despite the
heat I still prefer to row in the day and sleep at night. Trying to
sleep in here during the day would be a very sweaty experience.

Q: When you arrive, what happens to your boat? is it flown back, or
perhaps put on a container ship and sent back to where you need it?
A: Where I need it is where I finish this stage of the row. In other
words, Stage 3 will start where Stage 2 ends. So the boat will stay
there. If I had unlimited budget I would ship the boat back to Hawaii or
over to Australia for refurbishment, but shipping is horrendously
expensive. In fact, I doubt it's even possible to send large cargo from
tiny sandspits in mid-Pacific…

Q: On the ocean, with a day of good visibility, how far away can you see
distant weather events, like storms? For instance, could you spot a
storm in the ITCZ when you're still a full degree of latitude away from
it?
A: Interesting question, and maybe weatherguy.com can help. I can
certainly see big black clouds about 5 miles away, but am doubtful I'd
see them from a full degree (60 nautical miles) away. In fact, I often
look to the East to see what's heading my way – not that I can do much
about it!

Weather report:

Position at 2130 HST: 09 43.584N, 171 48.655W
Wind: 15-20kts E
Seas: 6-8ft E
Weather: occasional outbursts of rain this morning, sunny and hot this
afternoon with occasional clouds

Weather forecast, courtesy of weatherguy.com

As of Thursday, 02 July 2009. The easterly trade winds have turned more
ENE still around the 20+kts. Expect brief periods of lower winds to
around 15-18kts, then abating to the 15kt range on July 6th. Seas abate
to 6-7ft. Winds south of the ITCZ are E to ESE 10-12kts or less.

Sky conditions: Partly to mostly cloudy with mostly low level clouds.
Isolated rainshowers. Convective clouds begin about 07 30N and that
means vertical development extending to 30-50,000ft. Increased chance of
rainshowers and thunderstorms.

ITCZ: The most active part of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ)
is now along 170W to 180W between 2N and 7 30N. There remain widespread
areas of wind 30-40kts in heavy rainshowers and thunderstorms. However,
last 24hrs, the ITCZ has become less active, but you will likely
experience squalls and thunderstorms.

Ocean Current: You are currently in a west setting current of about 0.2
to 0.3kts so that is not helping your southerly progress. The good news
is the current changes direction at about 06 00N to eastward flowing at
about 0.4 to 0.5kts; ie the North Equatorial Counter Current. That
should help in hindering your westward movement. The NEEC extends to
about 00 30S. In the lighter winds south of the ITCZ, it may be possible
to row/drift eastward. We don't quite yet know the full impact of the
current and the opposing wind on your boat, but hopefully it will
benefit your goal of getting south of the Equator before Tuvalu.

Forecast below is for a SWerly course.
Date/Time HST Wind kts Seas (ft)
02/1800-04/0900 ENE 17-22 7-9
04/0900-06/0000 ENE 15-20 6-8
06/0000-08/1800 ENE 12-17 6-7

Next Update: Monday, 06July

What do I eat?

This is, without a doubt, my most FAQ, and just goes to show that at the
end of the day we all, no matter what we do for a living, all have to
eat, sleep and perform other bodily functions, and it is our shared
experience of those functions that most unite us. The Queen of England,
Cameron Diaz, the Dalai Lama, peasants, priests and ocean rowers –
everybody has to eat. So why what I eat should be of especial interest
I'm not sure… although I suppose I do have a few unusual constraints, as
obviously the food I bring on board has to be compact, relatively
un-crushable, long-lasting without refrigeration, and nutritious enough
to support unusual physical demands. So here goes.

While at sea, my diet is 99% raw, mostly organic, and very nearly vegan.
Eeek, that sounds horribly virtuous. So I would also like to add that
what I eat on the ocean and what I eat on dry land bear very little
resemblance to each other. If only they did, I would probably be much
healthier and live much longer. But I wouldn't have nearly as much fun.
I tend to look on my ocean time as a chance to detox and undo some of
the damage that I inflict on my body (especially my liver) while ashore,
where I indulge in – well, pretty much anything and everything. A true
opportunivore.

So here's how it breaks down – and I think you'll find it's actually a
lot yummier than it initially sounds. In fact, I find these foods a lot
tastier and more satisfying than many restaurant meals ever manage to
be.

