Crew Training
Personal fitness & the ergo
The crew need to achieve a high level of personal fitness to achieve the row to the pole and this entails training for a few hours a day in the gym, 5 days a week. Most crew members dedicate a fair amount of time to training on the rowing machine or ergo supplemented with lighter sessions with oars and strength training. The most difficult thing is simply dealing with the boredom and monotony of the ergo!
Weekend training sessions
Most weekends the crew take the iceboat out on the Solent. They learn something new about the boat with each outing and so far she’s proved quite a seaworthy little vessel. With crew members at the oars, the boat can move as fast as 8 knots, under the right conditions including tidal stream and no head wind! As the expedition creeps closer the crew add longer distance sessions like a row to Weymouth, covering 36 nautical miles from Christchurch. Mark’s Mum often provides excellent provisions for these sessions. The crew would love to fit her and her kitchen into the boat somewhere!
Team bonding
As every weekend training session the crew get to know each other better and better. No one knew each other prior to the expedition but there’s a real bond developing with a good feel in the camp. Everyone has clearly defined roles and at the moment there are no tensions in the group worth mentioning. The weekend training sessions are not only helpful for fitness and understanding the ice boat, but also for the crew to get to know each other. This team bonding usually continues after the session, with crew members a few calories lighter, celebrating a fine day on the oars with a too many pints of the black stuff (and the odd tipple of Old Pulteney, of course).