Fish and Tunes 20:15.363N 28:04.501W

Row Across The Pond
Richard Hoyland and Steve Coe
Fri 22 Jan 2010 15:40
Day 19 on the little yellow boat...
we receive many emails of encouragement, support and advice, but there is one particular email which i must share with,,, Now, I must confess, and confession it is too, he is a *(sort) of friend of mine but he obviously felt the need to educate me as to how to recognise where the stars were,,, Well thanks for telling me they were above me if i look upwards at night and they are the shiny things, oh unless they were moving which makes them a satelite or plane..... thanks Graham,,, I will refrain from sharing too much detail of breading flying fish on the deck of our boat which may generate so much caviar the boat will slow down,, enough said! We have a positive identification on the spooky grumpy fish harrassing us whilst cleaning the boat.. were are pretty sure they are dorado and they make pretty good eating.. I cant quite get my mind around catching one of these and dealing with it in a suitable way for eating,, the creatures were pretty big and looked like a handfull... something more akin to a sardine might be better,,, but two things, i only know what they look like in a tin and dont know if they live in these parts anyway. Whilst cleaning then undersideof the boat ofl little marine creatures clinging on for a free ride,I have to say i did feel a bit scared of these large sea creatures whatching me (not just Richard) I guess what i was more scared of is what i couldn't see........... Every so often I would look around to check  nothing was there... oh but there was! Dorado staring at me... I nearly dropped the scraper which reminded me that its not just a case of swim down and retireve.... this is many thousands of metres deep... Visibilty in the water is clear and you can perhaps see for 20 metres or so.. enough distance to see what is on its way so as to make a speedy retreat and scramble back into the boat, legs kicking and flaying to get back on board before... tea. 
 
Quick inventory of all things on board, evrything EXCEPT-
1 x hat Richards
1 x bungee
1 x filter for protein drinks
1 x tub of carbohydrate drink                        all else present...   
 

And from Richard....
On the long days and nights, we spend lots of the time listening to our ipods (not so much steve) and mostly have them on random, so you get a real mixture of music popping up..
 
Most inappropriate - Ghosts by Japan, during a particularly spooky and sleep deprived night..this song choice could drive you to madness. Frankly it could drive you to madness during the daytime...no wonder they didn't last beyond the 80's.
 
Most uplifting - today the waves are building and the sun is blinding and Michael Jackson, She's out of my Life came on from Off the Wall....I almost forgive him for all his years of being a weirdo for this moment, cheer MJ :-)
Maybe this whas what James Cracknell meant by the journey will change you life in unexpected ways...this was unexpected.
 
Most sure to boost your daily mileage numbers - The Prentender by the Foo Fighters...by jingo I'll have the boat surfing like to speedboat to this little number. Watch the miles to Antigua just flutter away...
 
Inspirational - I always get loads of stick for this one, but I stand by it...Life's What you Make It by Talk Talk...naff, but sometimes it just captures the moment :-)
 
From the mails/txts we have coming in...
Cath I can totally confirm that you are right, it's cold at night out here. Who would have thought it but by the late night shifts there is a condensation that builds up across the boat and it can chill you right down.
Emma and Jake, we'll keep you updated on any other sharky escapades and keep watching the Jaws movies, if you dare!
Thanks for confirming that the trade winds do seem to be blowing around 19 degrees North...phew, just a couple of days to get there now :-)