Day 23
Back in the groove today after a couple of days in the 2 on 2 off, feeling good and the boat is gathering speed as the wind comes around behind us at last. Chilly night last night but the past couple of days have been roasting.
Good news is the laptop is back in action after Matt and Pedro took out the faulty part and rewired the mains on to the circuit board. Now we just need to be super careful with it. Great morale to have it back but no fishing today. We have decided to reward ourselves with fishing only after we make 75 miles or more in a day.
We also had our fish stocks depleted as a pod of bottle nosed dolphins came hunting this morning. It was pretty cool to see them in action as they circle the boat the herd the fish in and then they pick them off, no place for the poor Derado to go.

Day 22

Great to have the cabin back to myself for sleep last night, even of it was only for 2 hours at a time, it is so much cooler and you can stretch out properly. Also nice to the back rowing and making some miles although with a cross wind we are not making great miles. We should be back close to where we went on sea anchor within about 24 hours and then finally back on track for Barbados.

Day 21

Today was a great day, after what was the worst night on board so far. We got slammed by a big storm during the night, wind were up over Gale Force and probably gust force 9 most of the night with swell in the region of 7-8 meters. James an I got seriously thrown around in the bow cabin and had a god laugh as we would in turn get flung across on to the other , apologizing all the time although the actions were completely out of our control. Funniest of all must have been opening y eyes to look across at James and we both went airborne and levitated above our bunk for about 2 second before slamming back down as the next wave crashed in. It is probably the closest I will ever get to being in a zero gravity environment.

But finally after 124 hours (over 5 days) on sea anchor we finally got moving again at 1500, what a relief. We also had a major morale boost as we caught 2 Derado fish. They have been hanging out under the boat and we didn’t think our rubber lure would catch them but with some foil from our rations and a neat whipping I dressed up our lure to make it look nice and tasty. So much so that Matt had the first fish on board after about 60 seconds and I had one hook before I even realized I had the hook in the water, like catching Mackerel back in the camber in Cobh.

The Derado are a nice big fish and after I gutted and filleted them we fried them up to give everybody a tasty fresh treat. Surprising they also taste very like Mackerel.

Just as morale was boosted we took our eye off the ball and a large wave crashed into the stern cabin shorting out the laptop charger an nearly toasting Mylene. Bit of the kick in the teeth but we were so glad to be moving again we didn’t let it get us down.

After a couple of hours drifting down wind and sorting out the boat, bailing the hatches and resorting the food rations we got back into rowing at 8pm and it was back to the 2 on 2 off grind, at last!

Still on Sea anchor as of Sunday Lunch time but it looks like we only have another 24 hours to go before we finally get the wind shift we badly need. Funny thing a about the past few days is that the boat is pointing in exactly the right direction, this is due to the fact that when a boat is on anchor it will always point directly into the wind.
It has been pretty boring on board so not much to report. We have had some equipment issues since we went on sea anchor, some of them have been sorted but we are still waiting to get a couple of them fixed.
First up the water maker is tripping the switch when we run it on 2 pumps, we don’t know why just yet and will have to wait until Monday to talk to the electrician. Hopefully he will have an answer for us, it is not a major issue it just means it takes longer to make water on just one pump.
Second problem is that after a couple of days going backwards on sea anchor the cable connecting the steering snapped. Thankfully we have a spare but it is very early in the trip to lose our primary cable.
Third problem is that our satellite data connection has been down for the past few days. We can still make voice calls but it seems there is a problem with the server receiving the messages from the satellite in America. Hopefully this will also be sorted once they get back to work on Monday.
In other news we have a few fish living under the boat, the first guy to arrive was a blue and black stripped guy that we have named Barry, we think he might have some friends bit we only ever see one of them at a time. Yesterday we had some more visiting fish, one of them looked like a 2 foot long tiger shark. He was pretty menacing and was circling the boat for quite a while. No sign of him today though.
We are all looking forward to getting back on the oars tomorrow, only 1 more sleep!

As of this evening, Friday, we are still on sea Anchor. It has been a long couple of days sitting around hoping for the wind to change. Thursday was particularly rough with gale force winds, we got throw around a lot in the cabins and with the hatches closed it gets pretty stuffy very quickly.

