Row For Heroes

GBOWR confirmation

2011-02-08T19:22:00.002+00:00

News hot off the press - the official confirmation is through:

We are pleased to confirm that you have achieved the Guinness World Record for the First team of two to row around British mainland and congratulate you on your achievement.

"Captains Hamish Reid and Nick Dennison (both UK) were the first two-man team to row unsupported around mainland Britain, completing the 2,100-mile (3,380-km) journey after an uninterrupted 50 days and 5 hours at sea. On board their 24-ft (7.3-m) vessel Komale, the two men crossed the finish line on the Solent, Lymington, UK, at 15:02 on 1 July 2010."

Dry Land

2010-07-12T08:57:00.000+01:00

On Thursday 1st of July, after 50 days at sea Hamish and Nick crossed the finish line of their epic adventure around Great Britain. A huge crowd of supporters turned out to cheer them over the line out in the Solent and then witness their first (very wobbly) steps back on dry land at the marina. Entertainment was provided by Pepper (Hamish's Parent's young dog) who fell off the pontoon into the water in the middle of a television interview while Ollie (Nick's brother) did an outstanding job in releasing an entire bottle of champagne into the boys eyes!

Once the boys have settled back into life they will give a much more detailed account of things I am sure but I just wanted to let you all know the challenge is over, you can all stop checking the tracker every few hours! A massive thank you for all the support and donations - the boys have been truly spoilt by you all while at sea. If you haven't donated yet, please give what you can right now by going ot the donate section. as a special offer every donation over 10 pound will entitle you to a lock of Hamish's ginger facial hair!

Keep an eye on the Gallery where new images and video footage will be added soon.

Much love to all your amazing people.

Jess

Norfolk Coast

2010-06-26T22:23:00.001+01:00

A very quick note to mark another milestone – Hamish and Nick can once more see Land! The pair reached Norfolk yesterday evening and are now chugging along at a great speed heading homewards! Obviously they don’t want to count there chickens before they hatch but if conditions remain the same and no surprise storms crop up there is a chance that this time next week they may be crossing (or not far off) the finish line.

The boys are also back in mobile reception so I was able to speak to them last night and they both sounded good. They are both starting to think about the food they want to eat first on arrival back to civilization…I can only imagine that after 6+ weeks of freeze dried rations fresh fruit and veggies will seem the biggest luxury in the world for the pair.

The next obstacle will be the Thames Estuary followed by some ship spotting as they pass Dover – all of this will hopefully happen over the weekend so keep an eye on the tracker and keep your support rolling in. For a much more cheerful update from the boys listen to their latest Phlog (posted on the homepage). And for all those who are around please keep the evening of the 9th of July free for a celebration at the Thames Rowing Club in Putney to welcome Hamish and Nick home and hear some stories of their adventure- more info on that to come, obviously we need to get the boys home first!!

Cheers, Jess

The boys have tested the boat self-rights...

2010-06-22T22:08:00.002+01:00

On Sunday the boys sent a text message from the sat phone reading "TOUGH TIMES BUT KOMALE AND CREW FINE".

On Monday we learnt the full extent of what these 'tough times' involved. Capsizing! Not once, not twice, but THREE times as well as breaking their first oar. I wont go into the full details of the weekend as its expressed so much better by Hamish in the phone blog so check that out (go to link; here)

I can't get through a blog (unfortunately) without mentioning the wind - true to form the wind has again changed direction for the worst and started to blow southerly at the boys, making their progress really slow and occasionally taking them backwards. Sadly this is out of all our control but if you do happen to know any weather Gods please try and arrange some Southerlies...bottle of wine for the first person to bring back the Northerlies.

The guys have been feeling pretty low these last few days, a week ago all looked on track for a quick descent of the south coast so the change in weather and fright of capsizing the boat appears to have taken its toll on them both. Please keep your messages of support coming through so we can cheer them up and get them home! This will have the double advantage of allowing some of you to get back to work and stop checking the tracker every 45minutes!! (For those of you who don't know - and this has come as a revelation to some people- the tracker only updates every 2 hours at 12,2,4,6,8,10)

As always thanks for your support, I see in the news the UK has now lost 300 troops in Afghanistan - your support for Nick and Hamish goes directly to the service men, woman and families who are effected by these losses...please give what you can.