Larabars – fruit and nut bars made in Denver, available in most
wholefood stores in the US. No added sugar, unprocessed, raw, non-GMO,
gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, vegan and kosher. And very good. My
favorites are Peanut Butter Cookie, Pecan Pie, Banana Bread, Apple Pie,
Ginger Snap and Jocolat (Chocolate and Chocolate Coffee flavors). I'm
saving all my Larabar wrappers from this trip [see photo] and we're
trying to think of something creative to make from them.

Rawfood crackers – these were made for me by Marlene Depierre, a friend
of a friend who lives on Maui. Rawfood crackers are made by germinating
grains such as buckwheat, sunflower seeds, or nuts. These are then
whizzed in a food processor with whatever you fancy to make different
flavors – herbs, spices, sundried tomatoes, the pulp you have left over
after making your carrot juice, whatever. The mixture is then spread on
trays and "baked" in a dehydrator, a low-temperature method of cooking
that keeps the enzymes alive. Marlene has given me 9 or 10 varieties,
all beautifully vacuum packed and labelled. My favorite amongst her
creations are the walnut pumpkin crackers, and sweet crackers made with
buckwheat, dried fruit and chia seeds. (Chia is the latest superfood, of
Mexican origin.)

Beansprouts – I grow these in a Sproutamo pot that I keep in a string
bag in a shady corner of the cockpit. I got 3 different bean mixes from
Sproutpeople in San Francisco – their Beanie mix, Peasant mix, and San
Francisco mix. Sprouting is dead easy – just soak the beans for 8 hours,
rinse, and water a couple of times a day. After about 2 days you've got
beansprouts. I like to mix them with some tamari almonds or sunflower
seeds, tahini, and some nama shoyu sauce. Rich in enzymes, vitamins,
minerals, protein and fiber.

Dried fruit and nuts – I get through tons of these. The nuts were
provided by Wilderness Family Naturals (and a few additional treats from
Living Nutz – their Bodacious Banana Bread Walnuts are especially good).
I chose these suppliers because they soak the nuts and then dehydrate
them at low temperatures – as with the rawfood crackers, this kicks off
the germination process which makes the nuts extra-nutritious, and also
easier to digest.

I've also got some emergency rations, in case my voyage takes longer
than expected. I didn't want to spend much on these extras, as I hope
not to need them. So I've got a load of quinoa and two bottles of olive
oil (extra virgin, cold pressed). It might not make for the most
exciting diet, but if that was all that stood between me and starvation
it would be very adequate, quinoa being high in protein. I also brought
a few cans of sardines and kippers, just in case I get major protein
cravings. I used a few cans in the first couple of weeks, but haven't
felt the urge since.

I've also got some rations left over from Stage 1 of the row, that I
brought along for lack of anything better to do with them – sachets of
oatmeal and dehydrated expedition meals. In fact, some of the expedition
meals date from the Atlantic. But they last forever and are handy for
backup rations.

I do have a cooking stove on board, but I haven't used it so far. The
weather has been way too hot to even think about cooking hot food. But
it would be useful if I needed to use the expedition meals or oatmeal.

And of course a few treats. Chocolate syrup from Wilderness Family
Naturals (made with organic cocoa beans and organic agave nectar) and
some Meyer lemon marmalade made by my friend Karen Morss at Lemon Ladies
of Emerald Hills, CA. Both are good with the sweet rawfood crackers.

Even though this diet is much more nutritious than what I eat on dry
land, I've got multi-vitamins and minerals, supplied by Biocare, just to
be sure I've got it all covered.

And that's about it. Before the Atlantic row (my first) I carefully
compiled spreadsheets of daily rations broken down by carbs, protein and
fat, and calculated every meal down to the last calorie. Now I take a
much more relaxed attitude to it, and just eat as much as I want to,
when I want to. I eat frequently throughout the day – 7 or 8 snacks
during breaks in rowing shifts.

All this food is nutritionally very dense, so it doesn't take up much
room. I could easily have fit twice as much food on board – probably
more. I could in theory live on this boat for over a year without
resupply. In practice, though, I wouldn't want to. I'm quite looking
forward to getting back to dry land and enjoying that other essential
food group – cold beer!

