Thank you to Green energy for their support of the row, also to Maydencroft Rural and Bakers and Larners. Thanks to Mum and Emily for coming out to visit me on arrival. To all of you who wrote messages of support thank you. I may not have replied to you but i have certainly read them and they were a massive source of inspiration. To Ian Cannonier, the website has been great and integral to people understanding and following the row. Without your efforts the communication of the row would have broken down and been a loss to me and everyone following. To Heath Mount staff, parent and pupils your support has been amazing and i look forward to talking to you all soon. I hope the school has really benefitted from it. I dont quite know what the effect of it has been but i guess i will find out tomorrow. Finally thank you to the boys on the boat. It has been an absolute pleasure. It is sad it is over but I have made some amazing friends. No doubt we will reminise and plot new adventures.No doubt our lives will be brighter because of it. To Leven a big thank you. It is a hell of a thing to organise an expedition like this. It has fulfilled my expectations and so much more. I have a feeling we will be pulling the oars in the not too distant future!

A final quote which i read every day

“I would rather be ashes than dust!

I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot.

I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.

The function of man is to live, not to exist.

I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them.

I shall use my time.”
Jack London

Livar Nysted
Livar is from the faroe islands. He is an experienced ocean rower and this is clear to see. His previous voyages have seen success and failure and therefore he is an ideal role model for the new rowers offering sound advice here and there. Livar is extremely loyal to his skipper and passionate about his fellow crew member. He shows a cool head in precarious situations and is a powerful rower. Livar is also famous for quotes including “topical thunderstorms are fun. They are like roller coasters!” No doubt you will be finding out more about Livar in the future.

Peter Fleck
Aged 22 Peter is the baby of the bunch. His rugby physique make him a powerful rower. Peter is the most polite memeber of the crew and has a strong sense of respect for his elders. Sometimes Peter is too polite and finds it difficult explaining himself when he is irritated with a situation as he is worried of offending the individual. Pete has a very positive attitude at all times. He has an uncanny ability to predict the 24 hour mileage and therefore we will be visiting the dogs shortly to win lots of money. Pete enjoys the daily quizzes and often win the nautical themed questions. This is thanks to his time at sea with his uncle. It is safe to say Pete has caught the ocean rowing bug and is already planning his next voyage.

Benno Rawlinson
Benno is the most english scotsman i have met. He is a big character on this boat. He introduced the crew to his tighty whity y fronts. Apparently its how you where them. Unfortuantely many of the phots may need to be edited for younger veiwers. Benno is also very comfortable in his skin. He is most often found naked in the fore cabin revealing all.

On a more serious note Benno is a good listener. Although he has his opinions he is also able to see arguments from different perspective. He can stand back from tough times and offer wise words for the long haul. Benno has been stroke on this voyage and has had a healthy competition with Tim the other stroke. Benno always has a smile on his face and no doubt he will continue his endurance endeavours in the future.

Tim Spitieri
A loud Aussie policeman extremely passionate about rowing. Tim has learnt in this voyage that river rowing and ocean rowing are completely different sports. Having spent years perfecting his technique he above all has found it difficult to adapt to the awkquard rowing positions and the variety of rowing conditions.

Tim loves to be busy. He is full of energy and needs tasks to complete to make him happy. He has a good heart always happy to volunteer to help out in and around deck. Tim has suffered from the most pain on this trip due to an old injury. Despite this he still attends every shift on time and this is testament to his character.

Lets hope Tim raises loads of money for MS Australia which he is so passionate about.

Jan Oner
We soon agreed jan was a “chaval noir” on the boat. He is a man of many talents and he has proven espcially useful with his I.T. expertise. Jan is clearly an intelligent and ambitious young man. He has a clear direction of his future and im sure his plans will come to fruition. Jan likes to keep things tidy and has shown remarkable tolerance sharing a birth with me. Well Done old boy im sure many people have a new found respect for you.

Calum
Calum is a proud Scotsman. His skills as a yachtmaster instructor have been important on the voyage. Calum has a very proactive approach to maintaining a tidy boat. His seamanship cannot be critisied.

Friends and family are extremely important to Calum and this is reflected by the hundreds of emails he receives. His best friend however is his “Go Pro” camera. We look forward to watching the launch of his film premier. Calum is a key member of the boat quiz team. His not so subtle efforts to influence the quiz master are clever and very funny. He is also a good trader of ration pack items.

My parting comment to Calum is “well done and a great effort this last month, just remember Nougat is noo-garr and not nugget”

Leven Brown
A godfather in the ocean rowing circles. Leven is an outstanding leader of men. Imagine owning a vessel worth hundreds of thousands of pounds and then have a crew of 7 tinker and reorganise many things. Patience is one of Leven greatest strengths but he will not tolerate stupidity and inefficiency.

Leven is extremely ambitious and practically minded. He has an excellent ability to problem solve which is invaluable on the ocean. There is no doubt you will hear more about Leven in the future. He is a mans man and loves his crew and the comradeship formed between them. He leads by example and is the core reason why this voyage has been so much fun.

See everyone soon.

I love these trade conditions. We have been getting distances of 90 stat miles plus each day. Should get a ton today. It seems relatively easy compared to the rest of teh row. (I hope I am not tempting fate). The sun is out and Leven is desperately trying to get a tan. It isnt working though. We have a few people with panda eyes developed from wearing their sun glasses. Our families are assembling in Barbados. Sounds like they are having a great time. I imagine we will arrive and be more of an inconvenience to their holiday at this rate. Rations are looking good but it looks like we will hit the spares in the last 36 hours.

