A MUM who only took up rowing on the River Wye six years ago has pulled her way across the Mediterranean in
a 200-mile race.
But that’s just a drop in the ocean compared to her next challenge - rowing 3,000 miles across the Atlantic with two women crewmates in their 50s and 60s.
Monmouth Rowing Club’s Elaine Theaker, 54, will be launching out from the Canary Islands in December on her epic ‘Atlantic Ladies’ bid to reach Antigua in the Caribbean.
And the lawyer
said: “I wanted to do something adventurous and have a window of opportunity before my son does his GCSEs, so I looked into it and thought ‘that looks amazing, why not’?
“Some might wonder why a crew of middle-aged women are doing this and everyone at Monmouth RC said “you’re crazy.” Maybe it’s a mid-life crisis, but it’s going to be incredible.”
She was inspired by a four-woman crew of working mums who rowed the ocean in 2015, and thought “normal people can do it, it’s possible”.
“I got in touch with the Talisker Whisky Atlantic rowing race people and went to a seminar and met Shrewsbury duo Di Carrington and Sharon Magrath. It’s never been done by a crew of three women before, so there’s a record to set if we can get across.”
Their Mediterranean ‘Noman’ cancer charity row from Ibiza to Barcelona was “a baptism of fire,” admits Elaine.
“The heat was intense and sometimes the boat was lurching violently in two-metre high waves and you were literally wrestling with your oar. But it was brilliant preparation.
“A fourth rower joined us on board, and it was great experience rowing in high waves and dodg-ing the shipping cont-ainers. None of us were seasick, and it was a good insight into how tiring it’s going to be and staying on top of your health and hydrated.
“Some of the waves threw our boat around like a cork, but it was great to surf down them at
speed. Olympic champion rower Alex Gregory, who rowed our boat to Ibiza from the mainland, told us it was far worse than the Arctic Ocean row they had done because of the 35-40C heat.
“But the sunset was fantastic just after land slipped out of sight, and the sea got calmer and the heat dropped, so we didn’t feel lonely at all. And we saw a huge pod of dolphins, about 30 to 40, which surrounded us jumping out of the water, so you’re not alone!”
They rowed two hours on, two hours off in relays, and took 60 hours to make land, finishing at 3am on the third night.
By contrast, the Atlantic is set to take 60 days or more, and home if it gets really rough will be two small sealed cabins front and aft of their 7.3m-long self-righting boat Poppy with just enough room to lie down.
“It could take days for a storm to pass, and we’ll just have to put the power anchor down, hunker down and ride it out,” said Elaine.
The £50,000 craft is a new design built by a former ocean race winner, and preparations will see them do overboard drills, inversion tests and learning how to master the GPS and compass navigation systems, the satellite tracking and the radio beacons.
As for Christmas at sea, Elaine said: “We’ll have a tipple on board and some Christmas cake and I’ll be calling my husband Steve and 14-year-old son Che by satellite phone. Che thinks I’m bonkers, but I think he’s quite inspired by what I’m doing.”
The project cost is about £100,000 and the Atlantic Ladies are looking for sponsorship to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Society, the Motor
Neurone Disease Association, Macmillan Cancer Support and Relapsing Polychondritis UK.
“It’s going to be a weird and wonderful journey of discovering how far I can push myself,” admits Elaine, who will be following in the oar puddles of club mate Andrew Barnett from Staunton, who rowed the ocean in 2006.
“Di at 61 will be the oldest woman to row the Atlantic if we get across, but I’m sure we can do it.”
To support Elaine and her crew go to www.atlanticladies.co/team or search fourladiesrowatlantic on Facebook.