[photo: my collection of empty Larabar wrappers so far. Any creative
ideas for some piece of memorabilia we can have made with them?]

Other Stuff:

Yesterday's calm conditions were clearly a One-Day Special Offer only.
Today the trade winds are back in business at 18 knots or so, and
pushing me west again. As I approach the single digit latitudes I'm
intrigued to see what's going to happen in the ITCZ…

No attacks from the local wildlife today. Phew. Thanks for all the
sympathy and ribaldry at my expense. I hope there will be no further
unwarranted intrusions upon my person. By my posterior is not how I wish
to be remembered for posterity.

CG – love the suggestion of the bootie-fish. Made me LOL! Also good to
know about Bikini Atoll. Still hope to get further south though.

Hi Tanya!!!

Thanks, Lily, for your comment. Nice to know you're there and following!

Hi Jen. I can't wait to find out what you're plotting. Will row faster
in anticipation…

Weather report:

Position at 2115 HST: 10 05.283N, 171 18.589W
Wind: 18kts E
Seas: 6-8ft E
Weather: mostly sunny, overcast towards sunset

Weather forecast, courtesy of weatherguy.com

As of Monday, 29 Jun 2009. The easterly trade winds 20+kts hanging on
a little longer. Expect a brief period of lower winds then back to
20+kts. Seas abate to 8-9ft.

Sky conditions: Partly to mostly cloudy with multilayered clouds of low
to mid level. Very isolated rainshowers.

ITCZ: The most active part of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ)
has drifted westward to 175W between 2N and 8N. There are widespread
areas of wind 30-40kts in heavy rainshowers have been measured. These
systems are often times accompamied by thunder and lightning. You may
observe these conditions. There are some holes in this activity of
lesser conditons.

Forecast below is for a SWerly course.
Date/Time HST Wind kts Seas (ft)
29/1800-30/0600 ENE-E 17-22 8-9
30/0600-30/2100 ENE-E 12-17 6 -7
30/2100-04/1800 ENE-E 17-22 8-9

Next Update: Thursday, 02July

The other night a friend invited me over for dinner – and emailed me
afterwards to tell me in mouthwatering detail what he had cooked for me.
It was a real dinner, but it was in Hawaii and I was here, so I just had
to enjoy it vicariously.

So now it is time for me to return the hospitality, and I thought I
would share it with you too.

Let's overlook the logistical difficulties of you getting to my boat. I
don't think cabbies come out this far. ("300 miles southwest from
Hawaii, second on the left, then just past the third wave on the
right"). Let's just assume that you're here. I greet you on board – "I
hope you've got your sea legs – the boat is a bit tippy."

I've put on clothes specially for the occasion. I haven't worn a stitch
since Day 2, but a naked chef is a bit offputting, so I've dressed for
dinner.

Dinner, by the way, is served at 2.30 in the afternoon. That's the time
when the sun sneaks around the side of my sun canopy and seriously
starts to bake me, so I eat then and retreat to the cabin for a
post-dinner digestive siesta until the most intense heat of the day has
passed.

I show you to your seat. You get the rowing seat – I spend more than
enough time there as it is – and I sit on top of the liferaft, facing
you.

Now, I have to warn you, I look on my ocean sojourns as an opportunity
for a detox. So I eat very healthily out here. I like the food, but it
may not be to everybody's taste, and it's certainly not the kind of
indulgent foods that I would cook for you if you came to dinner on dry
land. And I run a dry ship – so no booze. Also very unlike the
hospitality I would offer on dry land. So please make allowances…

Most of my onboard meals are really just snacks – I eat 7 or 8 of them
in a day – but this one is the only one that can reasonably be called a
square meal. (Can anybody tell me why a meal is square, rather than
round or triangular?)

I open up my galley locker and take out a jar of bean sprouts, harvested
fresh from my sprouting pot this morning. I put a few spoonfuls in a
bowl, add a couple of scoops of tahini, a dash or ten of nama shoyu
sauce, and a good handful of tamari almonds and sunflower seeds. I give
it a stir. And open up a tub of rawfood crackers.

"Ta da!" I say. "Dinner is served. Sprouts Sauvage with crackers on the
side – buckwheat veggie crackers or falafel – take your pick."

