Our two teams set off on Sunday from Tower Bridge, London. It was a cracking day - many thanks to all the supporters, partners and sponsors who came along to cheer them on!
They had a good start, with a fast exit from the Thames, but both faced challenging weather conditions around Sheerness and Whitstable.
A few hours later both teams were back on their way and rowed around North Foreland in the early hours of Tuesday morning with Coastal Odyssey (mixed 6) in the lead.
Shortly after, Coastal Odyssey took a break at anchor in Ramsgate Channel to prepare for their passage along the south coast, which poses a number of challenges.
The first is negotiating the busy port of Dover and on to Dungeness point. After passing this, the team had to row flat out past the iconic Seven Sisters and Beachy Head lighthouse, and on past Brighton to round the headland of Selsey Bill early this morning.
They have now taken up a safe and sheltered anchorage at West Wittering just inside the Chichester Channel where we expect them to remain for a few days until the forecasted strong and gale force south-westerly winds drop.
Pre-race reception: The two teams with Nicola Stopps, CEO of Simply Sustainable
Team Sea Change (all-female 6) followed hot on their heels, but unfortunately missed the tidal window which would take them round Dungeness Point and took anchor in the bay.
It became apparent they wouldn’t be able to make a safe and suitable anchorage from the gale force winds expected over the coming days so a tough decision was made to move back to Dover and take a berth in the marina until the weather improves enough to allow the team to continue.
This is a challenging section of the row which has very few safe locations to shelter from strong onshore winds. And its close proximity to the channel's Vessel Traffic Separation System limits the offshore room available for the team to deploy a sea anchor for any length of time.
This is why the GB Row Challenge is the World’s Toughest Rowing Race!
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https://www.instagram.com/gbrowchallenge/