Day Thirty-Seven of Indian Ocean Row

Hi everyone and apologies for the long silence.

It has been a busy few days aboard ‘No Great Shakes’ and unfortunately not all of it positive. To start on a positive note, it was Robin’s birthday on the 5th – his first birthday out at sea and it started off at midnight when the crew sang happy birthday to him. It was sadly all down hill after that.

Billy fired up the internet shortly after only to be greeted by a burning smell and fizzing noise – sounds bad, it is bad and continues to be bad. We don’t have data for the rest of the voyage which means no emails, no phone and no photos or videos to send back home. Despite Robin’s best efforts to repair it refuses to play.

We are now limited to an emergency sat nav phone and only 2 min calls a day, which is how we are able to send this blog and how we will continue to send future blogs.

Barry tried in vain for two days to fix the issue but gave up. The weather has been bad – wind and swell caused the hatch to open and smash the boats compass.

Other positives – we’ve had whales visit us and circle the boat for half and hour. It was an amazing experience and we got lots of footage, which we hope to share one day.

We have around 2000 miles to go, with an estimated arrival of 40 days or less weather permitting.

For the crew, there have been many highs and lows and challenges as we push on West.

We just want to take this opportunity to say a huge thanks to Frank Butterfield at Best Service. He has done a great job chasing the SIM card providers and paying for extra time so that we can continue to stay in communication. Frank you’re a great sponsor and a true friend – thank you.

Please help us reach our target by making a small donation to www.ior18.com.

Thank you, the crew of Row the Indian Ocean 18

About the author

Billy

Billy, 45, is a fire fighter and lives in Bracklesham Bay on the South Coast. Billy sailed from Australia to England aged 17, delivered yachts all over the Mediterranean for many years and has sailed across the Indian Ocean twice. He has rowed across the Pacific Ocean with Barry Hayes and two other crew members and achieved two world records. He has run ultra-marathons and was also a consultant for a record-breaking ocean row across the Black Sea. In his spare time, Billy likes nothing more than romantic walks on windswept moors, needlepoint and curling up with a good Julie Cooper novel.

Robin’s Blog Eight part 2?
September 26, 2018

Robin’s Blog Eight?
September 26, 2018

Robin’s Blog Seven?
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Robin’s Blog Six?
September 21, 2018