It's a merry second christmas from the boat 19:30.525N 30:35.530W

Row Across The Pond
Richard Hoyland and Steve Coe
Mon 25 Jan 2010 18:11
Good day , this is captain coe, Ahhhhh, I would like to introduce my fellow Co captain Mr Richard Hoyland  who is currently on the controls and our newly instated stewarddess, Marina. If there is anything you need or have any questions please press the overhead button and I'm sure you will be ignored or be treated like a second class citizen, at best. Please be considerate to Marina at all times as she is a little deflated and for the moment  is located at the stem of the craft having a bit R&R working on the sun tan. Ahhhhh, if i may take this opportunity to thank you for choosing to read our Blogg and if at any time you feel sick please do so using your own facility.This is a budget tour operator and no longer caters for the basic essentials. Ahhh, we are currently experiencing very pleasant weather and temperatures are mid thirties with a light tail wind and I can advise until we enter into the acceleration zone we anticipate consistent speeds of approx 2 knots. Ahhhhh, we are currently at an altitude of 1 m, that is head height, although technically we are at sea 'level', (I wish it was, just for a minute) Ahhhh, the forecast in our destination resort is very pleasant and typically 30 degrees with a light on shore breeze. Ahhh however this is totally meaningless as again due to ongoing onboard disputes and delays due to the wrong type of snow/rain/fuel/wheel/tie/wave or just about anything you can think of, we do not anticipate arrival until late February/early March. We welcome feedback and if you to care log any comments or complaints in an email we will do our very best to reply. 
Fact. thickness of the skin of out boat, 12mm
Fact. depth of water 3840m. and i'm not prepared to prove it...
please note some of the contents of this blogg are ficticious... 
 
Am I losing the plot?  absolutely.. thats not part of the fictisious bit...! mmm 
 
That leaves me, Richard, to deal with some of the more factual elements of today. I'm sure regular readers will have picked up the fact that we should have originally been at this point somewhere around Christmas of 2009. Severe weather systems in the Atlantic delayed the race by a month, so we delayed Christmas,as we had all our presents in the boat. Today was the day :-)
We opened cards and presents from friends, family and colleagues and got a new stack of photos to keep us going. The usual array of undies and shower gel was this year the most welcome presents you could get...no point arriving in Antigua smelling too bad. (Great presents from Lou and Claire). Thanks to the guys at Bupa for bubbly, sweets and for the little flashing duck that will sit out on deck from now on. A great present from my mum...10 scratchcards, one each day until the halfway point...I've promised Steve that if we win I'll charter a flying boat to pick us up ;-) Pride of place was a cuddly toy from the Ben, Freya and Willow which is sitting in the cabin, cheers guys :-) One of Lou's presents can only be described face to face, let's just say Steve's reference to Marina will give you a clue....my missus did great and it's been a big morale boost (got a dehydrated 'grow your own' superyacht, to escape the boat...will set about adding water to that later). So we had an hour off to open presents...a precious hour away from the oars....then...
we forgot that we had the BBC dialling in to do an interview..time kinda slips by here...so Nick from the BBC dials up and we're chatting nicely about sharks, shift patterns etc. when he mentions family and whether I am missing them...Well this was too much for me to take, so if you want to hear a grown man sounding like a complete softie, dial into BBC Radio Southern Counties, Tuesday 7 - 10am....or catch it online via the BBC radio website. Don't worry I can take the flak :-) I can admit it, the time out here is hard and it just takes one comment to spark things off. In reality we are doing well and boat/crew are fine...stiff upper lip.
One important bit of news is that, we're turning the corner and the prevailing winds are driving us on to Antigua....we're heading home (well not really home, but you know what I mean). Next stop Rum and Coke with Lou in a beachside bar then Steak&Chips with Ice Cream for pud.
 
Gabriel, you are so right about this whole journey, just like eating an elephant...piece by piece...we're just about above the knees by now, will keep eating
 
I hope all the crews that set off are doing fine? We've not seen anyone on the AIS for a long while now and had VHF contact with no one for a week or more. It makes you realise just how big this ocean is that you can't see another soul for a week and counting.
 
anyone wishing to email us can do so visiting our web site and click into contact us box
or
 
Iggy, looking forward to the jokes...you've got a tough job to keepup with the cheesy ones from Annie, the varied ones from Gabriel and the Aussie ones from Pete. March on the mighty Citeh :-)