Rowing naked

Writing yesterday’s blog entry brought back a few memories. It’s 1996, and I’ve recently taken up a new position at University College London as deputy director of the development office. Surfing the Internet, I see that Sir Chay Blythe is setting up a new trans-Atlantic rowing challenge, in two-person, set-design boats. A bit more research and I find out that there’s a Kiwi entry on the books, and the chap’s looking for a team-mate. I send this Rob Hamill an e-mail, and a few days later he calls me back from Hamilton, NZ, with me in London, UK. It’s a done deal, and I just have to get a few months off…

Having just started this new position, my boss goes to UCL’s provost to discuss the proposal. She comes back with a negative, but a new, better contract, and a conviction that they really are trying to save my life.

I call Rob back and tell him the sad news.

Next year, Rob Hamill and Phil Stubbs – in Kiwi Challenge – win the inaugural trans-Atlantic rowing race, in 41 days and two hours. Their chalk-and-cheese relationship doesn’t survive the distance.

December 1998 and planning another trans-Atlantic challenge with Steve Westlake, Phil is killed when his light plane nosedives into Karekare beach.

Unbeknownst to me, living in the UK for five years before returning home for the first time to visit my whanau, Phil’s dad, Dave Stubbs, and his wife Sonja, both keen yachties, are two of my parents’ closest friends, living close to each other in Whitianga on the Coromandel Peninsula. Dave and I chat long about Phil on that visit, and still keep in touch.

Rob publishes The Naked Rower, describing his 1997 trans-Atlantic rowing adventure. It turns out that rowing naked, sitting on NZ sheepskin, keeps away the salt sea boils so often afflicting those in constantly moving, wet, salty conditions.

Life’s its own great story.

Whatever next...

I suppose as long as there are wild open stretches of water and silly buggers wanting to get out and paddle or row across them, there'll be challenges to have us scratching our heads.

Well-known Kiwi rower, Rob Hamill, winner of the inaugural Atlantic Rowing Race in 1997 and campaign manager to the winning 2001 and 2003 Kiwi entries, has launched a rowing race across the Tasman, between the Auckland and Sydney Harbour Bridges, to be called Bridge 2 Bridge.

He's to direct a team of four in the 2250km race across the Tasman early next year and is calling on an Australian team to compete. Other New Zealanders are also being encouraged to enter.

"This is the chance for rowers, surfboaties or just your Joe Average adventurer to have a crack at a unique challenge," Hamill said.

"It could spell the beginning of a biennial competition raced by teams from around the world."

The Web site's still new and crude, but perhaps something worth keeping an eye on.

Of course, given half-a-chance a few years ago, I'd be signing up in a flash.