Saturday 18th July- Day 23
- dawnysmiff
- Jul 18
- 2 min read
We've now rowed 891 nautical miles in total.
Just 32 nautical miles in the last 24 hours, which doesn't sound like much...
...until you know what those 24 hours looked like.
They were epic.
As seems to have become the norm recently, we spent most of the day rowing into a headwind. It was certainly strong enough that we could easily have convinced ourselves to deploy the parachute anchor yet again.
It would have been the easier option.
But not this time.
When the going gets tough, the tough gets going.
We both dug deep, put in extra hours on the oars and even sacrificed some of our rest shifts in an effort to keep the boat moving. It wasn't easy, but slowly, hour by hour, we clawed our way forward.
And it's paying off.
We've made some really worthwhile progress and we're now beginning to enter a current that's running more to the north. That should allow the wind to move from being directly on our bows to more on the beam.
It's still far from ideal...
...but it's a whole lot better than what we've been battling recently.
So, for now at least...
No more movie nights.
No more leisurely morning coffees on the parachute anchor.
As much as we enjoyed those uninterrupted nights of sleep, we didn't come out here to spend our time camping in the middle of the Atlantic.
We came here to row across it.
And that's exactly what we're determined to do.
Talking of rowing, let me tell you about one of the most annoying sounds on the planet...
The autopilot alarm.
A lot of people imagine the autopilot is some magical bit of kit that simply points the boat in the right direction while we sit back and relax. I wish!
In reality, the autopilot can only steer if the rudder has water flowing over it. That means the boat has to be moving through the water. If our speed drops too low—perhaps because we've stopped rowing for a quick drink or to stretch our backs—the rudder loses its effectiveness, and the autopilot realises it can no longer hold the course.
That's when...
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
An alarm that could wake the dead.
It doesn't politely remind you.
It demands your attention.
Immediately.
I keep threatening to make Paul an alarm clock that makes exactly the same noise.
I reckon it'd last about a day before he smashed it into a thousand pieces!
For now we're still pushing on.
The south-easterly winds are expected to stay with us until Monday, so our plan is simple: keep digging deep, stay inside this favourable current for as long as we can and avoid putting the parachute anchor out unless we really have no other choice.
One stroke at a time.
That's how oceans are crossed.
---
Dawn
“Together Paul and I are rowing home — the long way round.”
Hometown Row
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