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At home with Sarah and Sally; the row boat interior design edition

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Apr 25, 2004 19: 12 EST
95 days out, 392 miles left, and 29 miles average yesterday - Sarah and Sally have around two weeks to go onboard their mobile home. The other day they told us a bit about their ocean themed interior decor - today part two of the story:

"We’ve shoved an emergency can opener in the insulating piping that criss-crosses the roof of the cabin just in case we have a 'can’t open the can of fruit salad' disaster.

We’ve also stuffed good luck cards and a couple of Christmas cards (from the last attempt) in there too, also my nephew gave Mum a Christmas wand which plays a Christmassy melody when you press Santa’s nose. Farley has found a snug little spot up behind the VHF radio (the walkie-talkie as Mum likes to call it!)

Basically a typical girls’ bathroom

There are two net baskets along one side of the wall overflowing with everyday bits and bobs. One has flares, a fog horn, torches and other technical stuff in it and the other sun creams, pain killers, cotton buds, tweezers, basically a typical girls’ bathroom. With every delve into the medi-cupboard out comes another pill or potion to cure our sunburnt spotty flesh or our aching knees and bum.

I lie on a Canary Islands towel and Mum has decided to turn her orange grub inside out. We’re constantly finding fish scales either in our bedding or stuck to various parts of our bodies, Salt crystals make their way into the soft cotton, turning it into a pin cushion, so Mum now slips and slides on top of her sleeping bag rather than in it. We’re just like two princesses with our respective peas!

We have a very sophisticated weather station up on the wall beside the cupboard door which has automatically changed its time setting six times now. It currently says 18.29 when it’s actually 16.29, but tomorrow it could say pretty much any time it likes. It shows various ‘tendencies’ which tend to be nothing like the weather we have, will be or are experiencing. We suspect it’s confused by the micro-climate inside the cabin, needless to say it will be cloudy with rain in the cupboard by tomorrow evening. The flashing pictures are pretty cool though!

The Pelicase will arrive in Venezuela well before we do

The electric boxes with their many buttons are mounted on the wall opposite the nets and our GPS is stuck with gaffer to the top of one of them. This outdoor piece of kit began to corrode just three weeks into the trip so we bought it indoors and we like it where it is now. We can see the minutes tick away even whilst we’re in bed!
The Pelicase containing the laptop is mounted on the same side as the electrics. This huge yellow case is bombproof, floats, is pressurized and will basically arrive in Venezuela well before we do if the boat ever sinks, which is quite reassuring really.

Underneath our mattresses are our ‘understairs cupboards’. A long one runs practically the length of the cabin and hides an abundance of chili con carne, extra drinking water and our canned treats. Two other waterproof hatches contain our medi-kit and our electrical items (e.g. cables, batteries, chargers that sort of thing). Two other hatches contain personal odds and sods like books, t-shirts and the other pair of 100% cotton, men’s boxer shorts from M&S (lg) lying in wait ready to come out and wreak havoc on the boat!
All in all our cupboard has the spaciousness of a three bed semi and the mod cons of a modern naval submarine. What more could two girlies want on their Atlantic safari? (Thank God we’re only 5’6 and 5’3!!)

Inner workings!

Lactugal
Glycerine Suppositories
Regulose
Duphalae
Anusol
Anusplat

The kitchen - 5 servings a day

I’ve found I’ve been a bit stubborn of late and Mum keeps telling me it’s the high calorie/highly processed food and lack of fresh fruit and veg. I thought the cress would sort it out but Mum said it doesn’t make up your five portions.
“Not even 5 stems?”
“Not even 10 stems!”
The chili con carne was doing its job a few weeks ago but now it’s wholly inadequate and I’m rummaging through the medi-cupboard looking for a solution, hence the list above! When Challenge Business put the medical kit list together they were definitely on to something otherwise why would there be 6 different types of constipation relief? Still variety is the spice of life!

By the way Mum insisted I write about this although I’m completely happy NOT to tell you about the inner workings of my intestines! She obviously thought it would get me back for all the horrible things I’ve said about her over the last few weeks. She knows it will do nothing for my glamorous, feminine image!"

Mother and daughter team Sally and Sarah Kettle have been out rowing the Atlantic ocean for a little more than 2 months now. Sally's first row was with her boyfriend Marcus Thompson (Tommo). They raised money to highlight the need for research into a cure for epilepsy and as Tommo suffers from the condition.

The couple had to retire from the race after 6 days due to sea sickness which brought on Tommo's first seizure in over 2 years. That's when Sally called on her mom Sarah to replace Tommo:
"When Sally first phoned me from the boat asking if I could take Marcus’s place I couldn’t believe my luck! I packed some baked beans and some rice cakes and caught the ferry from Tenerife to La Gomera the next morning. I organized my home and my husband Steve. He has already employed a friend’s daughter to do the ironing and feed our pets. The ladies I work for as a gardener have been really fantastic and they’ve given me permission to have the time off."

Tommo is back in Brighton readjusting to a life without ocean rowing and the women will be the first Mother and Daughter team and only the second all female team to row the Atlantic: We don’t intend to win; in fact we know the only record within our reach would be the longest time spent crossing the Atlantic, which currently stands at 111 days!"

Ocean Rowing Society Atlantic Rowing Regatta ORSARR 2004 takes place to celebrate the 35th anniversaries of the first East-West solo ocean row by John Fairfax and first West-East solo ocean row by Tom McClean; and 33rd anniversary of the first Atlantic East-West double row by Geoff and Don Allum.

Sally and Sarah are team pink, Calderdale - The Yorkshire Challenger.

Image of Sally and Sarah out at sea, by Vasiliy Galenko, courtesy of the Ocean Rowing Society.

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