Ocean Date 5th March 2010

Well it’s certainly a round of ups and downs this ocean rowing! Having been so positive about good progress, overall yesterday proved a hard day.

Well it’s certainly a round of ups and downs this ocean rowing! Having been so positive about good progress, overall yesterday proved a hard day. Norman had one session on the oars where he felt very weary and with the miles not clocking up so rapidly felt even worse when you are trying hard to push on! As there where larger waves yesterday the stern hatch to the cabin was closed because of the possibility of waves spilling. The cabin is fairly hot without the through flow of air. So rest times were hard, as you ended up in the sun all the time outside. James decided to have a sleep with his head at the main cabin hatch end, this hatch was open as it was away from the waves, but he got too hot and ended up feeling rough for a while. So between us we both had our moments! We both feel it was partly the result of not sleeping so well the previous night and just finding ourselves a little more fatigued.

To cap it all in the late evening when the waves had died down Norman was trying to get a quick nap before his first night shift and had the stern hatch open to get some air through. Unfortunately a rogue wave caught the stern so we had a good splash of water enter illegally! Fortunately the quick dry towel over the mattress took the worst along with Norman! We managed a laugh afterwards, as Norman thought of the line from Shrek where they approach the castle guarded by the dragon and donkey smells the brimstone ‘I had my mouth open and everything!’ It was a bit like that Norman got a mouth full of sea water and everything! The waterproof mattress from Goacher Sails proved its worth and no real harm done – just a further knock at the end of a difficult day. However, laughter is a good remedy and we went into the night time row determined to make a good job of it.

We are closing down on the 50 degree West mark, with 166 nautical miles to go we should be there on Monday 7th. Our sights then move to the 500 miles to go post.

Special mention for Vicky McDougall – her school in Sheffield are raising funds for WaterAid today, activitie include a non stop rowing machine relay! All the best from ‘Beech Boys’ and a Hoot of Praise. Other Hoots of Praise for Katie and DB and Jude and Doug for your regular emails – thanks. Thanks also to Alex and team at University of Birmingham Sport. Kat at WaterAid – thanks for your emails and encouragement.

Finally if you are getting in supplies of jammie dodgers for the 500 to go celebration, it looks as though we may have to switch to jelly babies at this end, ships biscuit ration is running low!

Have a great weekend! Blog updates for weekend to be posted Monday 8th March.