Unlimited Adventures have organised the cycle from branded cycling kit, accomodation and a nifty tracking device to provide updates on the team’s position throughout the week. Keep in touch with Chris and the rest of the team at www.unlimitedadventures.co.uk

Of course if you live in or near San Francisco (or you’re just stuck in California thanks to the Icelandic ash cloud) then why not go and take a look at Bojangles in the San Francisco Maritime Museum. Here are a few shots of her looking much smaller than I remember her being.

More details soon.

Oh and you can also watch the video of our BBC interview when we landed at Heathrow. Click here to view.

Would you like to see some of the video that they took on route?

Would you like to meet Mick Dawson and have all your questions about what it takes to row across the North Pacific Ocean answered?

Of course you would. Mick will be presenting the premier of the film trailer and talking about his experiences of the North Pacific Ocean at the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park at the Bath House Building on the 18th February at 19.30 and best of all it’s free.

If you’re in the area please do come down and say hello. Bojangles is on exhibit at the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park so even if you can’t make this event you can still see the boat and find out more about the journey.

Click here for directions and here to view the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park’s website.

For those who have forgotten if they were lucky, the winner are…

• Mile 5 The Botterill Family
• Mile 61 Keith & Isabel Martin
• Mile 126 Karl Wills
• Mile 709 Mayford Lacemakers
• Mile 912 Tom Fender
• Mile 1003 Jonathan Dockett
• Mile 1865 Tom Hood
• Mile 2012 Claire Sewter
• Mile 2207 Elin Haf Davies
• Mile 2295 Adam Lawton
• Mile 2508 Roger Wotton
• Mile 2553 Tim Allardyce
• Mile 2670 Justin Underwood and Remigium Lodge No. 7343
• Mile 3001 Ron Knights
• Mile 3456 Dave Tracey
• Mile 3501 Michael Pritchard
• Mile 4400 Gary McGill
• Mile 4500 Jon Higgs
• Mile 4552 Dan McSherry
• Mile 4804 Ted Jackson - Remigium - AKRC
• Mile 4914 Diana Boulter
• Mile 4978 Cath Allaway
• Mile 5008 Melanie Jones
• Mile 5013 Patricia Franks
• Mile 5018 Pat Bullivant

Your limited edition bowlines will be dispatched to you shortly (or given to you in person if I know I’ll see you soon.)

1 - Land legs - Quite surprisingly both Mick and I found that within a few hours of being back on land we were rather comfortable with walking again. Whilst any walking of more than a couple of blocks tired us out we weren’t walking with sea legs as both of us had expected.

2 - Speed - Having been in a boat for six months where 3 kt feels fast getting used to speed again has been probably the most exhilarating of the steps on the road to recovery. Kathie (my Dad’s second cousin who had come up from L.A. to see us in) kindly drove us back to our hotel and the sensation of speed was scary. This was going through the car park at 20mph! Since then I’ve got more used to the feeling of going fast but I can empathize with the first passengers to use steam locomotives, going faster than they could have previously imagined.

3 - Food and water - Having gone for so long without any real variety in our diet it was (and still is) a treat to be able to want a particular type of food and then be able to buy and eat it. On the afternoon of the first day I went for a wander and ended up outside Walgreen’s (an American version of Boots with more food in). Eventually I ended up inside walking round like a kid in a sweet shop. The colourful packaging looked enticing but I don’t think I bought anything. It was enough to just know that I could if I wanted to. Whilst I did stuff my face with as much as I could at every meal time I found that my stomach had shrunk so I had to eat smaller meals but 8 times a day instead of 4. Gradually this has improved so I’m back now to a more normal eating cycle. Thank goodness!

4 - Comfort - One of the things that I missed most was being able to sit down in comfort. On Bo there really wasn’t anywhere to do this and by the end of the trip everywhere was uncomfortable. Even the cabin mattress failed to supply the required level of cushioning for our bag of bones. Lying on a big soft bed the afternoon when we came in was certainly a hi-light of the return to land. I lay there with a big grin on my face for quite a while.

5 - Water - Whilst we were never short of water on Bo it was always something on my mind. Now I can just turn on a tap and there it is, gushing out. Whilst being dirty isn’t something that (being a man) I worried about too much whilst out in the Pacific, it is a treat to be back in a place with a shower and a bath.

6 -Sleep - Having spent half a year awake for 2 hours then asleep for 2 hours attempting to break out of that cycle has been more challenging than I thought it would be. I know that Mick has had even more trouble that I have had returning to a more normal sleep pattern. The first sleep I had lasted for a beautiful 5 hours (over double our normal rest period) before I woke up feeling dreadful at 3am. It wasn’t until 7am that I could catch a few extra hours to last me until the afternoon. It’s been a bit like recovering from jet lag but with a lot of lag to catch up on.

