Can technology help optimize performance?

By Jonathan;

Given the majority of our team are part of the technology industry here on the Pacific Coast, appropriately, we are considering how the application of new wearables tech may be helpful for us during our row. After discussing with previous crews, there are invariably some teammates who struggle more than others, particularly at the start of the race. A oft-quoted line in ocean rowing is the hardest part is the first 3 days, survive that and you’ll make the rest (other variables aside).

After the first 12 hours at sea, we will be drained of any adrenaline or good sleep from our last days on land, so being able to judge our condition will be important for gauging individual efforts to avoid damaging situations and risking one of us being out of commission for more than a couple shifts.

In an example from a team we spoke to, one of them was so overcome with seasickness he barely ate for 7 days, and almost abandoned the race (had it not been for insightful organizers who stated a pickup would be 6 days away). He managed to recover and rowed the rest of the race.

But could this have been better detected and mitigated earlier? Did he get worn out without others realizing? I recently finished Mick Dawson’s Battling the Oceans in a Rowboat, and he had a similar instance with Chris Martin near the end of their epic North Pacific row, when Chris nearly got hypothermia. Making sure as teammates we keep each other in check is going to be key to keeping the boat operating as effectively as possible.

Companies like Athos and Whoop have wearable tech that connects to the cloud to analyze your heart rate and other variables to determine your strain and most importantly (subject to opinion), your recovery. The challenge with such devices is connectivity. While we will have limited access via satellite uplink, it may be a real challenge to get these devices to work effectively. This will certainly be an area worth exploring in more depth. Hard data will be far easier to contend with versus gauging ones overlying will and determination, which could cloud our better judgement on how much a teammate is overreaching. Having the ability to make decisions backed by data could give our team an edge on the water that previously wasn’t attainable.

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Insights from Ocean Rowers

By Jonathan;

The community of rowers past and present are always willing to share their thoughts and theories on best practices.

Here is one of the more notable strategies we have heard so far, no doubt more to come.

Cyril Derreumaux was part of the team named Uniting Nations who (I believe) hold the current world record crossing time from Monterrey, CA to Waikiki, HI, completed in 2016. Probably one of my favorite tidbits of strategy that he and his team deployed on their Pacific row was they had a new pair of underwear for each day on the water. One of the greatest challenges living aboard a small ocean rowing boat is maintaining good hygiene. Everything will get wet, and the cabin will be deathly humid throughout a crossing, and keeping your body as dry as possible during off shifts is imperative to not physically breaking down mid-crossing. As such, the theory with this strategy was to keep a new, clean, dry pair for each day to help keep essentials from getting rather unpleasant given limited washing/drying capabilities. But another important aspect of this strategy is it saves time. Timing on an ocean row is key to a fast crossing, something any ocean rower will desire. The ideal is to maximize time on the oars, and, coinciding with this, maximizing opportunities to sleep. If one is spending even as little as 15 minutes one shift a day (most teams row 2hrs on, 2hrs off, 24/7) washing and drying underwear, these are 15mins x 40days (a respectable Atlantic crossing time, 45 is the avg.) = 600 minutes/10 hours not spent sleeping, or eating, or making water, which will serve to prolong your race. Cyril emphasized the extreme importance of timing on the boat, even getting 0.1 miles more per shift over a competitor is 40 miles (0.1*12*40), or ~1.3% of the race distance advantage - when considering avg ocean rowing speeds are only around 1.5-2 knots, or around 2mph/48 miles per day, that is around a 20 hour advantage over your competitor who are left hanging out to dry, so to speak.

Bonus: another one from Cyril included eating all meals cold to avoid taking the time to jetboil water and the added weight of the stove and gas - something we will be considering as we hope to have our boat in Seattle in March and start experimenting with eating arrangements.

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Post La Gomera Visit - December 2018

By Jonathan;

Visiting La Gomera was almost by accident in December 2018. I was in need of a vacation, having accumulated as much time off allowable, and was poking around trying to figure out where I should go. A family friend suggested the Canaries knowing my affection for road biking, and ocean rowing was definitely on my mind, as it has been since 2014.

Stars aligned: 4 connecting flights between Seattle and Gran Canaria brought me to a full week cycling holiday. I designated one day to island hop to Tenerife, then La Gomera to check out the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge 2018 - just to see how possible this wild dream really was.

Without any invitation or pre-consultation I strolled off the ferry to see an impressive building bannered with TWAC branding, and over 20 ocean rowing boats neatly lining the marina breakwater. The legitimacy of the sight was intense. It was validation in my mind that the race was far from niche.

While the sequence of events are somewhat convoluted, during the day I was able to meet extensively with Ian Couch (Head Safety Officer), Lee Fudge (Safety Officer), Nikki Holter (Event Manager), and Mette Fagerlind (Event Assistant). All were more than welcoming and provided first-hand exposure to the race’s inner workings.

What stood out: the organization is professional, well structured, hyper-focused on safety and race preparedness, and continually improving on key areas for future teams like equipment standards and marketing.

I got the chance to meet a number of teams - all fantastic individuals from across the world, and everyone had opinions they were more than happy to share about everything from boats to training.

Seeing what under prepared and well prepared looked like was important context. Those who were prepared were antsy. They were bored and had prepped for years to get to this point, and understandably desired to push off and see it done. Those less prepared on the other hand were making lots of adjustments and had equipment all over the place. I could see what Ian was talking about earlier about being race ready when you shipped your boat off to La Gomera.

For some interesting history, this same port is where Christopher Columbus set sail across the Atlantic for the new world in 1492. Good to know the path is well trodden.

Departing La Gomera at sunset, I couldn’t help but feel empowered - this was something that could be done - and now I was dead set.

Thinking about it months later, as we begin to ramp up our campaign, its a bit surreal to imagine being there in ~450 days and being one of those rowers, waiting for the race to begin. Already a bit antsy.

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