Wednesday night we set up a watch system which involved us hot bunking so when you woke somebody to go on shift you took their bunk, this was because we only had 5 bunks in operation for the 6 of us. This resulted in both James and I having to depart the sanctuary of the bow cabin to sleep in the stern cabin. It is very wet, hot and smelly in there, as somebody keeps farting. I’m not pointing any fingers but let’s just say it isn’t any of the lads.

Today Friday has been relatively calm compared to yesterday with some squalls pushing through as the cold front of the depression passes over. The winds have been up and down but we have been able to spend most of the day on deck getting some sun. We also did some more admin getting kit dried out and moving the life raft out on deck to free up the sixth bunk. Now everybody will have a proper bed for the night.

According to Stokey we might have these southerly winds until Tuesday which will mean a full week on Sea anchor, Disaster! But hopefully over the next 12-24 hours as the low pressure system moves south east we will get northerly winds and will finally be able to get moving again.

The one thing that has become very apparent over the past 50 something hours is that we are now on an expedition, for a while there it seemed like a holiday as we racked up the miles. Now after being pinned down for a few days and having our resolve and our patience tested I am really beginning to fell like this is a pretty big undertaking. We will relish every mile we row for here on and take nothing for granted and hopefully the weather and mighty Atlantic will grant us a safe and swift passage to Barbados to be reunited with our loved ones.

Apologies for the slight gap in posts… Long story short, The Sara G was on Sea Anchor for the last few days going backwards (slowly) and then the email on the sat phone broke down. The Great news is the Sara G is on the move again with an expected target arrival date of February 28th in Barbados. They are [...]

Weekly Overview Update from Atlantic5000

Unfortunately the satelite email system on the boat isn’t working too well due to a massive low pressure system about 600 NM north of the Sara G. Therefore there was no update today. Phone contact was made with the boat and all are well. The downside to the low pressure system is that they have had to drop the sea anchor and they are moving north rather than west, although they aren’t going that fast. This was expected but is a dissapointment to the crew as they were on target and hoped to break a 40 day crossing earlier in the week. It is expected that the sea anchor could be down until Tuesday. …. Further Updates to follow…

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 [...]

The wind that has been pushing us along and churning up the Ocean finally died off last night, just as predicted by Stokey(our weather man back in the UK). So we are now plodding along in a light breeze heading south to dodge a weather system which is due to blow 20-30knts from the south at 0100am on Friday morning. If we don’t manage to get below 21degress by then it could mean a day on sea anchor, which would not be a disaster but would most likely remove any chance of a sub 40 day crossing. So fingers crossed we get low enough then we should pick up the trade winds and we are westward bound!
We are also fully back into routine by now and those of you following the updates will know that I am now on lunch. I get back to oars at 1500 until 1700 and then it is dinner time. Depending on how hungry I am I sometimes eat a full meal other evenings I just have a snack. Once I have eaten I fill in my diaries, one is a personal account of what I get up to during the day and what has happened on board, the second is a special account of the trip for my sort psychologist, Aine McNamara. She has asked me to record specific information each day and she hopes to analyze the data when I get back to see just how mental I am !!
Once the diaries are done it is time to chill out and get my kit ready for the night shifts, I try not to sleep during this rest period as if I do it normally means I can’t sleep when I come off the oars at 2100.
More on how we are getting on with the pending weather system and on life on board tomorrow.

We are now just getting back into proper routine, we have spent most of the past 24 hours not rowing as conditions were poor, we still made good mileage though with a tail wind. We have been keeping to our 2 hour shifts as it is important to stay in routine and it also means if the wind dies off we can get on with the rowing and more importantly we can keep watch for ships at night.

Just as we were settling into our routine again a couple of more problems have popped up, superstitious or not day 13 has not been very lucky on board Sara G.

At a couple of minutes before 3am this morning Mylene was knocked out of her seat by a wave, she dropped her oar and as she tried to recover it the blade swung towards the front of the boat, as the water caught the oar it bent the steel rigger on the boat and snapped the oar lock clean off the boat, the oar is now floating somewhere in the Atlantic.
Just as we were settling into our routine again a couple of more problems have popped up, superstitious or not day 13 has not been very lucky on board Sara G.

