Finally.....
Red Arrow
Rich Hume & Tom Barnes
Sun 28 Feb 2010 20:33
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Hello everybody,
Guess who.....? It me!
So, we are moving again. YES!!!! I've come to
realise all my low points are when we have stopped or are looking like we are
about to. The problem is that during this race we have had to stop far more
times than in previous races. TWO and half weeks in total we have spent on
the anchor or moving so slowly that we prehaps should have been. Never has a
race been so slow, other than charlie but like i say, we are moving and at least
there hasnt been a period where we have been on anchor and our rivals have
not.......yet at least.
The last 24 hour period has been just amazing,
exactly what i wanted to experience out of this trip. We had dolpins that were
great but not with us for long and then in the evening was where it became
special. The way our shifts have worked out, after we changed them when tom was
having his bad patch at 2am till 4 has ment that i havent seen a sunset or
sunrise whilst rowing yet. But last night, as the sun was setting over my
shoulder, the moon was rising right ahead of me. A full monn that is, the sort
that keeps the night as bright as the day all night long. On top of that, it was
so calm you almost didnt want to put your oar in the water as you didnt want to
disturb the surface. It should now be with us for a few days atleast. We also
did 54 miles and although have slowed slightly today, would like to think we can
do 50. Its 8.25 now and we have 599 to run.
On top of this, as we continue to move west,
eventually i will get a few days where i see the sun rise and the sun set,
should be pretty cool.
I spoke to sam, an old cranleighian as well
yesturday, and he is doing well dispite still having 1130 miles to run. That
must be hard. But he told us that he had heard that many of the boats ahead of
us had or where running out of food. If your reading this as friends of the
boats ahead, we took all 90 days with us and although we have chucked alot
of the food that goes off in june overboard, we still have about 35 days of food
each left. If they want some, they can come and get it, we wont see it as
assistance, but you have to give us your race position. Any
takers.....?
Ok, thats it really, no big boats and no other
major problems. We thought we did have one as we werent able to power our
batteries very well over the last few days, as it turns out, when we run our
water maker at 12noon, the sun is actually 4 hours behind that and so very weak.
Today we didnt run anything until 4pm and it was all fine, we even have music
going now, and its 8.30!!!! Its also very very hot and even hotter in the cabin.
About 100 degrees i would say and maybe 110-115 in the cabin. Thank god we can
jump into the sea, which is becoming a regular for both of us, maybe tomorrow we
will see if we can touch the bottom! and thank god we have a water maker
that makes 25 litres an hour as we are drinking loads. Some boats have machines
that make 4 litres per hour! Different ball game.
I hope you guys have had a good weekend, speak to
you on tuesday.
Rich
ps, we are having a few problems getting on line
some days, if there is no blog, please dont think we have sunk. We maywell have
sunk, but give it a few days before you start to
worry......!!!!
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