isolation

Isolat on

I keep h earing th e phras e a bou t h ow our old n or mal wasn ’t w or king and h ow w e all n eed to s omeh ow cr eate an all n ew n or mal . Th e pr obl em wi th tha t thin king is jus t tha t mos t peopl e ar e curr en tly li ke d eer in th e h eadligh ts and d on ’t ha ve th e f oggi es t id ea on h ow to cr eate tha t.

Most have just recently come to realise that the reality that we find ourselves in today is far more than a forced discomfort. Our daily lives have been put on “pause” while we have been sent to our rooms like badly behaved children. We are watching the world go on around us and wait in anticipation for answers and direction from our leaders.

I would like to share with you some of the parallels that I experienced while being isolated for 92 days while rowing +8000km unassisted across the South Atlantic Ocean and why they these parallels are so relevant today.

It was a tough journey. A massive physical, mental and spiritual challenge that pushed boundaries that I never knew were possible. I had to make a choice and move forward. I had to step off the dock and step away from the world that I knew and loved. Family and friends and all the creature comforts that make life easy, had to be left behind. I stepped onto a tiny rowboat and embraced a new world, a world that was much simpler and yet far more dangerous. The South Atlantic is not a pleasant place to be when the weather turns nasty. The water is near freezing and 40 foot waves are common order of the day. So, apart from certain risks, my new world consisted primarily of two just things, sea and sky. All day and all night. So where are these parallels you may ask?

Well, rowing a boat across an ocean means that you are totally isolated from the world that everyone else is living. There is no clutter, no bombardment of electronic information. Apart from navigational equipment there are no cell phone screens, no TV , no phone calls, no people, no mountains, no trees, no cars, no insects, no smell of flowers, no dust or pollen. There is just sea and sky for thousands of miles around and as far as the eye can see. You truly are alone. If something bad happens, nobody is coming to get you and there is no chance of giving up or turning back. The prevailing wind just won’t allow it. But, after a while your perceptions begin to change and slowly but surely a quality of extreme visual deprivation starts to set in. It is unnoticeable at first because all your attention is consumed by focusing on critical tasks and challenges of this new world. After a while you begin to realise that this is your new world, a new reality and that it is going to be your new world and reality for a long time to come. So, you start to focus less on the things that are not important and begin to pay more The thing about visual deprivation is, that although you are deprived of seeing the world that you knew so well, you begin to see your new simpler or ‘narrower’ reality through a much bigger and more focussed lens. You become more and more one with your surroundings, more one with nature and begin to synchronise your being with the natural rhythm of the earth. You become very conscious of the sun, moon and stars that constantly circle overhead like clockwork – your sensory perception increases dramatically. The slightest change in your surroundings is observed immediately. A change in wind speed or wind direction or the shape of new clouds, water colour, sea temperature, humidity or sea life, all play a role life and affect the way you behave and all the decisions you make. You soon realise that you are not at all separate from this reality, but are connected to all of it and on a very deep level. It is a very humbling experience.

The tiny rowboat represented your whole world, a planet in the vast ocean of space. Every single

thing onboard, all resources, water, food, power consumption, energy generation systems, all of it had to be fiercely protected at all times, 24/7, to ensure survival. Apart from rowing, navigating and eating, most activities involved managing these resources very carefully while trying not to die. Any system or resource that failed would translate into spending a longer time at sea which meant more resources were needed to stay alive. Managing how much to use vs how much to give (physical effort) was a fine balancing act. Solving problems always required a collaborative approach. Nature was always in charge and fighting against it only delayed a positive outcome. Nature was always considered first. All decisions were made with respect, patience, empathy and gratitude. And this is where I feel the world has lost its way today. People, in general, have lost touch with real reality. They are disconnected from nature and have totally separated themselves from it. People have lost touch with the world where animals are treated like animals and not like living, sentient beings. They, and all life on this planet, have a right to be here and we need start thinking differently. We are not separate from nature, but are part of it.

Somewhere in China this truth came tumbling home and a virus from consuming an animal sprang into action changing the face of the planet for humans overnight. We ignored all the tell tale signs believing that we are too far removed from nature for this to affect us.

We did not think that we needed to fiercely protect and respect our resources. We lost the ability to collaborate collectively as a species and forgot to protect our home (planet) and all the life on it. Today our dysfunctional characteristics as human beings have been abruptly brought to light and no longer serves us. We need to begin creating a new world where all life is acknowledged and honoured.

