Bottoms
A delicate subject today. Bottoms. Particularly delicate in my case...
Perhaps the most important part of the body on this trip is our bum. We spend a lot of time talking about them and a lot of time looking after them. And all because we spend a LOT of time sitting on them and rowing.
With each stroke of the oars all your body weight and power gets pushed through your backside. Over the course of two hours this becomes quite painful, particularly as the seats on the boat are not very comfortable.
We try to soften the blow in a variety of ways: gel pads, sheepskin, towels, bags stuffed with clothes, even a cushion from a garden chair. Nothing works for very long.
The pain comes and goes, but in recent days I have been in agony by the end of each two hours. It is particularly bad for some reason in the stern (rear) seat so I dread my shifts in the torture seat.
Additionally, with only two hours recovery until the next rowing session, there is a risk of a steady decline in the state of your bum.
That is why we take fanatical care of them, as though they were tiny babies.
At the end of each shift we change into dry shorts. Sometimes we clean off the salt with a baby wipe, though we are rationed to just 5 per day, including for toilet paper.
Finally, we slather ourselves in antiseptic Sudocrem.
Yet despite this, I am now the unfortunate owner of a raw red circle on my right cheek. I fear there is little chance of it healing properly, and it makes rowing even less fun than before (something I would have found difficult to imagine!).
One other guy has developed an unpleasant weeping boil on his behind. He shall remain nameless for he spends most of his time working on his suntan ready to impress his girlfriend upon arrival in Barbados, and the boil is unlikely to enhance his image!
Hopefully we can all prevent any further deterioration, for this adventure is already quite difficult enough!
Al
