06 Mar 2006
6th March
Just a brief interim report until I get organised here with photographs. All day yesterday was spent travelling, in fact I was on the go for nearly 24 hours and began thinking "Air travel is for the birds - and they are better at it. No long check-in times."
I was shocked when I did eventually get onto the internet about midday today - about 4pm your time in Britain - to see the Roz had only done 4 miles yesterday. I have met Lucy from Woodvale, and also phoned her when I saw the figure 4. She has been very reassuring, and it is a fault with the weather. The wind was blowing in quite the wrong direction and Roz looped a loop. After that she probably had to put out Sid the para-anchor and just sit it out. Today the wind has changed. I can hear it whistling around the house now, and with a bit of luck will be pushing Roz on quite nicely. It may prove to be a disappointment for the Island Academy if she does not arrive on a school day. We were really hoping that she would make it on Thursday. It may yet happen if that wind co-operates. I can see the school from the house where I am staying; and with the help of a lovely friend I have been to the harbour and seen where the boats come in.
More news as time goes by. Rita.
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04 Mar 2006
Part of a chart from www.weatheronline.
4th March
On the 6th February Woodvale issued a statement headed Notification of Rule Amendment under the heading of News on their website. It states that the official crossing line for the completion of the Atlantic Ocean Rowing Crossing is set at 59degrees 37minutes west. Any vessel passing this line will be classed as completing the ocean crossing. However, to achieve a race ranking boats do need to reach the Finish Line of the Atlantic Rowing Race which is 1 nautical mile south of Cape Shirley, Antigua. I notice that boats moored there at English Harbour are at longitude 61.765 west. Roz is at present at 58.810. She is therefore very close to the first goal, that of crossing the Ocean; a bit further to go to cross the race finishing line.
Meanwhile we who watch are left on a roller-coaster ride. I watched anxiously as she moved west and south, willing her to move a bit further north. Now that she is north of latitude 17, the wind is blowing from the south east and moving her a bit further north than she wants to be. The "picture" tonight is part of a weather chart from www.weatheronline and shows where Roz is - in the middle row, more or less in the centre of the block on the right. It shows the wind blowing from the south east, but not very strong at all. Antigua is in the next block to the left, half-way up. Roz has not moved very much today so far but still has a few hours of daylight left. Whatever the weather charts show, she still has to deal with conditions as she finds them and we can only guess at what is happening. The question remains: will she or won't she do it in fewer than 100 days?
| Atlantic Row Part 4 |
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03 Mar 2006
It won't be long before Roz sees land again . . .
and it won't be La Gomera.
3rd March
Great excitement today! this morning there was an email from a commercial ship: "Hey all, 2300Z (or thereabouts) March 2. I just passed Roz in position 17-01.145N X 058-05.393W. She sounds good, says she needs nothing and would appreciate it very much if I wouldn't run her over with my 950 ft long ship. She asked a very understandable question as our conversation developed..."Do I sound sane to you, Martin?"...Ha! I couldn't bring myself to say...'Well Roz, you did leave the Canary Islands in a rowboat three months ago', so I said...'Sure!! Roz, it was a pleasure to talk to you.' Martin"
There followed an exchange of emails as I enquired if there was any further crumb of information after two weeks of silence. One reply confirmed that the problem was indeed satphone failure. There was also a phone call direct from the ship, so Roz had obviously given them my telephone number in spite of the fact that she thought I might already be in Antigua. Thanks guys!
Further exciting news is that she is back above latitude 17 degrees and the wind is ESE, blowing her slightly north instead of south, for a change. Roz will probably have less than 200 miles to go by the time you read this message.
I have received some lovely messages from people in Antigua welcoming me and offering help in various ways. It will be wonderful to be there amongst them all.
Sponsored mile: Sebastian Pearey, your mile at 2739 is coming up very soon.
| Atlantic Row Part 4 |
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02 Mar 2006
2nd March
If you read the News section of the Atlantic Rowing Race website, you will see that it is headed: Come in Boat No.15 - Sedna Solo. Also mentioned is the fact that once the boats arrive, further scrutineering takes place to assess whether any race penalties would be applied. As Roz has not had any assistance to date, one thing that will be examined is the status of her fresh water ballast bottles. As you can see in the picture, the bottles were sealed before departing from La Gomera. If water-making gadgets break down crews need to use their ballast for drinking water, and this incurs penalty points. Up to the point where we lost contact, I do not think that Roz had had to use any of hers. Since then, has she, or hasn't she? That is the question.
Today arriving home about 4.30pm, I checked the Woodvale site to see what mileage Roz had done, and was dismayed to see no sign of movement since first thing this morning. A phone call to Teresa at Woodvale sorted that out. Apparently the battery of the first beacon that Roz had been using since November 30th had run flat. She had switched to another beacon, but this had not yet been 'tuned in' to the Woodvale software. What a relief! By 5pm she had done 27 miles, and being 4 hours behind GMT still had some hours of daylight left. She is also very very near to latitude 17. The signs are good.
Grateful thanks to people for more delightful messages (e.g. it's increasingly difficult to live and work with all fingers and toes crossed!), and those who have recently made contributions to the Prince's Trust. A reminder to those who have paid for a place at The Party that they will need to bring along photographic identification on the night. Details of the party on the home page of Roz' website, including a pdf file of the invite which can be downloaded.
| Atlantic Row Part 4 |
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