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Speculation as to whether
27-year-old Sally Kettle will make the 2,900 miles (4,670km) across the
Atlantic from the Canaries to Barbados in a small rowing boat tends not
to focus so much on her fitness, technique or even the risks of
house-height waves. It doesn’t even centre on the kind of drive that
gets an aspiring singer/ songwriter from Brighton to row a 24ft (7.3m)
boat westwards for three months or so, but on the fact that she’s doing
it with her mother, 45-year-old Sarah Kettle.
“Mother-daughter relationships are extremely complex,” Donald MacLeod, a
psychologist specialising in relationship counselling, told The Times as
they set off in January. “If one of them starts to fail, that will be
very testing. The element of confinement and the prolonged aspect of the
journey are pretty unusual. And it is likely to be problematic because
of the intensity.”
So far, however, the Kettles are proving their doubters wrong. “We’re
getting on like a house on fire,” says Sally, naked, from the cabin of
Calderdale on a satellite phone link. Naked? “We’re mother and daughter;
we’ve got nothing to hide.”
This is day 66 at sea. With luck they’ll complete the crossing within
the next three weeks. Only 15 women in the world have rowed the
Atlantic, including one female team (Stephanie Brown and Jude Ellis in
2001). For a mother-daughter team to row an ocean is a world first,
although going for that record wasn’t their plan. In fact, Sally hadn’t
planned on taking up rowing at all, let alone with her mother.
Two years ago she felt the urge to embark on an epic challenge. Her
boyfriend, Marcus Thompson, didn’t want to cycle with her from Land’s
End to John o’Groats and suggested, light-heartedly one suspects, that
they row an ocean together. Sally agreed. Despite having no rowing
experience they put their names down for the Atlantic Rowing Challenge
and trained for 18 months, combining cardiovascular workouts and aerobic
exercise (to build the strength and efficiency of heart and lungs) with
high intensity/anaerobic workouts (to build tolerance to the lactic acid
produced during exercise, the cause of fatigue) and weight training.
Astronavigation, yachtmanship and seamanship were also a part of the
programme.
Sally and Marcus made a first attempt to cross the Atlantic last
October. But Marcus, who has epilepsy, suffered severe seasickness which
led to dehydration and his first seizure in two years. After six days
they were towed back to port. Determined to try again, Sally persuaded
her mother to come on board. Although her job as a gardener meant that
Sarah was relatively fit, she had no experience of rowing. While the
boat was in dock for repairs, she worked with a coach on rowing
technique, built up her strength and took first aid and seamanship
courses. After three months and only 17 days’ practice on open water,
she joined Sally in the Canaries to crew the Calderdale, one of 14
entries in the Ocean Rowing Society’s John Fairfax Regatta.
They got off to an unfortunate start. Sarah spent the first three weeks
constantly being sick. Then it was Sally’s turn. Although their rations
were designed to give them 6,000 calories a day, to begin with they
couldn’t face meals such as chilli con carne or beef stroganoff, so
essentially their diet has been rice: boiled rice, Rice Crispies and
rice cakes. “Bland, but we’ve found very sweet or salty food inedible
and the complex carbohydrates work for us, ” Sally says. Chocolate and
sports bars have also been passed over. Their instant highs and
following lows sent their sleeping patterns and moods all over the
place. And there’s no space on board for mood swings. “The cabin is the
size of a two-person tent and the deck is only 10ft long so we are in
close proximity all the time. There isn’t a great deal of privacy,”
Sally says.
Throughout it all they have kept going at a steady pace. In
long-distance endurance sports everything hinges on keeping a
psychological and physiological balance; keeping morale up and ploughing
on. “We have a routine and try hard to do 12 hours of rowing each,”
Sally says, “although rowing at night wasn’t feasible recently because
the waves were so high, coming from opposite directions and impossible
to see in the dark.”
The mother-daughter factor, far from being a handicap, is proving
advantageous. “When I was growing up, we weren’t that close,” Sally
says. “I left home at 16, so we’ve had a decade to get over any teenage
grudges before coming together for this.” Instead they are discovering
inherent similarities and traits (determination and humour among them)
that allow them to cope, empathise and work well in tandem.
“We work well as a team at all times; you have to on a boat like ours.
Almost everything is awkward or frustrating so you often need an extra
pair of hands or two heads to sort it out. We can sense when the other
is feeling low or annoyed and we help each other through.”
Extraordinarily tough and fit as the Kettles are, it’s clearly the
strength of their relationship which is keeping them and their boat
headed for success on an even keel. “We’ll make it across. We have no
doubt about that,” Sally says, “and we will be laughing and joking
practically all the way.”
FANCY IT?
Training
If you fancy taking part in the Atlantic Rowing Challenge, be prepared
to put in at least 18 months of training. Competitors should be able to
complete two to three hours of aerobic exercise daily — for example, two
hours non-stop on the exercise bike or one hour on the running machine.
It’s more about stamina than being superfit and, above all, having the
determination to complete the race.
Equipment
The Ocean Rowing Society has a web page which features a range of
second-hand rowing boats and equipment for sale (www.oceanrowing.com).
Practicalities
If you have no boat and no experience, look at the Amateur Rowing
Association website for information on local clubs and facilities (www.ararowing.org;
020-8237 6700).
Sally and Sarah Kettle have been rowing under the banner of the Epic
Challenge for Epilepsy (www.rowing4epilepsy.org).
For more information, or to follow their progress, visit
www.oceanrowing.com
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