Crossing the Channel and Seeing a Mermaid in Folkestone

This post is finally to thank all the people who supported PicoMicoYacht for the row. An enjoyable part of doing the sponsored row was reading the many encouraging comments I received from various people and I thought I would highlight some of the more interesting ones.

My colleague Mark, an international expert on the neurology of epilepsy remarked ‘My goodness, this sounds like a massive challenge, as well as being wonderfully eccentric! I expect you to return with tales of encounters with giant squid, mermaids, whales and giant cargo ships.’

I hope I didn’t disappoint him. He was prophetic, because there is a mermaid statue on Folkestone beach and I saw a dolphin on the way back.

My cousin Steve, a transatlantic sailor, suggested I shouldn’t row too fast, but enjoy the day. That was good advice, and I did enjoy the day, although I distinctly remember rowing as fast as possible when the safety boat told me to speed up to avoid a container ship.

Mike who works in Camberwell with me, suggested that rowing across the English Channel was no more dangerous than crossing the road at Denmark Hill – the advantage that Camberwell has is that across the road there is  a convenient Accident and Emergency department.

Huw from Exeter suggested that if the tide swept me past Cap Gris Nez, we would meet up in Devon. I nearly took him up on the offer.

The Laidlows suggested that my next trip should be as Kon Tiki 2. I thought this perhaps would be to prove that Pico Man could have originally populated the Polynesian Islands.

Lastly, Becky from Laser Performance Sailboat Face Book (http://www.facebook.com/LaserPerformanceSailboats)  wrote ‘why not just sail’ which I thought was very poetic and sums up any challenge – why? There is no answer other than ‘because it is there.’

All in all, I am so grateful for your support.