Progress has come to a halt, the southerly winds we were being promised for Friday have kicked in and we are now on sea anchor. I suppose it had to happen at some stage but it looks like we could be on it for the next 4 days!
The funny thing is the weather is actually not too bad the sun is shining and we have a nice warm southerly breeze of about 15-20 knts and the calmest sea we have seen in over a week. The problem is we need to go south and the wind is just a bit to strong so although we rowed through the night making slow progress (1mph or less) the wind picked up this morning and started to push us backwards. So at 1100 am after making only 35 miles for the previous 24 hours the decision was made to deploy the sea anchor.
A sea anchor is essentially a large parachute which we stream off the front of the boat and it then catches water and slows our drift. We are now ironically drifting backwards on the same bearing we rowing all night on at a rate of about 1 mph. If we are on anchor for the next 4 days we will drift at least 100 miles north thus undoing the last 2 days of rowing.
So the routine is gone out the window and we have to find some way of entertaining ourselves and not getting cabin fever.
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I suppose when you are at sea anchor doing nothing, think of all of us slogging it out at work with these dark feb days, and wishing we were bobbing up and down in the sun in a boat! Savour these moments as you will only have them for a while and then your trip will be over having reached your destination and you will be back to work before you know it! Savour them!! Adam
Mike reading brian wilsons book ‘Dances with waves’ at the moment…saw this and thought of you…’now I shall take my boat again and row out through the grey rain and the cold salt blaze of sun. I shall rock out the loneliness the silence that is no man’s business till the winds open and let me pass to the sudden crying of a hundred gulls.’Take it easy.
More horror stories please – gimme Dead Calm, gimme Perfect Storm, gimme Love Actually! Excuse me, ignore that last one.
I am so enjoying your quest. Curious why no video? I can’t imagine what it looks like to be sitting in your little boat in swelling waves.
Incredibly proud of you Mike and the rest of the crew. You’ve done in 16 days what few if any of us will ever do, you should be incredibly proud of all you have done so far. We are delighted to be associated with the project and are busy singing your praises to all who will listen. We follow the updates and congrats for not running out of stuff to talk about (As if that was ever going to happen) Dig in now, I know the toughest days are out there, lurking somewhere, but I also know you are more than a match for them. Be safe, we look forward to talking to you soon.
keep it up jonesy whats a rowing trip without drifting backwards a few hundred km