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.