August 12th

Preparing the boat and the journey to and from the race will undoubtedly be as great a challenge as the row itself. It is also the facet of this expedition that cannot be done by those of us in the boat alone.

To that end I have started to seek out the support of friends whose loyalty, enthusiasm and staying power I know I can count on, but who also have particular skills that we need to make this a success.

Paul whom I have known since I was five is an accountant. He’s a dead cert when it comes to advice on finance and is a huge bonus to be able to nail down so early on. Mind you given that I have been talking to him about this for the past 6 years at least, he’s not exactly new to the idea.

Linda, who works with me is a brilliant administrator, facilitator and organiser and has experience in media and graphics. I couldn’t get over how quickly she bought into this idea. She already has a print of the boat stuck to the wall behind her desk. (Already defaced by my crab fat colleague, Rob, who in deference to my Naval heritage has added a couple of torpedoes and a forward deck mounted gun!) She read Debra Veal’s book, ‘Alone’ in two days and ‘got it’ instantly.

She has taken on the role of interim banker, whilst I wait to decide where and with whom to open a savings account. Given that every penny counts, I have been selling vegetables and my chicken’s eggs from in front of the house. On the target thermometer that she has created on her computer, £50 doesn’t look great against the £100,000 we might need, but it’s not £100,000 anymore is it, it’s £99,950!

I have recently started prospecting on Mark who works in IT and whose kids I discovered go to the same very mini rugby sessions on a Sunday morning. To be fair, you can’t expect everyone who gets excited about the idea when you first tell them about it to seriously jump in the boat so to speak, but he was enthused so we’ll see where it goes. We shall certainly need IT support, right from the get go.