DaveBrooksSolo

Day 63:

I thought that Act III: “The current catastrophe”, might have reached a conclusion yesterday . I started out , motoring along & clocking up some good speeds, covering 40nms in the process . But the euphoria of the day fizzled out with the dawn of the next & the return to the monotonous drag of oars, pea soup & lacklustre winds from the South. I’ve moved some of the weight in the rear compartments to the front cabin in an attempt to improve the balance ( & hopefully my speed ). I’m hoping the sluggishness will be short lived & I haven’t sprung a leak in one of the sealed compartments that I don’t know about. It is really a flukey game in this area where one boat might have bad conditions and then another, mere miles away, may be flying along. But I must say, that I must stay positive & accept my fate . I reckon “ Him Upstairs” has fallen out with Neptune, & the whole thing has gone to pot. Let’s hope they sort out their differences & team up for an assault on the fleet FROM THE EAST, to speed us into English Harbour for a cold pint. It’s about 35degrees on deck & it’s already late evening. That’s well past G&T time. Wait a second ..... when is it ever , not G&T time!!!? On a very positive note I got a great txt from Chris Martin ( Cold Play ) 2 days ago, telling me to keep up the good work & that the band & all the roadies are betting on when I will finish. Well Chris, if you fancy putting a few pennies toward one of my charities, via the website, then I may endeavour to arrive on the day your money is down for! Thanks for the support from all of you & I hope the gig in Argentina goes well.

Brooksy out xx

**DAVE HAS ZERO INTERNET EVERYONE :o( **

**HE WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU BUT PLEASE MESSAGE HIM VIA THE SATPHONE, NOT VIA EMAIL**

Day 59

This afternoon was the first time I was able to sustain 3knots for more than an hour in ages... whoop whoop! Let’s pray that this remains the case for the foreseeable future, as I quite fancy racking up some miles while the wind is up & the sun is sneaking around behind the clouds. I’ve found the joys of Russell Brand podcasts. I have around 40hrs of them so I’m set for a couple of weeks. Definitely enjoying comedy & stand up whilst rowing especially when I need a pick me up. It helps me distance myself from the task in hand.

I discovered I have good hearing today . I can hear the dolphins all chattering around me before they come into view. I was chilling out in my cabin when I heard several high pitched squeaks & wheezes, like air being released slowly from a balloon & pebbles being stirred up in the waves on a pebbly beach. When I got out on deck I was surrounded by 30 – 40 of the fellows . They didn’t seem in a hurry to go anywhere so I whipped on my snorkel & mask & hung over the side with my camera to see what all the commotion was about. There was a shoal of fish that they’d rounded up about 30ft below the boat & they were darting in and out with ease, fetching their grub for the day. A fantastic spectacle & was sad to see them drift away before I had a chance to get in & swim with them. Caught a lot on camera but I think it was a bit too murky to catch anything decent ... shame. Upshot is I now know to rush to the mask & snorkel if ever I hear them gossiping again

Would like to give a big shout out to everyone from St Peters School ( Dad’s school ) who’re following me especially Mrs Hibberd’s class who have been sending me lots of encouraging messages. Thanks guys, I’m looking forward to a visit when I get home. That’s if I ever get home. Now that I’m learning their language perhaps I’ll just pop my flippers on & live with the dolphins for a bit & wait for the trade winds.

Brooksey out xx

Day 58: Ruddy Currents

Just when we thought we were on the move & racking up the miles, these ruddy ocean currents are still out to rain on the parade. I always assumed that the water bodies would eventually move with the prevailing wind conditions ( especially this far out to sea).Currently Team Panasonic is being thwarted by a strong EN Easterly element which has me for approximately 1 – 1.5 knots on oars & drifting due South while resting. At least I’m drifting South this time & not North. Patience is a virtue ..... They’ll come around in time I hope. Only 20nms behind Heritage Explorer now but this is only because the crummy currents hit them first. If anyone out there knows why they’re about then please let me know . My theory is that the Mid Atlantic ridge is becoming a dominant feature with the lack of trade winds to compensate.

Grand day today, got me thinking about what actually goes through the brain whilst I’m rowing .... very little to be honest (no surprise there then!? ) I spend a lot of time mind – numbingly staring at the compass & speedo to see how my progress is & comparing it to the previous session, usually involving fractions. Well I’m 0.3 quicker in the first 10mins than the last 10mins. During the next hour I will better my previous mileage by about 1/7th . Who cares. I’m now growing increasingly anxious about my speed & it’s prohibiting me from sleeping during the day time rest periods . Which is a pain. When I manage to steal myself away from the instruments, I usually just gaze about looking for birds & flying fish. The clouds are usually good for amusement imagining their shapes & predicting the next time the sun will next be obscured giving me brief release from the scorch . The really valuable thoughts are about family & friends imagining the finish line & the beer.

Even with all this free time to think and reflect etc it is actually very difficult to maintain any form of sustained brain activity what with the intense heat sapping my concentration and the monotony of rowing. So Mum, when I rang you at 23.55 on your Birthday I hadn’t forgotten you, I was just brain dead.

A quick shout now to Keith Hoppings and Projexe Engineering. Your seat & footplate are holding out like a goodun . Thanks for the first class metal work dude.

Brooksey Out xx

***From Brooksy2: Daves Internet is down again, he's resorted to vaseline on the contacts...or was that for something else??I forget..anyway, bare with us, blogs will be updated as soon as he is able to ring home :o)

Day 57

Booooyah!! Clocking 3 knots at the oars today. Everything's coming up Millhouse....Touch Wood!!! Although there's still the odd dodgy current about that checks my speed briefly so cant get complacent. Next mission is still to catch Heritage Explorer, but mainly just glad to be motoring again. You certainly don't take easterlies for granted when you get them once every 2-3 days that's for sure!

Not much exciting to report today as I've mainly had my head down. Saw a dead squid! Big ol thing a couple of metres long, and brown, floated past. Just so long as there aren't any giant versions knocking about (or colossal ones for that matter!!).

Brooksy Out

Day 56

Well, if i'd started writing this blog this morning, then you'd be reading something quite different. Winds in the right direction....great!! Waves in the right direction....Suberb! Current??.....coarsing northward like a fast flowing river. Ridonculous!!! Very grumpy camper this morning i was, but after a nice chat with Spirit of MA (only 36 miles ahead of me) and hearing that they had similar issues during the night, I steadied my nerves and set about dragging Petas (my boats name) sorry arse through the water at just over a knot. Thankfully I am now drifting more than one knot and rowing at 2.5-3 so lets keep this up and nip this ocean in the bud shall we?? My progress wont be as high as you'd expect though as im travelling southwest for the next 7 days...!

I did make a fatal mistake this evening, by electing to watch Drag Me To Hell on my laptop during my last session, during a full moon!! Seriously, that's a messed up film and I'm now closing my cabin hatch at night regardless of the temperature!!

Got a great email from Charlie Pitcher today egging me on and offering some fine words of encouragement. His gargantuan effort at getting across in such a quick time is one to be admired, and I'm looking forward to a victory pint when we next meet! Congrats mate!

Not much else to chat about today folks. Just glad to be back on the open road. Will try and track down Spirit of MA and Heritage Explorer over the next 4-5 days cuz I fancy a catch up and an excuse to drink some whiskey!!

Brooksy Out

Day 54

Right, this is getting silly now. Either I'm being singled out and punished by the sea gods or my GPS has malfunctioned, because I am now stuck between a rock and a hard place with a head wind and some elite little current that is only affecting me and pushing me north at just under 1knot. Even on the para-anchor Im still flying north and my new aim is now to head down to 16 degrees North which is 120 miles further south from where I am now, with the intention of avoiding future systems as they pass further north. Probably be 130 miles further south by tomorrow morning though!

Upshot is, I literally rowed from 12pm through to 12am solid today, due south (as the wind was too strong to row west), to try and halt my northerly advance and made just 3.5 miles progress. What the hell? That's almost tragic as watching a fat moggie trying to clean its bits!! Stopped briefly to grab some scoff and to speak to Peter Van Kets on my sat phone, my nearest competition (currently 100 miles ahead of me) and now my new life coach. He's a bloody legend and a great person to speak to in situations like this as he's been in a similar situation and although he gets worked up too, he still knows what to say to keep me sane. A few pints in Antigua for you bru! Oh and apologies to Cliffy for breaking my promise a few blogs ago for not being attached to the boat when i dived for my t-shirt!! Promise it wont happen again!!!xx

So aside from my crap couple of days, winds should change tomorrow, and so long as the currents aren't against me too much, I should be able to start making progress again. Chance would be a fine thing!! Another storm on its way in 7 days so reckon i'd only end up getting blown back to where I am currently. Might just stay here, start fishing and live out the year on fish and water, then see how the trade winds size up in 2011??? The hardest thing is dealing with the realisation that in a good year I'd probably be finished in a few days. On the other hand, I know that the biggest achievement will come from overcoming this situation, and the beer in English Harbour will taste sweeter for it, even if its in 40 days time.....Urrrrrrgh!

Right, mention happy things so help me get a grip; balls on the mend, lots of dolphins and whales today and Helmut is back, but reckon its Helmut II as there is no lure poking out his mouth!

Brooksy Out

Day 53: A knot is better than nout!‏

Westerly westerly westerly....nuff said!

Back on the anchor overnight last night. Southerly flew in overnight and been battling against it trying to maintain forward momentum and keep my latitude but after 8 hours slog at just under 1 knot vmg this morning and early afternoon, its now veered round to the west and halted me, and im now drifting north at a knot having conceded to the anchor again. A very fast drift rate that cant be helped as the ocean is moving with the wind. Will just have to regain my lost latitude tomorrow night once the system has passed through.

On the upside, Im now very much feeling like this is an endurance event rather than just an arduous excursion, and if it had been "plain sailing" all the way across then where would the sense of achievement come from at the end of the day, ay? Having said that, the distinct absence of winds from the east, which im now calling "powder days" (after skiing, not the illegal substance!) as they are just as rare, have led me to conclude that this is a product of global warming: increased winter-time cyclonic (low pressure storm) activity due to higher sea surface temperatures from greenhouse warming in the northern hemisphere mid-latitudes, deflecting the azores high abnormally far south and thus making us rowers a bunch of misery guts! AND THEREFORE.... I blame all you lot and your gas guzzling ways for my predicament!! Shame on you!!

NB: global warming; i dont want to hear any pointless replies like, "what greenhouse effect, its been snowing all winter??" cuz that just corroborates my point. More storms/low pressures = more moisture which turns to snow when confronted with polar or continental air masses.

Saw a ridiculously spooky looking bird today. A cross between a vampire bat and a heron, "I know, crazy hey?!" he was black all over with a small, pointy, yellow beak, a twin feathered tail that looked like heron's legs and a wingspan of about 2-3 metres with oddly kinked wings at the centre. He looked so clumsy when he dived for fish and kept dropping huge ones, but he hovered quite a few hundred feet above the water with absolutely no effort. Any ideas as to what this one is guys? I'd much prefer to look spooky and hang glide like him than be friendly and be knackered the whole time like flappy!!

Keep getting buzzed by pods of dolphins too, but only EVER at night so i cant catch them on camera! pah! And the pilot whales are becoming much more common now but still very shy and seem to be on their own missions.

