Rowing for A Cause - The final countdown!

Sunday, 08 March 2015 Written by Eva Kokkori Category: Blog

Hello everybody!

Hope everyone is well, enjoying their weekend!

This is Eva writing, Dimitris’ one and only sister ;-)

Proudly enough for Dimitris’ decision to take part in such an expedition, not just for his own fun or for some ego satisfaction, but in order to help the awareness for children adversely affected by conflict around the world, I decided to participate by supporting him in any possible way I can, in order for him and the rest of the crew Huw Kingston & Marin Medak, to achieve their goal. It is true that in the beginning, as a sister (of course hehe!) I had my serious doubts and mostly fears about this project, as I feared of his safety and what will happen if something goes wrong. Basically I feared of losing him… yeap…! Having a very close relationship with a brother who happens to be an adventurer flirting whenever possible with his own limits, is not the easiest thing! The love of nature and sports is a family thing, but the extreme part of it, is all concentrated upon Dimitris (I guess the universe had a party when he was conceived ;-) ). However, let me tell you… it always, ALWAYS spice up you own life!! I promise you that!

After some serious consideration with me and myself and my worries, I decided to focus on the actual important aspects of this whole project, and of course all aspects included a much MUCH bigger picture than my uncertainties! I am thinking of all the benefits that such a mission could raise not just for Huw, Dimitris & Marin or for the organization Save the Children and its own mission, but for all of us; reminding us that we are part of this world; that everything matters no matter the place, the race, the religion, the age or the color! Reminding us that what happens in another country does affect us even if this is felt completely indirectly. The whole world is an interconnection of smaller worlds, the soonest we realize that the better for the sake of ourselves and for the future of this place and our children!

Of course I have to mention that without our sponsors this trip wouldn’t have been possible for Dimitris, so we are really proud for supporting such an initiative especially during our current socio-economic conditions in Greece.

So, my friends, as you might already know the initial trip for our part of this project was supposed to start last night from Hania (Crete), then Cyprus and finally Turkey where Dimitris and Marin would leave Huw to continue his journey and fulfill his mission, by reaching Gallipolis the starting point of this expedition. However, due to the difficult weather conditions, strong and diverse winds during the last 3 days, Huw and Marin were drifted off course and finally rowed towards Foinikounta, a village at the northern part of west Peloponnese coast, instead of Crete. Members of the Cannibals Adventures Team were already there in order to help them reach the coast and welcome them to Greece. Gladly they arrived well, at 4am this morning after a marathon of 36 hours of hard pulling on the oars and hail, rain and wind, as Huw described it.

Dimitris, Eirini, Dimitra and I will be meeting everyone at Foinikounta today. I have to admit the last 36hrs have been an experience for us! Watching Huw and Marin’s real time tracking spot was if we were watching a movie with completely unexpected twists every 2 to 4hrs, making the anticipation even higher! Our team members George and Stavros, completely alert during that whole time, shared a mind-blowing weather analysis, forecast and scenarios for which should be our next move.

weather routing

As George quoted “as Yvonne Chuinard so rightly put it: "It's not an adventure until something goes wrong...!!” Haha!! So true!

So this is it! The adventure has already begun! We are almost there! Dimitris’s 3 cats have already moved in with us (hubby and me) and of course mum and dad as always supportive, helped with the final packing! So proud!

#cannibalsadventureteam final packing with parents