Looking at my progress today compared to the last two, you may be forgiven for thinking that my pest control had a pretty impressive effect. Sadly I haven’t been lounging on the sun-deck, cocktail in hand, watching the miles tick away. I’ve made a decision: I’m going to outrun the weather!
Now, quite frankly, this is a ludicrous idea. The weather will catch me sooner or later. However, by that time I hope it will have got a little tired of being annoying, and will only be doing it fairly half-heartedly. Nevertheless, there is the obvious side-effect: it’s all getting me to Antigua anyway.
One of my biggest problems is getting up in the morning. Put simply, when you get up, you row, and sleep is more appealing. Looking at the seat in the picture, it may look fairly comfortable. I suppose it probably is. At first. However, it soon become a very effective instrument of torture. Forget pulling teeth and the like; this could get anybody to talk!
The worst thing about it is that sometimes you do find a non-painful position. On the face of it, this appears to be a good thing, but I’m afraid not. All it serves to do is remind you what you’re missing, before the boat rocks a little too much, your bum cheek shifts by a micrometre, and you are returned to a world of pain and torment. By the time you’ve spent over 500 hours on the thing, you can understand why it’s not a place you’d like to be.
So, pain and torture, or relative comfort and sleep? Not the toughest choice, but also one that doesn’t lead to Antigua very quickly. But I’ve come up with a solution. As soon as light comes up, I feel too guilty to be in bed anymore. So, starting from last night, I kept on rowing, only getting to bed after 4 o’clock in the morning. The sun came up soon after 9 o’clock, and I was washed, breakfasted and back to the torture chamber for 10 o’clock, just six hours after leaving it. I bet most prisoners aren’t so co-operative!
The real question is, is it sustainable and will it last? That, I do not know, but I will find out soon. In the meantime, I’d better go out for my next session. If only they had thumb-screws here. It would make a welcome break.
