In this episode of "The Outdoor Station," Bob introduces Zara Lachlan, a 21-year-old adventurer preparing to row 3600 miles solo and unsupported across the Atlantic Ocean from Portugal to South America leaving in a few days time. Zara discusses her extensive preparation, including sea survival training, boat modifications, and navigation planning. She shares insights into her athletic background, training regimen, and the technical aspects of her boat.
In this episode of "The Outdoor Station," Bob introduces Zara Lachlan, a 21-year-old adventurer preparing to row 3600 miles solo and unsupported across the Atlantic Ocean from Portugal to South America leaving in a few days time.
Zara discusses her extensive preparation, including sea survival training, boat modifications, and navigation planning. She shares insights into her athletic background, training regimen, and the technical aspects of her boat.
The conversation highlights her determination, the challenges she anticipates, and the importance of resilience and meticulous planning. Zara's journey aims to inspire others and raise funds for Team Forces and Women in Sport.
Additionally, Zara is aiming to create three world records: the youngest woman to row solo across the Atlantic, the fastest solo Atlantic row by a woman, and the first person to row solo from Portugal to South America.
Highlights
- Zara Lachlan's upcoming solo and unsupported rowing challenge across the Atlantic Ocean.
- Historical context of young female adventurers and their significant solo journeys.
- Zara's athletic background and preparation for the 3,600-mile journey.
- Technical details about her boat, including modifications and equipment.
- Navigation and planning for changing weather conditions during the crossing.
- The concept of "unsupported" adventures and self-reliance at sea.
- Training regimen, including sea survival and first aid courses.
- Food and nutrition strategies for maintaining energy during the journey.
- Charitable causes Zara is supporting through her adventure.
- Mental preparedness and the importance of community support in her journey.
Voice Over 00:00:03 You're listening to a download from the outdoor station. Co.Uk. Number 577.
Bob 00:00:17 Hello and welcome back to the Outdoors Station, where we share news, information and stories of adventure in the great outdoors and celebrate in particular, those who travel near and far under their own steam. Although I've been producing this podcast since 2005, sharing many conversations along the way, the majority have naturally been land based. This time we are moving offshore and I'm confident if you enjoy gutsy, against all odds type adventure, you are without doubt going to really enjoy this. But first, a little bit of history. On the 1st of April 2009, 24 year old Brit Sarah Outen set off from Fremantle, West Australia, to be the youngest and first woman to row solo across the Pacific Ocean and arrive 124 days later in Mauritius. On the 18th of October 2009, 16 year old Australian Jessica Watson set off from Sydney Harbour in an attempt to sail solo and unassisted around the globe. Although she completed the journey, she failed to achieve the allotted nautical miles.
Bob 00:01:36 On the 21st of August 2010, 14 year old Dutch sailor Laura Dekker left Gibraltar to ultimately become the youngest person to sail single handedly around the world. Each one of these women has a unique story of grit, determination, stick ability, self-confidence, and that quiet resolve required to achieve their goals. Where age is insignificant and all thoughts are on the goal. What is required to achieve it and very little else. Which leads me on to my guest, the incredible Zara Lachlan, who also shares all these personal traits. The traditional gap holiday isn't for her. She has decided to do something much harder.
Zara Lachlan 00:02:32 So in a couple of weeks I will be leaving to row from Portugal to South America, solo and unsupported. It is three world records and will hopefully take me just under three months. And I've never done anything like this before. I'm 21 and it'll be the hardest thing that I've done to date. days. But then I head to Sandhurst next year.
Bob 00:02:59 Yes, you heard that correctly. In a few days time before the end of October 24th, Zara will set out from South Portugal on her own, unsupported to row an incredible 3600 miles across the Atlantic, aiming for French Guiana.
Bob 00:03:18 That is potentially three months of solo rowing skirting the coast of Casablanca down the length of Morocco, dodging the Canaries, slipping north of the Cape Verde islands before crossing the uninhabited 2152 miles open Atlantic to reach her goal. And of course, this isn't a straight line. Whether tides, wind are just some of the variations she will have to deal with en route. Although she hasn't done this before, she has had considerable experience with physical challenges all through her life. And as the conversation unfolds, I think you'll agree with me. Zahra is one very focused young woman who is ultimately well-suited to the challenge. As always, links, details and more photos are in the show notes and on the social networks.
Zara Lachlan 00:04:14 I think I've done pretty much every sport besides football I have. I started running when I was younger, much younger and just doing sport at school, like hockey and whatever, mainly hockey and athletics. And then at the same time, when I was younger, I was a cyclist and actually BMX racing, and I did that for five years and I got international with that.
Zara Lachlan 00:04:41 I went to the World Championships in Azerbaijan, and then I went to boarding sixth form aged 16, and couldn't train with my cycling anymore because I lived at school, so I started rowing then with the hopes that I would always go back to cycling and then never did because I was. I quite liked rowing and I was quite good at it, so I carried it on.
Bob 00:05:04 And here we are not what of what, two years later?
