Diary of a Parson's Wife

Decisions, decisions. Polly Zipperlen considers logical versus sensible.

“What a ride!” was my finishing quote for social media when we arrived in Antigua after 53 days, 12 hours and 1 minute rowing across the Atlantic Ocean. And it was definitely an exhilarating ride with occasional moments of terror as the boat lurched in ridiculously large and chaotic waves. Our team of four women survived and thrived as often women do in the face of adversity, remaining resilient and kind to each other, with the odd injection of humour to boost morale. Much of the on-board mirth involved some gentle teasing. For example, our recurrent conversation about whether or not a particular course of action might be the ‘logical’ conclusion to our extensive deliberation. We were known amongst the other teams for having excessive meetings–we would indeed do well on church committees. The conversation would generally go somewhat like this:

“Well, is this the logical course of action?”

“Well, does it need to be, rowing an ocean for fun isn’t very logical?”

“Yes, but is it logical?”

“But humans aren’t logical”

“But it’s not sensible”

“Well, rowing an ocean for fun isn’t sensible”

At which point we would then discuss our thoughts with the other crews, the event organisers and anyone else within the vicinity. More often than not, the final decision would be deferred to another day! And this is how I found myself, drill in hand, on the dock beside our boat 30 minutes before leaving in front of an assembled crowd of 200 onlookers. I am not accustomed to using power tools, apart from my beloved Magimix. So to be in charge of drilling holes into the plastic cuffs on the oars, to thread through a lanyard to attach the oars to the gates, minimising the risk of losing an oar in high seas, was somewhat alarming–and definitely not sensible.

But there I was. What if the drill-bit broke, what if the plastic cuff split, what if I fell in the water in front of everyone? Oh, why hadn’t I asked Marcus to do this or done it before departure-day?!

To top it off, there was a drone filming my efforts and a local radio presenter regarding me inquisitively, keen to know which direction we would be headed out of Lanzarote. To which I pointed roughly south-westerly and shrugged my shoulders. Quietly thinking to myself “rowing an ocean for fun is neither sensible nor logical” But it was definitely fun!