News Around the World
While the European classics struggle amid the grim environs of St Tropez and Cannes, where hundreds of (mostly) elegantly attired guests keep an eye out for the cameras, it’s surely a good time to reflect on design issues? In particular the two reasons – only one is valid – for filling the rail on a boat that relies almost entirely on mechanical stability. The first is to avoid plunging into the sea to leeward. The other? Righting moment, making our yacht go faster etc etc… Sorry, folks, but you are all hiking the wrong side of the centre of buoyancy and just making things worse. Get into the bottom bunks if you really want to go faster… Just messing with ya
Scott’s epic journey. An asthmatic himself, he had partnered with Asthma New Zealand to raise support and inspire other sufferers. To achieve his trans-Tasman goal took meticulous planning,
applying all the lessons learnt in his first two attempts, intensive physical and mental training and then, once at sea, bloody-minded focus that refused to allow any physical or mental obstacle to interfere with turning that paddle over, hour after hour, day after day, week after week, month after month. Dependent entirely on his body as the sole power source pro-
pelling him forward, he had constructed a brutally disciplined regime to tend the machine. ‘Every morning my routine was to go over my body, top to bottom, checking for any rub points or abrasions. It sounds like a small thing, but a rub in the wrong place can easily lead to an open wound and that can lead to real trouble.’ He points to a scar on his right wrist. ‘That became an open hole
on my last attempt. I could see the tendons working in there. This time my skin maintenance programme was much better. I was proactive rather than reactive. ‘Then I would pay attention to my muscle condition. Even while
you are resting your muscles are working all the time because of the constant motion of the boat, so you are still getting more fatigued. As you start paddling again, you go through a checklist. In the first couple of hours you probably develop several strains or small tears, so you switch muscle groups and keep going. I managed that well and never had to stop paddling, which physiologically was a great achievement.’ A history in endurance sports both as a competitor up to Com-
monwealth Games level and as a coach has enabled Scott to develop skills in managing fatigue. ‘I have a long athletics history and my reading of my body is pretty accurate, which is why I can keep going for so long.’ As impressive as the physical endurance was, the mental chal-
lenge is surely even greater, coping with the solitude, the relentless demand to keep going, battling the elements, dealing with setbacks. ‘Lack of sensory input is a big thing,’ he says. ‘On a big boat you can look around and you can see much more. On a kayak the world
22 SEAHORSE
shrinks. There is nothing but water. It is very stark. After about a month it gets to you.’ Then, at about the midway point the snail trail on his satellite
tracker does a heartbreaking loop, starting on 3 June and ending about 9 June. It shows him looping north then curving back west towards Australia before finally regaining his eastward course. Caught in a counter-current, he lost a lot of ground. ‘Trying to escape is like paddling with a concrete block behind you. On one day I paddled 16 hours and only made eight miles. Eventually the only way out was to paddle backwards towards Australia.’ This must have felt like history repeating itself, given his expe-
rience of spending a week within sight of Mt Taranaki last time before being pushed back by weather. ‘Going backwards was harder this time because my mindset was different. Last time I was more patient – I regarded that attempt as an adventure. This time my attitude was I was racing so going backwards was really tough. I was prepared for three or four days of backwards, but not five or six. I had to work really hard on that. I pulled out all the tricks.’ Reading is impossible with the noise and constant motion, not
to mention paper and electronic devices do not prosper in the per- vading wetness. He did listen to some music and Italian audio tapes, but mostly he forced his mind into a kind of meditative state, shutting out negative thoughts, banishing despair. Through sheer force of will, the peaks and troughs of the
emotional roller-coaster had to be flattened to a calming mantra. Focus, focus, focus. Paddling or resting, it is a relentless single- thought process designed to bully any distraction out of the picture. ‘One of my primary objectives was to avoid getting too emotional in any direction, high or low, because it affects your decision-making. You avoid those points at all costs.’ Burning calories at up to 12,000 a day while ingesting just 5,000
leaves you perpetually hungry (he shed 18kg), but no food fantasies were permitted. ‘Crave food, yes, but not too much. Change your focus to something else. Even missing your family, don’t do it to the point where your emotions go too low. Don’t ever spend time looking forward to what you are going to do when it is all over. Focus.
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GILLES MARTIN-RAGET
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