Zara Lachlan 00:05:08 Well, yeah, five because I started rowing at 16, but then only properly started rowing at university, which was three years ago. So I have been properly rowing for three years.
Bob 00:05:18 And when did you decide to join the Army? What inspired you to do that?
Zara Lachlan 00:05:22 so I signed the contract when I was 15, so before sixth form and then went to a military sixth form, and everyone at that school is either RAF, Navy or Army, and I had to then go to one of 11 universities and do one of a short list of degrees. So I did physics.
Zara Lachlan 00:05:42 and then we'll go to our office at training Will Commission, and then we have a return of service to do. But there will all be technical officers in the military.
Bob 00:05:50 And how does it differ? A military college military sixth form compared to any other sixth form?
Zara Lachlan 00:05:58 well, the fact that it was boarding as well meant that you had class on a Saturday, which some of my friends now think is disgusting. loads of sport, but it was nice to have everyone around you be in the same career because you have you just do have a lot in common anyway, you're quite similar people and it means that I haven't seen some of them since school, but I know that I'm probably going to get a call from somebody in the future that I went to school with that I got on with really well, seeing as I need some help with something that you do in the Army, can you just help us out? And, it's just nice because everybody is just so close there. Obviously I can't speak what it was like at other six one because I didn't go to one.
Zara Lachlan 00:06:39 But,
Bob 00:06:41 I just wonder if you've got any friends that went to a normal college that were a normal sixth form, and you've shared stories and they've been horrified or you've been horrified. Yeah.
Zara Lachlan 00:06:51 Massively. We had a lot more rules than they did, and I think we're a lot more naughty than they were. But, but we all got through it, so it's fine.
Bob 00:06:59 Oh, that's what we like to hear. A little bit of stories. Some stories. So first of all, describe where you are and what's going on at this moment in time.
Zara Lachlan 00:07:10 So I'm Renick, which is the company that built my boat last year. So I actually got me a bit second hand. And we have the boat just outside there in the workshop, getting some last minute changes on it so that it's more how I like it. There was some navigation equipment that you could only use if I had to get up from my seat and go over, and I found that a faff. So we've just put another one on the cabin behind me, and then I'm actually in a room with all of my kit, minus food, because food hasn't actually arrived yet.
Zara Lachlan 00:07:39 So, we're going through all of that and making sure that I've got spares for everything and that I've got enough of everything, and it's a lot of stuff.
Bob 00:07:47 Yeah, well, I bet I mean, it's, what, 3500 miles? And that's a lot of snacks, isn't it? Really? Things to keep you going. So we'll we'll come on to equipment moment, if we may. Now, you said you having the the boat slightly configured to suit you a bit better. It's a two person boat normally I understand. And obviously taking a boat like this out is completely different to rowing. And you used to be a river rower. And the skull, I presume I've done that as well. And rowing a skull is like riding a racehorse. It's very, very finely balanced, isn't it? Lean one way or the other and you feel like you're going. So how does rowing this and taking this out onto the open sea feel different to, to obviously river rowing.
Zara Lachlan 00:08:30 A completely differently. So I row, sweep and scull.
Zara Lachlan 00:08:34 So I row with one or anthills on a river and like you say, it's so much more technical because the boats are much lighter and much more narrow. So, Here you sit much higher as well. So you actually never feather. You're always here, so you never turn them sideways into the wind. You've always got the square bladed. So, normally, if I'm going with the wind, that's also good, because in the actor's sails. But it's it's completely different. And the only thing that's similar is you also push with your legs.
Bob 00:09:04 Right? Right. And presumably because it's quite the size that it is because, I mean, it's a fair height. That boat out of the water, isn't it? Are you going to feel it going to be battling the wind quite a lot.
Zara Lachlan 00:09:14 So it's designed to catch the wind on one side. So if I'm with the wind it's got a I'm on the one of the back cabins. It's got a bit that protrudes a bit and the wind gets in there and helps take you.
Zara Lachlan 00:09:26 But if I'm, if I am into the wind, the new angle, it's slightly off and then try and make some progress in a, in a slightly different direction. If you still can't do that, then you just put out your parachute anchor, go to sleep because you can't can't like I will have. I think it's about 30% of the time I wont be with the wind and so that will just be tough.
Bob 00:09:47 Right, right. Well, I hope the weather's consistent because if there's anything at the moment it's just been a night where everywhere isn't totally inconsistent. So it's going to be a challenge in itself. So let's just talk about the boat for the time being, if we may. Now you are heading off. What's the date today? The date's the third, isn't it? So you're leaving on the 16th, is it?
Zara Lachlan 00:10:08 I leave I leave here on the 14th. My boat leaves here in a week.
Bob 00:10:12 Right? But you actually leave Portugal.
Zara Lachlan 00:10:15 Oh. So because. Because the weather window's changing all of the time, and it's now looking like the 26th.
