Saturday 4th July- Day 9

Happy Independence Day to all our friends in America!

While people back in Paul's hometown of Fernandina Beach will no doubt be firing up the barbecues, watching fireworks and enjoying a cold drink in the sunshine... we're currently freezing our butts off somewhere in the North Atlantic!

It certainly wasn't the 4th of July either of us imagined.

The last 24 hours have brought... yes, you've guessed it...

More fog.

Thankfully the rain finally eased after one particularly heavy downpour first thing yesterday morning, but not before it had caused a bit of a problem.

My salopettes are brilliant. One thing I really like about them is they don't come right up to your chest, which makes life much easier when nature calls!

Unfortunately, I didn't notice at first that my jacket wasn't quite overlapping the top of them.

As the rain poured down, water found the tiny gap and slowly ran inside.

By the time I realised, everything underneath was absolutely soaked.

To make matters worse, the inside of the salopettes is padded for warmth... so that became completely saturated too.

In an already damp cabin, it wasn't exactly what I needed.

Thankfully my sleeping bag has been worth its weight in gold.

It's waterproof on the outside, lovely and warm on the inside, and I've been absolutely meticulous about keeping it zipped up whenever I'm not in it. So despite everything else becoming damp, climbing into a warm, dry sleeping bag at the end of a shift still feels like luxury.

Occasionally I even make myself a hot water bottle before climbing in.

It's amazing what a difference such a simple thing makes.

When I came off shift, clothes were hanging all around me dripping into bags while I waited for the rain to stop.

Once it had passed, I actually managed to dry far more than I expected.

I'd brought spare foul weather gear, so I started my next rowing shift in warm, dry clothing while the wet kit was hung outside in the breeze. Even though the fog never really lifted, the wind still managed to dry most of it enough to make life a bit easier.

The padded salopettes needed a bit more creative thinking.

I filled a hot water bottle and tucked it inside them along with one of those little moisture-absorbing pots you'd normally leave on a windowsill at home.

Surprisingly...

It worked brilliantly!

By my next shift they were only slightly damp, and with every zip left open my own body heat finished drying them out while I rowed.

I'm now down to just one pair of shorts that still needs washing and drying before I'll finally have almost a complete set of dry clothing again.

During my second off-shift yesterday I also spent a good amount of time wiping down the cabin walls and mopping up the condensation.

I know it'll all come back.

That's just life out here.

But if I can keep on top of it, I stand half a chance of staying warm and dry.

Anything absorbent now lives inside dry bags.

Anything electrical is inside waterproof cases... even though it's already inside the cabin!

It's amazing how much moisture finds its way into every corner of the boat.

We're both really looking forward to seeing the sun again so we can finally dry everything properly.

As I write this, it's a brand new day...

...and yes...

There's more fog.

But the morning did begin with something rather special.

A pod of dolphins appeared and swam right alongside Penny B.

This time I didn't instinctively reach for my phone or camera.

I simply stopped for a moment and enjoyed being there with them.

Sometimes the best memories aren't the ones you record.

They're the ones you simply experience.

Paul also had a shark sighting yesterday.

When I asked him what sort it was, his very scientific reply was...

"One of the ones with the wonky teeth."

I'm not entirely convinced it came quite close enough for that level of detail, so if anyone can identify sharks from that description alone... answers on a postcard please!

---

Dawn

“Together Paul and I are rowing home — the long way round.”

Hometown Row

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