The inaugural Oxford and Cambridge Explorer’s Evening was held in an upstairs room at St Hilda’s College, Oxford, overlooking the river. I was lucky enough to be the warm-up act for renowned Arctic explorer Pen Hadow – it was amazing to be invited to speak alongside him.
Listening to Pen speak, I was able to reflect on my preparations for the challenge, particularly the aspects that are relevant to the solo adventurer. I spent a good long while chatting to him about it afterwards, and came away with more ideas about how to prepare my mind for the challenge to come. Next step – booking a couple of sessions with a sports psychologist.
After completing my Sea Survival RYA course last Sunday, I’m now fully qualified for the ocean row. The timing couldn’t be better, as I’m picking up my boat this coming weekend, and also today hit the ‘100 days to go until race start’ marker.
Fewer people are inclined to spend the day learning how to survive in a small, wet life raft during the winter months, which means that we were a very small group in the Training Room of Greenwich Yacht Club on Sunday. The morning was theory based, and ranged from what to keep in an Emergency Grab Bag to why one might start to crave fish eyes (Vitamin C), while the afternoon was about getting into the pool and going over all the practical steps. It was great for me, as I was able to ask lots of questions, and have a go at dealing with the life raft by myself.
You only get 2 of these a day on a life raft!
Much of the focus of the morning was on how to avoid things going wrong in the first place, and how to be best prepared for anything that does go wrong. Although the afternoon that we spent in the pool was fun, I definitely want to avoid ending up in a life raft in the middle of the Pacific – they are pretty unstable and uncomfortable. Hawaii is by far the preferred option!
Paddling a life raft is slow…Getting an unconscious person out of the waterHow to await helicopter rescue
Thank you so much to Nigel of Laminar Sails (Greenwich Yacht Club), who sponsored me through this course, and who was a dynamic, patient and downright excellent course tutor!
On Wednesday 12th February I spent a brilliant afternoon at Churchill Academy. I spoke at the Year 12 assembly about the challenge, and fielded some really interesting and thoughtful questions.
My visit made it into the school newsletter, and I look forward to staying in touch with them and hopefully visiting again.
The Mayor of Bristol has encouraged the city to support University of Bristol student Elsa Hammond in her attempt to single-handedly row the Pacific, in what he described as an “incredible, mad feat”.
Elsa, who is the only female solo European competitor to be racing in the 2,400 mile race, aims to raise £100,000 for her participation in the inaugural Great Pacific Race. She will use this to heighten awareness of plastic pollution in the world’s oceans – raising money for the Plastic Oceans Foundation.
Last Tuesday (28th) we held the VIP Launch Event at MShed in Bristol. Local business people, core team members and sponsors were there, all to hear a bit more about the challenge and the reasons for doing it.
The last few weeks and days leading up to this were frantic – emails flew around, plans changed and changed again, the guest list grew, and talks were prepared. I tried to think about what people would be interested in hearing, and who might be best to talk about all the different areas.
We had a group of fantastic speakers in the end, each bringing something very different to the table:
– Chris Martin, Race Director, New Ocean Wave
– Jo Ruxton, Founder, Plastic Oceans
– Justin Adkin, Boatbuilder, Sea Sabre
– Judith Squires, Pro Vice-Chancellor, University of Bristol
– George Ferguson, Mayor of Bristol
– (and me)
The whole evening was a bit of a whirlwind for me. I spoke to lots of different people and felt like I never quite had the chance to speak to anyone. At one point there was a photographer from the Bristol Post; I stood outside in the cold to be photographed with the lights from the city behind me, looking in on the event suite at MShed, and feeling thoroughly grateful to everyone who was in there helping to prepare the event. I had amazing support from a whole lot of people who voluntarily gave up their time to make this event work, from photographers to speakers, those who prepared name badges and those who wore them. Thank you everyone!
It was a brilliant evening, and I look forward to seeing where it takes us, particularly following the Mayor’s challenge to the business community to get behind the row in the run-up to Bristol as European Green Capital in 2015.
Before the kick-off. Courtesy Guthrie FreemanCourtesy the Bristol PostMe with the Mayor of Bristol. Courtesy the Bristol PostMe with my most recent sponsors: Richard from Excalibur Communications, me, and Judith and David from the University of Bristol. Courtesy Guthrie Freeman
I spent last weekend at the Adventure Travel Show in London, helping out on Dave Cornthwaite’s Say Yes More stand. Everyone on the stand – Luke, Louis, and Dave himself – was lovely, and the atmosphere there was a great mixture of relaxed and proactive.
Dave Cornthwaite has hit on a project that I’m pretty envious of – he is part of the way through undertaking 25 journeys using non-motorised transport of at least 1,000 miles each. He is also the founder of Say Yes More – like it says on the box: live life with passion and a positive attitude.
I chatted to a lot of different people over the two days, and was pretty chuffed to catch Sir Ranulph Fiennes speaking – I don’t think I’ve ever heard so many crazy and difficult experiences packed into one hour before! I was also excited to meet explorer David Hempleman Adams – by a strange coincidence I had just been listening to his Desert Island Discs a couple of days before, and it felt slightly unreal to then be meeting him in person so soon.
A lot of people have asked about the ‘en suite’ arrangements for the boat, and while it will still be a ‘bucket and chuck it’ system for the most part, I’m really excited to be able to welcome Shewee on board as well.
Shewee is a urination device for women that is going to be really useful on the boat, especially when combined with the Peebol during long hours or days in the cabin during storms.
I’ve already tested the new products, and can add my glowing review all of those that I have read – it really does work.
If you’re interested in finding out more, check them out at shewee.com!
A few months ago I was asked by WesportCEO Steve Nelson if I would present at the Opening Ceremony of the West of England Winter School Games on Friday 24th January. The School Games are held in forty five different regions across the UK twice a year, and bring together hundreds of young people at each event. The games are inclusive, and range from gymnastics to boccia, from indoor rowing to sitting volleyball. It was a real privilege to be asked to speak, and it felt great to be doing something purposeful that was not focused on fundraising for the row for a change.
I showed a short video about the row and the preparation that I am doing for it. Then I spoke about my background in sport and expeditions, and how I got into rowing, before finishing up with some questions, including where my inspiration comes from and how I deal with the idea of failure.
After speaking, I spent the morning seeing the different games that were being played, and talking to teachers and pupils. There was so much enthusiasm, and I really look forward to speaking to more young people in the coming months. For any teachers or parents reading this, I’m really interested in coming to talk at more schools – take a look at my talks page for more information.
Elsa Hammond 