By Miriam Payne

Continuous weather checks had dashed our hopes of hitting the sea until Friday evening at the earliest. We resigned ourselves to getting as much shut-eye as possible, knowing we’d need every ounce of energy for the coming days.

After a good night's sleep, we made a beeline for our go-to breakfast spot, The Lock Gates. Then, it was time to rendezvous with the legendary Duncan Roy to borrow his anchor and lend a hand in getting Fortitude, his ocean rowing boat into the water.

As we caught up on all things ocean rowing, our conversation naturally drifted to our objectives for the weekend. You've likely heard of Strava art, but have you ventured into the world of Navionics art? Our ambitious plan involved sketching shapes with the track of our course in Navionics. We'd already mapped out a shark, and at Duncan's request, a 'Watts' lightning bolt was set to follow.

Despite our best efforts with the autohelm, which seemed to have a mind of its own (likely user error, ha!), we found ourselves spinning in circles. Deciding it best not to tempt fate, we turned back, to which the heavens opened. The moment we reentered the lock gates, a tremendous thunderclap followed by spectacular lightning. It seemed our attempts at a Navionics art lightning bolt had somehow jinxed the weather. Grateful for our Zhik foul weather gear, we tied up Velocity and headed for a hot shower.

With Alan keeping us company, our next mission was to create a shark shape. Settling into our new shift pattern of 2 hours on 1 hour off, we enjoyed basking in the sunlight between bouts of rowing, punctuated by enthusiastic shouts of "It's Alan!" The fog then descended, enveloping us in a thick haze reminiscent of pea soup. It turned out to be a great simulation for losing sight of shore. The fog brought with it a drop in temperature and we layered up, looking forward to the day that British summer finally makes an appearance.

It was so great to finally meet Andy (CEO) from BetterYou in person and soak up all of his knowledge. His treat of fish and chips was the perfect end to our weekend escapades—a meal devoured with the enthusiasm of hungry gannets.