Donderdag

Thursday/donderdag

I had a restless night sleep as it was another hot night on board with some strong winds blowing through outside. The boat woke up at 05:50 and this morning I wasn’t as eager to wake up but needs must, my fingers and shoulders were aching but only 2 long paddles left before the easier last day. Another peaceful stroll into the tent this morning to get the same old breakfast and morning rituals out the way, then back to the boat for the final prep and back to the start line. Everyone lined up at the start line at Workum with 5 minutes still to go and it seemed to take an age. With 3 minutes to go Roger just fell in and 1 minute later the greenpeace boat knocked another guy on a Von Orange board off just behind me.  A Messy start to the race in the narrow canal and a corner very quickly into a bridge which luckily they had opened up, we raced along a stretch of narrow canal with many bridges all raised for us. I had a much better start today and it helped I got in a train with Laura, Ben, and Anne-Marie, and it just kept going, Laura didn’t let anyone pass all day to take over, that or we just couldn’t catch her, what a power house!! After a few miles Dan and another joined with Ed and we had a long snake in affect moving at a good pace. Around 5 miles in and all in a good rhythm we got held up by a boat trying to get through a bridge, we came to a stop and I used the time to take on some refreshments, refuelled we just squeezed past the boat with very little room to manoeuvre, as I past the bow of the boat another boat was very close on my port side too.


 Just before the 7 mile stage we ducked under a bridge but I heard a massive thud and then splash, I turned round to see Dan in the water, I called back to see if he was alright but he didn’t answer, he was floating the right way up though so I had to keep going on the gravy train. As we carried on I couldn’t help but thinking I hope Dans ok and hasn’t passed out some where. At the first stamp post just before the rest post I was behind Ed, he dropped back just after the bell for some reason, im not sure why but maybe due to his hands hurting as he was covered in blisters, Not wanting to lose the train I dug deep to try and catch up with Anne-Marie. Just after 12 miles the pace quicked and I looked up and to my surprise we were at the rest stop, it was kind of a pain because I was just getting into a good rhythm and not ready to stop so soon. I had barely stopped and I saw Dan arrive covered in blood, it looked horrendous but he was only 2 minutes 20 behind me so it must have spurred him on.

 The train of Laura, Ben and Anne-Marie had left and I was trying to chase down a K-15 Team member, After 2 miles I managed to catch him and started to settle into a rhythm but then i got some problems of my own, I couldn’t get any drink as my Hydration pack had twisted, Luckily I had my bottle in my pocket of my shorts but it meant to had to stop and lose the train just to drink. It wasn’t long before we caught up with Laura,Ben and Anne-Marie, and we dropped in behind and got a slight rest but not much, Without any drink the afternoon was hard and the heat was increasing, I had lost my hairband at the rest stop when the stopwatch got tangled up and I asked Todd to just rip it out, with my hair down I started overheating much quicker. Knowing we had a much longer afternoon than other days did not bode well especially as I was carrying 1.5 litres of water that I couldn’t drink so it wasn’t getting lighter as I got tired and also was mentally demoralising. Any time I wanted a drink which was in limited supply I had to pull alongside the K-15 and stop, grab the bottle, drink, put it back and dig very deep to catch back up, almost countering the energy gained by drinking. Everything was aching and my willpower was fading, I hoped Dan was ok. By the second stamp post I felt slightly better with the support there but it didn’t last long, the thing keeping me going was the fact I hadn’t seen roger all day, bonus!! It didn’t last though, a few miles into the shipping lane Roger powered past with Tony Stark ( Tolo )and Ed. The 3 of them broke up the chain and it was hard going to keep behind the K-15 through the chop. Finally I saw a building with Franeker on and I knew it wasn’t long left. I finished with 5hrs 23mins 11 seconds and dan with 5hrs 35,40. Dan then went to hospital to get a few stitches under the care of Anne Marie’s mum. Dan also won the day special prize for his run in with the bridge but was back on the boat after dinner so I stepped up and claimed his prize for him. I polished my board and headed back to the boat to chill out, Peter made me some thee so I jotted down the days notes had a chat and then got everything ready to the last long day tomorrow, Whoooppp!!!!!