Essentially, we are all in the same boat / kayak / vessel floating on the ocean, but we are not all on the same patch of water. And luckily, it just so happens, that all, if not most water lovers i.e. kayakers, paddlers, surfers, divers, sailors etc all readily understand and appreciate the dilemma we are in. We can’t wait to get back into the ocean and to immerce ourselves back into nature where we belong and experience the life we all love.

This quote by Rachel Carson really struck a chord with me:

“Mankind has gone very far into an artificial world of his own creation. He has sought to insulate himself, in his cities of steel and concrete, from

the realities of earth and water and the growing seed. Intoxicated with the sense of his own power, he seems to be going farther and farther into more experiments for the destruction of himself and his world. There is certainly no remedy for this condition and I am offering no panacea. But is seem reasonable to believe – and I do believe – that the more clearly our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us the less taste we shall have for the destruction of our race. Wonder and humility are wholesome emotions and they do not exist side by side with a lust for destruction.”

Although all that I have said above seems huge and overwhelming, there are small, every day things that we all can do to begin to bring about change.

Focus on th e

importan t things – look after your health, understand where your food comes from, consume only sustainable products, collaborate with people – work together – develop community, express gratitude, fiercely protect the planet and her resources, spend quality time in nature, work from a base of love and empathy and most importantly, teach the children this.

It is time – let’s all create a better world.

wayne robertson

perfecting the Diamond

For those that missed the article I wrote a couple of months ago on this, where I showed my HR graph following a washleads session, here’s a graphic that is easier to understand and shows just how much benefit can be gained by using another boats wash.

I am fortunate to have a big group of paddlers to train with who are all able to sustain long paddles at a good pace (13 km/ hr).

PRACT ISE

Once a week after doing intervals on the way out from the club over 8km, we form groups of 3-4 and each paddler then leads for 3 minutes while we sustain race pace.

If the group is only three the overall pace will start to drop as you don’t get as much recovery.

These HR were taken from our last session in a group of four at a constant pace.

In my case my HR was 166bpm over three minutes leading, 155bpm while on the side wash (a 7% drop) and only 140bpm on the diamond wash (a 16% Depending on the size and weight of the boat and paddler you are washriding these savings can be much greater. (Many races have team boats and singles racing together and the wash from large team boats can be a huge advantage.)

Often in our sessions if someone is doing it tough and looks like dropping off, we’ll tell them to stay in the diamond and that’s enough for them to hang in until we get back to the club.

The message here is practise washriding. It’s a critical skill in any form of marathon racing as it enables you to perform far above what you can if paddling alone.

It is really up to the circumstances. Much like professional cycling, they all expect everyone to pull their weight in the chase pack or the breakaway, but there are valid reasons not to.

If it’s a large lead group, more than four paddlers, chances are everyone wants to be in the front four. That’s where the greatest gains are and also less risk on turns or squeezes to be dropped. For this reason there is really no expectations to take a lead, some people may be just hanging on while others will be trying to get around and reshuffle the pack to get into the front group.

If you are a group of 2-4 off the front, you may agree to work together to pull away from any chasers. If you are a group of 2-4 in the chase pack you may agree to work together to catch the lead pack. Although at some point during the race if you are not closing the gap quickly enough you may start to think about just racing the people around you and that agreement is forgotten.

Here’s where it gets tricky if you are in the lead pack or at least leading others you don’t want to catch you. You may have someone in the group who decides they don’t want to lead. They don’t really care if other paddlers catch you because they are confident they will win any end sprint.

I’ve seen this happen where a group of three worked hard to stay away in a race while the 4th didn’t lead, only to win the race. I was in the pack chasing them. I later said to one of the young paddlers in the front pack, “Was there anyone in our group you couldn’t beat in a sprint?” His answer, “No” , well I said, “Maybe next time don’t feel like you have to pull the group, let the pace drop, then one of two things will happen, the paddlers not working will start working or the chase group will catch you and you have saved yourself for the end sprint”.

Tha t’s wha t ma kes this sp ort s o mu ch fun , it d oesn ’t jus t r equir e techni qu e, s kill and fi tn ess , bu t als o ta ctics to ma ke a winning diff er en ce.

BRETT MC DONALD