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!!

5th January

Finally commenced the trip as we set out from Tarfaya at 1.30. A small group of interested fishermen and tourists were there to see us off. Seas were very calm and we made good progress all afternoon and into the night.  Very calm and foggy.  Could see the lights from the Canaries and also from Africa on the horizon, very pleasant nights rowing but that is likely to be the best we get it.  Hoping for good winds tomorrow night but are unsure what sort of weather to expect between now and then.  Weather is hot during the day but the evenings can still be a bit chilly. Crew working well together and the 3 days together at sea have ironed out a lot of the teething problems in advance of the start of the main row.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

January 4th

Woke today and did a much needed cleanup of the boat.  Our arrival has caused a bit of a stir here and we have had plenty of visitors over to the boat all day.  The town itself is a small fishing town with a huge wall at the outskirts to keep the Sahara desert out,  mad!  The boat is in good shape now and the crew is stqrting to knot well.  Maybe the 3 days at sea were q blessing in disguise and exactly what we needed.  We leave tomorrow to start the trip.  Am off now for a final night of comfortable sleep in a real bed before a month of sharing cabin space with 5 other delightfully smelling gents.

January 3rd

Settling in now to the routine on board. Today we had very calm seas which made for hard miles on the oars.  We were hoping to make Tarfaya in daylight but ended up arriving at 9 at night and thankfully met some fishermen coming out of the harbour who gave us a tow in to the port. That was the end of our 220  mile warm up and once customs had been met, we settled down for a much appreciated full 7 hours sleep.

January 2nd

The food that we had brought for the trip has been abandoned and we have started in on the proper food contained in the daily ration packs.  Each one of these consists of 1 breakfast meal, 2 dinner meals, a large bar of chocolate, a packet of peanuts, biscuits and a cuppa soup.  Some people dont like all the items in the packs but I have no trouble finishing mine off......  The rowing was slower today due to flat seas.  We did hqve some night time visitors last nigth as a school of dolphins swam with us in the dark.

January 1st

Unfortunately we could not get the engine started today so we will have to row the 220 miles to Tarfaya.  Things are a bit disorganised on board and there is a lot of unnecessary baggage and weight to get rid of when we get into port.  We got calm water today but tonight the seas picked up again.  Some of the lads have been seasick but I have managed to dodge that bullet so far!  The routine of 2 hours rowing and 2 hours sleeping will take everyone some time to get used to but everyone is doing it with a smile on their face which is important.

December 31st

All the crew has arrived safe and sound in Agadir.  Final preparations on the boat took place yesterday and we got out for a short sea trial in the afternoon.  A bit rusty but that will improve:  Today we have one final adjustment to make to the boat and if this can be done quickly we will leave today to take the boat under engine to Tarfaya which is about 300 km to the south.  This journey should take about 40 hours.  There we will drop off the engine and some equipment before starting the row:  The crew is getting to know each other a bit better at this stage and the snoring ability of one member is something to witness....Apart from, that all is going well...the boat is very well prepared...the weather looks good for the the next few days....the bags are packed.....so next stop New Years Eve at sea...then Tarfaya and then we are off.  Happy new year everyone.