How do you sleep when the ocean's elements are against you? Taking part in one of the most extraordinary endurance races on earth, Aoife McSorley is part of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race on the GOSH Team (Great Ormond Street Hospital) yacht, raising awareness for the hospital’s life-changing work with children and their families.
Currently in Korea, Aoife is next heading across the Pacific all the way to Seattle. We had the privilege of checking in with her on the trip so far.
Ava Innes is proud to be a small part of this momentous journey, embarking on GOSH Team’s yacht. Aoife takes with her natural comfort essentials from Ava Innes, supporting her sleep wellness throughout the race.
Ava Innes: You survived the Roaring 40’s in some of the most challenging conditions found at sea. What kept you going on those wet, cold days?
Aoife: The team was the real driving factor. Everyone is looking out for one another and driving each other on. When you are woken up at 4am and trying to peel yourself out of your warm sleeping bag to put on all the already wet layers, it’s really looking around seeing everyone else doing the same, usually with a joke or two about how miserable it is that really pushes you forward.
Ava Innes: How often do you get to sleep?
Aoife: We sleep and work on a watch system. Two 6 hour watches during the day and three 4 hours at night. This last leg was so cold it took about 40 mins to get in and out of all the layers, so during the night watches at the worst we were getting about 2 hours sleep.
Ava Innes: What is it like sleeping when the boat is moving through large waves?
Aoife: It’s funny down-below, you don’t really have much of an idea what it’s like above. It’s noisy and bumpy most of the time and sometimes the boat heals more than usual but it can be very hard to tell what’s going on upstairs. It’s like two different worlds existing in parallel. You're usually so exhausted that as soon as you lie down in bed you fall asleep.
Ava Innes: What comforts do you have?
Aoife: My main comfort is my sleeping bag. It was such a treat to get into it, especially in the wet, cold nights. I put a pair of Ava Innes cashmere socks in the bottom of the bag so that they stayed dry and when I got into bed with freezing feet they really brought my feet back to life. They were one of the best treats I've had on this trip. It was what I looked forward to most when we were getting battered by 6 to 8m freezing cold waves. Just knowing my feet would be warm and dry in a couple of hours pushed me through.
Ava Innes: You're over half way round the world now – how does it feel to be apart of this challenge?
Aoife: It still feels surreal to be part of the race. I think it will only really sink in once we finish. I have to keep my head down and continue to work together as a team, and hopefully we can make a great race back home.
Track Aoife and GOSH Team’s progress here.
