A DIP IN THE OCEAN Copyright © Sarah Outen, 2011 Map by Robert Littleford Plate section credits: Sam Coghlan, René Soobaroyen, Helen Outen, Ricardo Diniz and Sarah Outen All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any means, nor transmitted, nor translated into a machine language, without the written permission of the publishers. The right of Sarah Outen to be identifi ed as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Condition of Sale This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent publisher. Summersdale Publishers Ltd 46 West Street Chichester West Sussex PO19 1RP UK www.summersdale.com ISBN: 978-1-84839-447-6 Substantial discounts on bulk quantities of Summersdale books are available to corporations, professional associations and other organisations. For details contact Summersdale Publishers by telephone: +44 (0) 1243 771107, fax: +44 (0) 1243 786300 or email: [email protected]. A Dip in the Ocean_INSIDES.indd 2 17/12/2010 10:41:01 For Dad, thank you for showing me how to live For Mum, thank you for helping me chase the dreams For Taid, I wish I could have written this faster Thank you for seeing me home A Dip in the Ocean_INSIDES.indd 3 17/12/2010 10:41:01 A Dip in the Ocean_INSIDES.indd 4 17/12/2010 10:41:01 ‘It is not the goal but the way there that matters and the harder the way, the more worthwhile the journey’ SIR WILFRED THESIGER A Dip in the Ocean_INSIDES.indd 5 17/12/2010 10:41:01 I’ve received a splendid email From a most courageous female. Battling onward to Mauritius, Lone among the fl ying fi shes, Albatrosses, giant whales, Turning turtle in the gales. To hell with Health and Safety rules, She’s in tune with tuna schools. She’ll dance, while others dance in bars, With pilot fi sh and Pilot Stars. I have not the faintest notion How to brave the Indian Ocean In anything that keeps afl oat, Let alone a rowing boat. But Sarah takes it in her stride, And going with her, for the ride, A book, or audio CD Read by Lalla and by me. To speed her trip to its conclusion We’re reading her The God Delusion! So fl y the fl ags, with sirens hootin’, And raise a glass to Sarah Outen. RICHARD DAWKINS A Dip in the Ocean_INSIDES.indd 6 17/12/2010 10:41:02 CONTENTS Map................................................................................10 Foreword by Dame Ellen MacArthur..............................13 Prologue The Seed is Sown.............................................................15 Chapter 1 Portrait of the Rower as a Youngster...............................19 Chapter 2 In the Beginning Was the Water.......................................27 Chapter 3 An Ocean to Row...........................................................32 Chapter 4 And They All Fall Down.................................................39 Chapter 5 The Crazy Grief Road.....................................................46 Chapter 6 The Plan is to Make a Plan.............................................49 Chapter 7 In Which the Rower Gets Ready to Row.........................61 Chapter 8 Kangaroos Next 14 Kilometres.......................................74 Chapter 9 Ocean Next 6,000 Kilometres.........................................85 Chapter 10 Feeding the Fishes...........................................................97 A Dip in the Ocean_INSIDES.indd 7 17/12/2010 10:41:02 Chapter 11 The Orange Inquisition.................................................109 Chapter 12 And All I Ask is a Sunny Day with White Clouds Flying...119 Chapter 13 Becoming a Sea Ani.......................................................128 Chapter 14 Red Carpet Weather......................................................140 Chapter 15 Happy Socks.................................................................150 Chapter 16 Ruby Port and Red Carpets...........................................159 Chapter 17 Talking to Myself and to the World...............................163 Chapter 18 Another Good Run.......................................................171 Chapter 19 Reeling in the Nauties...................................................178 Chapter 20 A Night Out with Bob...................................................184 Chapter 21 Looping the Loop..........................................................191 Chapter 22 It Will Munch You in its Fangs......................................199 Chapter 23 Tinned Peaches..............................................................207 Chapter 24 Serendipity Knocks.......................................................214 A Dip in the Ocean_INSIDES.indd 8 17/12/2010 10:41:02 Chapter 25 Fizz # 