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Friday 25th February 2005
Happy 60th birthday Roger Cawdron.
Mixed fortunes today with the wind – we had a westerly for all of the morning and I tried several times to get some use from it but in the end I had to concede and did a food inventory instead. I made some discoveries:
Three jars of peanut butter tightly wrapped in duct tape to prevent breakage (These were inherited from last year’s race and were in a container I had left in La Gomera.)
Also in said box were five kilos of good muesli, some tinned food and all of the gas I need for my stove. All very useful but the peanut butter is a valuable treat.
Three packs of olives, two jars of mayonnaise, one jar of almogrote, one malt loaf.
It doesn’t sound much but these goodies will go a long way. Almagrote is a delicious paste from the Canary Isles. It is made from parmesan, garlic, red peppers and vegetable oil. I intend to try making it myself when I return home.
At 1500 a faint breeze began to blow from the east! The oars were immediately started and I rowed until 2000 when the breeze died away. The forecast for the next few days is dire but I intend to see if it becomes true before I get gloomy about it. These things are not really reliable.
Thank you Scottish Courage for the kind message today and thanks to everyone who sends me texts – they are all very welcome and keep me a throshin’.
Trip 617 miles. Nine clicks.
Saturday 26th February 2005
This morning was another beauty. The sea was glass, there was not a breath of wind and again a stunning silence. I began rowing and enjoyed the stillness for most of the day. The sea is still smooth this evening – I hope for a good night’s sleep.
Last night I dined on freeze-dried lasagne with meat sauce. I could not believe how good it was. So, I hear you ask, how many of these priceless gems do you have on board? Well actually, that was the only one. Due to time restraints I was unable to adequately source and sample the full range of freeze-dried foods available so my range is somewhat limited.
My second favourite food is curry. So, how many curries do you have on board Tiny? 30? 40? 50? Well actually it is a zero. A big fat zero. I could list many foods that would have been easy to buy and stow on board and which would have been very welcome but for some reason were omitted. However that is the way it happened and I shall have to look forward to my goodies at home.
ORS trip 704. My trip 629. Three clicks. Scallops.
Sunday 27th February 2005
The wind woke me at 1am. Fifteen knots of wretched westerly – big boy deployed. Ho hum. I keep telling myself sooner or later this must change but it keeps looking like later. We are now 150 miles or so north of the westernmost Cape Verde island and on the springboard of the crossing itself. I just want to get cracking.
I keep seeing large tankers and bulk carriers so I must exercise vigilance at night. They come within a couple of miles so they are a significant danger. Once I am clear of the island and the main shipping routes the traffic should thin out and I will sleep easier. The main problem with the ships is the bow wave. To be struck square on by the ship itself would be unlikely but the bow wave will overturn a rowing boat very easily. Ask Sam Knight (ORS regatta 2004).
This morning breakfast was scrambled eggs, bacon, beans and coffee.
Trip 631. One click.
Monday 28th February 2005
We drifted backwards again last night. That made us 5 miles east of our Saturday night position. I began rowing but could not make any way against the westerly wind so the sea anchor went out again. I spent the morning cleaning out the snakepit and the bearpit, shifting weight from forward to aft and doing some laundry. At noon a bulk carrier came within half a mile but as he approached I recovered the sea anchor and began rowing. I was able to make about one knot with the wind at ninety degrees, very awkward but I managed to regain a lost mile or two. At 1500 I was exhausted and took a small siesta on the sea anchor. By 1600 I had lost a mile again so began rowing. At 1845 I put out the sea anchor and called it a day – still two miles behind Saturday.
Dinner was a scrummy long grain and wild rice pilaff from Mountain House. With it came a sachet of parmesan cheese and I noticed that is was made by Fargento Foods Inc of No. 1 Persnickety Place, Plymouth, Wisconsin. I love names like Persnickety, so if any of you live in a place with an unusual name please let me know and I’ll give it a mention.
Norman, the clicks number at the end of my bulletins refers to the number of times I have to squeeze the quartz ignitor in order to fire up my recalcitrant gas stove. Funny you should mention it today.