"Hmmm," you say. "It looks very….brown."

"Loads of good stuff," I say. "Enzymes, vitamins, minerals, and loads of
fiber. Keeps you regular!" Too much information, I can tell. I
apologize.

"What would you like to drink?" I say. "I've got water – salt or plain."

You look dubious.

"Only kidding." I say. "I've only got plain water. But you can have salt
water if you like. I've got an oceanful." I hand you a Nalgene bottle of
water. "No ice, sorry."

We eat. I really enjoy the nutty, wholesome goodness of the food. You're
not convinced. Or maybe it's just the seasickness kicking in. The boat
is pitching and rolling so you have to hang onto your bowl of sprouts.
And you're looking a little bit green – and I don't mean in the
environmental sense.

The meal over, I raise my Nalgene bottle to propose a toast. "To absent
friends," I say. And, looking around at my deserted deck, I realize
that's all of them. Sigh!

Other Stuff:

Solid progress today – 29 miles according to my logbook, which may not
be the same as the RozTracker. Apparently there have been some issues
with the position reports from my beacon since the water got rougher –
as the boat tips, the beacon finds it harder to lock onto a satellite
for long enough to send the signal – but hopefully it is working better
now.

No boobies for several days now. I almost miss my poopy friends. To
paraphrase Oscar Wilde, if there's anything worse than being pooped on,
it's being not pooped on.

Fewer plunges overboard recently. It's still just as hot, but my poor
sore bum doesn't take kindly to the saltwater. (Even applying tea tree
oil to my nethers brings on all kinds of bad language and
"ayyyyayyyyyayyy" kind of wailing.) So I keep a bucket of fresh water at
the ready and sluice all necessary parts of my body in that from time to
time.

IPhone application – I can now confirm that this is definitely called
the RozTracker, and is available for free download from the iTunes
Store. So now you can keep up to date with my progress when you're on
the move – because obviously I move just SO fast (??!) that you wouldn't
want to miss a thing!

Weather report:

Position at 2030 HST: 17 24.647N, 162 20.334W
Wind: 8-10kts E
Sea: 3-4ft swell from E
Weather: few small cumulus clouds – not enough, in my view! I love the
relief from the heat when a small cloud covers the sun…

Weather forecast, courtesy of weatherguy.com:

The easterly trade winds have temporary calmed a bit to the 10kt range,
but will regain strength on the 11th. Seas moderating to 4-6ft increase
again to 6-8ft.

Forecast below is for a SWerly course.
Date/Time HST Wind kts Seas (ft)
09/1800-10/1500 E-ENE 10-15 4-6
10/1500-11/0600 E-ENE 12-17 5-7
11/0600-15/0000 E-ENE 15-20 6-8

Sky conditions most clear and sunny with very not much chance of rain
showers.

I’ve been interested in food all my life, and interested in raw foods since I went on a retreat over Christmas and New Year this last year – the chef at the retreat centre was very into raw foods, and I gleaned as much information as I could while I was there. It was a relatively new concept to me, but it seemed to make intuitive sense – good for my body as well as good for the planet – and I resolved to incorporate much more raw food into my diet both on dry land and on the ocean.

As luck would have it, my friend Ami turned out to be something of a raw foods guru. She and I met when she was an instructor with the Bay Area Boot Camp (now renamed AlaVie). I trained with BABC last year, enjoying the camaraderie of a bunch of women assembling at unearthly hours of the morning to train in a local park. Great for the weak of willpower! (And yes, that DOES include me!)

So I asked Ami to write a guest blog about raw foods. Here is what she has to say.

I love food! I love to talk about food, eat food, and for the first time in my life, I love making food. My newest passion is raw, or “live,” food — a radically simple and healthy way to eat. Over a year ago, I met Roz as one of her trainers in Northern California, and she recently became interested in raw food as well. Roz is incorporating it into her diet, so she’s asked me to write a little about my lifestyle and how to get started with raw foodism.

Plus, less processed foods mean less waste in the trash can and around the waist!

Other stuff:

Position at 2130 6th August Pacific Time, 0430 7th August UTC: 23 26.983′N, 144 12.168′W.

