FatChanceRow Update July 08

Today we had our 21st day and third full week offshore. We haven't had any helicopter drops of soda, energy bars, sports drinks, gels or added sugar and still feeling good and rowing strong. For the much advertised electrolytes? I drink pure water and eat salty, real food. Meredith continues to impress me with her crazy strong work aka rowing ethic. We focus on being kind to each other and not set pressure for rowing hours or effort, but of course I'm trying to match hers to keep up!

My preparation for the morning shift was under an amazing sunrise (pic attached). We saw clear blue sky the first time for week(s) and knew we should make most out of it. It looked amazing and lifted up our spirits early on.

To celebrate our 3rd week and sunshine (plus the solar power we were able to use to produce more fresh water!) Meredith chose to wash her hair mid-day for the first time since our departure. Those of you who know her well, know that's no simple operation. She has enough curly hair for a few people. I don't know a single place at home or in our boat that wouldn't have at least two hairs hiding in there. Including my toothbrush. She was elated and giggly for the rest of the day after cleaning her curls. Now I have another tool in my back pocket when I have to make that woman happy...

My choice was to consider jumping into the Pacific and enjoy the 10,000ft+ deep pool for a brief "swim". Mid-afternoon we spotted 6 about 2m long fish following us just by our stern and maybe 2-8m underwater. Meredith was certain they were "most likely not sharks" and i was convinced they looked and moved like sharks. We couldn't find a consensus but I thought it might b her plan to get rid of the rowing partner for good. I waited until 7pm to build my courage and get rid of the "most likely not sharks" before soaping myself up, buckling into my harness and jumping into the Pacific. It was scary, refreshing and calming all at the same time. Seas are reasonably calm now, but 10knot winds and swells still mean that man-overboard likely means man gone forever so leaving the safety of Roosevelt isn't something we do lightly. My swim lasted about 30seconds but I did it (pic attached) and managed to slip back into our boat, fresh and salty. I also did a quick inspection of the bottom of our boat and luckily there's very little growth which would obviously require scraping it all off to reduce friction.

While we are both feeling strong, admittedly we are also starting to show (off) some wear and tear. I like to think I feel and look like a champion boxer every morning I wake up. Due to sun burns, my lips are swollen and glued together every morning, so that I have to saw them open with my tongue. My right thumb has been sandwiched between my oars and is swollen and when I squeeze it in the morning, dark blood comes out of the back-end of the nail. While my calve muscles have started to disappear, the fronts of my lower legs are growing and aching from the constant banging to my oars when uneven waves suddenly stop the oar stroke recovery. And my fists and fingers look more like German sausages every morning. Some healthy swelling indeed. Yet, I'm still 100% clear of any anti-inflammatories or pain killers.

Divorce-o-meter is still at ground zero. We are both surprised, but delighted!

PS we get all relevant comments and emails via www.fatchancerow.org and facebook as a consolidated text based email thanks to our tireless support crew. All those comments and even longer emails are hugely appreciated! However, PLEASE do not send direct email to our satellite mail systems even if you see the address as our bandwidth is soooo limited and we rely on the little data pipe for some very critical information flows like weather and storm warnings. All comments and feedback via our site etc is still hugely appreciated!