7 - Health- Dr Aenor Sawer was kind enough to give us a medical examination when we arrived at the Golden Gate Yacht Club. Apart from a few infected cuts on my hand and in Mick’s foot she reported that we were both in fine health. Later in the week we were also given a body composition test which reported our fat percentage. It seems that I had lost quite a bit as I was 8.8% fat. When we arrived I was 74kg but 10 days later I had somehow managed to boost that to 84kg. Weight-gain-tastic!

The one thing that the period of re-entry has taught me is just how privileged and lucky we are in the western world without even realising it. We have all these things around us, most of which we don’t actually need and yet it’s all too easy to believe that we do. Take a moment now to look around you and see which things you really really need and can’t do without! I think you might be surprised at just how much unrequired stuff there is in our lives.

I think I knew when I first accepted Mick’s invitation to come onboard Bojangles, that things would never be the same but I don’t think I had really thought about what it would be like. The welcome we received in San Francisco was breathtaking. Not only just on Friday 13th but for the subsequent 2 week period that Mick and I were able to stay out in California. Our time there passed in a whirlwind of meetings and speeches but undoubtably the highlight was meeting up with Wayne who took us for a helecopter trip wine tasting tour of the Napa valley. (it really doesn’t get much better than having a friendly helecoper pilot with his own helecopter). Thank you so much to every one who came to see us in, came to see us after we landed or just came to see the boat after we had flaked out and were sleeping. The Golden Gate Yacht Club holds a very dear place in my heart and is now not only my spiritualy home in San Francisco but as honorary members I feel I really should learn to sail and visit more often. Thank you to everyone at the GGYC who made our stay so perfect.

On arrival in the UK we were greeted with a brief bout in front of BBC camera and then released to get to Molesey for a quiet night in the boat club. It felt lovely being back in familiar surroundings with familiar faces once again. It also was great to go up to Boston for the Dawson welcome home party at the Cowbridge inn. Mick and I did a little speech about our trip but we were amazed when Bill and Brandy from Lantern Productions turned up having flown in for a surprise from the US. I manged to leave before theTequila bottle was finished but was still a bit groggy in the morning.

Since then I’ve spent most of my time trying to organise my life and complete the ever present to-do list. However just as memories of waves and whale dodging were starting to fade Mick sent me a rough cut of the trailer for the film that we’re going to make. I can’t show it to you yet but believe me when I say that it is outstandingly good. I was surprised by how much of it I had forgotten. I’m looking forward to spending some time viewing the footage as after a while memories do fade and lessons learnt can pass you by.

And what of Bo? Well Bojangles has been accepted as a temporary exhibit at the San Francisco Maritime Museum. She’ll be there for a little while yet so please pop in to see her if you get a chance.

I’ve just been informed that there are still cases of ‘Bojangles’ available so get yourself to the Hog’s Back Brewery if you’d like to buy one of those. T-shirts are now in rather short supply with only ladies large and medium remaining but please do get in touch if you’d like one.

•  Andrew Jackson, miles 200-209, covered on Day 4.
• Chris’ Great Aunt Anne, mile 400, covered on Day 14. £10 donated to the boys as they finished on day 189 (I think she had a bet on with a friend about them finishing before day 190).
• Pete, Clare, Phoebe and Ben Sheppard, miles 500-504, covered on Day 15.  Shep (Pete) and Clare are friends of Chris’ from Molesey.  Shep used to coach Chris.
• Penny Davies, miles 1500-1505, covered on Day 51.
• Elly Besley, mile 1206, covered on Day 38, and miles 1600-1601, covered on Day 53.
• Havrehed Christian, mile 3700, covered on Day 131.
• Shannon Geis, miles 4200-4201, covered on Day 148.
• And finally Andrew James, miles 4600-4602, covered on Day 169.

Thanks again everyone.

If you’re still interested in donating towards the charities then please see the donations page for instructions.

Hope to see some of you at Mick’s tomorrow.  I’ll continue to nag Chris to put a post up here sometime soon! In the mean time do email him and pester him too: chris@goldengateendeavour.com.

Rich

The boys had their first beers with Chris’ friends at Molesey in the evening.  Now it’s Mick’s turn: Sunday 6th December, 18.00 at the The Cowbridge House Inn (The Dawson family pub), Horncastle Rd Boston, Lincs PE22 7AX. There’ll be a carvery catering and lots of beer for friends, family and supporters. Nothing too formal just a chance to say thank you to everyone, plus probably some sort of presentation and talk from Mick and Chris.

There’ll certainly be a few Londoners heading up there to join in the festivities.  According to Mick there’s plenty of B&Bs in the area.  If you’re interested to go and would like a lift, or if you have a space in your car, then use the comments below to arrange lift shares.  If there’s enough interest we may get a minibus.