So we are getting close to our next milestone and the other evening, whilst rowing under the stars, I managed to fall asleep and continued to row. I was abruptly woken when my pace became out of sync with Ralph and our oars clashed. It was at that point rowing had now become a subconscious act so I must have done over 10,000 stokes.

It is estimated that each rower on board will do ~750,000 (15,000 per day) stokes at about 22 per minute. At the end of this crossing in total Ralph in his ocean rowing career would have done 8 million stokes.

Our next goal is to reach the 1100 mile waypoint by 06:00 on Wednesday 22nd March. If we achieve this then we would have completed 1/3 of the crossing and have a target ETA of completing in 47.5 days. Let's all cross our fingers and wish us luck!!

Funny moments on board

Ralph - woke up and got ready for his watch change, sat down in the rowing position and had a conversation with Niall about the weather. He then proceeded to ask where are the Oars? Niall replied in front of you. #SleepDeprived

Clément - Niall pointed out the Jellyfish with the Sail like techno violet spine. Clément replied I thought they were solar powered remote GPS weather sensors. #ITGeek

Niall - Ralph drop some friends off at the pool and Clément mentioned how orange they were. Meanwhile Niall says Ralph why are you throwing carrots overboard.

Colin - unfortunately at the moment I am not able to keep up with the European Comedians on board. There is still time...

In other boat news

The mythical trade winds have finally arrived, last night we had 15 - 25knts wind and hitting average boat speed of 4.7knts. It was the first time we all wanted to continue rowing past our 2hour watch.

The mystery of the missing Protein powder has been resolved. The last 2 weeks Ralph has been searching every nook and cranny for his protein powder that he asked to be packed on board. After noticing the boat was not balanced I took the opportunity to reorganise the food store in the bilges. After 30mins of removing almost 600 bags of food these metal cans started to shine. I have now cut a deal that I get his chocolate rations as a finders fee.

We have now got the batteries back up to good levels and learnt our lessons on when and how long to run the water maker for.

We are due to have a watch rotation from Tuesday 21st so I will be rowing with Clément and Niall will be rowing with Ralph for the following week. Maybe this is time for the French lessons to start...

So back to the oars now but please remember whilst I am taking the time to dig deep and find the courage to take on this challenge, there are others that need our support. Please can you find the time to spread the word and show your support by making a donation to one of the charities I have chosen to support.


From Colin's blog