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.