EWAN

Trying to do pretty much anything on board (other than rowing, perhaps) is a significant challenge - for a variety of reasons.

Firstly, you need to maintain three points of contact at all times. Trying to balance on two feet alone is nearly impossible under most conditions, as the churning water moves the boat around with oftentimes erratic, unexpected motion.

Imagine trying to move around a bus to get off, whilst it weaves through traffic. Now imagine the bus has gone off road, down a ravine and is actually a bucking bronco simulator. Oh, and the next stop is in a few months time. The requirement for a steadying hand on a safety line or cabin means jobs must be completed either with only one hand, or by employing an awkward lean and trying to compensate for the lurching caused by the waves to come.

The next issue is space. We are three relatively large men (ahem…) living on top of a small raft about the size of a large dining table. And to accommodate rolling seats, foot plates, hatches and solar panels - nothing is particularly flat. And it’s also pretty slippery when it gets wet, so it’s hard not to slip. This is made further challenging due to the fact that you are wearing a harness and are attached to two of the six safety lines running down, which is most of the time.

To get from one side of the boat to the other, you generally need to stop people from doing what they are doing, stumble across the deck, trying your best to navigate the length of the boat. This means lots of unclipping and reattaching as you move from one point to the next.

Today was a frustrating day.

A day upon which these barriers were felt more keenly as the hours wore on. Hard work on the oars with not many miles covered. Jamie scalded himself with boiling water, then we discovered our iPhone media hasn’t been sharing properly since we’ve been at sea. Lastly, the auto helm failed again, requiring another reset.

Pray tomorrow brings a different luck.