it's a beautiful day...enjoy
Row Across The Pond
Richard Hoyland and Steve Coe
Sun 24 Jan 2010 10:37
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Richard here for a change kicking off the blog, got to the
keyboard first as I've changed my patten so that I blog early out of the heat of
the day. Why didn't I think of this sooner, doh!
Although moods change on the boat, today I'm in a really
positive state of mind...assuming that we've got a 60 day journey or less to
make it across (a big assumption I know)..then today we are 1/3 of the way
across and in 10 days (yes, only 10 days) we will be halfway in time terms. I
know this is all guesswork but plese allow me this indulgence as we have so few
others. I see the jouney a bit like climbing a mountain and the first half is
the going up
with the second half coming down, towards home
:-)
Not that the mountain analogy extends to freewheeling down
hill to the finish line...that would be just too convenient. For the time being
we have strong winds driving us in the right direction...we think they may be
trade winds...but who are we to know. Great advice from Cath Allaway yesterday
(cheers matey) to take each day at a time in terms of weather and make the best
course you can on what is around at the moment. You can go crazy planning
against forecasts that never materialise or have differences in your local area.
Wise words. p.s. don't ever trust the daily weather texts...sorry woodvale
;-)
Because of the potential for headwinds in 3 days time I spent
the morning shift tying down equipment on the decks so that it doesn't get
blown/washed over if we have to go on the para anchor. The oars are securely
fitted low down on the deck and bottles/persoanl equipment stored away. As a
rule of thumb we have two ways of improving our safety in big winds,
* we deploy the para anchor from the front of the boat to stop
us going backwards if we have a headwind (this is a large underwater
parachute)
* we deploy a smaller drogue from the stern of the boat if the
wind/waves are going in the right direction but are a little strong. It keeps
the stern into the waves and slows us down, to make it alot safer (looks like a
witches hat or pointy bucket)
To date we have used both during lighter winds and they work a
treat, so don't worry those at home we've got ways of making this journey as
safe as houses.
It's 'boatmass eve' today and we will have our
second christmas tomorrow...can't wait as we have a locker full of prezzies
(Lou, none of these look like a PS3???). This is a significant milestone
for us...depite coming a month late due to the hold up in La Gomera due to
the weather.
Jake and Ben, I'm hoping we wont get surrounded by great
whites sharks...although apparently the one we saw could have been a great white
as some of the shark spotters said they came in brownish colours too. Not sure
whether they live round these parts though. We see loads of massive fish
following the boat which are laser blue Dorado and the number of small flying
fish is increasing, the deck is spotted with them at the end of a night shift.
No more dolphins spotted, they've realised that we are np fun, the kinds of
speeds we can reach. Still hoping for a whale....and more sharks
:-)
Katie Dieteren, grest to hear from you in sunny texas,
unfortunately we can't pick up arttachments to emails out here due to the
limited bandwidth on satellite phones...so to answer your questions, out of
context no bears and lots of duct tape :-)
Jacqueline and David, reassure my mum that you are correct, the most menace
out here is from that rowing seat...it's a killer! The boat slips beautifully
well over the big waves and it's ballasted correctly, so this baby ain't
tipping. I always make the point of wearing my full harness and lifejacket at
night and in rough daytimes...safety first.
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