Strong winds and large swells have made for interesting rowing conditions today. After recent record-breaking days the pace has slowed down slightly – although wind assistance is good, too much wind makes it difficult to row well, so the ideal is a balance between brisk wind and rowable conditions, and I wasn’t quite there today. This is the problem with oceans – always too much of something or not enough!

Have been making a deliberate effort to look around me a bit more. I noticed several small pieces of rubbish as I passed close to them. Some are on the surface of the water, some visible just beneath – it all depends on the density of the material. This is one of the problems with the pollution issue – so much of it is hidden beneath the surface that it’s only through the good work of the Algalita Foundation (of which JUNK is a project) that we have any idea at all of the true extent of the problem, as they take water samples from all depths and measure the quantities of pollution.

I also noticed some little fishes swimming to keep up with my boat. But then I got a crick in my neck from all my rubbernecking, so may need to keep my eyes in the boat tomorrow!

I didn’t receive my usual email from Mum yesterday with the comments from the website, so I can’t respond to them. I shall have words with the management.

Click here to view Day 74 of the Atlantic Crossing 12 February 2006: Happy Days are Here Again.

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Living on a small boat, I’ve become very aware of my inputs and outputs. For example, if there isn’t enough sun to power my solar panels, I don’t get enough electricity. The only food supply is what I have on board (or what I manage to catch). Water has to come from reserves, rainwater (none so far) or handpumping.

And rubbish has to be stored and carried back to land.

Fortunately I don’t generate much. Food wrappers form most of it, and they fold down small. Then there are a few empty bottles of toiletries, propane bottles for my cook stove, and that’s about it. So far my “trash can” (the hatch underneath my rowing position) contains just two small trash bags – biodegradable ones, of course.

But for immediate purposes, there is no “away” – when something is thrown away, it is still here, on board.

If only more people were brought face to face with their trash this way, it might make them think twice before consigning something to the bin. But in our “civilized” world, we put out the rubbish, it gets taken away, and we probably don’t give it another thought.

If you had to keep three months-worth of rubbish in a corner of your kitchen, I wonder if you would try to generate less. Or figure out ways to re-use some of it – composting, mending, finding another use for things. It would be an interesting exercise.

Other stuff:

Position at 2200 16th July Pacific Time, 0500 17th July UTC: 25 38.815′N, 131 50.136′W.

Today has been HOT, and I’ve been glugging water like, err, like I had a working watermaker on board. It’s been a long day too – many hours at the oars. Am now dead beat, and writing this blog with my last ounce of energy…

My friend Margo Pellegrino is on a 500-mile journey by outrigger canoe from New Jersey to Washington, DC in support of Oceans 21, a Healthy Oceans Act to save our seas. Well done Margo!

Hi also to Paul Gleeson (Atlantic ocean rower), Aleksey (amp still going strong!), Elena and Konstantin.

Tom Goodman asked what kind of watch I am wearing: a G-Shock Pathfinder. Solar powered, barometer, compass and altimeter. The last not much needed at the moment – I think we can safely say I am at sea level!

Click here to view Day 53 of the Atlantic Crossing Day 53, January 22 2005, A Funny Kind of Freedom – rather different from freedom on land.

Watch Leo Laporte talking to Roz live on http://twitlive.tv on Thursdays, Saturdays and Tuesdays at 10am Pacific Time, 6pm GMT

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Today, my favourite subject: food. But first, a favour. I want you all to really, really enjoy your food while I am out here. Appreciate its freshness, its variety, the fact that you can go to the supermarket and buy just about anything, you can even go to a restaurant and have something special. You can have ice cream and other frozen treats. You can have food chilled, broiled, baked, roasted, fried, saut?ed or steamed. In short, you can eat what you want, and I want you to cherish that as an honour and a privilege and not something taken for granted.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not grumbling (well, not much). While I am on dry land I more than make up for the deprivations of the ocean. But while I am out here I do spend a disproportionate amount of time daydreaming about the joys of food and drink.

At the moment, my typical day’s intake is as pictured in the photograph – from top left, and going clockwise:

Beansprouts – grown here on board the Brocade (bean mix provided by Sproutpeople)

Rawfood crackers – grains sprouted, pureed, and “baked” at low temperature to preserve the enzymes. Made for me by my friend Eva.