Talking about being on their own missions.....I have a proposition for you readers!...! To help raise some more money for my charities, I was hoping I might be able to coax some of you folks into taking up your own challenges and raise a bit of wonga to go to whichever cause you want from the 3; RNLI, Sidmouth Lifeboat or Guide Dogs. No challenge is too small or too big, be it physical or mental. A good one for the ladies of Trusham (my home village) might be a sponsored silence?!! HAHA, Im sure that would never happen in a month of Sundays but should imagine the men of Trusham would sponsor handsomly!!!!!! Essentially, my plan is to row the last 125 miles non-stop (only if the conditions are following as i dont want to cock up and miss the finish line from exhaustion!!) which should take around 2-3 days. But im only going to do it if you guys out there take up your own challenges during that time too, and let me know about them, so that I can use you for inspiration mostly, but we can get you on the blogs too!! Email or text me if you want to get involved....:-) If enough of you volunteer, then as a reward I will post the picture of me butt naked with my balls smothered in metanium! (is that a reward???)...**NB from brooksy2 - please dont encourage this - no one wants to see that!!!!**

Since writing this ive just gone north 1.5 miles....grrrr! Think i might just row myself to a stand still for 4 hours on the next shift. Better than going backwards I suppose!

Brooksy Out

PS the balls are better today. Aloe vera and camomile wet wipes are a god send!

Day 51: This blog is rated PG 13.... ;-)‏

Another slow day, another day of contemplation...on the task at hand, the trials ahead, and how I feel about the rubbish weather. But here's where I see myself.....and most of my dramas I face can usually be solved with one phrase......"Just get over youself and get the **** on with it!"

Drama 1: The prospect of being at sea for possibly another 40 days if things continue to deteriorate is dwelling on me. But I have to remember that I started out the expedition thinking I would be pleased if I finished in under 75 days (which is still a distinct possibility!) and I only augmented my expectations during the first 3 weeks when I was hitting 50-55 mile days.

Solution to Drama 1: ......"Just get over youself and get the **** on with it!"

Drama 2: If anyone out there can help me with this one, otherwise I will just have to refer to Solution 1 again. My gonads.....they are literally a big swollen rash due to excessive prickly heat from sweating and I can barely close my legs when in the cabin let alone when rowing.

Current solution to Drama 2: It's a hybrid between "Just Getting Over Myself and Getting the **** On With It" and a 2nd Generation silk liner sarong which is proving slightly more effective than 1st Gen wrap!

Now for the good news!!! I ONLY HAVE 990 MILES TO GO!! WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP!

.....crossed the 1000 miles to go milestone in the early afternoon and feel that although I'm not now on the home straight as I had once visualised, I am in the final chapter of the trip, and am focusing on the 500 mile mark where I can start to get excited! Just need to put my beak down and crack on for now, rain or shine, (Or in my case, Easterly or Westerly!).

The celebration of the milestone: combining 3 great pastimes....whiskey, cuban cigars (thankyou for those Claire!!), and well... er...you can work the other one out for yourself!!

Brooksy Out

Hot hot hot hot!

Hot hot hot hot!! That's what the race officers official line states! And he's damned spot on there by 'eck!

The brake in the routine at midday yesterday meant my lack of sleep overnight wrote me off this morning. I was knackeroonied to the core, but soldiered on, making much slower progress than yesterday. The following current I was getting has buggered off and its just me and a stagnant mass of blue to contend with today. Not a cloud in the sky and not a ripple on the water. If ever you thought you knew what it was like being completely surrounded by BLUE, then seriously, you have no idea! Bloody good job my boat is white and green!

Have learnt a few powerful lessons today that will serve me well in other ventures:

Lesson 1....VISUALISATION:

Don't visualise the finish line when you're only 2/3rds of the way there. Pace yourself young man!!! My excitment at getting to the 1000 mile mark has been all that's kept me going since the start line as I "KNEW" that things would be plain sailing from then on in and it would only be 3 weeks until beer and shenanigans. Not so this year old boy!!!! Now its time to take stock and rally the mind. Get a new visualisation of 500 miles to go and then take it from there. Baby steps Mr. Brooks, baby steps.

Lesson 2.....COMPLACENCY: That boat drifts faster than you think young man! Basically, I'd just finished my midday session and was pottering about on deck when I saw a funny looking speck of yellow in the water deep down and drifting away from me. "Hang about, that's my T-SHIRT!! My faithful yellow t-shirt that i have worn every day whether to keep me warm or to soak in water and drape over my shoulders in the heat." "Bugger that for a game of soldiers. We never leave a man behind!!!" And with that i dove off the side and set off after my fallen comrade. But I immediately regretted the decision....It must have been about 6-8 metres below the surface but I was just gonna have to suck it up and plough on. Grabbed the shirt and then made for the surface to see that Team Panasonic was about 30 yards away and drifting remarkably fast away from me. Barely a breath of wind but I had to swim like a Frenchman in a naval battle to reach the hand rail and dragged myself onto the deck spluttering. What got to me was how quick the drift was. Had I performed this stunt in heavier winds then things may have become a situation that I'd never EVER even want to dwell on. I do now feel lucky though, as I've learnt my lesson and shant go swimming off like that again!

Had a legendary chat with my Exeter School mates at the "Lad Pad" in London over their speaker phone. Was good to hear their voices, and now looking forward to getting back more than ever. If I don't manage to contact the Sandhurst boys then good luck with the rest of Basic! And if any of the Uni guys are meeting up then text me a number and I can chat to you guys too!

And I almost forgot..... Attached is a piccy of one of my smaller catches. A very tasty female dorado. Down into my belly!

Day 48

Put the hammer down today. Which was rather bizarre as it was a flat calm with about a 5knot tail wind and the pack ahead of me were on para anchors briefly the day before or making sluggish progress. But I steadily notched up 3.5 knots (1.5 more than i have managed in a fortnight!) consistently and reckon i'll hit 50 miles for the day. Must just be a flukey current im atop of. The race officer has described fleet conditions as "All very flukey. Watery desert!" Don't think he could have nailed it any more on the head than that!

Conditions for rowing are just ridiculous though. Had to abandon my midday row today and will tag it on to the twilight sessions as it hit around 40 degrees (35 in shade) and even my technique of soaking my tee-shirt in fresh water and draping it over my shoulders was insufficient. In fact I got so hot and bothered yesterday that I started questioning the flaws in The Lord of the Rings (on audiobook). Why didn't they just get the eagles to fly them to Mount Doom in the first place? They bloody well picked em up......too hasty!!....didn't discuss all the options did they!?....pah

Catching fish regularly now, although im running out of lures as for every fish i catch there's another one that takes the lure with it. Worth it in the long run as dorado is bloomin delicious!

Needed to make another medical call to my consultant Dr. Adrian Harris, as im currently suffering with prickly heat rash. It sprang up overnight giving me a 10% coverage in all my sweaty areas and very itchy (lots of little red dots like ive been bitten by a swarm of ants). But a dosing of loratidine (anti-hystamine) and another course of botics to ensure no infection should help to clear it up. There is no exact technique for reducing sweat rash and rubbing. Some people prefer talc, others vaseline. Some go all naked to increase evaporation, others prefer a thin layer to wick the moisture away. I seem to be bridging the gap, and not to great effect; whereby I intermit vas and talc, which leads to formation of a rank pancake-mix-like paste on my armpits and groin (not intentionally!), and I have taken to wrapping my fellas up in strips of silk (cut from my sleeping bag liner) that are secure with an elastic band no less!!! Very funny to look at, but good at prevent chaffing!

I rewarded my new turn of speed today with some letter opening. I feel it is better to open morale items as a reward or when you'er feeling at your best, as this acts as an incentive for you to buck your ideas up when you're on a low. Also, by boosting your good mood even further, it gives you a memory of being on a massive high, which is something to hold onto and draw upon when another low ebb comes about! Thankyou to J-Con 3000 for your legendary collage and letter, am very touched by how much you miss me but that's totally understandable! Haha!! And Dad, your peoms are great. You do seem to dwell on cascading waves and surfing etc which is ironic. We'll just have to hit the North Coast this summer to get it out of our systems!!

Will hit the 1000 miles to go mark in around 40 hours which is very exciting. Will have a celebration and send some piccies back for the occasion!

Brooksy Out

Day 46 in the big lil bro house....

And so i trudge ever on..... 8 knot tail winds are a meagre welcome to the repetitive slog, stroke after stroke, fingers bruising and cracking from heaving at the still water. No waves to surf, no fish biting, no end in sight and my arrival date slipping back each day as the weather slackens ever more.....ho hum, crack on, cheer up.....I could be a ginger!! Only the bleached beard shows evidence of a Saxon past!

NO-ONE EVER SAID IT WOULD BE EASY NOW DID THEY?!

To be honest, Im not in a grump at the weather, it's more a shame that the front of the pack are getting the best of it while the tail end charlies are getting the brunt! Im just in the middle somewhere on the plod, which is okay i guess! A pesky high pressure has descended too low for comfort and is threatening to envelop me in doldrum-like conditions for a few days, so I am now striking for 18 degrees latitude (30 miles further south) in an attempt to keep on the edge of it and make use of the tail winds a bit. However, will try not to eat up too much latitude this early on in the approach as North Easterlies could se me run South of my destination, but will do my best to make sure I get the optimum passage from now on. Very tricky when you're a one man band with no-one to debate with but there in lies the challenge!

The good news I cling to is that there are 200 people reading my blog EVERY DAY!! and my site took 15,000 hits last month....which is bloody mental!!! Don't you guys have anything better to do I ask you?! I now feel 400 eyes on me and will endeavour to bring you all scholarly masterpieces from now on!

With that in mind....it would be great if you chaps and chappesses could be so kind as to reward my occupation of your time by splashing a few of your hard earned Great British Pounds (or dollars, rand, euros, dinars etc) at my charities via my website. It's as easy as licking your elbow! Just go to the charities page from the right hand menu and click on one of the Just Giving accounts. They're great cuz for every pound you spend Just Giving manage to wangle another 28 pence out of the government to add to your contribution...result!!

Will leave you with a quote and joke of the day. I get one each day in my morale letters that my "lil big" sister and parents have written for me!

QUOTE

"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."

JOKE

" A Jack Russell and an Alsation are in the vet's waiting room.

The Alsation says "alright little mate, what are you in for?"

The Jack Russell replies " well one day I was in the garden, when I smells the poodle on heat next door. I couldn't resist so I digs under the fence and gets in there and does the deed! Unfortunately ten weeks later out pops these Jack Russell / Poodle cross pups. So Im here for the old snip!"

"Bloody Hell. That's harsh" responds the Alsation.

"So mate what you here for then?" enquires the Jack Russell.

"Well one evening I was warming myself by the fire when I hears this crash upstairs. I go rushing up there and finds my mistress naked leaning over the bath. Well what could I do? I jumps up and does the deed with her"...

"So you're in here for the snip as well then?"

"Nah just here to get me claws clipped"......!!!

Brooksy Out

P.S Just before sending this I rowed flat out as fast as I can for a minute or two to see what it would be like to go across the Atlantic at 4-5 knots the whole way. This was following closely by a hallucination where I was relaxing with a cup of tea on Boat No.4 (**not boat 3, who are probably capable of rowing and drinking tea at the same time - multi-tasking and all that - Go dudettes!!!) Haha!....I'm just a jealous tail-ender mate, and I still love you.