3.........................................................................224 Chapter 26 Halfway is Not Downhill..............................................227 Chapter 27 Water, Water, Everywhere..............................................234 Chapter 28 The Full 360.................................................................245 Chapter 29 The 100 Club................................................................257 Chapter 30 Keep it Together............................................................264 Chapter 31 The Final Countdown...................................................272 Chapter 32 Don’t Stop Me Now......................................................281 Chapter 33 Mum, I Just Rowed from Australia...............................291 Chapter 34 The Afterlife..................................................................297 Epilogue I Must Go Down to the Seas Again...............................306 Acknowledgements.......................................................311 A Dip in the Ocean_INSIDES.indd 9 17/12/2010 10:41:02 [Insert Map] A Dip in the Ocean_INSIDES.indd 10 17/12/2010 10:41:02 Foreword By Dame Ellen MacArthur [Please leave two pages for this – arriving late November] A Dip in the Ocean_INSIDES.indd 11 17/12/2010 10:41:03 A Dip in the Ocean_INSIDES.indd 12 17/12/2010 10:41:04 FOREWORD by Dame Ellen MacArthur When I fi rst met Sarah at the London Boat Show she was full of energy, humour and adventure and I warmed to her instantly. Reading this book you will warm to her too. She is honest, open, courageous and inspiring, and taking you on her journey with her she’ll have you holding your breath one minute, and then laughing out loud the next. Understanding the oceans I can just begin to comprehend what she’s been through at sea, but her story on land is equally compelling. She has written this book wonderfully and has a contagious love for life which jumps right out of the pages at you! Sarah – I can’t wait for your next book! Ellen 13 A Dip in the Ocean_INSIDES.indd 13 17/12/2010 10:41:04 A Dip in the Ocean_INSIDES.indd 14 17/12/2010 10:41:05 PROLOGUE THE SEED IS SOWN ‘Whatever you think you can do, or believe you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it’ GOETHE It all started while I was at Oxford. Room 24, Main Building, St Hugh’s College, December 2005. I was sitting at my desk chewing a pen, surrounded by open textbooks and piles of notes. I was trying, quite unsuccessfully, to write a proposal to study basking sharks in Scotland that summer. My degree was biology, so that wasn’t unusual and neither was my procrastination; it was a rowing day after all and I was hungry for some action after too many hours indoors. I typed distractedly at my laptop, clock-watching and already thinking about my pre-training snack: a banana, a malt loaf, a Mars bar or all three? For the umpteenth time that day I opened up my inbox and read through the already- read emails, taking as much time as I possibly could. While 15 A Dip in the Ocean_INSIDES.indd 15 17/12/2010 10:41:05 A DIP IN THE OCEAN I was reading a new one arrived with a ping. Result; at least another two minutes of beautiful time-wasting lay ahead. I paused. And then I smiled as I read the subject line: ‘Ocean Rowing Races’. This was going to be more than two minutes’ grace from the proposal; it was easily the most exciting email I had ever received. I clicked and read an advert for a rowing race across the Atlantic. I had only ever rowed on the Isis and, whilst I had sailed a bit, I had never crossed an ocean. An ocean! Across a whole ocean in a rowing boat? I was speechless. I put my feet up on my desk and leant back on my chair, rocking on the two back legs in exactly the way you’re always told not to as a child, thinking and spinning the pen in my fi ngers. I was hooked by the idea of it; oceans and rowing were two of my favourite words and I was sure that if I put the two together they would make an incredible adventure. I had always wanted to see what it was like to make a big journey in the wild under my own steam, living and breathing the raw power of the elements, at one with nature. With no specifi c plans for life after graduation in a year’s time, I decided there and then that I would start with an ocean row. I wasn’t sure which ocean, or when, or how, or who with, and I don’t know why I was so sure of myself but I knew that I would do it. In 2009 I did it, rowing solo across the Indian Ocean from Australia to Mauritius. It was a journey of more than just an ocean and it was far more than a rowing trip. It made me and it has shown me all the