Alex Mason’s A to Z guide to ocean rowing
I rowed across the Atlantic Ocean in 2020 as part of an independent crossing. Here is my personal A-Z guide to ocean rowing…
Advice
Everyone will have an opinion on how to row across an ocean — each one different from the last. Seek out as much of it as you can and take it all in, but remember that only you can decide what advice works best for you. Try things out and trust your own judgement.
I promise this isn’t just a shameless plug for my podcast, but the reason I put this podcast together is because I realised there was such a wealth of knowledge out there and I wanted to pull it all into one place which was easily accessible for people, so The Ocean Rowing Club Podcast was born!
There are people from all walks of life represented which just goes to show you can be anyone, there is no mould you have to fit into when it comes to rowing an ocean.
Listen to The Ocean Rowing Club Podcast wherever you choose to listen to podcasts.
Bum
The bum pain is extreme. Maybe if I had done a little more preparation for my row I would have found solutions to the bum sores. Wearing underwear, for example, was a big mistake I made.
I often rowed in only my underpants on my bottom half because it wasn't that cold and it was more manageable for me to have wet skin than it was to have wet material stuck to my skin which I didn't like the feel of. But knickers come with seams and ridges and ultimately that is what really destroyed my butt. However my teammates, Billy and Scott, weren’t wearing knickers, they had seamless boxers on and they suffered even more with their bums than I did.
Don’t be smug about thinking you have gotten away with it and bum soreness is reserved for men with hairy bottoms, it may have taken a bit longer to set in for me, but I didn’t get away with it.
My crew mates!
Community
People are really important. Not just the people you are rowing with but the people you have supporting your row on land, and the people supporting you emotionally – your friends and family.
Getting your rowing crew right is crucial, but it can be hard to get right and it is better if your crew breaks down before you start rowing than it is if it breaks down while you’re on the water. Many crews go through different combinations of people before they find the right mix.
My mum and dad did so much for us, they were very much part of our crew!
Dolphins!!
Dolphins. Are. Awesome.
No matter how sick I felt, the dolphins always managed to bring a smile to my face. It is an incredible experience when your little boat is surrounded by these inquisitive creatures who live in the ocean, and they have chosen to come over to say hello. The urge to jump in and swim with them is strong. Should you jump in and swim with them? Probably not…
Just incredible.
Expensive
There are no two ways about it, ocean rowing costs a lot of money, but that doesn’t always mean it will cost YOU a lot of money, so don’t think of the cost as prohibitive.
You can, if you put the work in, cover all costs with corporate sponsors. Finding those sponsors is, arguably, harder than the actual row. It will take up a lot of time and sanity but it can be done.
Sponsorship doesn’t always mean money, it can mean product and services too. Every bit helps.
Fatigue
Sleep deprivation is the hardest thing. Most rowers (unless you’re a solo rower) take on a 2 hour on 2 hour off shift pattern which means you are getting a maximum of about 90 minutes sleep at any time.
That middle night shift always got me nodding off on the oars.
Gross
A lasting memory for me is how gross our cabin was, there is skin, hair, nails, blood, scabs, food, sweat, puss, vomit… amongst who knows what else stuck to the cabin walls (lift up the mattresses at your own peril!)
I didn’t brush my hair the whole time I was at sea, I am surprised I didn’t have birds nesting in it.
This is what happens when you don’t brush your hair for 2 months!
Happy
Don’t waste your time being unhappy while you’re at sea. You have chosen to be out there, chosen to embrace the discomfort (because no one ever said ocean rowing was comfortable!) and invested so much time into getting there, don’t waste your short time out there hating it.
Sometimes it was fun!
Irrational
There was that one time I couldn't find my toothbrush and it felt like it was the worst thing that could ever have happened to me. Emotions are heightened out there.
Your world becomes very small, so small things become very big.
Jump-in
One of my favourite days on the Atlantic was the day we all stopped rowing and jumped into the ocean. We were about half-way, it was so hot, not a puff of wind and not a ripple on the water.
Diving into the ocean and looking back to see my tiny little boat amongst the vast horizon made me realise just how small we really were and just how big the ocean was.
The bum sores, the sickness, the toothbrush incident… it was all worth it for this moment of joy.
Best day ever!
Kilos
One of the things I was looking forward to was arriving back on land and looking like a female version of Tom Hanks from Castaway. Lean. Sunkissed. Blonde wavy beach hair.
The reality was very different from the dream. In general women are great and clinging on to those fat reserves!
Land
I love land. Land is great. Land doesn’t move. Solid. Reliable. It has shops which sell cold drinks and chocolate.
Oh it felt good to get to land!
Mind (it’s all in the)
This really is a mental challenge, much more so than a physical challenge.
It’s a mind game.
Physically most people are capable of rowing across an ocean, but mentally some people are just not up to it.
