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We work, we care for our families, cook dinners,, we work some more, meet friends trying to have some social life and; we ROW. Yes, we still have time to row in our beloved Mare Fortuna. Not just because we have to do our training hours, mainly because we love it! Some things just feel so natural to do, as if our bodies are made to row. It feels so easy, so self-evident.
In April we rowed two weekends on the Veerse Meer, our home-base. But; it's is not just about rowing. We check our gear, what to wear, we unpack the para-anchor, try our feetsteering device (does need some more practicing...), cook our meals - and try various brands, sleep, prepare breakfast in the morning after a cold night, feel every movement of the boat to get familiar once again with life on an ocean rowing boat. And yes it feels good! Sometimes we go smooth (tailwind) sometimes not (headwind) but we are outdoors doing the sport we love doing the most. So always happy faces on those rowing weekends, even if all the outdoors-hours lead to a hint of bags under the eyes...
Beside the training hours, admin that comes with preparing an Ocean Challenge there's also time to do presentations. On an irregular basis we get the chance to talk about our experience on the Atlantic, explain the why, the how, and the what on earth makes you go again? Indoor and outdoor people get inspired, just what we love and hope to achieve.
Our circle of support grows and grows, and yes, do join us in our campaign!
Boot Düsseldorf is the worlds' most important boat fair and we were there! From 21-29th of January our working life didn't take place in the Netherlands, but on the Very Impressive Messe in Düsseldorf.
It was an adventure in itself. Driving our boat ánd a campervan through the only snowstorm (so far) we've had in the Netherlands, miles of traffic jams, delays and finally we reached turn 29 for the Messe. 9 days later we drove back home again with a heart and mind full of impressions. 11 presentations, a zillion questions answered, and a sour throat of all the talking we did.
But we enjoyed it. Throughly! Our main sponsor helped us out together with a friend from our shore-team. We met great people, crazy people, adventurous people, some rowers-to-be, all kinds of peddlers, producers of foldable canoes, sailers from all over the world, very interested people, hundreds of them.
Lots of folks were so kind to sponsor plenty of days' rations, quite some companies were interested in helping us out in some way. We hope to redeem these commitments so we can move on with our campaign in even fuller speed! In spring we will pick up the oars again. We love talking oceans, but rowing an ocean still suits us a lot better :-)
A big thank you for Messe Düsseldorf and all the people there that helped us out!
2 steps forward, one step back.
It's been quiet for a while. We can’t always do what we love most. There’s jobs, workshops, travel all across the Netherlands for student visits and workshops. A family, a well-deserved holiday, rowing competition. Never a dull moment, but that means we are not able to focus 24/7 on our Pacific Campaign.
Running a campaign takes time and energy, it will allows us to row again, for thousands of miles. And that we can show what we are capable of as women. It is for a reason that we row for the Womens’ Heart.
In August we were able to train together again. On a turbulent Oosterschelde with current and wind we tested the autopilot, rowed with daggerboard and especially made many meters. We felt so familiar with the Mare Fortuna and are able to pick up a routine in everything we do on the boat.
Our desire to participate in the Pacific Challenge in June 2023 is no less. Being on the water together, on the oars, helps a lot! But despite our efforts and the sponsors we have on board so far, there are factors that mean that we have to postpone our challenge for a year. We are very sorry for this as we wanted dearly to participate in the first Pacific Challenge that Atlantic Campaigns organizes.
We don't linger, we keep looking for companies that want to support us in this adventure for the Women's Heart and are happy when we get a stage somewhere. We were present at the Hiswa, the biggest boat fair in the Netherlands for chats and a presentation. How good it feels to get so much attention.
We will rock in 2024, you bet we will!
A name, the name, what’s in a name?
The boat is perfect. It’s almost new, it has crossed the Atlantic successfully as/by the Two Rowing Finns. And it is ours now. We already enjoyed some rowing sessions in this great small boat. We called her ‘the boat’. But hey, we are not Finnish.
So what to do. In naval stories people say it’s bad luck but it should bring us luck to change the name. The Finns understood our wish to change it so we called out on social media to help think about the perfect name for our boat. Funny, hilarious, eyebrow rising ideas were shared and after a while it was up to us, and to the owner Martijn, to make the decision. It took us two days, many texts and some phonecalls.
And there she is: proudly we present Mare Fortuna to you. We áre MaRe and we embrace Fortuna, the Roman goddess of fortune and happiness
And there she is....
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