Day 13 – Re-cap PART 2: 08 Mar to 13 Mar

13 Mar, 07 – 21.58
22.1228N,24.0431W

Day 8 - Thu, 8 Mar
N24.14.666, W021.26.286
Fantastic day. Good strong winds. Clear blue sky. Getting settled into a routine. Hands starting to get sore with the rowing. No shower for 1 week as yet. Just using baby wipes.
Day 9 – Fri, 9 Mar
N23.41.331, W021.45.307
No human contact till now. Just the odd conversation on the VHF radio, from ships heading SE towards Africa. Making better progress every day. A lot more settled. Condensation inside the cabin is still a bit problem. It gets really damp at around 4.00 am, impossible to sleep in the dampness, so rather row at that time. Crossed into the 23 rd parallel yest. Its a great psychological lift each time a meridian or parallel is crossed.
Day 10 – Sat, 10 Mar
N23.13.160, W022.14.161
Caught up reading a book that I have been trying to get thru for a while – A true story, Papillon by Henri Cherier. Difficult rowing conditions. Northerly winds all day. Managed about 6 hrs today trying to make progress west. No marine life spotted as yet as the sea is too rough. Took a much needed break.
Day 11 – Sun, 11 Mar
N23.00.673, W022.50.664
The boat took a beating last night by the waves. Woke up this morning to find about 6 inches of water in the bilge from the waves breaking over the side as I set the rudder up in the night to steer the boat W, so its been beam on to the sea. Everything is wet. Tried to dry clothes today and wash off the salt from the skin but each time the clothes got anywhere near dry another wave would break over the side and wet them all over again.
Day 12 – Mon, 12 Mar
N22.41.255, W023.21.381
Woke up this morning to find a larger tanker just about 1/2 mile off starboard. I checked the radar alarm, as it had not gone off all night and found that it was switched off. Must have knocked it off when I hit my head against the control panel. That was a close call. Could have been run over in the night very easily. Very angry with my self for not having double checked it before sleeping. The control panel is right at the entrance to the cabin and I'm often thrown against it with the rocking of the boat. Improvised a switch guard using the cap of a bottle of sun cream and some tape.
Day 13 – Tue, 13 Mar
N22.11.289, W024.03.312
Inching my way westwards. Would have liked to maintain a course between the 23 and 22 paralell, but the Northerly winds are too strong. Tried to get some news on the Short Wave radio. Only channels being picked up are Radio Netherlands and Chinese National Radio. Listened to a 15 minute broadcast about land ownership and property law reforms in China, before giving up on the radio. Its back in storage.
The last bits of fresh fruits are over today. The oranges will be missed. From now its just tins. tins. tins.