Zara Lachlan 00:10:22 So, hopefully somewhere between the 26th and the end of the month. and then I'll be able to actually get out of Portugal, because the most technically difficult part is Portugal to pass the Canaries, because I'm just going to be blowing back into North Africa. So heading west as often as possible, because the wind will take me down and south.
Bob 00:10:42 Yeah, well, I was looking at the looking at the map and obviously going past Morocco and Sahara is going to be. Well, it's a challenge after all. So how long ago did you pick the boat up?
Zara Lachlan 00:10:56 we bought it in July. Funding got cleared for it in August and then say, I saw it for the first time in August, and it's the first time I ever saw an ocean ring, but it was mine. And it was two months before I'm leaving for a huge crossing. So I've just been living on the boat for the past two months and training on it, and I've now had 340 hours in the boat. And then I'll have another, at least another 80 in Portugal.
Zara Lachlan 00:11:23 So I'll be I'll be looking quite a few hours, which is good.
Bob 00:11:28 Absolutely. Which is going to lead me onto a whole series of questions of of how many nights have you slept on the boat? Have you slept out in open water rather than in a harbour, etc.?
Zara Lachlan 00:11:37 Yeah. So, I have slept in the harbor a couple of times, but mostly it's out because I'll go out for four days or something, and then I'll plan my route and you just. It'll be quite similar routine to what I'll do when I'm out there. So I'll row and then I'll nap in the middle of the day, because then I'll say I'll still be wearing at that time. So, you had to I had to do a replan and try to figure out how far I think I could get by looking at the tides and the wind and everything and guessing how fast I would be able to go realistically. And that took me ages to learn how to do all of that, because I know how to sail, but only how to be crew.
Zara Lachlan 00:12:15 And, having to do such a detailed route plan by looking at everything was took me a while at first, but then I got there in the end and and it still takes me a while, but I can do it now.
Bob 00:12:26 Okay, so when you actually finally set off, will you have prepared your route plan, as it were, completely all the way, or are you going to do that as you go along.
Zara Lachlan 00:12:39 Yeah, it would be as I go along. But the. So it's actually quite different when I've been training and because I have sandbanks and I have land to avoid, I have narrow channels to go through and other boats and everything, and you have to actually really be on it with your navigation so that in the ocean, if you're off by 20 degrees, probably doesn't matter. In the where I've been training, if you're off by 20 degrees and you could beat yourself because you're no longer in the channel that you should be in, that's really shallow. If that was something.
Zara Lachlan 00:13:10 so when I do my crossing, I will have a waypoint every 500 miles or so. That's just a general ish. Like it'd be great if you head in that direction, but I'm not going to try and force my boat in that way. I'm going to be using the the conditions. And if I don't get into French Guiana, if I get to other land in South America, I'll go there. I'm because French Guiana is quite small, and the records are mainland to mainland. So it doesn't actually matter which country I go into.
Bob 00:13:37 Presumably quite good that you're actually rowing in challenging conditions at the moment, because it makes you more alert and makes you more aware of of subtleties in the actual navigation. Because like anything, when you go from A to B, whether you're on land or sea or the air and navigation is, is absolutely everything for for a safe trip. And as you say, especially if you're either fighting or trying to work with the weather, whichever way it's going at that particular time, it's certainly keeping you on board.
Bob 00:14:02 Now, the the navigation setup you've got, I mean, obviously the whole range of equipment you've got there, you've obviously got the comms equipment, you've got navigation equipment, you've got desalination and then obviously the food side as well, all of which are interesting stories in themselves. But do you have backups of everything?
Zara Lachlan 00:14:20 So I am hopefully am take under 90 days, but I have enough food for 110. you have spent I have spare parts for my water maker, but not an entire spare water maker because they're quite big. I don't have spare batteries. because there isn't really space to carry a spare one I have. I do already have two on the boat, so if one of them does go down, I can charge one battery with both solar panels. But, what else do I have? I have spare coms and spare emergency position things. but I don't have a spare chart plotter, which is my navigation. Really? because realistically, as long as I'm heading towards where the sun is setting, I'll get that.
Bob 00:15:09 That's very optimistic. That's a good idea. Keep going, keep going that way that won't change. Excellent. so are you. I mean, are you taking, like, a phone as well? A mobile phone? And I've sat phone and that type of thing. I saw one of your videos earlier on where you've just quickly glanced at the at the comms port, as it were, but it all looked like it was bolted down, which I presume it needs to be. Really?
Zara Lachlan 00:15:33 Yeah. So everything is always attached to the bait. But I will be taking my normal soon. because I'll be what? Tapping my weather routers? Because I have Starlink Wi-Fi when I'm out there. So I'll be able to do a cool like this in the middle of the ocean, which is, I think, really cool. so I'll just have be on WhatsApp with my coaches and say they'll let me know if a weather front's coming in and, how how best the best route that I should take through it.
Zara Lachlan 00:16:00 And sometimes, because they're not there with me, the weather will be slightly off. But then after a couple of weeks for my feedback, they'll be able to get it really, really accurately.