**quick edit from brooksy 2 after call from Dave :o)

Day 44

Thoughts turned chiefly to beer today! It's been dwelling on my mind and I have decided that my next challenge (during my ocean rowing interim period) will be to visit as many beer festivals in the south of england as possible!! I feel that this is a challenge to rival all as a feat of endurance and as worthy as any! On that note, if any of my friends out there wish to host a Brooks for their local festival then let me know!! Could make a road trip of it!!

Wind coming from NNE which is a bit annoying, as I'm having to work very hard to maintain 40 miles a day and would quite like it to swing round a bit more to help stump up my progress! If I average 40 miles a day from now i will be at sea for around 30 more days, but if the weather favours and i manage 45 miles a day then this reduces greatly, looking at coming in in around 26-27 days. I fully expect more unhealthy weather around the corner so 50 miles a day as an average just isn't going to be achievable.....wow, that's really boring for a Brooksy Blog, my apologies!!

Lord of the Rings Audiobooks are the dish of the week for now, working my way through them during the day sessions. Feel sorry for the bloke who reads them out though as there's loads of elven singing and poems and stuff that he has to sing which makes him sound like a right pillock!!

Being hampered by a crack on the underside of the stump of my middle finger where my hard patch has gotten so big that its spanned the joint and created this chasm, which seems to be growing deeper every day and very painful. May have to get the scalpal out and chop off some of the dead bits to help it heal, but am reluctant as i worked bloody hard on my new tough paws and I'll only end up slipping and shearing my finger off or summit!?

Had my first day of constant overcast weather today, which is surprising in itself as previous races have often been much more so. And the right hand side of my torso and thighs have been given a chance to cool down over the last 36 hours! But the solar panels are still managing to juice the batts which is good, so I can still get stuck into my films tonight. God Bless You Panasonic Stores for my Toughbook!! Where would I be without it ay?! And sturdy too, as I've sat on it, dropped it and splashed it a few times now and it's still coming back for more, and rightly so!!

Brooksy Out

PS. Hello to KS1 at Moreton Primary School and thankyou for your message of support. No I haven't seen any sharks yet but hopefully they might come to my rescue if any giant octopussies come to sink me!!!

Day 43: A moment of deep thought

Finally the winds are coming back round from the North and will be swinging more east over the course of the next 12 hours or so...which is nice! Although I must apologise for finally moaning on my blog! I now regret the decision to do so, as when I think about it properly.....I came here to row an ocean, to push myself mentally and physically, and to enjoy myself. If it means staying out here a day or 10 longer then so be it....In fact, the more the merrier, as I'd only be wallowing and getting fat and lazy in Antigua anyways! These boats and our equipment are designed so that we may exist at sea for a limited period. However, I feel more now like I'm coexisting than anything else, as each day brings new experiences, emotions and challenges. But each day too comes and goes, bringing me one step closer to my goal. Getting there in a timely fashion is just an after-thought when you look at the bigger picture!

Decided to stick with GMT time today, meaning that the evenings are lighter and the mornings darker every mile closer to the Caribbean. This is a morale building visible marker as I can see my progress with the changing light during the dawn and dusk sessions. But i must remember to check the Time Zone for Antigua before arrival so as not to confuse the parentals when they pitch up before breakfast after I've told 'em to be ready for lunch!

Going to grab a cheeky snooze before my last session of the night, then it's ZZZZZZZZ town till tomorrow....!

Brooksy Out

Day 41....

Man this is really starting to get on my nerves!! Once again we're into head winds. Not too strong, really only a slight breeze, but enough to slow me to a mere 0.5 knots of hard rowing and getting the para-anchor out during the rest periods. So i'm now doing 4 hours on, 2 hours off during the day to avoid having to deploy and then pull in the anchor too many times in 24 hours. Had a good chat with PVK (Nyamazela) who got a tip off that things will recover by midnight tomorrow night, so i'm holding out till then, but annoyed! Mainly becuase I seem to drift far more than anyone else when on the anchor and i cannot work out why. Seem to be doing it all as per instructions but still going backwards at half a knot even in these light conditions.....aaarrggh!! What's annoying is that I know there will be many more of these periods of bad weather on the horizon as we have picked a rubbish year for ocean rowing - THERE ARE NO TRADE WINDS in 2010!!!!

On the plus side, I have now finished the Harry Potter audio books....do I get a red reading badge for that?

Best moment of the last 48hours, however, was rowing last night. While I have enjoyed the light shows of the phyto-plankton immensely over the last 41 days, glowing green when the blades stir up the water, I have never seen any show quite as spectacular as last night. It seemed like every droplet of water glowed a brilliant green like liquid from a glowstick. As the water aerated with the pull of the oar, huge plumes of light billowed out like a nuclear explosion from the source, and during the recovery of the stroke (bringing the oar back to re-entry into the water) great streams of light beaded down the shaft of the oar and cascaded off the tip leaving a vivid trail of light like a work of abstract art back onto the dead calm water. It started becoming a joy to crab at the oars and dig the blade in on the recovery, as it sent a shower of green flittering into the air, and then spraying the surface like kamikaze fireflies as they hit the water again. VERY cool!! Almost wished it would rain to see if the whole sea would light up around me.

The wind is still building from the West even as i write this....pah!! This is going to be a LONG weekend indeed.

Brooksy Out

Day 39: Tragedy at Sea!

The worst possible thing happened today............I discovered that the bridge of my guitar had come unstuck due to the wood warping and it's now bust. Which means that I left La Gomera a crap guitar player and I will arrive in Antigua much the same!! Did you expect anything less???! Sorry, were you expecting something serious? I do apologise....yuk yuk yuk! Will set the old girl to sea at dawn tomorrow and light her up with a flare. Don't worry race officials, she bio-degradable!

Just plain old motoring today. Wind is light but the sea is moving nicely giving me 2.5 knots progress which is acceptable. I started thinking about what I'd do differently next time....yes there is still a next time...so far so good!! And, what I'm glad of this time around...

Im very glad to have my two huge solar panels, giving me more than enough power, enough to watch films and programs for 6 hours during my night time sessions, with the laptop inside the cabin looking out at me through the hatch and the sound pumping out through the deck speakers. Im able to use the speakers indefinately too, even during overcast days. Will be sparing during prolonged periods of overcast weather though!

Im also glad to have my tubes of ketchup, salad cream and daddies sauce, which I add to different meals, helping to spice, cream or flavour up, and add a new dimension to sausage and beans!!

I could do with foot steering during rough and big wave conditions, as im having to steer by pulling harder on each oar in turn, or having to stop to adjust the rudder lines by hand. I also wish I had an auto-pilot, just for use when Im sleeping!! Reason being is that it's very tricky trying to gauge my drift and set the rudder so that my drift is along the right bearing. There is a bit of an art to it really, because times call for the dagger board to be inserted at the bow of the boat when there is more of a cross wind, but the boat cruises better without the dagger board when there is a tail wind, give-or-take 30 degrees off stern, because the boat can pivot about her rudder and stern cabin where there is more drag in the water. However, this all goes to pot when the wind swings during my 5 hour sleep and I often wake up to find i've drifted north or south west and wasted valuable drift. I also waste about an hour a day just setting the rudder, which mounts up!

I also started thinking about what Im looking forward to most when I get back and what I take for granted on dry land....

The obvious and most regular thought is - of course - ICY COLD BEER!!! It's all I can think about getting my smackers around when I step off in English Harbour (sorry ems!!), but needs to be ice ice baby, YEAH!!! Surprisingly, I'm now massively missing fresh fruit and vegetables and, unsurprisingly, cheese! The one thing I miss the most above all is a bed that doesn't constantly roll around and not having to clench muscles ALL THE TIME, even when resting!

I don't think I took much for granted when on dry land anyway, at least I hope I didn't. But I know that everything will look, taste, sound and feel so much better when I get to the finish. And I'm looking forward to seeing all my friends again for parties and shenanigans!

RIght, time for chocolate pudding....

Brooksy Out

Day 38: Stinky!

Good old fashioned graft in the last 2 days. I think PVK may have taken my last comment to heart as he appears to have put the hammer down, and rightly so!! It's quite satisfying to know that I can make "the man, the legend" nervous still...even if im still 2 days row behind him!! Will persevere to rein him in as it has the added effect of kicking my own arse into gear and getting valuable daylight in between myself and the solos behind me!

Glad to have passed 36 degrees west recently, as race reports are indicating adverse weather for the fleet to the east of 35 degrees nest Tuesday, so hopefully I'm past most of the bad stuff??! Wind currently light to average but I recently shed a few pounds, helping my speed a bit, in the form of some rancid food...

...Basically, my hatch containing days 85-97 was wiffing a bit and any of the food that wasn't in a foil package had absorbed the rancid smell. So at lunch today I bit the bullet and prepared for a conflagration on the guilty deck hatch. I put my buff over my mouth and nose and smothered it with tiger balm (like olbas oil) in order to mask the stench eminating from the opening, and proceeded to remove day bags, disposing of all rancid items and retaining foil packaged goods to be cleaned and dried on the deck under the sun later this avo. When I neared the bottom of the locker it became quite clear what had happened. Sea water had been entering via 2 poorly sealed bolt holes, seeped through 3 layers of bin liners and plastic bags, turned my protein powder into custard and the result was slowly fermenting the rest of the food inside. Im not trying to be funny here and go quoting Anchorman again....but the smell was literally like turds covered in burnt hair, times 1000!!! Even with my mask I was gagging and could barely bring myself to extract the items....urrrgh! However....job done folks, and now have a spare bag of dehydrated goods on deck in a bin bag to supplement my current rations, lets just hope im off the ocean before 85 days though!!

Was on a roll by this stage and cleaned out my footwell too, which had a fatty deposited layer all around the bottom and was ponging too. RESULT of a couple of hours work (during my rest periods i might add!).....I now have a newly sterile boat that smells sweetly of roses and mr brooks!

Caught a perfect dorado yesterday, a 5lb female who went down delicously with egg pancakes and daddies brown sauce. Caught another one today but it was just getting dark and gutting the young chaps in bad vis is a ball ache, especially on a rolling sea so let him go. Still good fun reeling em in by hand as you never know what's going to be on the end! Caught an immature Sailfish 2 days ago that looked amazing, with a head to tail dorsal fin much like a dinosaur might. Would quite like to have a battle with something big but the limit on my line is 30lbs, which was tested by Malcolm who snapped it in just a few seconds (taking my best lure with him too I might add!!!) and his incredulity at the whole situation may have led to his desertion I fear, as he hasn't been back for 2 days now....humph!

Tomorrow's chores are washing and re-darning my favourite socks, which are all i row in. They seem to be working though and im amazed that im not getting trenchfoot!!

Brooksy Out

Sailfish

Day 36: Ladies Night‏

In a triumphant voice like you'd hear from the dude that narrates action film trailers...."THE WINDS HAVE RETURNED.....BOOOYAH!!!!!"

