Last weekend we officially welcomed on board our 4th crew member for the Great Pacific Race, James Wight. We’d been put in touch with James about a month ago by Chris from New Ocean Wave as he’d been looking for a crew to join. After a few weeks of Skype meet ups and phone calls, Sam, Colin and I (Fraser) had pretty much already made our mind up that he was the perfect man to complete the team.

As Sam currently lives on the Channel Islands, we’d arranged our meetup with James to coincide with meeting the Team Atlantic Splash (http://www.rowtheatlantic2013.co.uk/team.html twitter: @atlanticsplash) guys who we’d been chatting with over Twitter, email and phone for a few weeks.

The team t-shirts. iPhone cameras need to stop being so lazy and put some more effort in.

Sam and James made their way to my house in Tunbridge Wells – Sam bringing with him the team t-shirts he had arranged getting printed – where the plan was to head down to the Folkestone Regatta in Sandgate to grab a beer and meet the Atlantic Splash guys.

Just prior to the guys making it to my house, we received a text from Atlantic Splash’s Bastien that they were having issues with their trailer. One of their wheel bearings had gone so were unable to make it to Folkestone and were sat on the side of the road waiting for the AA to come and recover them.

It just so happened that the road they were on the side of was in Tunbridge Wells. Less than a mile from my front door! We hopped in my car (lazy I know – but it was cloudy…. don’t judge me) and headed over. Despite the circumstances they were a very chirpy and an incredibly friendly and welcoming bunch, though that could have partly been due to the Big Macs that had arrived just before us. We spent a couple of hours with them chatting at the side of the road and they kindly gave us a look around their boat which, judging by all the looks it was getting from passing cars, was as interesting to the general population of T.Wells as it was to us.

In one of the passing cars was Scott Gilcrest who rowed the Atlantic in 2002. Scott is originally from Newcastle but now living in Tunbridge Wells.

l-r: James Wight, Fraser Hart, Sam Collins, Scott Gilcrest, Neal Marsh, Bastien Leclair, Tom Hyland

We said our farewells to Atlantic Splash and James, Sam and I headed over to a town centre watering hole for a pint and a sunday roast where we officially offered him the 4th spot on the team, to our delight we hadn’t put him off and he accepted.

Welcome aboard James!

After a great drive home from work in the best weather we’ve seen yet this year, I walked through the door to find a nice surprise. My New Ocean Wave Pacific Rowing Race entry pack has arrived having only been put in the post yesterday.

In it are race rules & appendices, and information pack, an ocean chart, various forms to fill out and return and a brochure of freeze dried food. I’ve spent the evening poring over the chart and putting together my menu for the weeks at sea. I’m going to be eating a lot better on water than I do on land.

AFTER a lot of hard work and back and forth, Team Pacific Rowers has its official team logo.

Huge thanks to graphic designer, photographer and videographer extraordinaire Tom Crane at Crane Creative in Etchingham, Kent, for putting in the miles on what I think is the sweetest logo I’ve ever seen.

Tom has also done work for Team Boatylicious so he’s fast on his way to becoming the official unofficial graphic designer for the New Ocean Wave Pacific Rowing Race for 2014.

Tom can be contacted through his website: crane-creative.co.uk or via twitter on @Crane_Creative

TODAY marks the day Team Pacific Rowers became an official part of the New Ocean Wave Pacific Rowing Race for 2014.

We’ve paid our deposit and are listed on the entrants page of the New Ocean Wave website. It’s a very exciting time for us. If I wasn’t already reeling from the booze last night, I’d certainly be popping a bottle open to celebrate. Instead, I’ll have to make do with Aspirin, water and bread.

WE are looking for a four-man ocean rowing boat and are currently investigating and following up a number of leads. However, we can never have too many so if you know of a boat on the market please get in touch at info@pacificrowers.com or leave a comment below.