Larabars – yummy fruit and nut bars made in Colorado – with no added sugar, unprocessed, raw, non-GMO, gluten-free, dairy-free, soy free, vegan and kosher. My favourite flavours are Apple Pie, Banana Cookie, Ginger Snap, Chocolate and Chocolate Coffee

Mixed nuts – cashews, brazils, almonds and pecans

Expedition meal – the one pictured is freeze-dried (so needs hot water added), but at the moment I am actually working through my preferred boil-in-the-bag varieties

There is nothing at all bad about this selection of foods. Most of them (with the exception of expedition meals) I often eat on dry land. It is just the monotony of eating the same things, day after day, that gets a bit wearing.

I had some fresh food when I set out – some delicious loaves of bread, avocados, tomatoes, hard-boiled eggs, and a bag of carrots – but those are now a long-distant memory. With the benefit of hindsight, and if it hadn’t been such a last-minute rush to depart, I might have packed a few more treats, with a bit more variety – canned fish, soups, oatmeal, maybe even some illicit sweet treats (a month out here and the sugar cravings still have not gone away). Ah well, I’ll know for next time.

I’ve got plenty of food on board, so I certainly won’t starve. And I do, of course, have my fishing rod if the need arises. But I have to say, I am VERY much looking forward to a fresh green salad and something that doesn’t come out of a packet when I get back to dry land.

In the meantime, please do me the courtesy of enjoying your meals, knowing that it is not only the poor in Africa who would gladly swap places with you. Bon appetit!

Other stuff:

Today I passed 125 degrees West. I truly hope this means that I will never again see 124 degrees from sea level. Conditions are rough and I’m having to row across the waves, so progress is slow, but any progress is good progress.

No update on the water situation. I am being frugal with my supplies, and hope to make them last as long as possible before having to use the manual watermaker. I’m really interested to hear that Alex Bellini has a manual watermaker connected to his rowing seat. I fully intend to investigate this option – might even be worth a trip to Sydney (one of my favourite cities) to see it in person once Alex has completed his crossing!

Some special thank yous to people whose generosity has now earned them a place in the scrolling banner at the top of this page: Paul Kroculick; Mark Reid; Stephanie Batzer, Wayne Batzer; Bob Mcgough; Danny Smith.

Thanks also for helpful comments from Jim, Dee Metzger, Clint, Fred, and John H.

Regarding comments on the watermaker, please be assured that I have had a number of calls with the manufacturer, and have exhausted all their suggestions. So no need for further speculations as to the cause – but thank you anyway!

And hellos to Roger (you have a solar-powered electric motorbike – cool! But do stay safe!), Louie Figueroa, Jennifer, Eric (I do have water ballast as well as lead ballast, precisely for that reason), Margo, John Palmay (it has got a bit warmer, but it really depends on whether the sun comes out or not), Gary (my gloves are made by Kakadu, Australia), Dana (I just realized today that it has not rained once since I set out – surprising!), Greg, Johnny Trucker, and Richard Will.

Signing off now from the big bouncy blue ocean.

PS from Rita.
I have had quite a number of people keen to help Roz in her present situation without a working watermaker. Enquiries are being made to yachtsmen to see if anyone would be willing to take her some water about two weeks from now. I do hope that we get a response. However, we need to stress that the situation is not so critical that it needs intervention. Roz does have a professional support team who are constantly in touch with her and each other. Please do not be tempted to take any unilateral action as you would create further problems for Roz and restrict the support team’s options. Roz also asks that no large ships should be asked to respond to her enquiry about a re-supply of water.
Please use the contact details on this website if you have any suggestions that might be helpful. Thank you for your interest in Roz’s venture.

Position Wednesday evening: 30 28 464N, 125 03 827W
Thursday afternoon: 30 11 959N, 125 12 064W

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23 February 2006

Roz with 9Bar by Wholebake – still some left after flapjack all eaten up.

23rd Feb.

