Prostate rower posts some thoughts, after ‘various physical and mental repairs’ from 81-day voyage

JULY 18: PROSTABLOG NZ:  “Apologies it has taken me so long to put finger to keyboard and update you on the goings on within the RFP team,” writes one of the crew (unnamed) from Rowing For Prostate, following the team’s epic 81-day row across the Indian Ocean.

“But since arriving on the cherished lands of Mauritius, I have had to undergo various physical and mental repairs, which have sadly meant it has been a tad difficult to get to a computer, let alone to type anything even slightly legible.

“Thankfully the local hospitality, coupled with the repair work from the local medics has confirmed my ailments are not terminal and both body and mind are now well on the way to full recovery so i thought it high time I gave you an insight in to our final few hours at sea, and the highly anticipated arrival on the fair shores of Mauritius…”

READ MORE> on the Rowing For Prostate website.

Prostablog has asked how much the effort raised for prostate cancer and who will get the money, but so far no response from the Rowing For Prostate organisers.

It seems from earlier publicity that prostate cancer organisations in the UK will benefit, as well as those in New Zealand (although, not the Prostate Cancer Foundation of NZ).

No doubt we will hear something when they’ve had time to sort it out.

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Prostate rowers: fourth is second (and second is first) because of strong winds, unofficial entrants

JULY 10: PROSTABLOG NZ:  IT might be the fourth boat over the finish line, but Rowing For Prostate (above) has indeed scored second place in the Indian Ocean Rowing Race.

That’s because the third crew home, the women’s four in Pura Vida, were blown north of Mauritius and couldn’t cross the official finish line, while the first crew in, the eights of Aud Eamus, was not an official entry in the race.

So that put second boat Bexhill Trust Challenger in first place, and the Rowing For Prostate lads (pictured below when they celebrated having 1000 miles of the 3132-mile race to row), who crossed the line fourth yesterday, in official second spot.

Confused?

This will help: it’s what organisers’ spokesman Tony Humphreys said when we asked for an explanation:

There were 10 starters in the Indian Ocean Rowing Race, plus the out-of-class record attempt boat ‘Aud Eamus’.

Aud Eamus was the first boat to  arrive in Mauritius with the quickest crossing time but doesn’t qualify for  a race position as they were not an official race entry.

The next boat to arrive in Mauritius was ‘Bexhill Trust Challenger’ who were  the first race entry and having passed post-race scrutineering without  receiving any rule infringement penalties took first place.

The next boat to arrive in Mauritius was ‘Pura Vida’, who unfortunately due  to very strong southerly winds as they made their approach to Mauritius were  pushed north and were unable to cross the official race finish line.

As  such they do not qualify for a race position, however they did still manage  to cross the longitude of the finish line unaided, therefore still qualify  as the first all female team to row across the Indian Ocean unassisted.

Which the takes us to ‘Rowing For Prostate’ who were the forth boat to  arrive in Mauritius, and having successfully crossed the finish line have
provisionally been awarded second place.  Confirmation of their race ranking  will only be possible once their post-race scrutineering has been completed.

The race rules are designed with safety as the priority and contain the  penalty of dropping a race position should certain rules be infringed.

I trust this helps clarify the situation.

Thank you to the official race website for the pictures.

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ROW 4 PROSTATE: Women due to finish in next few hours, while Prostate not far back

JULY 6: PROSTABLOG NZ: While Kiwi boat Rowing For Prostate probably (we don’t know for sure) has fewer than 200 miles to go in the Indian Ocean Rowing Race, the women’s four, Pura Vida reported in tonight with just 27 miles to go.

They will cross the finish line at Mauritius in the next 24 hours, nearly 80 days after the start and 3231 miles from Australia.

The women led the race for a week or so in the middle of the event, after charging ahead of the Bexhill Trust four, which finished second behind eights boat Aud Eamus more than a week ago. They’re now set to take third.

The Prostate rowers are expected into port towards the end of this week, and will take fourth place.

Their exact position is unclear after their communications technology failed late last month. They were spotted by an aircraft a few days ago.