Bob 00:16:07 Sure. Did you say you've got Starlink on the boat?
Zara Lachlan 00:16:10 Yes. It's actually arriving today. On today. and I think I'm going to be the first person ever to use this specific one because he's just come out with the mini, and it's about this big, and no one's used it in the middle of the ocean yet. So we didn't have any good feedback from it because no one's done it. So hopefully I'll be able to come back and do like you. It's amazing.
Bob 00:16:34 Yeah, yeah, will be fantastic. I know it's line of sight Starlink, and obviously you're not going to be struggling with trees or anything, are you? So it should be brilliant.
Zara Lachlan 00:16:43 yeah. And it will mean that I can call my family and stuff on Christmas Day and actually see their faces, and it not be like a rubbish connection, because normally ocean round, you'd have this thing called a B game where you have to hold it in position and wait for beeping, and then you have to stay there until your videos, your videos send takes about 20 minutes and send a ten second video or something.
Zara Lachlan 00:17:02 So this is going to be hopefully much quicker. And it means that I'm not using my resting time. Still not resting.
Bob 00:17:10 And this is an unsupported trip. Would you like to describe to people what unsupported actually means?
Zara Lachlan 00:17:16 So I already mentioned that I have weather on board. we're not on board, but helping me out and texting me and everything. But unsupported means that there's not a nearby vessel there to help me, so I have to carry everything myself. And then if a problem happens, I have to get over it. And then, if I am actually in a mayday, then a nearby ship, like a shipping container ship would come and pick me up. but there's nobody there whose job it is to make sure that I'm okay.
Bob 00:17:44 So from a safety point of view, what sort of trials have you done? Have you done sort of, capsize trials, cleaning the boat, etc., etc..
Zara Lachlan 00:17:52 Yes. And, you have to do what's recommend that you do lots of different courses when you cross an ocean.
Zara Lachlan 00:17:59 So I did Sea Survival and First Aid at Sea and radio and everything like that. But my boat self rights which is good. So that if I do capsize it just pops back around the correct way. And I actually haven't got in the water yet. When I do my crossing, I'll have to get in every couple of days to clean the underside of the boat to make sure nothing's growing on it, which is going to really slow me down, and also to make sure that the boat's not broken. And then I've not realized, because I could get struck by a marlin and then have one of my under cabins pierced and not realized because they're all separated. But then everything in that cabin is going to be getting very wet and, slowing me down as well. So it would be fixing that as well. So I do have to get in, but I've not done it yet. But I'll do that in Portugal because thought is a bit warmer there than it is here at the moment.
Bob 00:18:53 Very sensible.
Bob 00:18:54 Is the, is it a single skin boat then, or a double skin.
Zara Lachlan 00:18:58 Yeah. Just single. It's it's. Yeah. Super thin. I've not got any anti-family on or anything either, so that's why I have to get in so often. If I had anti fouling then I would have to get in like once a week maximum.
Bob 00:19:11 And is there like a patch up kit that you get for these sort of things. So should you have a slight piercing.
Zara Lachlan 00:19:17 Yes I have a whole hull repair kit.
Bob 00:19:21 And just so you have one here.
Zara Lachlan 00:19:23 Wooden bungs and epoxy that can set in water. And so I find the right band to fix the hole in and and hopefully fix it quite quickly and then pump all of the water out of it and then that's done and make sure it's not leaking in the rest of the crossing. But, I have spares for everything as well, because orcas and sharks like to bite off rudders. So I have a spare rudder just in case I get nibbled by something quite big.
Bob 00:19:53 Okay. Fair enough. I mean, you make it sound as if there's there's a whole industry in training courses for people like yourself doing, doing crossings, all these different courses.
Zara Lachlan 00:20:03 Yes. So all of my courses are through Ria and they are. I already had some before through sailing, but nothing quite so specific. And then all of my coaching is done with the people that make the boats. So they have done this really intense program, which they would not normally do, because two months isn't really a very long, but because I have just finished university and I don't have a job yet because I'm joining the Army next year, I've just been here for two months, whereas normally most people have a job and can't actually be 24 over seven on the boat. So, yeah, you can absolutely get some really good coaching done. And there's a race that happens across the Atlantic every year. But you only have to do I think it's 120 hours in your boat for that. So, it's actually very doable if you want to do it.
Bob 00:20:52 Obviously, the most important question above all of this, the most important question is does the boat have a name?
Zara Lachlan 00:20:59 It does. It's called a Bonjour. it was a suggestion from a sponsor.
Bob 00:21:05 Okay. Sorry. And what's the significance of the name?
Zara Lachlan 00:21:09 So I actually didn't realize this at the time. It's actually, I think, quite a funny story. so I was at an event with a sponsor and, somebody that I was sitting next to for lunch. It's very nice. And when I put it on LinkedIn for suggestions for a name, he commented Evander and said what it was and how she sets the path. And she's a goddess and everything like that. I thought, wow, that's amazing. I can't believe I've not heard about it before. And so I named it without googling it myself. And then, did all the ship's registry and reprogrammed everything, which took ages. And then somebody told me that she's from a mythical board game. So it's like a fantasy board game kind of thing.