I have been asking myself the question: What would Roz want me to write about? There are probably quite a few things that she would not want me to write about – family anecdotes that would make her blush. Perhaps it would be safer to stick to questions that people ask. Amongst quite a number of messages today, somebody asked whether Roz would still have enough food left on her boat.
Initially each rowing crew was asked to take enough food for 90 days. She did, in theory, have more than enough, and even gave away some while we were in La Gomera. Roz is really really hoping that she can complete the crossing in less than 100 days. However, I think the answer is yes, she does have enough – though probably not the things that she would choose to eat. There were days when she found it very difficult to eat anything much; she had plenty of sachets of oat porridge with her, but with the stove not functioning she has only used a few of those. If really desperate can a person eat “uncooked” oat porridge? She also had some expedition meals that she did not fancy eating, but which we stowed away in a hatch difficult to get to under her mattress, just in case of real emergency.
Another question was how did I feel after watching Ben Fogle and James Cracknell on TV? There were times when Roz phoned me in desperation (just a couple of times), obviously in tears, and hating it in the same way that Ben and James did. She did write about this in one of her dispatches. Watching the two men made me realise just what she must have gone through, and how helpless I felt at the time to say or do anything to help her. I am thankful that she was not thrown off the boat as Ben was; thankful that, being on her own, the cabin was not quite so crowded when the weather was bad. Hard though Ben and James might have found it to row that distance, Roz has had to row every mile herself. Though I say it myself, I am proud of her tenacity, and her ingenuity in repairing those oars. I shall be mighty glad to give her a big hug!!

Thank you to those who have been sending messages. I have in the past tried to answer them individually but there have been a larger number just recently. Lovely to hear from you all, and apologies for not being Roz!

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Rita Savage

21 February 2006

Food boxes just visible in forecabin and red hatch cover in foreground.

21st Feb.

One of the Woodvale support yachts is due to set off soon, and when near enough to Roz will attempt to speak to her by radio. The staff are very confident that all is well, and surprised that the satphone stayed in working order as long as it did!
In September I stayed with Roz in Emsworth to help her prepare for The Voyage. This involved practical jobs on the boat as well as sorting out medical kit, food packages and other administrative tasks.
Roz had planned to pack the food in plastic crates, each one containing enough food for 2 weeks. The crates would be stored in the forward storage compartment, and one by one would be moved to the cabin when needed. All of that was carried out before the boat left to be conveyed by container ship to La Gomera.
Once at La Gomera she was advised to put as much weight as possible below the deck to provide stability in case of capsize. Crates were discarded and I packed the food packages through the round red hatch openings on the deck. Snacks went into a hatch in the sleeping cabin. Looking back on events at sea, it is a good thing that the weight was below deck level. I had tried to pack the packages in such a way that each fortnight

26 January 2006

Flapjack no more – calls for a big bottom lip.

26 Jan, 06 – 20:29

Today is a sad day on board the good ship Sedna Solo, for today I Have Eaten My Last Flapjack.

It was hard to know in advance what foods would appeal at sea. Rosie Stancer, the polar trekker, had told me that the foods she liked at sub-zero temperatures were quite different from what she usually likes, and suggested that similarly my tastes might change at sea. So I’d tried out various snack bars during my two sailing trips last year, and ruled out some contenders, but still didn’t get it quite right.

The Wholebake flapjacks have been going down a treat, with the Hemp Flapjacks and Apple, Pecan and Pistachio Whopper bars being particular favourites. So now I’ve guzzled the lot, and still half an ocean to go.

My problem is not going to be shortage of food – I’ve still got plenty – but a shortage of foods I want to eat.

Still waiting for some nice big flying fish to obligingly hurl themselves onto my deck so I can enjoy some fresh fish. But maybe they’ve wised up to the fact that this is not a good move from their point of view.

Other stuff:

For a while this afternoon I was virtually becalmed. It’s strange to imagine capsizes elsewhere in the fleet when I have barely enough breeze to flutter my increasingly tattered red ensign. And the forecast shows little change for at least another two days. Hey ho, she says, trying hard to preserve her zen-like calm when in fact she wishes this starionary high pressure would unstation itself and go and becalm somebody else’s bit of ocean instead…

To cheer me up a whale came to say hello this afternoon. He was about 6 feet long, and surfaced 9 or 10 times, coming within about 10 yards of my boat. A northern bottlenosed whale, unless I am much mistaken. I thanked him kindly for dropping by, and said he’d be welcome to come again.

