Friday 4th to Thursday 10th March 2005

Friday 4th March 2005
As today progressed my excitement grew. The wind shifted through north at noon, to north-northeast at 1600 and at 1800 we had northeast so I brought in the sea anchor to see what would happen. I had replaced the rudder earlier and we were ready to go. The boat began to drift west with 1.3 knots. First class. Let’s row!

Four dolphins came by earlier today but showed no interest in the boat, just passing through. The underneath of the boat is now a mobile aquarium with hundreds of small stripey fish. There is one fish which I particularly like. It doesn’t glide around like the Dorado but seems to fly like a slow-moving sparrow. It is about a foot long and has puckered lips as though made for cleaning the bottoms of boats. Perhaps it has been sent by a well-wisher but as yet the goose barnacles continue to grow and need scraping regularly. This afternoon a plane came over, circled a few times and left towards the south. I caught a curiously familiar glimpse of good quality silver gleaming from the cabin. This brought on a feeling of déjà vu which stayed with me for sometime.

Today’s breakfast was a grand bowl of special muesli with yogurt, wild berries, dates, dried apricots and banana chips. Coffee, no newspapers. Happy weekend everyone.

Trip 668 miles. Nine clicks.

Saturday 5th March 2005
My excitement yesterday was well founded. This morning the wind was still in the north but soon veered eastwards and by noon was northeast 10 knots. As the day progressed our speed crept up until later this afternoon we were bowling along at 2.7 knots. Let’s hope it stays ‘til Christmas.

The radar detector has been sounding all day but no sign of any ships. It starts off with just a short beep now and then and gets louder and more regular as the ship approaches. It was screeching like a Mynah Bird today but it must have been a stealth ship. The detector is called a ‘Sea-me’ and is made by Munro Engineering. I bought it second-hand and when I had problems wiring it in, I called Munro. I explained that it was not new and the gentleman very patiently helped me through the problem and all this on a Saturday morning. If more companies could be bothered to offer that level of customer care… contd. P114. [ view web site ]

A potentially serious problem occurred this morning at 0945 just after the Womble song and during a spoof state of the nation address by GW Bush Esq.; the remaining speaker on the music system fell silent. The snag might be fixable but I must face the possibility that the rest of the journey could be somewhat quiet. My short wave radio took a wave on board a few days ago and has not been heard from since, so no World Service. What next?

Tonight’s bulletin is dedicated to Mr David (Errol) Flynn and his colleagues from Waverley Vintners and Gallo wines who very kindly supplied the bacchanalian stocks held on board. Thank you gentlemen, your astonishingly good health.

Sunday 6th March 2005
Happy Mothers Day mums everywhere and you, Mum.

This morning the wind was from the east and at 15 to 20 knots. Perfect. I began making miles but during the afternoon I ran short of steam. Sitting around on the sea anchor for so long has softened me up somewhat, but in a few days I should be back up to fitness.

An exciting navigational moment today; we entered the box grid on my routing chart which takes us through the westbound stages all the way to Antigua. There are seven boxes to transit, each one a mental milestone.

Today was definitely for the flying critters – I spotted two new petrels, a British storm petrel and a soft plumage petrel. We were also visited by two types of shearwater but I haven’t got a definite ID on them. Centre stage today though were the first two squadrons of full size flying fish. I have only ever seen these from the deck of a large ship and I always had the impression that they just made it out of the water and skimmed about. From my best seat in the house at the greatest show on earth I can report that they fly well clear of the water achieving heights of maybe 20 feet and are very agile and aerobatic. No doubt I shall witness even more spectacular flights from them but today’s was a good starter. The Dorado are meant to prey on these fish but ours didn’t seem to notice them. I wonder if they haven’t seen them before.

On the subject of Dorado, it is becoming more likely that I will have to supplement my diet with fish as the food stocks on board might not last me all the way. We’ll give the situation consideration over the next two weeks.

The text messages you continue to send me are very welcome. Thank you all for your kind words. Thank you Mrs Trellis but I’m not sure Earlham Road qualifies as a funny place name. Henster, thanks bud, all’s ticketyboo in the B and B department. Thanks Matt and Ali, I’ll give it a try.

Trip 724. One click.

Monday 7th March 2005
Happy Birthday Kevin Bainbridge.

Good rowing conditions today but probably not the best mileage made, a bitty sort of day, I couldn’t quite get the boat on the ‘step’.

Some days are just like that. The ocean looks different every day – no two days are alike and it just feels like a different place every day. It’s a bit like driving through countryside, the features are similar but not in quite the same place. Not much in the way of wildlife today but one of the bigger Dorado did a massive leap this afternoon. They usually do a second leap, one of which I hope to catch on film.