Trip 642. Forty-three clicks.
Tuesday 1st March 2005
Happy birthday Fizz.
At 1100 this morning the awful truth dawned. We are in the grips of an eddy or a counter-current. I rowed from 0800 to 0930 and then I had to break for a while to do a job during which I put out the sea anchor. By 1100 we had been taken east two miles. There was very little wind so it must be current. I rowed all day until now, 2100, and I intend to row on and off through the night and tomorrow to try to get us away from it. The forecast is very light winds so we should be able to make about 1.2 knots. I measured the current to be 0.7 knots. The elements have certainly done whatever they wish to me, I wonder when it might be something of use. The temperature continues to increase and I wear fewer clothes. The mornings are quite bearable and this evening I am able to row wearing only a T-shirt. Have no fear madam, it is very dark.
This evening when scraping out my bowl and washing my spoon a Dorado leapt up and bit the spoon. It must have looked like a fish to him. I wondered where they had all gone yesterday, until I dragged in the sea anchor and they all sheepishly followed it back.
Thank you for your message Scrannon and Anne. Please tell his nibs, greetings from the ocean, and congratulations on his wedding plans – I only heard today.
Trip 652. Sixteen clicks.
Wednesday 2nd March 2005
Last night I rowed ferociously until midnight and managed to clear the eddy. I noticed the boat’s speed increase to 1.9 knots by 2300 and guessed that we were clear; another half hour for safety and we were done. It was calm during the night but we even managed to drift half a mile west and two miles north. This morning however everything changed again with a 20 knot south westerly which has been keeping us on the sea anchor all day and has taken back at least three of last night’s hard-won miles. I have no comment.
I spent the day very constructively looking for Wally in one of the books my daughter Sophie gave me. Wally is a stripey character who carries a pile of books and is fiendishly difficult to find amongst the hundreds of people and goings-on in a large double page drawing. The drawings themselves are entertaining enough with different themes and a vast amount of detail so once you have found Wally you must then find some of his friends and pieces of their kit. You may have gathered that this book is for children and you will need photo ID at bookshops in order to buy it, but it keeps me amused for ages. By the time I have found the third or fourth personal item I have forgotten where Wally is and have to start again.
I’d like to dedicate tonight’s bulletin to the Welsh quarter in the Alex. I hope you had a good birthday Fizz and thank you to all of you who are keeping my daily positions updated.
Trip 656. No clicks – too rough to cook.
Thursday 3rd March 2005
Last night was mayhem: high seas, the boat being flung about and the rudder crashing from side to side. It was too rough to have any hatches open and I slept very little.
Today I decided to try something different. The forecast is that these westerlies will be north easterlies by Saturday, so with the prospect of two more nights on the big boy, I removed the rudder and cast out all the remaining rope that secures the big boy to the boat. Result: the rudder noise has gone and the boat rides much more steadily up and over the waves because she points more to windward. Jackpot! Now why didn’t I think of that weeks ago?
I’ve become all excited about Saturday. Three different forecasters agree that the Trades will return and I shall be on my way. I plotted the journey on my routing chart and I need to go west for one hundred miles to reach the optimum current for the passage to Antigua. If I get this right, the second part of the trip could be much quicker than hitherto.
Tomorrow then will be big preps day, greasing seat runners, getting snacks and drinks stashed, consuming calories, scraping the barnacles from the hull and charging various batteries. It will be like setting off all over again, I wonder if a Dorado or dolphins will wave me off? I feel rooted to the spot here.
My music system continues to keep me happy but one of the speakers on deck has gone duff, so I can only listen with one ear. There is something a little unreal about singing Womble songs at the top of your voice into an empty ocean. Environmental Health will be round soon.
I am advised that matrons do exist in the modern world and I may be asked to account for myself to members of the Royal College of Nursing. I know enough about nursing to be aware that you don’t mess with the RCN. Gosh!
Today’s bird was a Cory’s Shearwater and I think the Great Shearwater I saw the other day may well have been a Cory’s. Today’s came closer and was better identified.
I’m taking this as a good omen too – one click. Trip 659.
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