Thank you all for being wonderful :) Jess

Row for Heroes boys have re-entered English waters!

2010-06-20T18:35:00.000+01:00

A decision was made last week to take advantage of the strong northerly winds forecast by heading out to sea. Unfortunately this hasn't completely paid off as the winds have been so strong the guys have been unable to row in them!

Communications with the guys has been very limited as they are out of mobile service but from the Text messages we have received from the Satellite Phone it sounds like its been pretty rough conditions that have really tested the nerves. The boys battened down the hatches and actually drifted 25 miles (in the right direction!!) yesterday so that was a bonus but it doesn't sound like its been comfortable. They are aiming for Norfolk and hoping to reach this landmark by Tuesday when Southerlies are forecast. Again the guys have found themselves at the mercy of the wind Gods who really don't seem to be on their side for this challenge!

Thankfully it sounds like the guys have managed to avoid being sea sick while in the rough seas but Hamish admitted he was feeling a little green yesterday. Morale is high and they are going to keep plugging south.

If anyone wants to send them a message to their satellite phone please email it to me at rowforheroes@gmail.com and I will send it on (please keep it under 160 characters). Fingers crossed for more northerlies soon.

Jess

Cape Wrath - John o'Groats - Heading South!!

2010-06-15T16:23:00.006+01:00

Just a quick update.

Yesterday (Monday 14th of June) the boys ticked off another major milestone - Rounding John O Groats - the northerly end of the longest distance between two points in Mainland Britain (the other point being Lands End). Needless to say Nick and Hamish are on a high to be coming down the home straight, but still very aware that there is approx 600 miles to go!

Scotland has proven to be a highlight for the guys who have been sending through some beautiful photos of the sunsets and scenery. I think the idylic surroundings may have even given them a small chance to 'escape' the reality of the daily grind and appreciate the beauty of their surroundings. Hamish continues to struggle with growing facial hair and eating the dehydtated meat, while Nick is basking in his full bearded glory. Sadly there seems to be little 'drama' to report, the guys are getting on well and focused on getting the job done - real proof of how thorough preparation makes all the difference in such a challenge.

The guys are hoping the nasty Northerly winds that have been causing them such trouble all the way up the West Coast will stick around for a few weeks longer and help speed them along now that they are heading down the East Coast.

Your support of Row for Heroes is much appreciated, keep it up - its getting the guys home!!

Jess

Skye Bridge Scotland

2010-06-06T10:21:00.007+01:00

At 9.30am on Saturday June 6th the boys reached a major milestone on their row - in the form of Skye bridge. A small (but ever enthusiastic) group of friends, family and amazingly kind locals jumped aboard a couple of boats (and for a short while a light aircraft) to cruise along side the guys for almost an hour catching up on what life aboard has been like and noting (with much relief) how well both Nick and Hamish are getting along, despite being stuck in such a confined space for 3 and a half weeks.

There are a million stories that I could relay from aboard Komale, but I will save them for the boys to share on their return...some interesting observations/ stories from our time with them yesterday include;

1) The beefy boys who were eating anything fatty that they could get their hands on have now lost any sign of 'Puppy Fat' they do not yet look unhealthily skinny (which I suspect in another 3 weeks they will) however their lower legs and seems to have lost the most weight with both boys shins resembling a lanky adolescent. It was most bizarre to see them in their now slightly baggy Icebreaker leggings with these wee legs poking out the bottom!

2) Hamish has developed an eating disorder/ food phobia. As amusing as I find the idea of my darling boy who has been known to challenge friends to 'meat eat offs', this could quickly become a serious problem. He now finds is physically impossible to digest any of the meat in the freeze dried meals and so has to pick it out before cooking or he will find himself instantly throwing it up. It has become so bad that Nick can no longer eat a few of the meat meals in front of Hamish or he will instantly be sick by the smell/ idea of the meat Nick is consuming. Nutrition is so important to the success of the row, and the boys are doing everything they can to overcome this issue, including Nick swapping rations with Hamish if his are more suitable to Hamish's newly delicate palate. This might all sound a bit ridiculous (Hamish is the first to admit how bizarre it is) but is genuinely a big worry that hopefully the guys can keep from interfering in their well being too much.

