Sunday 16th

Tough day. Weather not quite as favourable as in recent days so really digging it out for every shift.  Some decent sized swells around to push us along whenever they arrived (4 – 5 m).  Local wildlife becoming more common with tuna, dorado and flying fish all making an appearance.  With +1000  miles done at this stage we are now over 1 third of the way there.  Next stop.... halfway.

Saturday 16th

No huge events to report today. Much the same as yesterday as the weather is the same and it’s the same 6 fellas pulling the oars!  Had an unexpected dousing last night when a cheeky wave came in over the side and gave us an unrequested Atlantic shower wake up call at 2 am....! Still that’s the price to pay for leaving the hatch open to let in some air into the cabin.   Weather is ideal for making decent miles and we had a good innings today , making 94 miles.  Saw our first bit of wildlife for a few days when a big fin went past the boat.  Not sure whether it was actually a shark or a dolphin but nobody was in a hurry to get in the water and check.

Friday 14th

Swell and winds very suitable for us again today so it is 'make hay while the sun shines' territory.  Aches and pains still hanging around and will do so until Barbados so in case there wasn't enough motivation to keep the foot down, that is another one!  Focus of the crew is good adn all are working hard to stay sharp on night shifts and keep the speed up.  Over the past few days most of the crew have come around to the fact that the honeymoon period of the trip is over and are settling into the reality of 3 - 4 more weeks of this routine.  Some great views out here. It occurred to me the other day that the view from the (albeit, make shift) on board toilet must be one of the best loo views in the world....!!

Thursday 13th

Swell that was predicted never arrived thankfully so instead of battling through 4 metre swells we now have good waves to surf and light north easterly winds to help us along. Crew spirits very high on account of this as we weren't fancying the idea of being soaked for 4 days from waves coming over the side of boat.  Good mileage being made again today.

Sat Jan 8th – Wednesday Jan 12th

Plenty of ship traffic to keep an eye out for but the equipment on board is great for spotting them and alerting when we are coming near any of them.  North easterlies arrived and we are now working hard to avail of these.  Dawn brings the most gusty time of the day and it takes a while for the waves to settle down to regular size and patterns.  Life in the cabin is sometimes more uncomfortable than that on the oars.  Roasting hot during the day as the hatch needs to remain closed most of the time so really hot during the day and sweaty the rest of the time...nice. Early morning and late afternoon are best times to get things done and for a rest. 

Bumpy seas are making the most basic tasks e.g. cooking, cleaning, toilet diaries etc difficult but the crew are showing strong resolve, resourcefulness, perseverance, balance and, in some cases flexibility to get things done!  Good miles being made now but over the coming days we have a swell coming down from Canada that should make for a bumpy couple of days as we try to get through that. 

Ok, gotta go and cook my freeze dried curried mince, cue drooling.

Email access is hit and miss as we always need to ensure that we have enough power in the batteries to steer the boat with the auto helm and also make water.  For those not familiar with it, the water maker machine, pumps sea water through a series of filters and it comes out fresh on the other side.  So if there is a break in blog updates you’ll know why.

Thanks to all of you for your kind messages of support and encouragement.  Given time is a premium I may not have time to reply to them all but they are really appreciated.

Note:  This morning at 10.30am, the oars were drawn in and the crew observed a minute of silence in memory of Rory Doyle who died tragically last weekend.  Rory was a long term member of, and friend to all in, Bray Rowing Club and will be deeply missed.  May be rest in peace.

Friday January 7th

Visited by Spanish search & rescue plane today check us by air and on the radio as to who we are.....they seemed satisfied that we weren’t smuggling people or drugs and after some questioning over the radio let us go on with their good wishes!! Shifts are from 12 – 2, 4 – 6 and 8 – 10.  Night sessions seem to take forever and day sessions pass relatively quickly.....relatively

Thursday January 6th

Very hard couple of sessions today, making less than 1 mile an hour in one of them!  Still, hopefully it will be worth it later on in the trip when we get some decent weather to push us along.  Weather became a bit more favourable as the day went on and got some nice north easterly winds for the night time shifts.  Had a visit from a large whale this afternoon, breached very near the boat.  Good to have the company!  Still see the lights from towns in Africa at night time, wish they would disappear...at least then it would feel like we had really left!!