Some rather pleasant easterlies and north easterlies are zooming me along at just shy of 3 knots when at oars, so looks like im back in the swing of things, at last! And they couldn't come any sooner! Saturday was what could only be described as a sweatbox, in an oven, in a sauna, in a hot country, in the summer! No breeze, no respite, and NO PROGRESS! Crawling along at just over a knot and praying for winds even if just to cool me down. Kept to my 13 hours but jumped in the water after one session and just floated for about half an hour in an attempt to prevent heat stroke. Malcolm found this very amusing and he kept leaping metres into the air in an attempt to pretend to be my counterpart and, i think have a go at rowing. But he's knows he's all fins and wouldn't have a hope!

That night I was treated to a light show to rival all, much as Charlie Pitcher described in his blog. A canvas of stars, all reflecting off the dead calm water and some pretty fantastic shooting stars too. Often the tranquility of the moment being broken by Malcolm's splashes when he lept out of the water.

Very glad to be back on the 45+ miles a day bandwagon and looking forward to catching up with PVK ;-), watch out bru! Have decided to tuck into days 85-100 rations in an attempt to boost my calorie intake for my 14 hour a day rows and reduce the boat weight even further, as I feel pretty confident that I wont be needing these and am hoping to reach Antigua in under 70 days.....touch wood!! Lets not rule out another session on the para-anchor, and we are expecting more slow patches over the coming weeks.

Here's a question for you guys, not sure what type of whale came to see me yesterday. He was about 5 metres long, browny-grey top half and a white bottom, with white patches over eyes and a dorsal fin much like a dolphin's and nowhere near as large as a killer whale's. He kept his distance and made shallow dives but never showed his tail fin, and stayed with me for most of the day. Wanted to get in with camera but the water was too murky to get any footage as he was too far away...pah!

Feeling the lack of the double- X chromosome recenlty, so decided that it would be ladies night tonight. Started off already, with Christina Aguilera, Kelly Clarkson and Paramore, and will watch a couple of chick flicks on my laptop during the evening rows, Love Actually or some rubbish like that!! Back to heavy metal and some soldier films tomorrow so don't worry!....

Brooksy Out

Day 33

Hot, slow and flat! That was pretty much the sum of my day! But I did get a new friend, two in fact...

...Was greeted by a pilot whale about 4 metres long, light grey and not very friendly. He just cruised past and didnt stop to say hello or anything!! Not even long enough for me to grab my camera and jump in for some footage...pah!

BUT..... Geeze has now been replaced by a rather impressive Dorado (also known as a Mahi Mahi or Bull Dolphin), about 3 feet long and I reckon around 30lbs. He popped up when I was cleaning the bottom of the boat at lunchtime and has been with me all day playing around my port side oar whenever it cuts through the water. I've named him "Mahi Mahi Malcolm" as Ive now decided to name my ocean friends after people I know. Mahi Mai Malcolm is for Malcolm Roderick who got his green beret at Royal Marines, Lympstone at the beginning of the year! Sorry Malc, but I am now already devising a strategy for how to catch him. He's not into the fishing lures so if anyone knows what they like to go for then let me know!!! Ive got my Chinese stir-in seasoning and par-boiled pilau ready to go!!!

Had a very nice surprise this avo in the form of a sat phone call from Peter Van Kets. Was great to hear from him and good that he's fit and healthy and enjoying himself! Although I had a very saddening confession to make to him. Before we left La Gomera we'd been playing the game where 4 people stick their hands through the plastic loops that hold beer cans together, then you pull away all together and whoever is left with the rings still attached has to leave it on for 24 hrs. Me and Pete both got done and in our state of non-sobriety decided to make a pact to leave them on until Antigua, where they'd be re-united. You can imagine my horror when I looked at my wrist the other day to see that it was gone, must have been snagged on deck. What was worse was having to tell Pete and hear that he still has his....gutted! I've failed you bru! My round in English Harbour then ay?

That's all for now, going to be slow rowing for a couple of days until the winds pick up again but looking to average 45 miles a day from now....challenge!!

Brooksy Out

Pilot Whale

Dorado Fish

Day 32:

Well at least im on the mend now that the anti-biotics have kicked in, and Im using a nifty anaesthetic gel to numb the end of my tongue in order to eat without it feeling like im stubbing out a cigarrette on it!! Felt pretty rough this morning and the tablets are making me rush to the bucket after every shift. I wont go into details, but im getting through a hell of a lot of water now to combat the issue! In fact ive increased my fluid intake from 8 litres a day to around 11. Was especially thirsty work today as the sun was beating down throughout and i was suffering a bit from sunburn. In fact, I appear to be suffering from what can only be described as "Rowers Torso". It's a lot like "Drivers Arm" (where only your right forearm is tanned) but this is effecting my entire right side including my thigh! Very funny to look at though as i look like what can only be described as neopolitan icecream, the strawberry layer is my backside and all the 'previously' white parts of my body that - up until then - had never seen the sun, although I have a lot of friends that would disagree...haha!!

Last night I took to my Shiatsu Lumbar cushion, which is probably my most prized possession behind my laptop. Its a cushion that you plug into the 12v socket that gives a deep tissue massage from 2 rotating massage balls inside it. Its a very heavy weight piece of kit that leaves me gibbering after every session and is great for getting out snags and knots in my back that accrue over time!

I forgot to mention, I had my first experience of a Moonrise the other night. It was incredible! At first its looked like a nuclear explosion far, far off on the horizon, because in the pitch darkness, all I could make out was this dep red glow that slowly rose up like a mushroom and then after a few minutes lit the sea up with brilliant white.

Also saw my first school of flying fish today. How long has THAT taken??!! I KNOW, right?!!! Anyway, they were great to watch; 3 flew about 15 feet into the air and soared for around 100 yards just off my starboard side. Just so long as they don't go hitting me in the head during the night shifts!

Brooksy Out

Day 31: PAH!

Just when I was raring to get back into the swing of things with my 100 hour working week...

That bloomin ulcer that I was complaining about yesterday decided to turn into a ruddy great abcess the size of a tic tac right on the end of my tongue, making me feel like poo in the process! Luckily, I caught it early, because my back, thigh muscles and shoulders were aching like nobodies business, and remembered that the first sign of infection and fever is the amplification of aches and pains around the body.

I jumped on the anti-biotics (Co-Amoxiclav, a broad-based penicillin) straight after my session in the early evening and decided to give myself a long sleep and then ring Adrian Harris - my expedition medic consultant and head physician of the A&E in Exeter by trade - who agreed with my choice of antibiotic and reckoned I'd managed to jump on it before it could affect my physical performance, fortunately! I will, however, stick to just 13 hours a day until my tongue sorts itself out! Sorry Claire, I don't reckon the Bonjela with suffice in this instance, but is definatley the balm of choice for all other oral ailments!

Nice weather for rowing though! Small rolling waves and light wind from the North East means Im cruising at 2.5 - 3 knots when at oars. I've discovered that the boat speed increases if the wind runs more than 20 degrees off the stern, as the side of the boat acts as a bit of a sail (although it's no JJ!! haha! and apologies for my jibe charlie!) giving it a bit more propulsion with the increased surface area, so it's quite handy that the prevailing conditions are SE and NE for the next few days at least! Its looking to calm significantly over the weekend though so probably a good time to get under the boat for a good scrub again and see how my humbugs are doing!

Brooksy Out

To all the guys at Sandhurst; Chris, Hywel, Ollie, Rob, Stu (are there others?): I hope you're all enjoying (surviving) the toils of The Hurst, boys?! Let me know how you're getting on when you get the chance!!??xx

The Foreys: Thanks for the Chiefs match report Dave, lets hope they can win the playoffs this time though!!!?? Chance would be a fine thing!!!

Day 30: Chapter 2 begins with a vengeance!!

Very chuffed that as of 2pm today, I was finally closer to Antigua than I had been 6 days ago!whoop whoop! Clawed back the miles yesterday with 3 monster 4 hour sessions and then a well deserved sleep! Business as usual today although I'm now getting up an hour earlier to stick an extra hour in for the next ten days, making it a 14 hour work day now! Almost up to club 100 Shieldsy, might have to slip in 2 hours somewhere to get a 100 hour working week!!

Today I decided to give Hip Hop a chance to redeem itself and have a crack at the days entertainment, but I am unfortunately not very interested in hearing about people hassling other people for drugs whilst brandishing their "pieces", or about ghetto "home boys" going to clubs and thrusting their man-bits into a "sisters" bootie, whilst she hassles the DJ to "turn it up while they get down!". I am now of the opinion that this is now all Hip Hop Artists EVER talk about, AND claim vast sums of money for illustrating the point - poorly - in the process!! As you can imagine, this made for a very disappointed Mr. Brooks during Hip Hop hour and, thankfully, it will NOT be making a return!!

Anyhow, back to the oars brought immense relief, but also a pinch of discomfort. My claw hands were slowly unfurling into regular human hands during my sabatical, but curling them back round the oars for the first time.....I honestly thought they must be broken!!! Fingers just aren't supposed to hurt that much! However, they got over themselves and Im settled back into the rhythm. My tongue doesn't seem to think so though, as it has sprouted a humungous white ulcer right on the end in protest. Probably because it's primary use now is as a digging tool to extract bits of peanut from my molars!!

Will keep you posted on progress, will now try and reel in the pairs again and reclaim 16th place. Cwoomon!!!

Brooksy Out

PS i cannot recieve attachments on my email (ie ANY pics) so please dont try sending any!

Hilary Bastone: I can't access the net so can't read web links, sorry!

Sian - congrats on getting into East Midlands Rugby 'big lil Sis' and Steph!

NewcrossRFC - good to hear we're still stuffing Topsham! and gr8 work on squaring Molton away!! Keep me posted on 6 nations boys!!

Days 27-29: Blow this for a game of soldiers...Im off!!‏

Well I ate my words not soon after writing the last blog....If i remember correctly I do believe I muttered something like "I'm beginning to enjoy this para anchor business!"??

The next day I was champing at the bit to get back on the oars. I could see myself living out here for months and months on end, idly watching my new school of very small black and white striped companions (look a lot like humbugs!!) under my boat, darting about after scraps of peanutes and bombay mix that I throw to them occasionally. I don't throw away my "Big D" chilli nuts and pork scratchings though!! They are the holy grail of pub snacks!! I have also been reluctant to watch too many films and episodes of programs as I only have a finite supply and like to watch them during the evening sessions at the oars as they help to keep me awake! Also, I'm usually so tired by that stage that I can easily watch the same film 2 or 3 times before remembering that I've already watched it!! Anyway....I digress.....

....my frustration at being on the anchor realised itself when I was dangling over the edge of the boat with my mask and snorkel on and legs hooked onto my handrail, just looking about at my humbugs when one of my new companions sidled up to me. His name is Geeze as he kind of slopes about the hull like the big daddy and looks like he knows it all, like a right ol' cockney geezer!! However, Geeze took great interest in me, swam right up to my face until my eyes crossed, and it was then that I realised....this fish was having more interesting time than I was! That did it!! I had to get going ASAP! A dolphin did then dart under me and disappear into the blue but that does kind of ruin my point!!

The weather report came in that the wind would be swinging round to the North by this evening, but I decided that I would get going into a North Westerly and row as hard as I could to make some progress, 4 hours on 30 mins off, until the Northerlies appear, no matter how long they take...I'm still waiting for them, having heaved myself off anchor at noon today (Monday) and am now making painfully slow progress at 1knot. But progress is progress at least!!