3) Both boys have decided that 3 weeks at Sea has turned them into Philosophers. They tried to share some of their 'deep thinking' with us yesterday but unfortunately to the untrained ear it all sounded a bit like the words of two boys who have been isolated at sea. Watch this space...

4) Nick was interested in how many dates I had scheduled for his return. Please apply within ;)

Yes their hands and bottoms are sore. Yes they are sleep deprived. Yes some of the food rations are not allowed to be spoken of aloud to avoid instant vomiting episodes (They have even renamed a few of the meals with crude titles that I can't re-produce on this website but I am sure you can be creative and imagine!). However despite the immense challenges the boys are facing morale is high, the boys are looking well, laughing and joking together and focused on getting the job done. They are overwhelmed by your support and get a real high when complete strangers contact them, offering support and luck.

Keep following the tracker on homepage and of course Twitter and the Facebook Group; ROW FOR HEROES. The boys have uploaded a few videos from the boat so we will try and get them onto the website so you can see what life aboard Komale is really like. As always Thank you for your support. Keep the donations flying, every little bit counts and is much appreciated.

Jess

Lands End to Scotland!!

2010-06-02T15:27:00.004+01:00

ROW FOR HEROES HAS REACHED SCOTLAND!!

Hello All, Jess here again. Hamish and Nick asked me to update the website blog to give you all a general overview of their first 3 weeks at sea. Many of you have been following their tracker and the Twitter or Phlog update so apologies if this is all old news to you!

Wind has been the hot topic since departure with the boys facing Southerlys for most of their journey down the south coast which then turned predominately into Northerlys once they got around lands end. Although it seems the wind really hasn't been on their side Hamish and Nick have done all they can to make progress during the windows of fine weather and then anchor up in a sheltered bay when battling against tides and winds became impossible.

It has to be said that the boys didnt look in the best of shape when we cheered them around Lands End on Thursday May 20th. Hamish had been suffering quite badly from Seasickness and from speaking to other Ocean Rowers the first couple of weeks are supposed to be pretty grim while you body and mind adapts to its current 'lifestyle'. Four days anchored up in Wexford, Ireland offered a perfect opportunity for the guys to catch up on sleep, eat and 'air their bottoms' and in recent conversations with them - and as you can hear via their Phlog) morale and energy levels seem to be much higher again.

Overnight, with favorable winds the guys finally made it to Scotland, the forecast seems to be in their favor with Southerly's for a few days, what a change! The guys are hoping to make strong progress up around Islay and Jura and at this stage plan to come in and Shelter between the mainland and the Isle of Mull. Anyone in the area is invited to come wave to them as they go under Skye Bridge (probably near the end of the week) I will keep you posted on dates.

We have been fortunate that the boys have had pretty good mobile reception for most of their journey so far so communications have been easy, this may become a little more difficult as they go around the Scotish Isles but as they said recently "morale is proportionate to speed" so keep an eye on the tracker - if that's moving then all is well aboard Komale.

Hamish and Nick have been overwhelmed with the support they are receiving. Your little messages of support and encouragement take them along way when they are drenched to the bone rowing through the night while we are all snuggled up in bed so please keep them coming. Please also continue to spread the word and donate generously to the two great Charitys that Row For Heroes are raising money for ; Help For Heroes and the Army Benevolent Fund.

Until next time remember you can follow the boys progress on Facebook and Twitter at Row For Heroes. For those who are interested here is the link to a short news clip about ROW FOR HEROES from departure day; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZCedEc7oH8

The Start

2010-05-13T21:44:00.005+01:00

Hi All,

The boys set off in the sunshine from Lymington yesterday (Wednesday May 12th, 2011) at 1015 to a farewell party of friends, family, media and a flotilla of Army Yachts. Progress in the first 24 hours has been amazing, if this continues and the weather remains favorable 45 days is a realistic target for completion.

As the boys will only have sparodic internet access (from an i-phone) there will be no chance for a formal blog. They will however be updating their Twitter and Facebook. The Twitter feed links into this website (on the right hand side of the homepage) meaning you dont need to be a member of twitter to recieve these feeds, the tracker updates continuously -allowing you to keep a closer eye on them than your significant other ;)

I will try and update this blog as often as I can with any information I receive. In the meantime please see attached images from Day One of the row.

