Page 62 - The Gazette Autumn 2023

62 The Gazette QARANC Association
Row GB:
‘A special
experience
which will never
be eclipsed’
Lt Col Margaret Hodge RRC completed the adventure of a lifetime, rowing around the British Isles. She shares her story here.
I got into coastal rowing in 2020 when looking for a team sport which got me out of the house. At the Tudor Sailing club in Portsmouth, I got the same team dynamics and culture I experienced when I played Rugby but with less bruises! But how did I go from there to rowing around the entire coastline of the British Isles?
My rowing captain told me about an opportunity to join a team entering the Row GB challenge in 2023. First questions to ask – I am mad enough to apply and will I be selected? I did and I was! Turns out there were nearly 100 applicants, but I was interviewed and offered a place a few days later.
Now before we get to the start line there are many things to do, from the entry fee, to boat hire, equipment, and food to be purchased. We all needed to undertake the RYA sea survival and short-wave radio course; I also did the first aid at sea course. While the Atlantic is defiantly a challenge, there is not the complication of changing tides, busy shipping lanes to navigate as well as the challenging great British weather!
I hit the gym to do lots of joint stability exercises, core strengthening as well as many dull hours on the rower. As a team we had to clock up 200 hours of
Only then did I realise that this GB Row may
be a bigger deal than
I thought, the BBC was interested in us as well as Sky News and ITV.
team rowing time which included many rows round the south of the Isle of White as well as a row back from Plymouth to Poole. We learned how the systems on the boat operated including the navigation, anchor and capsize drills (we never had to capsize, just know what to do) as well as learning to live, eat, wash and sleep on the boat.
Once that was all done, we were ready to start. We travelled to London with the boat on 1 June to put it in the water and row to St Catherine’s Dock which was next to the start line. Only then did I realise that this GB Row may be a bigger deal than I thought, the BBC was interested in us as well as Sky News and ITV.
The start line at Tower Bridge loomed over us as we packed the boat with our supplies. On Sunday 4 June we moved to the start line, to cheers from family and friends. Then at 1500hrs we were off, down the River Thames and hoping to get into the Channel before the wind changed direction. This would become a theme.
We exited the Thames, but the wind had changed earlier than we hoped, and it got to the point we could not move forward and were starting to be blown towards the beach. The skipper made the decision