Lia and Mick are both back in La Gomera and the wait continues. After an extended period of adverse weather (which had already delayed the race by over three weeks) there has been a further official delay. Crews have been told the race won’t start until after the New Year and they anticipate that means the 2nd or 3rd of January but even that isn’t certain. Mick is pleased to have a few more evenings in the Blue Marlin (an infamous ocean rowing haunt) and Lia is pleased to have more time to get her head around a number of things, not least of which is how to avoid rashes on her bum. She told me she hasn’t worn cycling shorts since she was 14 and given her description of what they did to her after just one extended shift in the boat yesterday I don’t think they agree with her bum! So we discussed the options and her favorite so far seems to be either rowing naked or rowing in cotton boxer shorts. I suspect the former will scare both the fish and Mick so probably isn’t advisable.
Mick and Lia have both been home over the Christmas period. Just before Lia left La Gomera it was hit by torrential downpours for a few days. Fortunately this led to the discovery that two of the hatches on deck leaked so Lia was able to sort out alternatives when she was at home which have now been installed. She has also been getting very detailed weather routing lessons from a friend. Given she already knows her way around an ocean or two and is more than capable of plotting a good course I anticipate her new level of expertise in this area will shave at least a week off the row.
With so much time in La Gomera the crew are getting to know many of the sailors who they are moored next to, not least of whom are Sam Davies parents who have very kindly taken Lia under their wing. And of course the comradery between the rowers is fantastic. In fact Lia left our Skype chat earlier so that one of the solo rowers, Charlie could come and help her with the autopilot setup on Dream Maker.

bum, hatches, naked rowing, routing, Sam Davies