Please keep following the guys progress and showing your support by spreading the word and donating to these two great charities.

Jess

Toughening Up

2010-04-18T17:22:00.000+01:00

The time has come to convert hard gym work to hard hands. Komale is out of the water at the moment and in Jeremy Rodgers yard for a refit so we have been rowing the Lymington Rowing Club boats all weekend and building up some callus.

Hamish's technique is coming along under Nick's tuition, but Nick denies him as a credible rower due to his lack of bib spandex.

Learning the ways of the Sea

2010-04-08T17:10:00.000+01:00

Getting to grips with navigation and general seamanship holds the key to the successful completion of this challenge. We spent the Easter weekend under the watchful eye of our mentor Jim Crick and Hamish's Dad Nigel on board the yacht Coriander. This culminated in Nick becoming a qualified Day Skipper and Hamish a Yachtmaster.

Jim has shown enormous patience since starting to teach us the ways of the sea and we are extremely grateful for his help. Despite giving us insight into the doubts of many experienced sailors, we are now approaching the row from a much more knowledgeable platform.

Training Week

2010-03-30T21:33:00.006+01:00

Things progress rapidly with Row for Heroes. Having a week dedicated to row training and preparation has paid dividends. It is so hard keeping the project moving when working and training full time.

We spent the week in the solent, rowing for between 2 and 3 hours a day with the rest of the time spent harassing all and sundry to help with kit, boat prep and the many other things we

need. Many people have been extremely supportive and generous with their advice and help, for which we are extremely grateful; without their help our progress would certainly be floundering. Our longest distance trip took us over to Cowes for a night where Komale snuggled in the luxurious Royal Yacht Squadron marina for a sleepover.

We found the time for some technical and safety training with Adam Wilson of Aquasafe powerboat school. Practising man overboard drills made Hamish realise that the water is still very cold (7 degrees!) and Nick that pulling a body from the sea is no easy feat. The session ended with Nick sweating and Hamish shivering and delivered us a salient lesson.

London Excel Boat Show

2010-01-08T17:43:00.005+00:00

Following a particularly emotional journey through the snow with Nick to the Big Smoke, Komale nestled alongside the mainstage at this year’s Excel London Boat Show. Reports are that she came a close second in terms of raw crowd appeal to the daily appearance of bikini- clad dancers.

During her time in the capital, she led from the front as we raised £375.58 for the Army Benevolent Fund and £712.31 for Help For Heroes. Fundraising was done by a team of dedicated supporters to whom we are extremely grateful: Cherry (Nick’s Mum), Jono and Henry (fellow Army Docs), Rosie (Oar Fund bigwig), Angela and Nigel (Hamish’s parents) as well as Charlie, Rach and Fran (heroic friends).

We took the opportunity to launch the ‘Oar Fund’ in an attempt to gain more company on the row. The fund enables people’s names to be written on the boat in order to accompany us on our trip around the country. Please contact us if you would like to join the Oar Fund.

Komale, Hamish and Nick also made some great links with companies keen on supporting the project. Amongst other things Komale is very excited about having her new Forgen wind generator fitted, having her Comar AIS system installed, but like all members of the fairer sex is particularly pleased about International Paint’s kind offer of to provide new and rich colour to her top- and bottomsides.

Other news was the discovery of a reverse compass and an attempt at conquering the art of video interview by Nick when he managed to get the word ‘tides’ into a 1 minute interview with BFBS 7 times.

Nick with Sally Kettle (two successful crossings of the Atlantic, one of which with her mum).

Testing the brain power

2009-10-26T17:41:00.000+00:00

We have had our heads buried in books for the last two weeks.

Jim Crick (RYA Yachtmaster instructor extraordinaire) has coached us expertly through the Yachtmaster Theory course and demonstrated almost limitless patience as we grappled withessential skills needed for the row such as navigation, pilotage, tides, weather and safety.

Nick began the course with little idea about marine navigation, and wrestled with new concepts such as why there are two tides each day. Fortunately with Jim's expert tuition he had an epiphany when it all fell into place. Sadly Hamish did not manage to completely overcome his chief nemesis; the tidal diamond.