Zara Lachlan 00:21:50 So she's not actually a Greek goddess, which I thought she was. So, that's that's my story.
Bob 00:21:57 Oh, well, it's a cute name anyway. No matter. No matter where it came from, it's good, it's good. You got to have a name, haven't you? And did you say you've actually bought the boat yourself?
Zara Lachlan 00:22:05 So sorry, team forces. So I went to team forces in April and said, I really want to roll an ocean this winter, but I've got no money. And I was trying to get some sponsorship through the connections they have. So through defense companies, and it was just taking a while to get proper interest, and they needed to make a decision if the crossing was going to go ahead. So team forces bought the boat in hopes that sponsorship would then become interested and and come on board. And we have now. But the boat still belongs to team forces. So and they really, really massively helped me out there.
Bob 00:22:43 Well, absolutely. And obviously totally believe in you as well, which is even more probably a bit nerve racking, isn't it, to have all this confidence in you?
Zara Lachlan 00:22:52 Yeah, definitely.
Zara Lachlan 00:22:53 I, I actually had a really quite a big blow in training a few weeks ago. I had. So for the first time ever in my life, I failed at something physical, and I failed again and again and again. It was four days in a row of just horrid weather, and it turns out it genuinely was just weather that I can't row against. But, for five hours I would be rowing as hard as I can at a speed of zero. And every so often the speed would blip up to two and a half knots, which is great, except it was me being blown in the wrong direction, and it really put a lot of doubt in my mind. If I could actually do something like an ocean if I was straddling, what, five miles offshore? but then the weather turned like it always will, and it was fine. And then I did quite a speedy, I think, 11 hour row or something, just because I was like, no, I've got to do it, do it properly.
Zara Lachlan 00:23:45 so, yeah, it has tripped out. I think that was probably the hardest thing I've had in training so far.
Voice Over 00:24:04 You're listening to the outdoors station. Co.Uk. The home of UK based audio and video podcasts for lovers of the great outdoors everywhere.
Bob 00:24:30 So how are you feeling when you're out there training now? In all honesty, you. You. That's a good story in the sense that you've shared, you know, an immediate low and getting over it. But the period of time you're talking about 70 odd days is a long, long time. So has the last few weeks of training really dawned on you what you're taking on?
Zara Lachlan 00:24:57 Not really, I don't think I think I'm going to get there and I understand it's a long time, but it's difficult to imagine one, the conditions I have because I haven't been able to train in 20 foot waves, but I but when I'm out there, I do genuinely enjoy rowing, which is really good. And I 80% of the time I'm just having a fun time by myself.
Zara Lachlan 00:25:23 it'll just be the top 20 when it's really awful weather and it's dark and I miss people, but, I'll have no choice but to row, because what else am I going to do? Just be in the ocean and go, which I don't want to be. So just just carrying on and pushing through when you don't want to.
Bob 00:25:41 I know you would. You describe yourself as a fairly solely solitary person anyway?
Zara Lachlan 00:25:46 No.
Zara Lachlan 00:25:47 I know I've always picked being around people and being by myself and, that I think, I think I'll be difficult as well, just being away from everyone for so long.
Bob 00:25:58 So you're saying about going up to Portugal to obviously depart from there. Now, obviously you've got your equipment that's behind you. We'll go on to that in a minute. But how do you ship a boat of that size to Portugal?
Zara Lachlan 00:26:10 Normally they would be shipped in a shipping container, but because I didn't have the time that that would take because I needed my my UK hours to be done. And shipping takes a really long time to.
Zara Lachlan 00:26:20 My boat's actually getting driven. So I'm the picture behind you my boats on a trailer and that. And so it will just get taken down in that for a couple of days, and then I'll fly out when it's there and meet it there and put it on the water and start training.
Bob 00:26:34 Remarkably simple, isn't it? Remarkably simple. I never thought about it because taking it on a trailer. So food, let's just talk about food and nutrition, because obviously you are training hard. and we need to talk a little bit about the training as well. On top of the rowing training you're doing, you must be doing lots of other physical training as well. The food that you're taking with you obviously are all freeze, freeze dried I guess, or similar.
Zara Lachlan 00:27:00 They're all dehydrated. So it's powder and then you put water in it and then it solidifies in about an hour.
Bob 00:27:06 So is it. It's all cold food. Then you're not heating it in any way.
Zara Lachlan 00:27:10 I could most people do take a jet boil, which is just a way to heat water up.
Zara Lachlan 00:27:15 But it's super quick and I don't want to because I don't see the point I'm taking on fuel. If I absolutely have to like, cauterize something or burn something, which I'm not planning on doing. But, for me, warm food, cold food is not going to make any difference to my morale. It's a faff. It's a way that I could burn my hands. And if you burn the inside of your hands when you're rowing. Yeah, you're in for just a really rotten couple of days until it heals. So I'll just be eating all of my food cold.
