Intrepid232 – Ready to go!
Alison Smithurst, Rosemary Satchwell, Julie Brady and Helen Monpetit will be embarking on the challenge of a lifetime, undertaking the ‘World’s Toughest Row – Atlantic’ – a 3,000 miles row across the mighty Atlantic Ocean. We were lucky enough to speak to the team before they departed for La Gomera where they’ll spend two weeks undertaking final preparations before the ‘big off ‘in December.
Can you explain how you’re feeling at this current time, with only days to go before you leave Jersey?
We are feeling excited, nervous and a bit panicky all at once, there are still things that we need to do and as you say, not much time left in which to get them done. Finalising some of the ‘crisis operations’, that we hope we will never need to use, packing for three trips - two weeks in La Gomera, the actual crossing and our final destination - Antigua! The most important obviously being the crossing. Forgetting something simple could have a massive impact! Lists, lists and more lists. We’re also a little apprehensive about the unknown and saying farewell to loved ones. We are just keen to get on with it now.
Give us a little overview of what will be happening after you leave Jersey on 27th November until race day?
We had our last Atlantic Campaigns Safety call earlier this month which really focused on what to expect from the two weeks in La Gomera - we will have a briefing each morning at 9am, at which the race organisers will let us know what our focus needs to be for each day. We will have inspections at various points throughout the two weeks which will involve demonstrating that we know how each piece of kit and equipment is used and checks to ensure that our Black Squid is ready for an ocean crossing. We will get our BGAN and be shown how to use it - this is our WiFI connection for the crossing. We will need to unpack and repack the contents of the boat - several times and apply several layers of wax on the hull to prevent too much growth while on the crossing - wax on wax off springs to mind!
Other than that we will be meeting and socialising with all of the other 38 crews who are participating. It will be far from a two-week holiday, but for perhaps the first time we will be able to focus on just us and our crossing for two weeks, without having to worry about our jobs or having to be somewhere else, which I think in itself will be very refreshing!
Have you met the other teams yet? If so, how did that feel/go?
We have been on several of the mandatory courses, at which point we met some members of other crews who will be undertaking the same challenge as us – and crews doing other crossings. We stayed in touch with some of them and it’s comforting to know we are all feeling much the same! It’s always nice to know where other crews are up to on their journey leading up to the race and that our preparation is more or less the same.
How can islanders follow your progress?
There is an app that you can download, YB Races, which tracks the race and all of the competitors for the entire crossing, starting on 12th December. Also, we have a social media pro who will be updating our social media with posts on a daily basis.
When do you expect to finish the race/return to Jersey?
That is very much an unknown at this stage, it all depends on the weather. We have food for 60 days. We would like to think that we will have at least a week on the beach before returning to reality!
Is there anything islanders can do to support you?
We would be delighted to receive any support, be that words of encouragement or financial! It’s never too late, we continue to raise money for our two chosen charities and would like very much to do them proud. Please visit our website for details of our GoFundMe link and we will get any messages of support and encouragement to keep us going when the going gets tough - which at points, we are very much expecting that it will!