A bum deal: why finding the right seat padding is the key to success

You can't row if you can't sit down - so make sure you have cushioning that eases the pressure on your butt and helps prevent sores

There is no escape from having a sore butt in ocean rowing. You will be sitting on it for 12 hours a day, if not more. As the weeks wear on, it can start to feel like your bones themselves are grinding against the seat – even when you have several layers of cushioning in between. It’s just like the Princess and the Pea.

The Mothership rowed in Mrs Nelson – the prototype R45 – and the seats, while sturdy, were deeply uncomfortable. Even when doing training rows, we had to take layers with us. Rannoch have now designed new ergonomic cushioned seats, which look more like a traditional rowing seat, with a squodgy (that’s a technical term) seat cover.

They look like a vast improvement on the old ones – although I have been told that extra cushions are still required. Some crews also go the whole hog and have entire seats built for the crossing – in 2021 Dutch crew Row for Impact invested in some that looked rather like thrones. (Made by KS Custom Seating).

2021’s Row for Impact used specially designed seats for their crossing ©Row For Impact

As well as seats and cushions, there are other things to beware of when it comes to looking after your bum on the crossing. Mostly importantly DON’T FORGET THE SUDOCREM. I say this because we FORGOT THE SUDOCREM.

Or rather, as Thor the medic was telling us we were the most disorganised crew he’d ever met, he cast aside our tubs of Sudocrem and kept the tubes. Only it turned out the tubes were a simpler product intended to moisturise baby bottoms. Not entirely useless, but no good for curing sore bottoms.

The other problem we encountered was with the mesh lining of our lighter weight foulies. I think these foil foulies are now deemed too lightweight but the issue for us was not insufficient protection, but the fact the mesh trouser lining ripped my bum in particular to shreds.

In the final week, I kept falling off my seat, troubled by bum pain and weight loss, and, I realised on the last day, exacerbated by the fact I was rowing in socks and the footstraps had become clogged with salt and hard to tighten.

As I’ve mentioned before, when we arrived in Antigua, ocean rowers’ bottom syndrome was real. I’ve never seen so many sags and wrinkles on a beach.

How can future ocean rowers avoid this terrible fate? Here are my cushion recommendations – and thanks also to the reader who asked for advice, I’d love to get more feedback on what you want to hear about next.