Bob 00:27:44 Okay. And so what's the range of, what's the cuisine? What are we taking with us? What's in the canteen?
Zara Lachlan 00:27:52 say, one of my favorite things that they have is about this big. It's about a thousand calories. It's called a meal block. and it doesn't have any description of what's in this meal block, but it's quite nice. it's quite. Yeah. And but you do get more normal things. They try and make right pretty regular meals, like being lots of beans.
Zara Lachlan 00:28:14 but like rice or curries and things like that. some of them look, some of them are wet as well already. but they look a bit like cat food. loads of snacks because it's just eating as much as possible. It's eating, 5500 calories a day and still losing just under 2000 a day. So I've got to eat all of the food possible.
Bob 00:28:37 Well, from a practical point of view, I guess there is X amount of hours you're going to spend rowing, which is going to be the priority, but you've also got to rest as well. That's another priority. Then you've got admin to do as well, because there's, your navigation and seeing what's going on around you on a wider scale, then contacting base to confirm the weather conditions, as well as resting and, and trying to have some or say leisure time but time to to recoup. What's your timetable, your mental timetable now that you've been out on the water for a while, how do you feel it will actually go for you.
Zara Lachlan 00:29:09 I think I will be about five hours rowing 20 minutes off in that 20 minutes. I'll sleep or eat or whatever I eat when I'm rowing, so I'll just put my food on as long as it's not too flashy. So then I would just then just go overboard and we don't want that. So, it goes in either a pocket next to me or just on deck and I can, I can take a bite every few strokes and still carry on room and then sleep in 20 minutes as and when I can, and then try get an hour and one go at nighttime because it's so much better for your body. And then, trying to just do something fun as well when you're really tired. So I have a logbook which I can write, how everything's going and how I actually felt that day. but also try and make myself feel human. So you've always got to make sure you wash the salt off your body, because that's really bad. You'll get salt sores and then if they get infected and everything.
Zara Lachlan 00:30:03 So making sure that you keep your boat really clean and free of salt, and you really clean and, just doing something, something silly for fun. So for me, that would be, painting my nails.
Bob 00:30:16 Oh, right. That's right. Check out that food. Give me some nail varnish.
Zara Lachlan 00:30:20 Yeah.
Bob 00:30:21 I'll have a gallon. Do you sell it by the gallon? Fantastic. One of the other big questions people would ask, I would ask automatically. Would, what is your tree? Presumably your. You like your music. So do you have a good selection of music to take with you? Who's your favorite favorite song of artists or whatever?
Zara Lachlan 00:30:39 I haven't actually done that yet, but I will. I have a little waterproof speaker that can clip out onto my handrails out on deck. which means that my phone can stay inside and not break. And I think I will probably listen to about two hours of something a day or a podcast or something. but I like who do I like? I like backseat lovers a lot, and they're a good band.
Bob 00:31:05 Well, I can recommend the podcast on the outdoor station. There's 500 there to keep me going for a bit. That'll that'll help you cross across half an ocean. So let's have a look at some of your stores behind you. We may. What have you got? What have you got there?
Zara Lachlan 00:31:18 I see, I have I have everything. I have, my parachute anchoring all of my lines. and then I have hats. I have a helmet, actually, for, when my boat's going upside down, I have a spare seat. So, radio, this to clean the underside of my boat when, when I need to. And then, just lots of stuff, really? The boat. This is everything but food. Okay. Loads of medical supplies and loads of flares, and that's it? Pretty much. I've got my licenses for my for my boat there with all my certificates and things like that, which you have to carry, which I didn't realise.
Bob 00:32:02 I presume you're attached to the boat at all times and everything's attached to you.
Bob 00:32:05 If you're if you're going overboard. Are you anticipating officialdom? Anybody sort of stopping you and seeking identity or paperwork?
Zara Lachlan 00:32:15 we're not expecting that. But when I come in to land on the other side, we'll have to go through customs and just say who I am and why I'm there and stuff. But, and as long as I'm going into somewhere relatively near French Guiana, my navigation people would have called ahead and tried to sort it out for me as much as possible so that it's not, just me out there by myself trying to navigate in a country where I don't understand what's going on. And I'm tired.
Bob 00:32:41 Yes, yes, yes, very tired, I should imagine. I presume then, because it's unsupported, then it's against the rules. If anybody were to have a fishing boat by you and offer you some food, you've got to refuse it.
Zara Lachlan 00:32:54 so I'm not actually, I will check, double check before I go. I think the rules are I can't request anything, but if someone gives me a gift, I can accept it, I think.
Zara Lachlan 00:33:03 but if I'm near fishing, fishing boats, I'm probably quite near land anyway, so I'm probably just going to be quite excited to see a human and, just talk to them. there's a, there's quite a lot of sailing and rowing and everything that's happening at the similar time that I'm going. So, if I can have a radio conversation with anybody when I'm out there, I absolutely will as well.
