News

James Ketchell made a harrowing discovery yesterday. Having finished his morning stint on the oars, he went to switch his water maker on only to find it didn't work. He was able to fix the problem - all be it in a frustrating 4 hour effort. Suddenly though there was a very real possibility that assistance at sea may have been required, for if he had not been able to fix the water maker he would certainly have required assistance from one of the support yachts.

On a slightly lighter note, Sean McGowan celebrated St. Patricks day at sea yesterday while Roger Haines saw perhaps the most incredible sights yet with not 1, not 2 but 9 whales all 20-30 feet in length and has no doubt got some excellent footage for David Attenborough.

Elsewhere, time has almost run out for the crews of Explore and The Beech Boys in the quest for fastest British female pair and fastest father and son respectively. The girls on Explore have been putting in extra hours on the oars, and pushing through the pain barrier to try and makeup lost ground, with Annie saying in a recent blog the last thing they want to say when they make land is ‘if only'. While The Beech Boys continued in high spirits with a game of spot the difference.

As was predicted several days ago, crews now have easterly conditions, due to strengthen over the weekend. With this, the next week should be extremely busy on the shores of Antigua with up to 10 crews making land.