Atlantic Rowing Race: Blog 2

Annie’s blog 2

I’m sorry that it’s me blogging again, but Mel is at home celebrating an early Christmas with her folks in Henley tonight. I celebrated with my parents last weekend, but sadly, weight restrictions on the boat won’t allow for much in the way of pressies or Champagne. Baa Humbug. We’re literally leaving England on Friday so as I write this, we only have one more day to say goodbye to people. Personally I have different emotions on this subject depending upon what hour of the day it is… Sometimes I think: “I’m going to be away for 3 months tops, what’s all the fuss about?” But then other times, someone says something really unhelpful like: “You might die - I might never see you again!” – and I must admit, that hearing someone say that, does bring home the enormity of the task Mel and I are about to undertake. I think at the end of the day, we’re both mentally prepared (if not physically!) and it’s now just a case of getting on with it. (But hey, what do I know? I’ve never rowed an ocean before!)

Annie (right) and her rowing partner Mel during preparations

So. With only a day to go, what’s been happening? Well, the lovely Paul from Explore came down yesterday to pick up my WaterRower (torture exercise machine) (I was so gutted to see the back of that I can tell you!). Apparently, the staff at Explore are going to row 3000 miles across their office whilst Mel and I row 3000 miles across the Atlantic! (Ha! Can’t see it happening myself!). He also gave us lots of new kit to wear. Annoyingly, the shorts don’t fit me. I guess I did far too good a job of bulking up! Never mind – they’ll be falling off me once we get to Antigua…

Special kit for the girls - all logo'd up!

This might well be the last blog before we actually leave for La Gomera, so I just want to take the opportunity to thank all those people who have put their faith in us -  I won’t name names because there are far too many to mention, but you know who you are… some are special to Mel, some special to me, and some special to both of us. It’s a cliché I know, but we couldn’t do this without you.

Excuse me… I may cry now…. X Annie

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