Episode 15
The horror of overfalls in the dark.
Fear has two meanings - You can either Forget Everything And Run or you can Face Everything And Rise. The last passage from Newtown Creek to Poole Harbour has tested Allan and Mhairi to their limits. Drawing on all their experience of time at sea and working in pressured environments they had to face one of the most daunting things of the row so far. Tidal overfalls in the pitch dark. The noise from overfalls is immense. It is really strong tidal water, that is angry and disturbed and breaking over itself in a way that normal waves don’t. Overfalls are unpredictable and in a small rowing boat in the dark they can be terrifying. But they faced everything and rose.
To make the run to Poole Harbour they needed to weather window, but this meant travelling west out of the Solent in the dark and through and patch of overfalls, and frankly it’s not something either of them want to do again.
Arriving in the safety of Poole Harbour they take stock and start to think of the psychological impact of the next big turn, Lands End, when they can start thinking about powering north home to Wick.
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The Long Row Home podcast is produced by Adventurous Audio Ltd.
