Twipes is preparing to sponsor its third team of rowers for the World’s Toughest Row, the second of those teams to race across the Atlantic Ocean. This December, Oars of Thunder will be rowing from the Canary Islands to the island of Antigua.
The Oars of Thunder team, consisting of rowers Kim, Sally, Harry and Nathaniel, is taking on the challenge with the goal of raising £100k for charity. Not only is the charitable aspect of the way a fantastic way to raise support for those in need, but also provides motivation for the rowers during the race.
The Twipes team recently spoke with Oars of Thunder about the upcoming test.
Ready for the row
The team told Twipes that there are two aspects of preparation for the row: personal training and administrative prep.
Training consists of readying oneself both physically and mentally for the journey ahead, while administrative prep involves raising awareness, locking down sponsors and readying the boat for the trip. At the time of Twipes’ conversation with Oars of Thunder, administrative prep was about 2/3 of the way done.
Kim said that preparing administratively actually takes up more time than physical preparation.
Where Twipes comes in
Twipes has aided in the team’s preparation, supplying them with 75 packs of wet wipes to help to combat the physical challenges competitors face in World’s Toughest Row, providing a sustainable option for combating salt burn on skin and for bathroom needs. Because the team has a limited amount of fresh water, it allows them to stay fresh and clean without having to expend their water supply.
Kim said what the donation means to the team.
“It means that we have a product that we can use safely in that environment,” she said. “You don’t want to add to the pollution or create any pollution, you need to have a product that you trust is sustainable.”
She said that despite expeditions getting more and more extreme, adventurers still don’t want to leave any trace behind.
“You don’t want to have any impact on the environment you’re passing through,” she continued. “Twipes are absolutely brilliant for that, it suits our expedition really, really well.”
In terms of other supplies the team is packing for the journey, Harry said that in addition to the basics like food and clothing, they have also packed personal items that are necessary, lightweight, practical and will fit in the boat.
Sally told Twipes she is most excited about kicking off the challenge itself, getting to the start line and beginning the journey.
Mental vs. physical prep
While reading a guide from World’s Toughest Row recently, Sally said she came across a line about potentially having to deal with 40-foot waves, and had to visualize what that would even look and feel like, then figuring out ahead of time how she would deal with the challenge. She said visualization of the row is what is helping her to prepare.
Harry said that what helps him deal with mental pressure is the positive experiences of past rowers.
“The amount of people who have done this in the past and said they would do it again, it obviously can’t be the worst experience ever,” he said. “I’m sure there are some pretty grim days, but mostly positive.”
Mental preparedness also goes into time off the oars, however, as Kim said the team will have to “learn to live on the boat.” Harry added that it’s about “how you manage your rest.”
“You just need a really good base in terms of physical fitness, that really is the easy bit,” Kim said. “It’s not like a sprint, you need to be agile, you need to be able to just go again. It’s also a mental battle — the preparation for the mental battle is testing yourself. Keep getting up at 4 in the morning or 5 in the morning, the times when you don’t want to get out of bed and do that workout, that’s part of the mental training.”
Working together
The race also boils down to teamwork. Sally stressed the importance of working together and and Harry discussed the shift training they’ve done — two hours of training, followed by two hours of rest.
Additionally, Oars of Thunder have taken sea survival classes involving ‘man overboard’ drills and emergency equipment training to develop their muscle memory on the boat.
The Twipes team is proud to be partnering with Oars of Thunder for this row and wish them the best of luck in the race!