Ross Johnson blog day 16 (yesterday)
The days are starting to blur now we are a couple of weeks in, Monday 8am, Saturday 6pm, there’s no difference now. We live 2hrs by 2hrs, bizarrely the days are flying by when working like this. Another feature of the two week point is our bodies are beginning to break down, which was expected. Aches and pains are becoming more obvious, bums are sore from weeks of being wet and then rowing for hours on end, small blisters require more maintenance, and muscle mass is being lost. From here it’s destruction maintenance, pushing through and limiting The negative effects as far as possible.
The turn in weather in our favour is such a morale boost its unbelievable, as an ex marine I’ve been out working in the elements in some truly horrendous conditions, but 2 on 2 off in a violent Atlantic is up there amongst the hardest to endure in an ongoing basis when it seems every event is against you. With the sun out the morning burst of vitamin D and warmth completely renews you ready to fight again.
I thought the monotony would prove an issue, however so far this has not been the case. As a maths/logic geek numbers run through my mind constantly, always reassessing expected day of arrival and daily mileage expectations based on the latest speed/distance covered/distance to finish/wind speed and direction etc, my current calculations have us coming in at the 52 day mark, which is exactly what we are aiming for so its neck and neck with our aims.
Also I find myself fantasing about food and what im going to demolish when I get to dry land, it’s a constantly updating list which at this moment consists of
1. Home made sausage roll with goats cheese
2. Sunday roast dinner
3. Cheese and pickle sandwiches
4. Scones with cream jam and brandy butter
5. Chip shop chips (large)
The health kick to get back in shape after this can wait a week or so!
Oh 6. A massive nandos.
The boats holding up very well although is obviously battle worn now, a few knocks and scrapes but otherwise we are looking in very good order. Next landmark, the 2000 miles to go point, which we should hit in 670 miles….. Or 8-9 days…… If we average 3.2 knots….. With a 10 knot wind on our 6…..