We are extremely grateful to Jim, who kindly offered his services last year at the Excel boat show in support of the row. He has 35 years of experience of sailing the British waters, and many of those have been as a yachtmaster instructor. We have also discovered him to be a man of many talents playing a variety of instruments including the melodium and he is currently learning to douse. We are also grateful to his wonderful wife Sue, who kept us fed with mountains of sandwiches and introduced us to vegetable crisps.

By way of a grand finale to our course, Jim mentioned the possibility of demonstrating the action of old flares. We enthusiastically reminded him of this suggestion and soon had him rigging up a flare arena in an old dustbin. The results were staggering as we almost blew the lid off the bin. A spectacular, if slightly irregular, end to the course.

Rolling up the Sleeves

2009-08-16T17:39:00.000+01:00

The last week has been spent with Komale at her home in Lymington Yacht Haven.

Last Saturday night she made an appearance at the Yacht Haven berth holders' party. She displayed excellent social skills and generated a lot of interest for the project. Our efforts at the moment are on getting the project going and raising money to cover project costs, so it is great to have opportunities like this to keep the charitable fundraising going; so far we have raised over £1,000.

C&J Marine have very kindly fitted Komale out with a fantastic new mattress. It is so clean at the moment that we are nervous of sleeping on it. We are very grateful to them for it.

Ben Fox from the marina escorted us into the Solent Hamish's Mum Angela, our chief snapper, to get some good quality photos of the boat from the water. It turns out that Ben is a computing ninja and has kindly offered to cast an eye over our rowforheroes.com website.

We also met up with Mike Devine, one of Lymington's finest marine electricians, and he gave Komale's electrics a once over. After much discussion and head scratching (at least on our behalf) Mike advised us to swap our GPS for a GPS plotter and also to get our hands on an AIS transponder system, which is a way of monitoring other boats and sending information to them without radar. Finally, of course, we discussed Hamish's daily requirement of audiological stimulation from Radio 4 and Nick's essential relaxation courtesy of Classic FM, plus an aggressive D.I.S.C.O rig set up.

http://www.britishmarine.co.uk/news__press/news_article.aspx?NewsArticleId=2451
http://www.cjmarine.co.uk/acatalog/News.htm

All things considered, things are progressing well.

Conquering the Solent

2009-07-04T17:37:00.000+01:00

We have had some holiday this week and consequently some time to get to know Komale better.

We decided that the time had come for Komale to get back on the high seas and we set ourselves the modest challenge of escaping her berth at the Lymington Yacht haven with a goal of reaching nightfall in Yarmouth, on the Isle of Wight.

Having brazenly paddled out of the security of Lymington River we were at the mercy of the wind and tides. Fortunately we had planned the tides well and the weather Gods were truly shining down on us. The sea was calm and we bathed in glorious sunshine, so the crossing was remarkably easy.

Stronger winds greeted us over the next couple of days, but our first two nights on board were a resounding success. We even managed a cup of tea anchored off the needles and were pleased with the opportunity to show off our T-shirt tan-lines.

Four man team attempt to break record

2009-06-30T09:33:00.000+01:00

Today saw us take a trip up to London to visit team GB Row.

They are a team of four who shall set out to become the second boat ever to row around Great Britain. They leave on friday, and we took the opportunity to meet up with them prior to their departure.

A very young team, Will, Rob, Nick and Dave hope also to break the speed record. We were impressed by their enthusiasm and interested to hear of their build up and decisions they have taken regarding their kit.

Following their trip shall be invaluable to us as we shall learn so much about what lies in store for us this time next year.

They are raising money for Orchid, a charity fighting male cancers. To support them and check up on their progress, please visit:

www.gbrow.com

We wish them the very best of luck with their trip and have our fingers crossed for the weather Gods.

Graceful launch of Komale

2009-06-01T17:25:00.000+01:00

The now sticker-less Komale has been generously granted residence in the Lymington Yacht Haven, where she has been expertly looked after. Damage done during her return from Antigua has been repaired by Graham Thomson, whilst Matt Mew has done a superb job of polishing and antifouling her bottom.

