Saturday, January 17, 2009

Day 17

Another day in the books. Less wind so a more comfortable day on the oars, but I probably didn't go as far as yesterday, when I hear I made 52 miles.

Now that I've been on the water for more than two weeks my body is starting to show signs of wear and tear. The general theme is that everything's always wet, so it's harder to treat small cuts and scrapes and get them patched up before my next turn at the oars. I actually have more recovery time for sore muscles, blisters, etc...than most ocean rowers, because my break at night is so long -- rowers that do "two hours on, two hours off" must end up more sore than I do. I can only imagine what the 50-year-old ocean rowers have felt like!

My hands are still good, but I'm developing lots of sore muscle in my upper body -- shoulders, forearms, between my shoulder blades, etc... My back is holding up well, except for the occasional stiffness/fatigue at the end of a 9-10 hour day of rowing. I use a massage roller on my legs at night, which helps, and my legs seem fine other than that my shins, which are bruised and scraped from getting smashed by my oars/handles by mis-timed waves.

Pretty good winds forecast (more or less like today) for the next week or so, which hopefully means I can log some good mileage toward Antigua.

Thanks again for all the support!

Paul

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

brother wilson would help you survive, should we send him? keep up the good work

Anonymous said...

Great work Paul! Keep it going!
Peter

Richard C. Walton said...

Paul:

For ship-to-ship VHF try ch. 16which is for "calling" and emergency. I don't believe ships off-shore cover 9.

God Speed.

RW