Ironically, if you look on my homepage; I made an animation of my route across the ocean. When the boat gets to about where I am now, a cartoon hurricane appears that pushes me back and then I carry on again!!! Im hoping that this self fulfilling prophecy rings true, and I dont face any more set backs to Antigua, as the cartoon suggests!!!

Anyways, I hope everyone is well and apologise for not posting sooner, but really, there hasn't been much to talk about!! And a quick apology to Steve Bishop...yes, I have been watching the 7th season of 24 without you, and yes, I fully expect a bollocking when I get back, sorry!!

Finally, could any of the guys from New Cross RFC send me a few of the match reports from the recent games as I've been dying to hear how you're getting on?!?! email them if poss!!

Brooksy Out

Day 26: Anchorman's 3rd day of chill time!‏

Well, I'm not gonna lie, I'm starting to enjoy this "do bugger all" phase of the world's toughest rowing race!! Not that I want to be going backwards 13 miles a day with nothing to do. Well, that's a lie, I have been catching up on season 8 of Scrubs and playing my Harmonica. Today and tomorrow I will be learning some new tunes on my guitar (thanks to Chris Winterman for the little black book of guitar songs!! very cool!).

This morning, however, I was of the mind that I wanted to be certain that being on the para anchor was the only option available to me, so I hauled it in (tangled in the process) and then had a row for an hour into the weather. 1 hour's progress saw me move 500ft in the right direction, then I stopped to have a quick drink and scratch my back...I drifted back 800 yards! A Complete farce! I worked out that even if I rowed for 12 hours in 4 hour chunks, the time it would take me to redeploy the anchor after each stint I'd only end up drifting back further than when I'd started. Instead, I can rest on the anchor for this time, then increase my rowing to 14 hours a day when I get started again on Tuesday - for a few days - and just make up for the lost distance that way. Much more efficient!! This random bit of ecxercise and subsequent streching session did serve to kill a bit of time and keep the muscles primed mind you!!

In the process of redeploying the anchor this afternoon, I found that all the para lines had become entangled (12 lines that are attached to the main chute and attach to a spinning shackle that the main 100m anchor line runs from) and for some bizarre, brain-fart reason I decided to dangle over the side of the boat, holding onto the 12ft, open para-anchor (already deployed in the water) with one hand, untie the bowline attaching it to the 100m anchor rope and then untangle the parachute lines with my spare hand. Bear in mind that there's over a tonne of hydraulic force trying to pull itself free from my grasp when the chute is open!! I managed to untangle it and adjusted the bridle to spread the pressure a bit more efficiently and I'm now cruising backwards again! Dave Brooks is allergic to easy options, he just lunges at the first flashing lightbulb that appears above his head!!

The wind and waves are constant and from the South West still, but really, so long as you're confident that the anchor isn't going to rip your boat apart, and all your kit is well lashed down, it's not that bad, in fact its quite fun! The waves got up to about 5-6 metres last night but the boat just crests over them like a cork. I get knocked about inside but the lee clothes that I rigged up before I left help to keep me from rolling from side to side in the cabin. They're basically canvas walls 1 foot high and 3 feet long that i can attach to hooks on the ceiling and the space in between is wide enough to hold me in like in a coffin.

I do have some pressies for you wonderful blog followers! I've managed to send some photos out to Sian, my sister and Commander in Chief of the blog! She will be uploading them to this blog when she recieves them.

Brooksy Out

Day 24: Anchorman!!‏

Hi there, I'm Ron Burgandy, also known as the Anchorman, and when I'm not settling down to a nice glass of scotch (scotchy scotchy scotch, down into my belly!!) I'm in the middle of the Atlantic going backwards!! No that's not exactly what he says in the film, but I think you'll catch my drift in a minute!??....

....So these pesky South Westerlies have descended on the fleet, 30knots max and big big big waves. It's pretty impressive how quickly the weather can change around here, as last night it was a dead calm with not a breath of wind, and a 2/3rds moon was illuminating everything with an etheral hue that was simply breathtaking! This morning turned into a rough and tumble blustery affair, not too dissimilar to Winnie the Pooh's experiences in the Hundred Acre Wood when Owl's tree house blew away! (Can you tell that I now have time on my hands??!!)

Had a go at rowing against the weather when I woke up this morning for 4 hours non-stop and saying that it was like pulling tractor tyres out of scotch porridge would be a pretty close analagy. In fact at one point the wind was gusting up to 20 knots so that when I pulled on the oars, they actually sat quite happily in the water and didn't move an inch; I was rowing the boat to a complete stand still and the oars were just holding on to the sea!!

SO THAT DID IT!! Time to wack out the para-anchor for its 2nd performance. I rigged up a bridle across the bow between 3 strong points (where the anchor line is attached to the boat to big metal cleats) so that theload is spread and a force 8 winds would not rip a single cleat straight out of the hull. Currently, she's holding firm, coasting backwards at half a knot, and "touch wood" will remain intact!

This depression is affecting the entire fleet, I know its harsh but I'm pleased about that as I'd hate to see a couple of fortunates get a queue jump VIP ticket to the front of the fleet leaving everyone else stranded in the mess!! This gigantic low pressure system is currently sat on the majority of the North Atlantic. Unfortunately, it looks like we'll be enjoying it's company for 5-7 days, with winds looking to swing around to North Westerlies by Tuesday next week....arghhh!!! At this point I will row at right angles to it and try and make a bit of South Westerly progress until the Easterlies resume.

This means I will probably drift about 80 miles back in the direction I came from (2 days row), therefore reckon I will be adding another 9 days onto my ETA in Antigua, so long as we don't get hit again!! :-( On the plus side, it does mean that I have 7 days to play my guitar, finish off the 7th season of 24, and make a start on Gavin and Stacey, learn my harmonica, and let Rashy Mc.Crack Rash (can you guess where he lives?!) have a bit of breathing space.

WIll keep you posted if any adventures arise from my confinement to the cabin (I know I just opened myself up to a barrage of dirty comments there but please try and refrain!) but reckon the bog will go silent for a couple of days now.

Keep the texts coming in guys, email does work...a bit temporanmental though so apologise if I don't reply right away.

AND PLEASE KEEP DONATING TO MY CHARITIES VIA JUST GIVING ON THE WEBSITE!!!!!!! That's what it's all about remember!!

Anchorman Ou----- .... er, I mean... Brooksy Out

Day 23...Christmas Day!

Well the winds and sea have dropped off completely, which was a nice change of pace from the last few days furious slogging, but it was like rowing through syrup as the boat speed was almost halved in a matter of hours! However, this was a perfect occasion to celebrate Christmas at sea, something which we missed out on what with the race start being delayed by a month!! First things first though, I had some chores to do.....

...the time had come for me to brave the ink and give the old girl's hull a scrub, something which I had been rather nervous about doing, as you never know what might be lurking in the gloom with no-one watching out for me on deck. So gingerly, I lowered my torso in, dangling over the side of the boat with my legs hitched around the hand rail and srubbed the sides of the hull,removing the small molluscs that were dangling off like bogies with my window scraper, every now and again making fleeting glances around me just to make sure. Once I had done this on both sides, and was content that no 'orrible beasties lay in waiting, I went in for a dip, and to finish off the bottom, bow and stern of the hull. I made sure to tie myself on with the 25m throw line and I even strapped my knife onto my upper arm just in case. Like that would make any difference whatsoever!! I still remember, vividly, the conversation I had with Peter Van Kets back in La Gomera about my concerns about makos, great white, white tips and hammerhead sharks. His remark was, and I quote verbatim, "Don't worry about it bru....there's nothing to worry about, and besides which, if a shark really wanted to eat you, you wouldn't even know about it. You wouldn't see him circling like in the films. He'd just come at you from below!" Now I know that is supposed to be some kind of South African form of reassurance, but, WHAT THE HELL?!!! I did ring him straight after to tell him what I did, and he was very please fo me, but mentioned that he'd been in loads of times before and quite enjoyed it! Ho hum! It turned out that the only drama I had was ending up getting tangled up in my knife and scraper lanyards and my safety line, which were wrapping themselves around me. In the meantime and group of sour faced looking "Helmuts" rocked up in time to gawk at me whilst I turned into a writhing tangle of string and line. I think I even heard them sniggering, but reckon that was my comeuppance for eating their friend last week!

This afternoon I gave myself an extra half hour break at 5pm to celebrate christmas and open a load of my presents. I searched my ipod for the only christmas song i had, and so to the tune of Frank Sinatra's "Let it Snow" (very apt as the sun was beating down like I'd never known before) I had my christmas dinner; cheeseburger in a can, opened my presents; an electronic sudoku game, a grow-your-own christmas tree and the best one of them all....a harmonica!!! Now I can really get some atmosphere on the boat and bring a bit of "jail cell irony" to the situation! This was followed by a tot of whiskey and then can of coke, followed by a glass of whiskey and coke funnily enough!!

Back to work now though, the weather will soon be turning and veering round to the North West so don't worry if you see my dot wizzing in the wrong direction for a couple of days, it just means that I broke my para anchor or summit!!

Brooksy Out

Day 21: 3 weeks at sea!‏

Well I reckon that's cause for celebration!! And did I? Well, no, nbot really, I just rowed like a miserable bugger! However, at least I didn't moan about it ay?!...tee hee! (inside joke!!)

In fact, today promised to be a rather rubbish day, as the waves had died down and my bum was still sore from yesterdays flogging from the messy sea, but in the end the wind died down and I was able to "rash rotate" onto my skwoosh pad and wear board shorts for a change. Listened to the Ricky Gervais podcasts and think I may have strained my stomach muscles from laughing at one point. Its just 3 blokes rambling on about rubbish, but one conversation they had literally dropped me onto the deck in stitches and I couldn't pick the oars back up for about 5 minutes!

Went about my washer-woman ways again today and took to scrubbing my lycra shorts and boxers, and my single t-shirt that I wear around my neck like a cape to keep the sun off. I reckon I'd make a crap super hero....Ocean Rowing Man: He'll come to your rescue, in due course, and weather permitting, but he wouldn't be much use when he gets there, and down even bother asking him why he's walking like a drunk with an invisible basketball between his thighs!!

I heard that I might get into trouble for having accepted a bottle of red wine from Ole and Brian (my Boogie Woogie encounter) as it could be misconstrude as external support (im in an unsupported race you see!), so now I have to not open the bottle until i get to the finish line (which is fine by me), but probably shouldn't throw it away either, as i'll get penalised for that too! So really all I did was lighten Boogie Woogie's load by about 400g and stick me with a bottle of Rioja to look at for another 40 odd days! The irony there is that the man (Ole) who was chiefly responsible for getting me to the start line could have been the guy to assist in my disqualification!! Close shave!!!....

So, in terms of my diet, I reckon Im eating enough, certainly don't seem to be losing any weight, but then again Devon Bear and Mr. Grasshead still haven't started talking to me yet (that'll be around day 50) so I couldn't tell anyway. I do get hungry from time to time when Im not eating everything in the bag, but sometimes treats do get stuck in my beard which serve as an intruiging surprise later on!! Beard is now longer enough to stroke when Im thinking hard, which isn't often!!

That's it for now! Tomorrow is Christmas at sea, when I get my Hanburger in a can, wear my father christmas hat and give myself an hour off to open some presents (got a big back of them in the front cabin!!!whoop whoop!!), although I reckon I may jump over the side tomorrow to clean the hull if it's calm enough...need to be able to see those makos and white tips coming!!!