The good news so far today is that after good advice from Matt Boreham I dried out my shortwave radio and it is back to normal (difficult to tune, will not stay on station and the alarm won’t switch off, also World Service mostly inaudible). Thanks Matt and Ali. Matt rowed in the ORS regatta last year and his wife Alison is to row in the ladies fours boat in the Woodvale/ORS race in November this year.

More good news then. This time for all of you who spend time looking for biros. You know who you are, you strongly suspect that a biro collector is in your employ or it was that greasy rep who visited the other day. Well I now know that they really do slip into another dimension. There were three biros on board when we left Gomera, no one has been on board but me – no biros remain. I can account for one, which both ran out and fell apart simultaneously. The designer deserves credit for that, no wasted effort in manufacturing there. This means that the remaining two are somewhere else in the universe or in another universe altogether. There could be a whole planet dedicated to biros. Well anyway, you don’t need to look for them anymore, they just ain’t there. Go out and buy another.

Thank you so much Denise, Geraldine, Barbara, Honour, Roberto and Larry for your kind greetings. You were the last people I saw and I am looking forward very much to seeing you all again and I will be delighted to hear you sing the Womble song in the pub. The offer of soap opera updates I politely decline but if you wish to send text messages (free) see the instructions in my diary entry for 16 Feb. [ visit www.iridium.com and click 'Send a Satellite Message' using 00881631570778 ]

Tim Welford (former Royal Marine and ocean rower) of the Blue Boar in Poole asks if my beer will last. Tim, I don’t have a drop. You couldn’t arrange a Hercules could you?

The trip reading is so far out by now it is not even worth mentioning. I will give a different figure: The nautical miles to go to Antigua 2055 nm. Seven clicks.

Tuesday 8th March 2005
Sorry, no diary entry - too busy to write!

Wednesday 9th March 2005
I keep thinking it’s Saturday.

The beard shears came out again today, I was amazed at how quickly it had grown. Maybe my increased metabolism is the cause, my nails seem to be growing faster too.

The wind has vanished, likewise any current that might have been around and the sea has turned to depleted uranium; jolly hard to row through. A very hot day also and one which should have been spent in the shade on licensed premises in an exotic location.

During last night I rowed for four hours to try to make up some miles, but it wasn’t productive enough to warrant the effort and lose the sleep. I had some interesting hallucinations; first I heard a loud crack like a gunshot out to the port forward side, later I felt something gently prod my back whilst rowing. Fascinating stuff. How does the rowing conjure up all this nonsense?

Whilst rowing I saw a fair number of commercial aircraft fly over. I must be under the usual route between Europe and South America. Once clear of this corridor I guess the next route I see will be into the Caribbean. We are now clear of the shipping lanes which skirt the Cape Verde archipelago, so the sea me has gone quiet. Peace.

A change of oars was decided upon today, with the medium weight Excel being retired in favour of the super light Bracas It is too early to tell if they will be all-rounders or just for a certain sea state but they certainly feel a lot less effort to wield than Excels or Suttons. The Suttons were my favourites when training, but the gearing’s a little heavy out here.

Thursday 10th March 2005
What a cracking day! We began with the gloomy news that we had again been blown backwards during the night, but only by three miles or so. However as dawn broke the wind suddenly changed and began picking up from the northeast. The lost miles were soon regained and we bounced merrily along all day at speeds of 2.5 knots plus. My latitude is now where I wish to be, and my longitude is now my prime concern. but going west is the main objective. Antigua lies at approximately 17 degrees north and 62 degrees west . We are less than one hundred miles north of the Antigua latitude , but two thousand miles from it’s longitude .I’m navigating with care along a line on an Admiralty routing chart which shows the favourable currents from here all the way into Antigua, but by now we all know how reliable the Trade winds and currents are! I am barley- twisting my fingers as I type.

There has been one of those giant swells today, the tops are at least half a mile apart, maybe a mile, and the whole ocean seems to tip as they pass through. It resembles driving through the Cotswolds, but you don’t drive over these hills, they lift you gently up and pass underneath you. Very soothing. When you are at the top of one of these aquatic hills you can see great distances, which would be useful were there anything to see.

The music is sadly no more. The speakers on deck are not for resuscitation and I have no earphones. The short wave radio is now the sole source of music and it is fair to say that there is not a great deal of my sort of stuff to be had. Never mind I shall just sing.

Kenneth Crutchlow of the Ocean Rowing Society tells me that we have been featured on the explorersweb.com, a large site based in New York. We extend a warm welcome to anyone visiting from that site. Please feel free to contact us with any questions or observations you may have.

If any of you live or have lived in places with unusual or funny names such as Persnickety Place then I would like to hear from you. Send a free text message via the iridium.com web site to phone no 00881631570778 If you tell me your name I will assume that you don’t mind me mentioning it in my diary. You can (and you do) send anonymous messages.

A belated happy 50^th birthday to dark horse Steve Jordan who kept it quiet.

To Antigua 1999nm. Seven clicks.

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