Wishes for a very happy birthday to Elizabeth. I believe you’re in Australia at the moment so you won’t get this message until tomorrow – oops, sorry! Hope you’re enjoying the sunshine Down Under.

Another bright spot in the day was a haul of particularly fine texts.

A trio of messages from Oxford:
Lord Butler – congratulations on your technological advance, sir! Good to hear from you.
Judy – reassuring to know that my witterings make sense to at least one other person.
Bri – dinner invitation gladly accepted! (I was going to invite myself to drop in anyway…) I shall look forward to it.

Thanks also for texts from: Wendela (great to hear from you! Ah, what I’d give for a ceviche on the beach now…) Sinead Martin (no advice or questions? The perfect text!), Sandi in the US, Alasdair (yes, happy to advise, if I can be any help – fours very different from solo, though!), Lizann, Rachel Haining (very true – anything will seem easy after this), John T (cool, no worries), Mike C, Mat Ellis, Eddie-Lee (does Jesus give good dinner parties?!), Mar, the Galls, the anonymous poet, Sean Chapple (actually I do fancy joining the Marines – don’t think they’d have me though – I’m too old!), Adamski (music system kaput, so not much point asking what I listen to! And please don’t text me about buttered toast and pints of real ale – it really doesn’t help morale…), Ziggy, Tim Ratbag, Margaret and Bob, Jeff, Victoria, F from DK, Steve D.

For GPS position, race position and miles from La Gomera, see http://www.atlanticrowingrace.co.uk

Wind: E, 8-12 knots (estimate)
Weather: sunshine and cloud
Sea state: moderate to calm
Hours rowing: 12

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30 December 2005

30 Dec, 05 – 19:58

For GPS position, race position and miles from La Gomera, see http://www.atlanticrowingrace.co.uk

Some people have expressed concern over my dining arrangements since the unfortunate demise of my camping stove.

Worry not, I’m looking after myself and eating properly. Not necessarily enjoying every meal, but that was so even in those now almost-forgotten days of hot meals.
At the moment, a typical day’s menu might be:

Breakfast – Wholebake flapjack or 9 Bar

Elevenses – sprouted chickpeas with soya sauce, biltong

Lunch: prawn and pea chilli casserole, made with my Commercial Freeze Dried ingredients.
CFD prawns
CFD sun dried tomato
CFD peas
Chopped dried apricot
Chilli flakes
Black pepper
Combine all ingredients, add sufficient water to cover, leave to stand for at least 3 hours. Serve with a bottle of desalinated water.

Dinner: same as lunch (I make 2 batches at once to save time)
Dessert: CFD blueberry and raspberry compote (surprisingly good)

Plus various nibbles of flapjack, chocolate, biltong etc during the night shifts.

So I’m surviving, but I do love good food, and this isn’t it. No matter how high quality, no matter how much variety, there is something about expedition food that falls short of the real thing. To say I am looking forward to some good nosh when I get ashore would be a serious understatement. Much of my day is spent daydreaming about luscious food.

I wouldn’t mind so much if I appeared to be losing weight. ‘Bulk up’, they said. ‘The weight is going to fall off you.’ So I put on 20 pounds, and as far as I can tell it’s all still there. Dammit.

Wind: 12-15 kts, E
Weather: overcast
Sea state: moderate to rough
Hours rowing: 11

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mum food scale

500,000 calories – 102 kg of food, including 300 snack bars, 100 sachets of porridge, 7 kg dried milk, 140 sachets of hot chocolate. The photo shows my mother dividing up my huge quantities of provisions into ration packs for my time at sea.

In addition to the food, there are 940 wet wipes, 6 tubes of sun cream, 4 tubes of nappy salve, an enormous first aid kit, a 20kg liferaft, axes, cooking fuel, toolkits, buckets, ropes, para-anchor, lifejacket, ropes, drogues, and assorted bits of technology.

Put aside the expedition-specific items for the moment, and just consider what it takes to keep body and soul together for 3 months, without the option of popping out to the shops. It’s staggering. I’ll be taking close to twice my bodyweight in food with me. Makes me wonder how on earth this tiny planet of ours manages to support such a huge population, all of us consuming, consuming. How does it do it? And how much longer can it continue?