Two other crews, both pairs, lie about 1000 miles back and will take a couple of weeks or more to finish.

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ROW 4 PROSTATE: Comms failure leaves prostate boat “somewhere” out there

JULY 1: PROSTABLOG NZ: NZ four Rowing for Prostate have done what every man with prostate problems probably wishes would happen to his prostate – disappeared.

However, no fears are held for the crew of the Indian Ocean Rowing Race entry, due to arrive in Mauritius next week in fourth place.

A statement on the race website was picked up by media overnight, making the race and its prostate entry prominent news for the past day.

The website’s theory is Prostate’s only remaining means of communication, a satellite phone, can no longer be charged, and since the (separate) satellite tracker gave up some weeks ago, there is no way for the crew to check in.

Race organisers have despatched the support boat to Prostate’s last known position.

The website progress map still has them with 553 miles to go, the position they reported during last contact on Friday.

If they maintain their average of about 35 miles a day, they probably have about 400 miles to go to the finish line, which was crossed at the weekend by leading boats Aud Eamus (eight) and Bexhill Trust Challenger (four) after 70 days.

Third-placed boat, Pura Vida, had fewer than 200 miles to row when they reported in this morning.

Here’s the official website statement about the “missing” prostate rowers:

Some time ago the satellite tracking unit on boat No. 5 ‘Rowing For Prostate’ ceased to work. Since that time the team has been using their Satellite telephone to text and email their position every 12 hours to Race HQ, which was then manually entered to update the website ‘Progress Page’.

The Team had reported that their satellite telephone was not taking charge and using the phone was becoming more problematic. They were of the opinion it was only a matter of time before their satellite phone stopped working. It would now appear their prediction was right and since Friday 26th June the Team have been unable to make contact and Race HQ has been unable to contact the boat.

As frustrating and concerning as it is not to have an accurate position for the boat, there is nothing to suggest the boat has any other problem that may explain the lack of communication other than a satellite phone that is no longer working.

The comprehensive Race Rules require that each boat carries an EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon) together with a 406MHz PLB (Personal Locator Beacon), both of which transmit a ‘May Day’ message via satellite, and if the Team were in any kind of trouble, or danger they would active one or both of these devices.

It maybe possible the Team can contact a passing ship using their VHF radio and request their position is passed on to Race HQ. The Support Vessel is currently on its way to ‘Rowing For Prostates’ last reported position and will sail down the anticipated track of the boat in the hope of locating them by either visual identification, VHF radio or by picking the boat up on their AIS () transceiver.

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ROW 4 PROSTATE: Close finish in offing as eights closes on race leader

JUNE 1: PROSTABLOG NZ:  British rowing four Bexhill Trust Challenger has about a third of the Indian Ocean Rowing Race to go and a lead of 140 miles over its nearest rival.

Second place-holder Aud Eamus – the only boat with a crew of eight – has made its way through the field over the past month and is hunting down Bexhill, with a close finish in the offing if the leading four can keep it up.

The close battle for third continues, with just a couple of miles separating women’s four Pura Vida and Kiwi four Rowing For Prostate. They’re slightly more than 100 miles behind Aud Eamus.

Map above shows Bexhill in the lead at the top, with Pura Vida (green) and Rowing For Prostate (red, bottom) left in the wake of Aud Eamus (second).

When it last called in on Sunday, Bexhill had averaged 1.77 knots and rowed 22 miles in the preceding 24 hours. It had 1218 miles left to row in the 3132-mile slog to Mauritius from Western Australia, which the seven remaining boats last saw 43 days ago.

Aud Eamus is going slightly faster, averaging 1.98 knots and covering 39 miles in the day to 6pm today (June 1). It has 1358 miles to travel.

Pura Vida averaged 1.05 knots and travelled 21 miles in the day to 6pm today, leaving a distance of 1463, while Rowing For Prostate maintained the best speed (2.06 knots) and got over the biggest distance (46 miles) in the 24 hours to 6pm on Sunday. It has 1466 to go.

The other three boats are well back, and four withdrew long ago.

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