Brooksy Out

Bishop: Your Dirty Urban Words are insane!!! keep em coming!!

Giles: Party ay?! I like where this is going!!! Will keep you informed on my ETA to UK.x

Message from Brooksy 2

Hey everyone, having spoken with Brooksy1 it turns out his email is pretty much defunct for the foreseeable future. So, please please could everyone use the text message service on the website to message him via the sat phone. Don't forget, when you copy and paste the number into the box to remove the dashes and then make sure number is correct. I had issues as the box has a maximum character limit.

Anyway, more importantly, Dave is doing very well and is still (wierdly) in good spirits, despite the boy part issues! I think he made about 52 miles today and so is motoring away!

Thankyou for following my big little bro, he really does appreciate all the messages and does try to reply but its all dependent upon signal. I have a small favour to ask...needless to say, Dave needs to keep up the fundraising side of things, and Im not going to lie to you, Im pretty rubbish at this side of things so, if anyone has any genious original ideas please let me know! sianbrooks@hotmail.com

Ta very much! Keep smiling everyone :o)

Day 20 Surfin’ USA (well...Antigua !)

Yesterday was pretty much just a hard old slog with the occasional albatross, and Flappy and his pals, along for the ride. It left me exhausted as the sea-state is very confused and VERY uncomfortable for the posterior. However...I have devised a strategy that was put into effect today with encouraging results....

....I call it ‘ rash rotation ` . It’s the act of changing my seat cover and clothing every so often so that the rubs occur on new or non-rashy parts of my body leaving the rashy bits free from rubbing and allowing them to dry and scab-up. Today I was able to let my backside out to fallow by rowing without lycra with the sheepskin covering my foam seat. When my bottom has recovered enough and my ‘gentlemans’ vegetables` can no longer take any more abuse between my cheese-grater thighs then I will swap back to rowing in lycra on top of my squish-pad ( gel cushion ) . And so the cycle continues. The same rules apply to my arm-pits by removing t-shirts before the rashes form, and then enduring the chilly sun-rises and sun-sets in the nuddy and risk sun-burn in the heat of the day ( not so bad now that I’m as brown as an over-baked gingerbread man )

Today has been more pleasant with some big waves teasing me with the promise of a long ride. I reached 9.8 knots on one peach of a wave but they’re just not steep or long enough yet to yield decent long runs. Won’t be long now as there is a low pressure coming in for Tuesday to Friday next week bringing some really pants weather with north-westerlies and west-nor’westerlies coming in, so it could be time for the para-anchor to come out again if westward progress is halted. Pah !!

Regardless of the impending ‘ wind of doom` I’m in relatively high spirits now, and have my mind’s eye firmly locked onto Day 30, which I see, psychologically as my half way marker. Why so optimistic I hear you ask.?..well judging by my current progress I’m guess-timating on arrival in 60-70 days ( which is sweet) . I reckon I’ll be so excited by day 60 that any day after that doesn’t count as I’m having so much fun. I love how naive I am about this whole thing which is probably my biggest failing but my biggest advantage also

Brooksey Out for now xx

PS will let you all know about my diet & weight loss etc in the next blog .Lots of food stories to tell !

Day 18: Gone Fishin ..........

I was completely wiped out for the best part of this morning & couldn’t work out why until Mum texted me saying I’d overtaken 3 pairs boats & was closing in on the French fours having rowed the furthest distance out of the entire fleet in the last 24hrs . 57miles =Result !

Today was a slightly more subdued affair taking lots of breaks, pottering & tidying having a shower & scrubbing the unmentionables & CAUGHT A DORADO – WHOOP WHOOP ! .......

........Mum had been complaining to me that I wasn’t being ”Ray Mears” enough,fishing for my supper & that the Heritage Explorer boys had been making fish jerky from tuna and herring . So of course I obliged by getting my custom made fishing line & lures out for a maiden .A big thankyou to Richard Bolton for my handcarved reel & lures because lo & behold, within 10mins I had a baby Dorado bobbing about on the end of the line which proceeded to spaz itself off the hook taking the rubber lure with it. Oh well, round 2 lasted 2hrs longer so with a change of lure with a big pink eye painted on it & funky looking hook I was then greeted by a nice 5 pounder who I named Helmut. He had a big crash helmet forehead & I reckon , by his complete sense of humour failure, of the prospect of being my dinner , that he was definitely German! ....

...... only trouble was , what the hell was I supposed to do with him? I was planning on dispatching him with my 19mm spanner (who’s called Betsy ) with a swift blow to the head ( the quickest & most painless way of doing it ) then removing the fillets & tossing the rest back. Just my luck then that he decided to spasm his way into my footwell , which is covered by my footplate & go to town down there! I was left flayling about with the spanner in hand trying to send Helmut to meet his maker in a fashion. He just wouldn’t part company with his life and kept wriggling away from Betsy .... the jammy crout!

To cut a long story short I got my fillets , which I steamed/poached & bloomin lovely they were so a good day all around!

Brooksey out xx

Day 17, Sun Sea Surf.........& Ballrash

Day 17, Sun Sea Surf.........& Ballrash.

After yesterdays epic washing machine ride I was in no mood for another day of being wrenched off my feet & only getting 40% of my oar strokes into the water. Don’t even get me started on the evening sessions, which were like trying to stand up on a bucking bronco with your hands tied behind your back whilst blindfolded.

Nevertheless, I apparently notched up a pretty good VMG ( velocity made good ) so my agony seemed to pay off. What took a beating however were the old meat & 2 veg which I now have to paint with Sudocrem after every shift and bathe in talc before every shift . It’s like my thighs are sandpaper ........ aaargh !

But now the wind is behind me & I’m going to bear slightly more W than S as I feel the last few days snatching up latitude need to be rewarded with some progress forward.I am glad of my decision to head S though as the conditions are definitely more consistent here.I’m just looking forward to waves & swell l becoming more established & therefore less messy so that my bum can recover a bit & that of course I can “ shred up some gnarly H2OOOOOH yeh !” Quote: Duffman

I must say hello to Chris Martin ( of Coldplay ) , who’s reading my blogs and says if I can get to Antigua by mid March then there’s tickets to their Argentinian gig in it for me. Well I reckon that’s reason enough to up the anti? Now all I need is Sir Richard Branson to stump up the flights & I’m sorted. Ha Ha !

Brooksey Out. Xxxx

PS Still need some more options for naming Mr Grasshead

PPS Hello to everyone at Teign School as I believe you’re following me. Thankyou for your support xx

Day 15: short and sweet!

Good days rowing today. Reached my third waypoint a have 7 left. weather getting very rough so will keep this one brief otherwise im gonna hurl!! Brooksy Out, x

Two weeks at sea. Cwoomon!!

Two weeks at sea. Cwoomon!! The days are really starting to go quickly now which is encouraging, although im sure its because i sleep through the night whereas a lot of the other guys have to row 2 hours on 2 hours off continuously.

I met up with Ole and Brian from Boogie Woogie today. They were 8 miles ahead of me yesterday so I made it my mission to reign them in (is that how you spell reign?!). Got to within about 30 metres and swam over to them to be greeted by a small bottle of red wine, nice touch guys!! Am saving it for the 20 days at sea checkpoint. The guys were in high spirits, both were enjoying life at sea and were glad to be getting into the swing of things. Weren't so happy when i asked them to turn the boat around and take me back to mine, which has a much slower drift rate due to its size and so was now a few hundred yards behind us. That was the first time i had swum with 5 km of water below me so i wasn't going to push my luck, especially as the wind had started to pick up. Brian was sad to see me leave because my presence on board was eating into his 2 hour stint!!

My arse is starting to give me a bit of gip now, but i dont need to row with gloves on anymore as my hands are tough as old boots. Feet are ticking over but should imagine they'll get worse when the weather picks up and i start getting sloshed by the larger waves.

My cabin roof is slowly starting to look like a collage of piccies and quotes that my legendary sister put together before i left. I get 1 envelope a day with either a motivational quote or a riddle and a family photo. Im crap with riddles and have only solved one so far, the other two are buggers, "What holds water but is full of holes?" and "What belongs to you but others use it more than you do?" Little help please guys?!

Brooksy Out

xxx

Well I wouldnt want to go calling it Day 13 now would I?!

Today was a hard slog, as the winds have dropped right down to a whisp and rowing is like pulling a tractor tyre through syrup! However, the monotony of the day was broken up by a few welcome - and unwelcome - visitors....!

...A large pod of dolphins came over to say hello today!! Whoop whoop! They passed me about 100m away but didnt come all the way up, plashing and leaping out of the water to obscene heights! I wandered why they wouldn't come all the way over and thought that my music had only just stopped as they appeared on the horizon. Could it be that they were intrigued by the wail of Jimi Hendrix's guitar ? I quickly grabbed the ipod to replay Voodoo Chile but, alas, they didn't come back. Fingers crossed for a closer encounter in the future!

This evenings unwelcome close encounter came in the form of a 210m long cargo ship that passed me by a mile away on my port side. In the pitch black there is absolutely no way of telling what their heading is, so I was veeeeeeery glad when my AIS Transponder sprang in to action, giving me a heads up display on my GPS Sat Nav showing their location, heading, speed and even their ETA at my position. I then hailed them on my radio to confirm they had spotted me but then came...," We cannot see your lights?".... DOH!!! I hurriedly fumbled around on the switch panel and fired up my nav light which is a bright white light that is visible for up to 2 nautical miles, which was met with...." Oh yes, there you are, I can see you now!!!" What a numpty!! Shant be happening again I can promise you that!!

Woke up this morning with swollen nuckles and I couldn't clench my fists, symptomatic of pulling too hard on the oars (what a hero!), so I reigned myself in a bit today and took it easy. Although I think my mind took liberties from this decision because I managed to sleep through my alarm and miss my last shift of the day from 12am-2am. So followed a very sleepy 1 hr punishment row from 3am-4am, followed by me now writing this blog!! Fingers crossed for me not waking up with cocktail sausages for fingers again!

Goodnight all, Brooksy Out

xxx

Day 12...Wahooo! we have email lift off :o)

Well, if you are reading this then it means that Im able to send emails again...for now!!! Fingers crossed it sends as I am getting fed up with having to text using the sat phone....its basically an old Motorola brick which takes forever to respond!!

So I managed a great mileage of ~50 miles yesterday, will trying and finish off with another 45 today, but the drift Im getting whilst sleeping is making all the difference, made 10 miles in my sleep stint last night which is an encouraging drifting speed of 2 knots!!

Flappy now comes back every morning to say hello, then every sunset, and me and Mr. Grass head are grateful for the company! However, my company was somewhat larger today, in the form of Aurora, the support vessel!! They popped over to check up on my progress and general morale this morning which was a rather surreal experience, basically just being able to converse face-to-face with people in the middle of the ocean! Unfortunately they didnt have any compede (blister plasters), the one item im running dangerously low on as the tops of my feet have been taking a bit of a savaging from the footstraps, even with the sheepskin covers that Chuckle Shoes made for me!!

As for the name for Mr. Grass head, had a couple of good suggestions, but Im still liking my personal choice of Timuffy Turfington. So propose a better one if you want?!

