(The Times, 2004)
Teamwork is keeping a mother and daughter shipshape on the Atlantic by Sorrel Downer Speculation as to whether 27-year-old Sally Kettle will make the 2,900 miles (4,670km) across the Atlantic from the Canaries to Barbados in a small rowing boat tends not to focus so much on her fitness, technique or even the risks of house-height waves. It doesn’t even centre on the kind of drive that gets an aspiring singer/ songwriter from Brighton to row a 24ft (7.3m) boat westwards for three months or so, but on the fact that she’s doing it with her mother, 45-year-old Sarah Kettle.
“Mother-daughter relationships are extremely complex,” Donald MacLeod, a psychologist specialising in relationship counselling, told The Times as they set off in January. “If one of them starts to fail, that will be very testing. The element of confinement and the prolonged aspect of the journey are pretty unusual. And it is likely to be problematic because of the intensity.”
So far, however, the Kettles are proving their doubters wrong. “We’re getting on like a house on fire,” says Sally, naked, from the cabin of Calderdale on a satellite phone link. Naked? “We’re mother and daughter; we’ve got nothing to hide.”
This is day 66 at sea. With luck they’ll complete the crossing within the next three weeks. Only 15 women in the world have rowed the Atlantic, including one female team (Stephanie Brown and Jude Ellis in 2001). For a mother-daughter team to row an ocean is a world first, although going for that record wasn’t their plan. In fact, Sally hadn’t planned on taking up rowing at all, let alone with her mother.
Two years ago she felt the urge to embark on an epic challenge. Her boyfriend, Marcus Thompson, didn’t want to cycle with her from Land’s End to John o’Groats and suggested, light-heartedly one suspects, that they row an ocean together. Sally agreed. Despite having no rowing experience they put their names down for the Atlantic Rowing Challenge and trained for 18 months, combining cardiovascular workouts and aerobic exercise (to build the strength and efficiency of heart and lungs) with high intensity/anaerobic workouts (to build tolerance to the lactic acid produced during exercise, the cause of fatigue) and weight training. Astronavigation, yachtmanship and seamanship were also a part of the programme.
Sally and Marcus made a first attempt to cross the Atlantic last October. But Marcus, who has epilepsy, suffered severe seasickness which led to dehydration and his first seizure in two years. After six days they were towed back to port. Determined to try again, Sally persuaded her mother to come on board. Although her job as a gardener meant that Sarah was relatively fit, she had no experience of rowing. While the boat was in dock for repairs, she worked with a coach on rowing technique, built up her strength and took first aid and seamanship courses. After three months and only 17 days’ practice on open water, she joined Sally in the Canaries to crew the Calderdale, one of 14 entries in the Ocean Rowing Society’s John Fairfax Regatta.
They got off to an unfortunate start. Sarah spent the first three weeks constantly being sick. Then it was Sally’s turn. Although their rations were designed to give them 6,000 calories a day, to begin with they couldn’t face meals such as chilli con carne or beef stroganoff, so essentially their diet has been rice: boiled rice, Rice Crispies and rice cakes. “Bland, but we’ve found very sweet or salty food inedible and the complex carbohydrates work for us, ” Sally says. Chocolate and sports bars have also been passed over. Their instant highs and following lows sent their sleeping patterns and moods all over the place. And there’s no space on board for mood swings. “The cabin is the size of a two-person tent and the deck is only 10ft long so we are in close proximity all the time. There isn’t a great deal of privacy,” Sally says.
Throughout it all they have kept going at a steady pace. In long-distance endurance sports everything hinges on keeping a psychological and physiological balance; keeping morale up and ploughing on. “We have a routine and try hard to do 12 hours of rowing each,” Sally says, “although rowing at night wasn’t feasible recently because the waves were so high, coming from opposite directions and impossible to see in the dark.”
The mother-daughter factor, far from being a handicap, is proving advantageous. “When I was growing up, we weren’t that close,” Sally says. “I left home at 16, so we’ve had a decade to get over any teenage grudges before coming together for this.” Instead they are discovering inherent similarities and traits (determination and humour among them) that allow them to cope, empathise and work well in tandem.
“We work well as a team at all times; you have to on a boat like ours. Almost everything is awkward or frustrating so you often need an extra pair of hands or two heads to sort it out. We can sense when the other is feeling low or annoyed and we help each other through.”
Extraordinarily tough and fit as the Kettles are, it’s clearly the strength of their relationship which is keeping them and their boat headed for success on an even keel. “We’ll make it across. We have no doubt about that,” Sally says, “and we will be laughing and joking practically all the way.”
FANCY IT?
Training If you fancy taking part in the Atlantic Rowing Challenge, be prepared to put in at least 18 months of training. Competitors should be able to complete two to three hours of aerobic exercise daily — for example, two hours non-stop on the exercise bike or one hour on the running machine. It’s more about stamina than being superfit and, above all, having the determination to complete the race.
Equipment The Ocean Rowing Society has a web page which features a range of second-hand rowing boats and equipment for sale (www.oceanrowing.com).
Practicalities If you have no boat and no experience, look at the Amateur Rowing Association website for information on local clubs and facilities (www.ararowing.org; 020-8237 6700).
Sally and Sarah Kettle have been rowing under the banner of the Epic Challenge for Epilepsy (www.rowing4epilepsy.org).
For more information www.oceanrowing.com
