From Glorious G&T’s to Half Way There, here’s your week 2 to 4 update

The last few weeks on the sea have been a little more plain sailing for the Mermaid crew, as the winds changed the bruising and sea sickness subsided, the miles have racked up and some great milestones have been achieved.

We left the boys in late December battling tough conditions, however the edge was certainly taken off by the bright hues of sunrises and sunsets, whales leaping from the water and officially hitting the 500 mile mark. Even with the broken dagger board (that sadly can’t be fixed or replaced) the boat remains upright, although swells continued to roll over the deck, soaking everything in its path. Keeping clothes dry has been difficult, and rowing in the dark while soaked to the skin probably isn’t going to be anyone’s personal highlight! Another challenge has been keeping the batteries charged, as cloud cover prevents the solar panels from working at their best. The BGAN (the satellite communication system which allows the team to send home photos and messages) has also been a little temperamental, but Paul made it his personal mission to fix it, and was thankfully successful!

In the following few days the conditions calmed and the fleet started to head south to catch the trade winds and on December 23rd, the boys celebrated Paul’s birthday. Paul personally reported the crew were in good spirits, despite the start of the journey, and thanks to calmer conditions they were able to jump in the water and clean the hull, which will help reduce drag and gain more speed. A slight technical hitch hit on the morning of Christmas Eve, and all power was lost resulting in dark displays and a return to hand steering. But after a satellite call to the Island, a fix was found. Phew!

After spending Christmas day on deck, the next few days saw low-pressure to the west, effecting the whole fleet as strong winds pushed against the boats. The Mermaid crew deployed the para-anchor in an attempt to hold position, still with the aim of travelling south. Unfortunately a few miles were lost, as they had no choice but to “wait it out”. However, this did mean there was a chance to eat, rest, do a spot of fishing, and take in the surroundings while drying out everyone’s clothes in the much warmer air.

The winds retreated and the crew saw in 2024 with 1000 nautical miles under their belts, another hull clean and the chance to settle back into routine. With favourable conditions the team can now row two-up again during the day, which has helped them to make great progress and move further down south into the trade winds. On January 5th, the Mermaid and Tonic’s were cracked out to toast the half way mark (image above). So rather than rowing away from the Canaries, they’re now heading towards the finish line in Antigua. Cheers to that!

It was also sadly this week we learned of the news that one of our fellow ocean rowers, Alisdair Putt of Aussie Old Salts, sadly passed away mid race. The whole fleet took a moment to lay down their oars in unison, look at the stars and pay their respects to Alisdair. Mermaid Atlantic, their land crew and families send their love to his family and friends. The whole fleet are supporting a fundraiser to help the Aussie old Salts reach their donation target which is raising money for the Veterans Transition Centre near Perth, Australia. You can find more information about this on our social profiles.

The latest update from the crew describes the Bermuda high-pressure system pushing over from the west and squeezing a low-pressure system against another high-pressure over Europe (try saying that three times fast!). This created strong northly winds and 4 metre swells, but they’re taking every day as it comes. By Saturday this should have passed, as well as the 1000 miles to go mark. The boys are pretty fatigued, as they’ve not had a full nights sleep in 29 days, and the lack of dagger board has been frustrating with multiple wave and swell directions over the last week. But the thought of hitting the next milestone is spurring them on!

For daily posts from the support team on land, please check out our social media pages linked at the top and bottom of this page. And if you can donate to our charities, then it would be most appreciated if you head to our donation page. Many thanks to our sponsors and supporters, your messages of encouragement is keeping the team motivated!