Bob 00:33:25 And are you able to have, like, a headset mic and so that you can row and talk to people at the same time, or do you have to stop and go to the comms section?
Zara Lachlan 00:33:34 I have so for media I have a little Bluetooth clip on thing, which I've actually not used yet, but it will just go on a strap. And it means that I can carry on rowing and talk to people. And then for, actual communication, I have a handheld VHF, so radio out on deck with me attached to my handrails. And then if I want to go inside as well.
Zara Lachlan 00:34:00 I have another one inside which is built in. But I always have a radio name. Yeah.
Bob 00:34:06 And you were referring earlier on to salt causing problems. It has got to be the worst thing, really. I know it's terrible on on clothes. If clothes get abrasion with salt onto you. So most people row with without wearing very much at all. But it's the same with salt in equipment. It can really get into anything and cause problems. So what are your sort of preparations? Have you wrapped everything in, or will you be wrapping everything in sort of heavy duty plastic bags or sealed bags or waterproof bags?
Zara Lachlan 00:34:37 Yeah, everything in bags is everything. And then I actually have the same amount of solar on my solar panels on my boat that a five man boat will have. And it means that I can make water. Making is the most energy hungry thing that I'll do and I need to make about eight liters a day to make sure that I have enough to drink and clean everything with, because I need to be, washing down the bits, the gates that my ears actually go in so that they don't get a little rusty and horrible and everything starts breaking off.
Zara Lachlan 00:35:15 So, I am really lucky that I'm not going to be struggling to keep things clean because I can make so much water.
Bob 00:35:23 Yeah, yeah, I can see water is going to be an absolutely vital component, isn't it? To the success of the trip, have you in your recent training then we're going out with the boat. Have you found any weak spots or areas that you hadn't really anticipated might be a weak spot?
Zara Lachlan 00:35:39 No, I think I've been really lucky that I had great equipment and, the boat's only a year and I think a half old or something. So it's it's got the newest speck on it, and all of my equipment is new, so I think I'm quite lucky.
Bob 00:35:56 And in the seating is quite comfortable. You're not going to get sores on your bum or your legs with with the with the rowing and your and where your feet are placed in the in the traps.
Zara Lachlan 00:36:05 Yeah.
Zara Lachlan 00:36:06 So my feet have always been fine because you don't it's not like river rowing where you always put your feet in as tight as possible.
Zara Lachlan 00:36:12 So with this rowing, I don't actually think I've ever put my feet in and I will in really, really bad weather, but, it's I probably will get quite a small burn after a few weeks, but I have two different kinds of seats so I can change it up. And, you do have all of that medical stuff behind me, so if something is really nasty, then you can and try and help it heal a bit quicker.
Bob 00:36:37 And I think you said at the beginning you've you've done a medical training course, so you've gone through all the variations of some of the type of things that might happen.
Zara Lachlan 00:36:47 Yeah. But did this course isn't tailored for solo rowers, so lots of it is not useful to me because I can't give CPR to myself. So, it's lots of it is putting people in a recovery position and helping them and how to call for help and everything like that. And obviously I can't do that. So it was useful to learn and interesting, but lots of it. In solo rowing it's just tough.
Bob 00:37:14 Yeah. Get on with it isn't it.
Zara Lachlan 00:37:15 Really. Yeah.
Bob 00:37:16 And it sounds like you're the right sort of girl for that. So on land training at the moment, you've obviously continued to rowing since university, so I've got no doubt that you do row. But what sort of length of time do you row for and what other activities do you do? What's the ideal training for for this type of activity?
Zara Lachlan 00:37:35 Just as much as you can without enjoying yourself? I think the longest I've continuously been on the oars and not even gotten up for anything, it's, I think, 12.5 hours. and that was just around here. And then weights are important. I haven't been able to do weights for the past couple of months because I've been on the boat, but whenever I get off the boat, I do go for a run as well, because it's completely different kind of muscle and I'm going to lose pretty much most of them, when I'm gone. So I'm and I really like it. So I'm trying to make the most of it while I can.
Zara Lachlan 00:38:09 But I think just doing training that you actually find enjoyable and if you don't find really enjoyable, probably don't wear an ocean because there's a lot of it.
Bob 00:38:18 And what about squats and that sort of thing? So surely building your thighs, that would be a key aspect.
Zara Lachlan 00:38:23 Yeah.
Zara Lachlan 00:38:24 So I from where I was when I finished university, I haven't been in the gym because I've been on the boat, but I was in the gym at university twice a day, plus rowing. So it was at uni, it was 39 hours a week of training. And then when I've come here, the variety has gone down because it is just a lot of room, but then training has gone up. It's much less intense now because you're not. when I rode at university, it was really common to throw up in training just because you're constantly pushing yourself to be as quick as possible and going really quickly, whereas this is just really slow and steady and making sure it's maintainable and it's like the same effort as a it's a quick walk, really.
