Atlantic Diary: Day 70 – Part 2: Rainy & cloudy, freak wave, Sargasso Sea

9 May, 07 – 21.47
15.3695N,49.0525W
24 hr progress: 12.2 Nautical Miles (1 nm = 1.85 km)
Distance left to Antigua (straight line): 735 Nautical Miles ( 1359 km)
Distance completed: 2410 NM (4458 km)
Wave height: 8-10 ft, Winds: 10-15 knots E, Bearing: 260 – 270 degrees.

What a difference 24 hours can make. Yesterday was sunny and calm. This morning, the Atlantic had changed back into its silver gray liquid metal persona. Cloudy, rainy and an unfriendly atmosphere all day.
On the bright side (ironically) the temperature dropped slightly, which made my job of working at the water pump a bit more comfortable than working in the heat on deck.
A slow news day in general and the sea has been dead quite for most of the day. Apart from a nanosecond of excitement provided by a 20ft freak wave – that appeared out of nowhere, broke over the boat, left the deck covered in foaming water and continued on its way as if normal. No explanation given.
Less time spent at the oars today. I choose to spend more time on making water. Rowing in these conditions is too much work for too little reward.
I currently have the coast of Brazil, 900 Nautical miles to the South and the Sargasso Sea to the North. As we move forward, I will be passing over French Guyana, Suriname, Guyana and Venezuela – Papillon Territory.
Maybe it's the ocean rowing version of beer goggles – but after 70 days at sea, even Guyana is starting to look attractive as a destination for landfall.
Looking at the progress map today (produced by Argos Satellite Tracking), a bit of good news. I have almost cleared the Mid-Atlantic ridge (shaded light blue on the map) and will be heading back over deeper water (shaded dark blue) before heading into the shallow waters surrounding the islands. The deeper water will provide slightly calmer rowing conditions.
B
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Rain clouds tto the west