Wick round-Britain rowers delayed by weather but ‘still on target’
Round-Britain rowers Allan Lipp and Mhairi Ross have encountered a frustrating weather delay off the south coast of England but say they are “still on target” to complete their epic challenge.
The Wick couple are at anchor in Newtown Creek, just off the Isle of Wight, as they wait for unfavourable westerly winds to ease.
In a video message to their online followers, they gave an assurance about their food supplies and said: “We’re not starving.”
They also said they are looking forward to passing Land’s End and overcoming “one of the mental barriers of this challenge”.
They are aiming to become the first mixed pair to complete an unsupported circumnavigation of the British mainland by rowing boat.
Allan (45), the Wick RNLI lifeboat coxswain, and Mhairi (47), who works as a paramedic and is a lifeboat volunteer, have taken up to three months’ unpaid leave for their round-Britain adventure, Stormy and Steth: The Long Row Home.
Before setting off, they were hoping it would take them about 60 days to complete the journey in their seven-metre carbon-fibre vessel Boudicea.
They have set a fundraising target of £30,000, to be divided between the RNLI and Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance. The amount raised on their JustGiving page stood at £18,482 by Friday morning.
The pair began their challenge on June 1 when friends, family and supporters gathered to see them off from Wick harbour.
In a video message on day 32 of the trip, posted on their Facebook page, Allan and Mhairi spoke about their food supplies after some of their followers had asked how these will be affected by any delays.
Mhairi explained that they had brought 75 days’ worth of food, a mix of dehydrated items and so-called wet rations, or “food that’s ready to eat straight out of the packet”.
She said: “We’re doing all right for food. We haven’t been eating as much as we thought we would, so we’re not short of food at the moment.
“There might come a time when we have to start rationing it, but by being at anchor for a prolonged period of time we’re naturally rationing it anyway because we cannot physically eat the amount of calories that we would be eating if we were rowing because we’re not that hungry.
“The constraining factor that’s more likely to impact us is the time we have off work. When it’s time to go back to work, our food supplies are probably going to run out round about the same time, so we have approximately three months to complete this venture and we’re hoping that, despite the delays, we’re still on target to do that.
“We’re just hoping that on the back of this wind period, fingers crossed, there’s a couple of weeks of really nice weather, with a bit of wind in the right direction, just to give us a real boost.
“I think we both feel that once we’re past Land’s End and on the way north again we’ll really have broken one of the mental barriers of this challenge as well.
“So that’s the food. We’re doing all right, we’ve got plenty, we’re not starving, and at the moment our bellies are quite full. For the foreseeable future, that seems to be the case as well.”
Mhairi also pointed out that “the big chocolate” comes out after every 200 miles of rowing.
“We do have chocolate in between times, but not the posh chocolate, just a bar or two in our snack packs,” she explained.
To be successful in their record attempt, the couple must be totally self-reliant for the duration, including not landing at any point. With that in mind, they were asked whether they are allowed to catch fish to eat.
“Aye, we can – but we haven’t taken any fishing tackle with us,” Allan said.
“One of the limitations we’ve got is how we would actually cook stuff. We cook water, basically. Rather than tainting the taste when we’re cooking water, we thought we’ll not bother taking fishing tackle because we don’t have a pan and it would just make everything taste like fish as we boiled water, so we decided not to take fishing tackle.
“We’re kind of regretting that a little bit because we’re getting a little bit bored with the ration packs and, sitting around doing nothing, it would be quite nice just to do a spot of fishing or something. But we’re surviving fine.”
Other topics the couple have also been asked about include sun protection and personal hygiene.
Boudicea is fitted with solar panels and has a desalination unit for turning salt water into fresh water. Mhairi explained: “We do have some emergency water on board but we don’t want to touch that unless we really, really have to. It actually acts as some ballast for the boat as well.”
The couple had asked for suggestions on “how to keep the boredom at bay”. Mhairi said: “Some have been absolutely brilliant, others not so brilliant!”
Allan and Mhairi again thanked all their supporters. In one of the video updates, Mhairi showed skincare products donated by one of their sponsors, Katrina Sutherland Country Spa.
Mhairi described these as “the one luxury item that we have on board”.
