Billy Taylor’s A-Z guide to ocean rowing
I have rowed across the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, and organised too many to count. Here is my personal A-Z guide to ocean rowing…
Albatross
It doesn’t matter what ocean I have been rowing, I have always seen and been followed by an Albatross for at least part of the crossing. Coincidentally, his name always seems to be Alan…
Bearings
The things that make the seat slide smoothly across the runners. If the crossing is rough and you get a lot of salt water on deck, these have to be changed a few times, which can be annoying but it doesn’t take long. The amount of times that you have to do this generally reflects on how tough the crossing was.
Changing the bearings in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean
Communications
Such an important part of the challenge for many reasons. Getting information from back home about the upcoming weather and best direction to take, talking to the medical team about any medical problems and how best to deal with them, sending back content to engage your followers and drive donations to your charity.
On the other side of the coin, it’s the reduction in comms that you have from normal everyday life. No social media, emails, whatsapp messages, lack of current affairs. Being out of signal is one of the best parts of the journey!!
Dolphins!!
Dolphins are such amazing incredible creatures. It doesn’t matter how tired you are, whenever a pod of dolphins visits the boat it always lifts your spirits and puts a smile on your face.
EPIRB
Such an important piece of kit that you hope that you never have to use!!
Flying fish
Like the Albatross, I have seen these on every crossing. They are incredible animals and make a good game where each crew member scores points when they are hit by one. They also stink…
They get much bigger than this tiddler!
Grot
No matter how hard you try, the cabin gets really grotty during a crossing. Sweat, hair, old food, scabs, dried skin etc all seem to conspire against you to make the cabin as unpleasant as possible.
It stinks.
Heat
With no shade on deck and no clouds in the sky, the hottest conditions that I have ever experienced have been on an ocean rowing boat, and it doesn’t get any cooler in the cabin! Trying to sleep when you are quite literally dripping with sweat even though all you are doing is lying down is not great……
Incredible beauty
There really is no other environment that I have been in that can compare to the beauty of being at sea. It changes every day and has the power to leave you speechless.
Jokes
The ability to laugh is a key component to having a good crossing. If you can laugh at yourself and with each other even when you are tired, hungry and in discomfort, your journey will be a hell of a lot easier!
Jokers.
Keel
And more importantly, keeping it clean! It never ceases to amaze me how barnacles mage to get a foothold and grow over the keel of the boat, and how few of them it takes to slow the boat down!
Lights
The ocean can be an incredible empty space and you can go for weeks on end without seeing anything or anyone else. Seeing the lights of another ship on the water out there with you reminds you that you are not alone.
Money
So much of the planning and preparation of doing an ocean row is the fundraising that you have to go through to raise enough money to pay the price of rowing an ocean and is arguably the most difficult part of any ocean row for most people.
However, although it can be a frustrating part of the challenge, the work that you have to put into finding sponsors is part of the whole adventure and I have always felt that having to go through this process just makes the reward that you feel at the finish line even sweeter!
Nausea
I am one of those annoying people that does not seem to suffer from sea sickness, but I have rowed with plenty of people who do and it ain’t pretty.
Spike Milligan once said “A sure cure for sea sickness is to sit under a tree”. As you will not have this luxury, I strongly recommend trying out various remedies and medications prior to setting off and try to find one that works for you as it can be extremely debilitating and really takes the fun out of starting your row.
Oars
Absolute love-hate relationship. You have to spend 12 hours a day working hard pulling on them, causing your hands to blister and cramp. On the other hand, they are what is going to get you to the other side.
Absolute bastards.
Preparation and planning
When you first think about rowing an ocean you have absolutely no idea how much work goes into getting to the start line, especially if you have never spent any time on the water previously. Getting to the start line takes an enormous amount of preparation and planning and is much harder than the row itself!
Questions
When you go to shows or fairs or anywhere with the boat it never ceases to amaze how many questions people will come up with about the whole project. You do find yourself answering the same things quite a lot but that’s a really good way to cement all of those things in your mind and helps to formulate plans on how to achieve these goals as well.
Relaxed
Although it is hard work rowing an ocean, it’s simple and focussed hard work, which allows your mind to really relax. You are far away from having to think about work, mortgage, emails, telephone calls, messages and you can really relish where you are and what you are doing.
Hot - no, not in that way.
Stars
With no light pollution the sky at night is an absolutely incredible experience. Billions and billions of them with shooting stars every single night. It is truly nature's greatest show.
Time
When was the last time that you had the opportunity to sit and think about life, even for a couple of hours? The world is a very busy place, but out on the water you have 12 hours a day, every day, to think about what you are doing with your life and how to improve it.
Understanding
Working together and understanding the needs of others. Considering the environment that 3 or 4 of you are living together in, it’s a pressure cooker environment and you would think that there would be arguments and falling out all over the place, but it really doesn’t happen that much.
Volunteers
Pulling everything together for a campaign takes an awful lot of work, but over the years it has been amazing just how many put themselves forward and volunteer their time and skills to help. People love to be involved with an ocean row from all different aspects, it’s like building a small community.
Water and whales
When you are at sea for 50 days and the ocean floor beneath you can be up to 5 km deep, you truly get an understanding as to just how much of the planet is covered with water!! And I couldn’t not mention Whales. They are amazing animals and they are extremely inquisitive too, actively going out of their way to come over and check you out. It’s like you are the zoo exhibit when they look at you…..
X
I couldn’t think of one!
Y (pronounced Why?)
Why do we do it? It’s a really difficult question to answer and I am sure it is unique to each individual, but now that there are more and more people doing multiple crossings I don’t feel like such an outsider for wanting to spend extended periods of time in a tiny smelly boat.
Zebra Fish
These guys are pretty small, but we had one follow us for around 50 days across the Indian Ocean. You would find him/her around the rudder and never strayed too far from the safety of the cover the hull provided, but that’s an impressive distance to cover for such a little dude!