My next quiz question from my sister is that there are at least 10 countries with 4 letters. What are they/ Off the top of my head there is chad, oman laos, peru, iran, iraq, fiji….anymore anyone?

See you all soon

We had some slow wet days as a new front came through and finally on day 28 we got typical trade routes weather! Hooray. Looks like we will make high 90s today and possibly a ton if we are lucky. last ton was 18 days ago.

What do i mean by typical trade routes weather? strong 15-20 knt winds, a positive current, big swells helping you along and blue skies.

We have a small screen which tells us our speed. The mood on board is completely related to this. 4+ really exciting, 3.5 to 4 good, 3-3.5 a solid effort. 2.5 tp 3, fairly miserable, less than 2 lets not go there.

People are now talking about arrivial. looks like a thursday or friday, possibly before if we can maintain these speeds. So a weeks time before a clean bed, clean clothes, good food, friends, family, 6 nations and all the other creature comforts we are used to. Having said that…i’m going to miss this place.

Hope you are all well. it has just been

here. everything is wet wet wet. Progress is slow and we made 70 miles yesterday. looks like it will be less today.

Nearly caught 2 more dorado. Thats 4 we have caught and not manages to land. It is exciting none the less. Not long until half term folks. Have a good one!

I was listening to 5s greatest hit last night. Epic. I had forgotten how cheesy they are. I tried to organise a disco last night. we put our head torches onto flash mode and bang some tunes out of the speakers. Leven did say we would need to stop the disco if we saw a ship. Strobe is a sign of distress. Imagine being a captain of a ship, seeing a boat in distress only to find some jokers rowing the Atlantic having a disco!

We now have less than 1000 statute miles left. Down to 3 figures!

I also have done the trade of the trip. I swapped a Double Decker chocolate for 40 satelitte mintues worth about £60. Result.

We also have put bets on the rugby. I have gone for an england win by 8 points. We are now betting choc bars as they are far more valuable than money.

Hope you are all well

morning all!

tommorow I will start the countdown from 10 in my head. It might take longer or less. As we enter the fainal stages of the row i think about how we have matured as a crew. Things which might have unnearved us we now take in our stride.

Last night our second daggar board snapped under the pressure of a large wave. Listening to a part of the boat being snapped off could make you rather nervous. actually it was nt too much of an issue. Rowing without a daggar board means the boat is a little more “tippy” but it doesnt effect the safety of the boat. In fact it create much less drag. with diffcult currents this means we get pushed around less. Coming to think about it we should have got rid of the daggar board a long time ago.

So Charlie Rossiter you have 6 capitals starting and finshing in the same letter. What did you get?

I got Warsaw, Olso, Accra, Addia Abba. and the last one im not so sure about. Is the captial of Turkey Anchra( or something like that) I think it starts and finshes with an a.

George Baxendale I havent got round to your problem yet regarding the black and white caps.

Not long to go before getting to barbados. I imagine I will have mixed emotions. In some ways i dont want this to finish.

its day 22 nearly day 23. It looks most likely we will complete this crossing in 33/34 days. Unfortunately the currents this year have been a nightmare and we run into eddie after eddie. It has not been your typical trades routes. I dont feel bad about this. One lesson you learn out here is to have full respect for the environment. You are a guest of the ocean and you have to deal with the cards you are dealt. There is no point in feeling bad about it. Just get on with it, have fun and be grateful how lucky you are.

Another sharp lesson is how dependent we are on our resources. we take so much for granted. I think I have always considered myself aware of things like having clean water and a meal every day. Out here there is not always that guarentee. You need to prioritise your needs and the needs of the crew. I think I have a new respect for things like electricity.

Now let me tell you a story from last night. It is called “the curious incident of the flying fish in the night”.

I was out on the deck rowing my 12-2am shift when I heard a load of screaming following by howls of laughter. In the fore cabin where we sleep we have a hatch which was open. We do this when the ocean is calm and there is minimal chance of capsize. Benno has the birth which is directly below the hatch. Now Benno spends most of his time naked and this is certainly the case when he sleeps. Lying on his front ( ocean rowers generally do to give their bums a chance to recover) he felt a slimy thud on his back. He was falling back to sleep when this slime started flapping drastically and he realised a flying fish had hit the hatch and fallen through into the cabin. Now catching a slimy flying fish is like catching a moving bar of soap. The sight was priceless. A sleepy naked man frolicking around trying to catch this fish. He did eventually get it but his bed was covered in scales. We had to clean them out this morning.

Right had better go.

Glad everyone is ok and thanks for the prayers Piers and Alice.

I saw a photo of myself today and I am getting a bit more “ribby”. I have lost weight around my biceps, waist and pectorals. I guess i am more gaunt in the face. obviously my back is a bit broader. I guess it is the body adapting to its surroundings. I would be interested in weighing myself now. I feel strong and healthy.

incase you are wondering what we eat each day we get in each ration pack for 24 hrs.

3 dehydrated meals (these are pretty good, flavours include, green thai curry, chicken tikka masalla, spaghetti, beef and ale stew, chicken rice and veg, lamb and pearl barley etc) 600 cals each

4 choc ba

1 super noodle

1 cup a soup

1 hot choc

1 fruit bar (300+cals)

1 nut bar (300 cals)

Nobbys nuts

raisins

protein bar

vitamins

cod liver oil caps

suncream

bog roll

electrolyte

recovery drink

2 teas with milk

4 sugars

We nearly caught 2 dorado yesterday. They both got away when we tried to land them. I have got some good video footage. Livar and Peter are having a competition to see who catches the first fish. The loser has to wear Bennos tighty whitey y fronts when arriving in Barbados. It wont be a good look.