Komale spent a cosy night in the crane slings before splash down early Tuesday morning. We are pleased to report that she floats admirably, sitting very high in the water without her ballast

Determined not to be defeated by the ferocious wind tearing it's way through the marina we took Komale out for her first voyage (with us). It soon became apparent that although a speedy and nimble vessel downwind, any wind across her bows plays havoc with navigation, particularly in the narrow lanes of a marina.

n search of larger expanses of water, which we thought she would feel more comfortable in, we nosed out into the Lymington River. Sure enough she steamed her way to the windward bank, but to our dismay politefully declined to do an about-turn in the face of the wind once getting there. Action stations were required to avoid some beautifully varnished X-boats and not without the help of a lonely buoy did we manage to settle the situation and swing her bows around into the wind ready for a race back across the river and avoid the need for rescue on her maiden voyage.

Maybe this rowing malarky isn't so straightforward after all...

The Devizes Westminster Canoe Race “The Kayaker’s Everest”

2009-04-15T17:23:00.000+01:00

125 miles, 77 portages, 4-man support team, 3 weeks training, 2 blokes, 0 capsizes and 1 aggressive swan…

The DW is a timed course, so thankfully 300 kayaks don’t all set off together. Our start time was 0930, which by our calculations would bring us to Teddington lock in London at 0630 Sunday morning when the tide was flowing out at its fastest. This tide would then help us on our way to the finish.

The first section was 12km of still water on the Kennet and Avon Canal with no locks. Eventually we arrived at the first lock, followed by another 76 over the course of the race. Each was greeted with woops and cheers as they provided a welcome moment of respite to a squashed bum and a few seconds to stretch out the legs.

The Kennet and Avon Canal took us from Devizes, through Newbury to Reading. From Reading the Thames flows through Marlow and Henley before arriving in central London. In Reading we were spurred on by meeting James Cracknell, who was “already f$%king knackered". Words, which for some reason, we found endlessly encouraging.

Spirits were generally good throughout the race and we kept on an emotionally even keel. The notable exception to this occurred near Pewsey when we can confirm that Nick flapped. We’d paddled past a decidedly territorial swan with a mean glint in his eye who presumably was protecting a nest. As our backs were turned, the swan decided to teach us a lesson by getting airborne and performing a fly-by and wrapping a wing round the back of Nick's head. Fortunately he survived the lethal attack, despite feeble protestations that he could have broken his arm.

We paddled through the darkness and arrived at Teddington Lock just after 0630 to finish off some pasta and a cup of perfectly lukewarm tea. We then began the final stretch down the tideway before finishing under Westminster Bridge.

We finished the race in 24hrs 1 min putting us 61/134 (a further 42 crews retired). It felt good. We had sustained a continuous work rate, been fed and watered superbly by our crew and exceeded our expectations as kayak novices.

Our support crew (Nigel, Angela and Jamie- Hamish’s family and Jonno- fellow Army Doc) performed a sterling job providing us with food, drink, morale and race stats every hour or so. We would have been completely lost without them. They fueled us on flapjack, Mama Reid’s chocolate brownies, chicken sandwiches, sports drinks, hot tea and soup.

24 hours of continuous canoeing had left us both feeling a little achey. Hamish had an eery creaking noise coming from his left wrist and Nick must have ingested some not-so-fresh river water leaving him with a slight stomach upset. Work at 8am the next morning in A&E provided a rude awakening and we spent the day plotting how to go faster next year…

Training for the DW

2009-03-30T17:17:00.000+01:00

As part of our training programme, we are competing in the Devizes to Westminster kayak race.

This is a notoriously gruelling event, taking competitors between 19 and 35 hours to cover the 124 miles of waterway. Last year over 50% of competitors failed to finish the race.

Training began when a friend kindly lent us a kayak, but it proved to be so unstable we could not stay upright for more than about 10 seconds! Recurrent capsize lead to decidedly painful extremities. We proved to be a great source of amusement to the local boating community as cries of "How are the submariners today" greeted our training sessions.

Fortunately our blue fingers and toes were rescued last weekend byRichmond Kayak Club and a team of paddlers called 'The Brotherhood', who had a spare kayak waiting in the wings. We gratefully accepted the use of the "Sword of Damacles", who is infinitely more stable than our previous vessel.

Since then the longitudinal aspect of our training has presided over the rotational and we completed a 35 mile practice race yesterday from Devizes to Newbury.