Also, nows the time for people to start throwing a few pennies at my charities please?! You can go on the charities section of this website and donate via the Just Giving buttons. Please help to raise as much for Sidmouth Lifeboat, RNLI and Guide Dogs as possible over the remainder of the race!!

Made a new top speed of 9.3 knots down the face of a wave too which was satisfying, although pretty rare at the moment as the current sea state is somewhat confused. A front is moving in over the weekend that will slow things down and bring week NWesterlies and I'll need to pay close attention to my drifting direction!!

Missing everybody immensely but the days do seem to be flittering away so fingers crossed that I wake up tomorrow and its Day 60!?!

Brooksy Out

Mum, Dad, Sian: loving the riddles for the day! I think ive worked one of them out, will ring to confirm!

London Boys: keep the lad pad banter rolling in guys! missing you too!!

Caroline and Rob: no i havent touched the guitar yet but the hands are ready and raring for a good ol jam!! No blisters on the hands, but some random little ones keep cropping up on the tops of my fingers and i have absolutely no idea how they get there?!

Day 11: Still no email...

Day11: Long days rowing. Some good short surf managed to nurse me up to a top speed of 9knots. Flappy the bird is now a regular companion will try feeding him today! Started feeding myself on patsys homemade fruitcake too. Its like rocket fuel so thankyou! brooksy out xxxx

From Brooksy2: Having spoken to the crazy boy, it sounds like he's getting on very well, becoming accustomed to routine and generally looking after himself well, even if his rear is residence to a few recce barnicles. If anyone is missing a bird by the name flappy, rest assured he/she is being fed and hitching a ride to the caribbean!

Day 10

Day10: Managed 52 miles in the previous 24 hours which was v good! Just soldiering on but lost the lid to my cooker over the side! pah! Oh how mr.grass head laughed! hes my new friend ive been cultivating.(pressy from sis).a sawdust potato shaped head with grass now slowly erupting from his bonce! I feel like a proud mum! Weather turning slack over weekend so dont expect any record pace.brooksy out xxxx

From Brooksy2: Hehe! Im amused to see Dave describes himself as a proud 'mum' rather than 'dad!! Bless him. Right all Brooksy1 followers out there, we need a name for mr grass head - such unoriginality will not do. So, please text him name suggestions! Can be boys or girls names, the winner of course will determine the sex ;o) and will recieve a grasshead of their own in the post!

Internet has packed in!!

day.9 hello all.apologies for lack of contact but my email has stopped working.bloomin sat phones.so now i have to text my blogs so ill keep em brief.been making good progress though.have turned the corner now so its just a case of chewing up the miles!brooksy out x

...Fingers crossed Daves email starts up again! I will endeavour to contact him this evening and get some more info, otherwise we may be looking at tx speak from now on. Who else is wandering how flappy is getting on?!

Day 6 - written before "first week at sea"!

A hard day of rowing to report today, as the winds completely dropped of leaving a glassy pond to row on, which is great for the backside (as I'm not rolling about on the seat) but rubbish for the boat speed!

So I thought I'd explain the routine that I seem to be comfortable with...for now! Basically, I'm rowing 13 hours a day, 2 hours on the oars, 1 hour off, 2 hours on, 1 hour off, and so forth. Leaving me with 6 hours of constant kip between 2am and 8 am, which is ideal for the muscles and the mind, as I don't have to row during the hours up till dawn (which are the worst!) and my muscles and hands get a good chance to recover from the days graft.

However, in order to get a 13 hour day, I need to make 5-8pm a 3 hour shift, which I have now nicknamed "3 hours of power!" where I basically flog myself for 3 hours - right after I've just scoffed my evening meals and brew - preferrably to either club classics or heavy metal. Tonight's 3 hours of power was proudly sponsored by Metallica!

My small swift-like birdy friend spent a good hour or two inspecting me today, who I've nicknamed Flappy, and I can't understand how anything can come so far out to see, flapping like a maniac! Surely, this is a place for soaring birds like Albatross. Maybe he'll take refuge on the deck at some point? :-)

Was told I eeked my way into 9th place overall last night, which sounds completely absurd when you think about it?! But having said that I didn't elect to dive as far south as some of the other boats so I think the fairer winds they get will pay off in the long run. Im still running a South Westerly course but am currently trying to avoid a submerged sea-mountain which I don't want to go over the top of (nasty currents!), so will run WSW while the winds are still trailing in from the North. Dropped back to 13th today now that the pairs have found their stroke.

That's it for now. Catchya tomorrow.

Brooksy Out

First Week At Sea!!

Well methinks that's cause enough for celebration!! But drat, I already drank this fortnight's quota of 1 can of coke! Saving the whiskey for the hard times later on!!

On the whole I think Im starting to enjoy myself! The 13 hour day is starting to sink in and my progress has been at the very least, well....progress!

Had to take the decision today to abandon a more direct course and dive south and southwest to rejoin the main fleet down in the nether regions. Has been a very successful day, and now that im settling down for my 5 hours sleep phase (currently 3am) Im drifting along on course at 1knot, which is the first time that has happened to date, and long may it continue.....touch wood!!

So to summarise my week here are 3 pros and 3 cons to ocean rowing so far...

Con 1: Feeling like a pair of soggy trainers in a tumble dryer....constantly!! The rocking and bashing never stops!.

Con 2: Bruised fingers: My gearing on the oars is quite high, in that my strokes are slow and powerful, meaning that, so far, I have no blisters, but the fingers are very bruised from heavy pulling and a few of my finger nails are numb...ho hum....just man up Brooksy!

Con 3: My dried fruit and peanuts....they have been contaminated by the soy protein powder (my protein supplement which has a very noxious aroma) and so now 1 third of my calorific intake for each day is masticated begrudgingly!! grrrrr......! :-(

Pro 1: Phyto-plankton: At night, every oar stroke and every cresting wave sends streams of light coursing through the water in swirling eddies and tumbling plumes. Very cool!!

Pro 2: My arse: Holding together like a trooper!! So far the skin is unblemished and happy to continue with the monotonous pummelling.(no jokes guys thankyou!!!)

Pro 3: All of you guys out there following me and sending some great messages of support!! Rodders: - more jokes please!!

That's it for now...keep enjoying the snow back home and I'll do my best to enjoy the sunshine!!

Brooksy Out

Day 5 in the big lil bro house ;o)

Not much to report today guys I'm afraid. Although I "think" i may have tanked it in the right direction today. And as a result of my hard graft yesterday I squeezed myself up into 2nd place, and 15th overall. I will point out that 1st place solo (and now a firm friend) Charlie Pitcher is a seasoned Atlantic sailor with an excellent nose for wind, especially seeing as his spinnaker sized bulkhead is desperate for some trade winds to scoop him along!!! But our South African veteran rower the great Mr.Peter "Howzit howzit, its hectic bru" Van Kets has elected to dive into the deep south, in search for the ever elusive Westward travelling waves. If he finds them, then I think that will spell the end of my 2nd place objective, and well see a very fast crossing there!!

Thats it for now, I've just discovered that I can watch films on my laptop whilst rowing with it sat on the inside of the closed cabin hatch with the sound pumping through the deck speakers....result!! Especially as I have budgeted for 2 films a day from the hard disk!! Solar panels holding strong....touch wood!!

Brooksy Out

You can sleep when you're dead!!‏

Well well, look how the tables have turned from my glum outlook at life on the ocean swells, strapped to a sea anchor...?

This morning saw a much refreshed, and well slept Mr. Brooks take to the oars with the intention of clawing back some progress from Wednesday evening's south easterly drift...."pah" to that I say! But if I had the energy to reach into the hatch below me and take out my bottle of whiskey, then I'd drink a toast to my dagger board!! Probably the most instrumental feature on the hull of my boat that has allowed me to make a vmg (velocity made good) of roughly 3 knots all day to the South West, against a Northerly wind. I started rowing just after 9am and by 5.30pm I'd rested for just 1 hour. I felt this was a just punishment for not having rowed at all over the previous 16!

Even got the opportunity for a brief surf, well a squirt at the most, but have notched my top speed up to 7.7 knots. Looking for the ever elusive 16 knotter once we get into windier territory in a month or two!

Brooksy Out

Gunter - mate definately get the unit onto my just giving pages on the website! Maybe an opportunity for another 24 hour triatholon?! Speak to Winterman about it!

The Forey Clan - Amazing poems and support! Although there are far too many innuendos in them! Is that the idea?!

Emma - ring me tomorrow I will leave the phone on from 11am - 1pm.

Richard - no fish as of yet, the sea is far to rough for the little buggers but reckon I'll have em trailing under me in no time, then's the time to pounce!!!

Baptism by fire...

So I've now been sat on the sea anchor for 16 hours now. The winds veered around to a near full Westerly, halting any westward velocity. Even rowing south was only achieved by rowing very hard to the west and essentially drifting south as a by product of the effort. So my answer was given to me, sea anchor it is!! Its a large red and yellow parachute that is towed through the water from the bow of the boat by an 80m line which in theory would halt my retreat against adverse wind. However, both waves and wind are acting in the same direction here so for now its purpose is just to make sure I dont go too far east, with the hope that I can make up the lost ground when the wind swings back round to the North East, which by the forecasts should be some time this afternoon. Only time will tell.

The frustrating thing is that I dont know exactly what the rest of the fleet are doing, whether they made for the sanctuary of the south earlier on and are now benefitting, or whether they are in the same situation as me. I don't mind the odd curve ball being thrown into the mix, just so long as im not the one holding the wooden spoon at the end!!!

I have heard from the odd team, even bumped into one!! Was rowing hard yesterday at around 1530hrs when I looked behind me and low and behold, Ocean Summit was cresting just 200 metres away on my starboard side, this meant I had to row for 20 minutes into the 25-30 knot wind just to go see the guys, what a sacrifice! Took me a couple of minutes of hollering at them before the shining dome of wisdom that is surgeon Simon's perfectly bald head poked out of the aft port-hole hatch, closely followed by Rob from the main hatch.

"Fancy seeing you here?!?" - Dave

"What the, are you rowing in this?!" - Simon

"Not now that I know you're not!! Bugger that for a laugh!!" - Dave

Seeing that a team containing Everest summitteers hat taken to the anchor was proof enough for me!! So ensued 16 hours of boredom and general pottering.....

Brooksy Out,

P.s. for those of you following my green dot on the race website, you can clearly see stepwise movement around yesterday afternoon when I was rowing due west, followed by a brief rest to check on my progress, which certainly was not due west!!! So no more banter about going the wrong way please!

And they're off!!

Its 7pm on Tuesday, and I'm now spending my second night at sea. Im sat in my cabin perched right in the stern as I'm getting rolled about like I'm on the world's largest rodeo....but I'm bloody loving it!!

The race kicked off with a bang on 1330hrs yesterday with nerves filling the air like I've never known. It's like 10 minutes before a cup final times 1000, as everyone said their last goodbyes to families, and each other. I can honestly say that this delay has been a blessing, as not only is the fleet now the most prepared it could ever be, but we have all bonded and have become great friends. What with free Iridium to Iridium text messaging we can now all banter each other throughout the race, which is great for me as I have no-one to :-talk to... :-(

...I have, however, already made a new friend. A ladybird came to join me during the first few hours, perched on my GPS antenna who I named "mi'lady pizza-back" (reference to the Heeley Road boys there!!). And I did hear a birdie about 2 hours ago but reckon it must just have been background noise from my audiobook!

