News

As many supporters are no doubt aware, the afternoon progress updates have been missed or delayed in recent days. This is quite simply down to the popularity of the website during that period which has subsequently strained the server. To resolve the issue the website was briefly taken offline on Thursday 21^st January to compensate for the errors. The website should now continue to update as before, throughout the day at regular intervals.

The fleet have recorded their best 72 hour run having made good just shy of 50nm per crew per day. The crews of QBE Insurance Challenger and Dream Maker have had reversed fortunes over the last couple of days – the former have gone up a couple of places while the latter has sadly fallen five. Elsewhere both Pendovey Swift and the solo competitor Dave Brooks have continued to climb the fleet over the past few days.

The local forecast for the fleet suggests winds will remain north easterly until Tuesday 26^th January, at which point the conditions will dramatically change with 0-10 knot winds moving in an unpredictable direction.

Many competitors are now experiencing the highs and lows of ocean rowing. When at sea with such a simplistic lifestyle – but by no means easy, the psychological balance of a rower can be highly unstable. Personal moods can change with each wave that hits the boat, and the seemingly smallest of things can be constructive or destructive to the rower’s state of mind. Finding that balance is vital should one want to enjoy their time at sea.

Finally, Britannia III ended day 17 with 1476nm between themselves and the finish line. They have successfully rowed over 1000nm and are 200nm from the half way point of this momentous challenge.