It’s beneficial if you find some coping mechanisms to deal with the long periods of time when you have nothing to entertain you but your own thoughts. I’ve heard of some people going deep into their past and reliving past traumas. You do you of course, but I would strongly advise against doing this.
I thought a lot about food. I would take myself out to a nice restaurant and go through the whole process of reading the menu and choosing my meal before imagining eating it.
I also had photos of food on my phone I would stare at. Torture for some. Comfort for me.
We also played games which would last for days at a time and my favourite one was, ironically, the A-Z game. You choose a topic like animals for example and then between you you list out all the animals you can think of beginning with A until you can’t think of anymore and you move on to B… My favourite topic was brands because I would walk through towns I had been to and through my local supermarket visualising all the products on the shelves.
Nutrition
For me the food situation was one of the hardest parts of the row. I’m not a “food is fuel” kind of person. I envy those people who can just force it down.
Variety is the key word here for me, take a mix of salty and sweet, crunchy and soft, bland and flavourful. What you like on land might not be what you like on the ocean because the environment changes your tastebuds
I’m not a coke fan, but wow that one tasted good!
Ouch
It’s really easy to get injured. There is nothing soft about an ocean rowing boat. It’s mostly hard, pointy and sharp.
As well as the standard bumps, bruises and blisters, I really struggled with my feet (which I wasn't expecting to be a problem!). The foot plates were too big for me and the skin across the tops of my toes was raw, irritated with every bend of the foot, and my heels were in so much pain i had to pad the heel plate with balled up socks.
My poor toes were destroyed
Poop
"But where do you go to the toilet?” – the number one question that gets asked when people see an ocean rowing boat.
It’s a bucket and chuck it system which you get used to surprisingly quickly! When you’ve got to go you have no other choice.
Questions
You will question your life choices.
Reason
Make sure you’re not “doing it for the ‘gram”. Be sure of your “Why” for doing this.
Start line
It’s been said many times, but getting to the start is honestly the hardest part. So much time and effort is put into getting yourself and the boat out to the start line, the “easy” part is actually rowing across the ocean.
If you can get to the start line of an ocean rowing event you can do anything.
It was a long journey to get to the start line
Tropicbirds
I saw birds every single day of my crossing. Most of the time they were Tropicbirds, distinctive because of their long thin tail feathers.
It blew my mind every time I saw one. I like to think a lot of the times they were the same pair of birds coming to do their daily check in on us.
Universe
Being in the middle of the Atlantic in a tiny boat is pretty humbling. One of my favourite things to do at night was to turn off all the lights and look up at the stars, especially when there was no moon. To me it always felt like someone had put a giant dome on top of me, almost like it wasn't real, like I was in The Truman Show or something.
Truly incredible.
Views
The views may not be something you think about on an ocean row, but one of the things that surprised me was how different the views were. How much the landscape changes and the colours change and the vibe changes. There are so many shades of white and grey and blue. It is fascinating how the sea in the middle of the Atlantic can look like glass, with no movement at all, not even a ripple and the next day have waves the size of 4 story buildings.
An ever changing landscape
Weather
The weather holds so much control as to how long your crossing will take, and you can’t control the weather which can be frustrating at times. You are at the mercy of the elements, and the heat was hard to handle. It is amazing how dry you can feel when surrounded by so much water.
Xanadu
“A metaphor for an idyllic, exotic, or luxurious place”
I’m really reaching for an X word here!
Rowing across the Atlantic was not my xanadu, however, I think with some changes, it could be. One of the things I was looking forward to was being out there, in the middle of nowhere, in a great wilderness, without all the noise from the modern world, but the constant need to connect to social media to tell your story was exhausting for me.
It is an amazing time we live in, where you can connect with home via video call in the middle of the ocean and your friends and family can track you 24/7, but I have felt more isolated in the mountains than I did on the ocean.
You never know unless you try.
Yak
Also known as seasickness. It really is the worst.
Nausea isn’t a great feeling anyway just generally in life, but combine that with being on a boat which never stops moving and no home comforts, and it can make you feel the most miserable you have ever felt.
The feeling though when you get back to yourself again is almost worth going through the misery!
Just throw me overboard so I can end the misery of sea sickness!
Zigzag
The journey to rowing an ocean is not linear, and your actual journey across the ocean may not be linear either.
During my crossing we had a problem with our rudder and we had to divert to Cape Verde. We got picked up in the middle of the night by a fishing vessel with a crew who spoke barely a word of English.
Lots of people have rowed across an ocean, not very many people have been picked up by another boat, an incredible experience made better by the fact we weren’t in actual danger beforehand and it wasn’t an emergency rescue!
At first I felt like a failure, but looking back, it was the most exciting part of the journey! Just because it feels like things are falling apart, it doesn’t always mean things are falling apart.
That time we got rescued by a fishing boat!