I'm currently adjacent to El Hierro, the last piece of land I hope to see before the finish line and have made steady progress of 1.5-2.5 knots whilst at the oars, and am at least drifting in more-or-less the right direction when I'm resting. I rowed pretty much non stop yesterday bar a 2 hour sleep, up until 3am so I hope I bagged a few good "fresh leg" miles This part of the row is not yet ideal as the rolling waves are making it very nauseating, but the sea-sickness tablets have held off the "urge" for now. There are a number of other rowers who are already struggling with this issue but hopefully their sea legs will come soon.

I am recieving all your messages, which are great for me so keep em rolling in! And I will definately be on BBC Radio Devon tomorrow at 1115am being interviewed by Judy Spiers.

For now, it's Brooksy Out. Concentrating on the keyboard is making me queezy!!

Love to all, especially Mum, Dad and Sian (and Chloe and Viv of course!!)

Happy New Year!

Just a quickie. Happy New Year everyone. I hope you all got suitably slaughtered and made fools of yourselves?

The race is definately on for this Monday (4th) as the trades are back! Will take a while for the waves to follow suit but the waves are very long and wont cause me too much grief.

So as of Monday, there will be no more facebook blogs, you'll need to log on to the website!

Also, I will be interviewed live on the Judy Spiers Show on BBC Radio Devon on Wednesday at 11.15am so tune in to hear how things are going!

Speak soon and much love,

Brooksy Out
x

New race start date confirmed as January 4th

New race start date confirmed as January 4th. Could slip or advance by a day pending closer forecast...

The weather window is upon us....almost! We are waiting for the high pressure to re-establish before we leave. This is a demand by the port authorities essentially, as we cannot leave in present conditions. The winds are now in our favour, but the wave direction is still coming from the North West. There is a few days lag between wind direction and wave direction - hence, the waiting!

This has given me a bit of time to tweak the boat; anchor up out to sea to clean the bottom of the boat, as 1 month in harbour has left a slick film of sludge under the old girl, and it has been a good opportunity to practise using my para-anchor, which worked like a charm...the second time! The first time saw me get dragged very very close to the cliffs because i spent too much time with my head in the cabin hatch sorting throught the vast array of ropes and line, before sweing rocks only a few feet below me.

My one last issue (and im praying its a non issue!!) is that my watermaker is churning out water that has 900 parts per million, and it should be <450ppm, although it tastes absolutely fine. So I will be going about changing the wiring and checking for leaks, and praying that its not the membrane of the watermaker itself that has been damaged during installment, otherwise it'll mean shipping out a £1500 part that might not even get here in time!

Aside from that, im hunky dory, sporting a mean looking mohawk, and a bit of sun burn on the shoulders from this 30 degree heat, so things aren't all bad!

Brooksy Out
x

From bad crisis to good karma!

28th December

Well, turns out I will not be penalised for arriving late, as many other teams are suffering the same problems getting back to La Gomera.

I have now made it out of Gran Canaria, having been bought a ticket for 50 euros to La Gomera (changing at Tenerife, where I am currently writing this blog) by the Captain of the very Ferry I travelled on.

Seňor Carrasco kindly invited me onto the bridge to give me a few lessons in what its like being the ruddy great ship - rather than the miniscule rowing boat - for a change! It actually came as quite a shock to see that - on their radar - we are no more visible than the cresting waves all around us, showing that its absolutely vital for me to maintain a strict watch, with the AIS Transponder, Nav light and my own ears (eyes too when im not sleeping!!!)

It was very strange that a number of mini cock-ups and delays over the last 24hrs lead me to the point where I was actually benefitting from it all, and Captain Carrasco even offered me his good luck charm, a small picture of a lady named Carmen, who I am told is a Saint who looks down over all sea farers and protects them.

Dave Holland: I do remember you saying you named your boat Carmen Del Mar? What a welcome coincidence!!

Well, these things happen for a reason (i know you'll like that one Mum!) so I feel I'm now suitably saturated with good karma for a trip on the Atlantic swells!

Will keep you all posted on the status of the race start (who knows with all this abnormal weather we're having!).

Brooksy Out

La Gomera....Part 2.....Stranded on the wrong island!!!

So, the journey begins....again...de ja vue?? Yes I think so! But at least i managed to get fat on Christmas Dinner and nibbles for a good few days prior to this lastest get slim quick fad!!

HOWEVER!!! Im now stranded in Gran Canaria having missed the last bus to the Port last night due to a near 3 hour plane delay, and hence missing the 9am ferry to Tenerife this morning, preventing me from getting on the 12pm ferry to La Gomera, in time for the -48hr race deadline of 2pm today. Confusing? Hence my newly found situation! You try running your lungs off through an empty street and a few staring spaniards from behind closed shutters to be met by a ferry just taxying out of the port at 0855 this morning. It was too much of a cliche to be believable!

Have only managed to get WiFi by dangling off the end of the jetty to try and pick up a signal from the Ferry which im due to catch in 4 hours, that is menacingly perched there and refusing to budge until 1600.

Have just issued a fleet wide begging letter that I hope will reach Woodvale HQ in time for them to accept the terms of my apology and not penalise Team Panasonic for being 8 hours late, so fingers crossed on that one!

Nevertheless, I hope you all like the new website? If you want to send me an email or a text then all the details are on the homepage, and links to the race map are there so you can track me live on google! Please do take your time to check out all the other things ive added, such as some recent video footage and the updated photo gallery. .....MOST IMPORTANTLY, my blog will be updated on a 1-2 day basis whilst im rowing. I wont be blogging via facebook so please use the website to read the blog!!

....and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE go and donate to the charities via my just giving buttons in the charity section!! My fundraising for this race was the start, now its time to rally your friends, family and acquaintances to get online and throw some pennies at my causes!

Much love and will let you know if I survive my Canary Island Odyssey!!

Brooksy Out
xx

home for christmas.......??????!!!!!!!

Well as it happens, i have just booked my ticket back to chilly devon to spend 2 weeks at home for christmas, seeing as the adverse weather still hasnt abated and we are looking at another fortnight on standby until things change for the better.

this is incredibly frustrating for me and all the other 31 teams, as we have built ourselves up for this one opportunity to row the ocean and are now in limbo, which is agony and very very costly too as its not cheap out here! so when i return please don't expect any big nights out with the boys, as i am flat out broke!!

the boat is being looked after by 2 very lovely people who bring me cups of tea and cake every day called robert and caroline on yacht Aragorn and rob is keeping my watermaker ticking over every other day.

i'll endeavour to see people if and when i get the opportunity and if anyone has any work that they need doing "cash in hand" then please let me know! (i'll cycle over as i cant afford petrol!!)

england here i come....

xx

Christmas in La Gomera

Well, those hurricane force depressions that you all seem to be getting buffeted by certainly do seem to be ruining a lot of people's days! Unusually, mine too!! Basically, the front of the current hurricane has a tail that stretches over 3000 miles down towards the caribbean, and each one brings to the Canaries 25 knot south-westerlies and 30m swells (basically in the exact wrong direction). This makes it impossible for ocean rowers, and the conditions would currently have blown me onto Africa in due course.

Here's a synoptic image of one of those dastardly depressions, and what its bringing La Gomera and our route:

During "normal" conditions (is there such a thing?) we would expect a strong north-easterly current with n-easterly winds of up to 10-15 knots to help speed us on our way. These are generated by a strong high pressure over the azores, kown as the Azores High (who would have thought it??!!) and currently this high is hiding from the nhurricanes over Africa, hence why the fronts are decsending so low in latitude.

If anyone has an interest in this sort of thing then visit www.passageweather.com to see what i mean!!

So the situation as it stands, we need a stable weather window of 5 days or more in order to escape the fronts and reaches the sanctuary of the trade winds further south. another front is due in next weekend too, which means that at this stage, Sunday the 20th of Decemeber will be the absolute earliest possible race day. If things continue, we may even be looking at a post christmas departure. But dont fret guys, the lastest we are permitted to leave is February 14th, so as long as Neptune and his buddies dont be [bad] for too long then we should get a window very soon....but i will be needing all of you to cross your fingers, immediately!!

As for me, Im being typical Brooks, living on my boat and making daily trips to a hotel up to road to get a free breakfast, they still think im a guest there!!...result!

As for the website, i must apologise that its taking so long to get sorted, but have patience! Bloody good job the race is being delayed thats all i can say!

Please keep texting and emailing, im getting them all but apologise that i haven't had chance to reply to all of them yet!

Brooks Out,

xx

Delays

The race start has been delayed until Wednesday due to flares not being allowed off the container ship (buggers!!) so now Woodvale are working like troopers to get new ones!
Got out on the water for 3 hours today with a lee shore wind and strong offshore current, boat and limbs handled well and my water maker is a-ok which is the main thing. I was a pussy though and it took me 30 minutes to pluck up the courage to swim under the boat, not keen on getting gobbled by a shark before ive even left!!

Well, Here I AM!

Hey guys, after 9 days of 8am-11.30pm working like a madman on the boat, she's finally on the water, and looking gorgeous!

La Gomera is a fantastic place, the weather has been a consistent 35 degrees with brilliant sunshine, and i haven't needed sun lotion the whole time as the ozone layer here is really thick. the people here are great but some little git stole my bike! reckon it was probably an englishment though!!

For now, its a case of getting the boat fully ship shape, getting out on the water for some training runs, and keeping an eye on the weather. there's a large depression moving in that is currently looking like it will bring strong north easterlies, which is what we want! but that can always change rapidly into south westerlies if the depression swings so standby for either a rapid start to the race, or a delay by a few days. either way im happy and raring to go, which is what its all about!

For the record, ocean rowers are bloody good blokes (and lassies!) and its nice to meet people that are as crazy as me....some maybe even crazier!

Brooksy OUT!
love to all xxxx

Me and Sian (my sister) writing the to-do list for the day with Pete and Mum observing.

And finally....IT BEGINS!!!

Guys, I go on Friday!!! What the hell??

A year and a half of blood sweat and beers has left me a rather excited young man, on the fringe of the adventure of a lifetime, but it's only going to be as good as it can be with you guys back at home following my progress and sending me lots of good luck messages!

"BUT HOW DO YOU DO THAT?" I hear you ask??

Well, the website (revamped) will come online in the next few days, with the links for you to track my boat and send me free text messages to my satellite phone, but here are the links now:

The Race Website:
www.atlanticrowingrace09.com
A google earth map shows all the race competitors, I am TEAM PANSONIC, boat number 16, and my progress is updated every half an hour!

Messaging my Sat Phone: ((160 characters max))
http://messaging.iridium.com
Here, you need to enter my phone number in the box, 8816-316-567-94
Please include your email address in the address field so that I can reply if necessary!

You can also send a direct email from your own hotmail/gmail/outlook etc and the email address for the sat phone is 881631656794@msg.iridium.com

ITS FREE TO MESSAGE ME! WHOOP WHOOP!!

Please send me messages about what you are up to in your lives, and what awesome meals you've been eating so that it spurs me on to get to the finish line and give you all a kick up the backsides for being so mean!!

BUT!!! .... don't send me too many messages as they might block up my phone!

All that's left to say until my blog starts on my website is, wish me luck, and if you're the praying type, then you know what to do!!

Dave x

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