At a couple of minutes before 3am this morning Mylene was knocked out of her seat by a wave, she dropped her oar and as she tried to recover it the blade swung towards the front of the boat, as the water caught the oar it bent the steel rigger on the boat and snapped the oar lock clean off the boat, the oar is now floating somewhere in the Atlantic……

So now that you know my shift pattern I thought I would fill in some of the blanks and take you through what I do when not rowing. My first off shift for the day starts at 0900 and this is usually when I have breakfast. This is normally either porridge or custard and berries, 2 of the only things worth eating in the morning. Once I have cooked and eaten that it is into the cabin for a good stretch session and a massage with my trusty trigger point massage ball, great for the places you can’t reach yourself. This takes about 20 minutes and is well worth doing as I feel like a new person after it.

Then it is on to a good baby wipe bath, it is essential to have good personal hygiene, especially living in such close quarters. Once I am all clean it is time to apply new Sudocream and Bodyglide and then I am almost ready to hit the oars again.

A good coverage of sun cream is just smart and then if I have time a quick cat nap or a puzzle.

Then back on the oars at 1100 for another 2 hour stint.

The honey moon is now over and it is time to get the heads down to bang out some miles. This was always going to be the toughest phase of the trip mentally as each day is like the last and we are a mere spec in this vast blue rolling square of ocean. Each day the horizon to the front, back, left and right all seem to be in the same place so it appears that we are rowing to stand still, the only reference we have to tell us we are moving is our GPS plotter. Thankfully we do always appear to be rowing downhill with a gentle Atlantic swell nudging us along our way.

Look like we have picked up the beginning of the trade winds jut as predicted and we are rowing downhill in 3-4m swell making about over 4mph which will put us up for a 90+ mile day! It was a pretty cold night and we were getting splashed by the waves as we rowed so it was not much fun but with a little bit of adrenaline in the system the time flies by.

Just a quick note as I am being bounced around the cabin. We finally got some wind to help us along today, only problem is is that is not directly behind us and the boat is getting tossed about a little so tricky to row and not very comfortable to sit around, hopefully it swings around behind us tonight and then it will make for a smoother ride.

I can’t believe we are at sea week today it has gone by so quickly and the first few days are all a bit of a blur. Now that we have settled into routine I thought I would give you an idea of what life is like on board. Each day we row for 12 hours each are consuming in the region of 6,000 calories a day. To fuel our bodies we need to eat lots of high calorie food, this comes in the form of mainly dehydrated food sachets.

Another sunny one today but we have a slight head wind so the going is slow. Everybody is really in the zone at the moment and we are looking forward to making good time as soon as the wind swings around again. I was due to talk about our diet today but just as I began to write we had some excitement on board as the bracket for our wind generator became loose. Minor problem and all sorted now, good thing it happened in relatively calm sea and daylight. That’s Ocean rowing for you, never a dull moment!

The days are flying by and we have all settled into routine at this stage. Today was a super day, sun was shining and the wind was behind us as we cruised past the Canary Islands. Although I had a pretty crappy night’s sleep and I am without my music as my Mp3 player is dead today has been super. I spoke to Andree on the phone and my Mam and it was great to be able to make contact with them both and fill them in on our progress and get the news from home.

All good today the wind finally came around to the north and is now pushing us along nicely, yesterday we made 74 miles and making better time today so we expect to make 80+ today.

Can’t write much more no sun and light wind means our batteries are vey low.

I will update in more detail in a couple of days when the sun comes out.

Point to point distance travelled by 6.30pm on day 4 = 127km / 69nm

Lazarote in sight!

Mike

Wow the past 2 days have gone by in a flash, I can’t believe we have been at sea for over 48 hours and I have rowed for over 24 of those.

We were repaid big time by the weather after 2 false starts in horrible winds we got away at 0700 on Tuesday morning, the sun was just up the sea was flat and the winds were light, pretty much the perfect start.

After a bit of slalom through a busy fishing fleet we were 8 miles offshore within 2 hours and since then we have been making good time.
Speed has dropped to about 2 knots as we are heading south west with a westerly swell and breeze hitting us on the starboard side.