Here you can find my regular blog, which I hope you will find interesting and original. My aim is to keep you all up to date with my latest thoughts, plans and adventures.
Saturday, August 1st, 2009
Alex ‘Mac’ - The day of our first sea trials finally arrived! Apparently it was also ‘Yorkshire Day’ so it was quite fitting we’d be taking the Yorkshire Challenger out. After an early start, 0500hrs, we got the boat set for the long trip to Whitby. A few hours later, a couple of Red Bulls, a service station, and some inquisitive truck drivers we saw the North Sea looming with some fairly changeable weather overhead.
We arrived just before 0900hrs and Paul (our PR guru) was there just after we arrived. After preparing the boat and meeting the camera crew we gave our first ever interviews. After screwing up a few lines and getting that ‘take’ number ever higher we managed to piece together some solid answers.
Soon after, we launched easily and were guided out of the harbour by Brian from Coates Marine in the camera crew rib. We were really pleased to see people on both sides of the harbour taking an interest in what we were up to. Leaving the harbour behind we found ourselves finally out on the North Sea. We rowed together and put in a strong pace throughout. The waves were brilliant and we could really feel how the boat moves through the water. After the camera crew and photographer were happy with the footage and photos they had, and we had put the boat through its paces, we turned back for the harbour and rowed alongside a few other large yachts whose crews had taken an interest in us and were heading the same way. Rowing back in and towards the slipway we were very happy with how things had gone. We got the boat back on its trailer with the help of the VW and an hour later were heading for home. We’d both like to thank Brian from Coates Marine for his help, our friends and family who came out to support us, and also Paul and Rachel from Appeal PR for arranging such a great day that ran like clockwork.
Luke – After “working” the camera again (thankfully no make-up required – I’m beautiful enough!!) and around 35 takes, I managed to answer my interview questions and we launched Yorkshire Challenger into Coates Marine. So after an eventful week we finally made it to sea – where we are actually meant to be. We followed the support rib out of the marina to experience our first real taste of ocean rowing – and I loved it.
The outing was an eye-opener – having to face waves, currents, obstacles and adapt our rowing style to accommodate the pitch of the boat.
But it was a surprisingly comfortable row, finding good rhythm and speed. In the final part of the piece we were forced to ease off the power after Mac, ripping it up in the bow seat, managed to snap his foot plate off!
A top day! Can’t wait for the next!!
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Luke – High-vis jackets and HGVs! Today was the first day that we would see Yorkshire Challenger fully branded – the journey across to Leeds was tense as we waited to see what she would look like. On arrival at the industrial estate we put on our mandatory high-vis jackets. The last time I wore one of these was at an 80’s night at uni. The boat looked awesome and I was so happy with how it turned out.
The only challenge now was to navigate out of the freight yard, weaving in between the HGV’s, shipping containers and rogue fork-lift trucks putting my driving skills to the test.
Alex ‘Mac’ – After dropping our boat off on Wednesday this week to be fully branded in its team vinyls we made our way across in the team car to pick up the Yorkshire Challenger. The material used on our boat differs slightly to the dummy boat as its a Marine Vinyl which will mean it will take the pounding that the Atlantic it sure to throw at it. Paul Turner did a fantastic job in applying the decals and we were delighted when we picked it up. It was also the first time we got to see the full setup up of our boat being towed by the team car – it looked stunning! Driving back through Leeds with a 23ft Ocean Rowing boat behind us, in peak Friday afternoon rush hour traffic was an experience in itself! We found ourselves making a wrong turning and were immediately in central Leeds!! After a of bit weaving through traffic we were on our way. The detour in fact did no harm in getting just a little bit more exposure for the team through the streets of Leeds! We got safely home and everyone was thoroughly impressed.
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Luke – A day of new experiences! A 90 minute photo shoot, picking up our team vehicle and excitement around the row really starting to build. Mac and I really “worked” the camera and looked “fabulous”. Looking forward to seeing the photos.
The branded car, dummy boat and team kit all look awesome and the whole outfit looks very professional.
Alex ‘Mac’ – Early on Thursday morning we made our way across to Tordoff House for the first photoshoot at JCT600. As soon as we arrived we saw a fantastic looking dummy boat and VW Touareg, branded up with the team and JCT600 logo along with our other sponsors logos. The guys who made this all possible in such a short space of time all deserve a special mention and our thanks go to them. It was great to see John Tordoff again and also meet Jack Tordoff for the first time. It was also really nice to talk with some of the JCT600 employees who were obviously very interested in the challenge. The photoshoot was really good fun and by the looks of things produced some cracking photos, some of which may also get a few laughs!
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Luke - With our first sea outing on the North Sea planned for Saturday 1st August we wanted to take Yorkshire Challenger out on Ullswater to practice launching/recovering. The weather conditions made preparing and launching the boat more difficult than normal but once on the water we rowed well together with good timing and rhythm.
As the “freak” wind and heavy rain continued (forcing the sailing boats and wind surfers in) a key objective of our time on the lake was to master steering and navigating in difficult conditions, which we managed to accomplish. Very happy with this training piece!
Alex ‘Mac’ – Late on Monday evening we decided to head across to Ullswater to take the boat out for the day. The weather was great leaving Settle but as we neared the Lake District the grey clouds descended and heavy rain and strong winds rolled in. After arriving at the Glenridding Sailing Centre we got the Yorkshire Challenger ready to launch and once on the lake rowed hard into the wind and driving rain. The weather was actually quite enjoyable as it added an extra element to the row. After putting in a solid performance at the oars we decided to call it a day and recovered back to the Sailing Centre and headed back to Yorkshire. All in all a great day with the boat as per it performed really well.
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