Bob 00:39:08 So the stroke rate comparison to a rowing machine, to what you're doing now, what are we talking about.
Zara Lachlan 00:39:14 So when I'm in racing in rowing it is 44 strokes a minute and then or higher. And then when I am rowing here in my ocean rowing boat, it is about 16. So it's much lower.
Bob 00:39:27 Now you're doing this for charity as well. So would you like to tell me a bit about the causes you're, you're doing it for?
Zara Lachlan 00:39:34 Yes. So I am raising money for team forces and women in sport. So team forces help fund expeditions by for current and ex-military people and marine the sport encourage and educate and give spaces for women and girls to go and keep fit and everything and try and build their confidence, especially when they're going through puberty and menopause. So you have your biggest change in your body and everything. So both relevant and near and dear to my heart. And, yeah, anything that we can raise is going to mean a lot to me and to them.
Bob 00:40:11 Because the project has been taken a very short time to get off the ground, and you're moving forward now, and obviously your social media is only just starting to build, and you're getting your media contacts and, and media interviews, obviously underway.
Bob 00:40:25 Have you had any women or anybody, young females like yourself contact you and and sort of give you supports, make any comments, seek questions. How do you do it? How do you get into this that type of thing?
Zara Lachlan 00:40:39 It means the most to me. When people reach out to me individually and say that they think it's cool and they want to try something, or they just want to learn about it. And, I think it's a bit wild that some people already are almost looking up to me because I speak with lots of people who are team forces beneficiaries. And I met them and I already knew who they were, and I met them. I was like, oh my God. and so it's a bit, it's a bit, surreal to me that, some people are already not I'm not on the same level as them, but some people are already thinking what I'm doing is cool, and that's that's baffling.
Bob 00:41:21 Well, we'll give your social media a big push as well, and obviously encourage people to keep in contact and send your messages to to give you moral support.
Bob 00:41:29 The other area I'm wondering has have you spoken to anybody else that's done this and they've given you any particular advice?
Zara Lachlan 00:41:38 I've spoken to a few people that have crossed an ocean before. nobody that's done my route, but it's I. From what I'm gathering, it is lots of just. There's very little that somebody can actually tell you. Just get out there. You do it. You know what you know, and then you learn. And there's some things that you can't imagine, no matter how well somebody describes it to you. So you just get there and you find out. But it's nice that it's been nice to hear the silly things that they did to keep them happy and, and what they actually did to make them feel happier when they were actually quite down. So, I have spoken to probably more than ten, ten people about their experience across the nation.
Bob 00:42:19 Okay, so you're ready for it. It sounds like your headspace is good. You're ready for it now.
Zara Lachlan 00:42:25 I'm excited. It's been a couple of months of just talking about it, so I'm excited to go.
Zara Lachlan 00:42:30 And.
Bob 00:42:31 Has the talking about it to all the different media people being the hardest part.
Zara Lachlan 00:42:35 Yes. Honestly, yes.
Bob 00:42:37 Same questions over and over again.
Zara Lachlan 00:42:40 Well, not even just that is that I'm not a very open person. So I told my friends that I was doing some rowing this winter and may be going to South America. Like, I haven't really told anybody about it. So, the media has just been quite difficult because I'm quite a quite closed person.
Bob 00:42:59 So, Zara, I'm going to wish you absolute best on this. I'm going to try and keep in contact if we can and, and keep our listeners up to speed where you are and what's going on in a few weeks or a couple of months time. But of all the things I could have asked you about this particular crossing and this project and what you're setting out to do. What should I have asked you?
Zara Lachlan 00:43:20 No, I.
Zara Lachlan 00:43:21 Think you did ask me everything. I think the most important thing to me is the fact that it's for charity and the fact that I, I was, as a couple of months ago, completely newbie and, scared.
Zara Lachlan 00:43:36 And I did it anyway. So you can do it to whatever it is that you want to do.
Bob 00:43:46 My thanks to Zara for taking the time out of her training schedule to talk with me and to share her story with you. The noise you heard was from the workshop next door, while they're actually making the final alterations to the boat. What an incredible challenge, and I fully intend to check up with her again in December. Live from the boat. Catch up with her progress and share it once again with you all. You can see she is quietly confident but also modest, not even mentioning the epic adventure to her friends. So please take a few moments to give her some support and leave a comment or two on her Instagram. Atlantic. Underscore solo. Underscore Zara that's Atlantic. Underscore solo underscore Zara or give a small donation via her link to team forces and women in sport charity. Maybe do it now before you forget and pop a reminder into your diary as well towards the end of October to see her set off and wish her well.
Bob 00:44:49 She appears to be taking it all in her stride currently, and I would expect it to be a life changing experience. Sandhurst should be very honoured to have her join their ranks in due course. If you've enjoyed this, please leave a reference on Apple Podcasts and maybe join my newsletter. The links are dotted around everywhere on the social and the website. I'll be back soon with more conversations, stories and news from the wonderful world in which we live. Until then, take care out there and bye for now.
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