Tuesday 28th July- Day 33

The last 24 hours of rain have been absolutely horrendous.

Out here you accept that you’re going to get wet from waves. The difference is that, normally, once the rain stops and the sun comes out, you’ve got at least a chance of drying off.

This time there hasn’t been any escape.

To make matters worse, my foul weather gear has finally started to give up. The seams have sprung a leak, so instead of keeping the rain out they’re now letting it seep straight through.

I’ve already soaked two complete sets of clothes underneath, and with nowhere to dry anything they’re all just sitting in the cabin getting damper by the hour.

Ocean rowing is all about adapting, though.

So, in true “make do and mend” fashion, I’ve engineered myself a temporary pair of waterproof shorts…

…using bin bags!

They’re tucked underneath my foul weather gear and, whilst they certainly won’t be appearing in next year’s fashion collections, they’re actually doing a surprisingly good job.

Needs must!

Thankfully, there are finally a few encouraging signs.

The sun has started to peek through gaps in the cloud, so with a bit of luck today might become a washing-and-drying day. You soon learn to appreciate simple things out here. The thought of hanging damp clothes out in the sunshine is genuinely exciting.

Despite the weather trying its very best to slow us down, we’ve still covered 71 nautical miles in the past 24 hours.

We’re really pleased with that.

We’re now down to less than 600 nautical miles to the UK coastline and 864 nautical miles to Burnham-on-Crouch.

Under normal conditions, we’d probably be expecting to make landfall in around 12 days.

Unfortunately, the forecast is showing another weather system arriving towards the end of the week, which may well have other ideas.

But there’s no point worrying about something we can’t control.

We’ll do exactly what we’ve been doing all month.

Take one day at a time.

One weather forecast at a time.

One rowing shift at a time.

After all…

Forecasts have been wrong before.

Maybe this one will change too.

Maybe…

Or maybe not!

Either way, we’ll keep pointing the boat towards home.

Dawn

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

Hometown Row

📩 You can have Dawn’s blogs delivered directly to your inbox here:

👉 https://dawn2609.substack.com/

🌐 Or visit the website:

www.rowaurora.co.uk