This ocean rowing malarkey can be hard work at times. Normally, I write these things a little later in the evening, and on the odd occasion where it has come earlier, it’s normally because the day isn’t going as I’d hoped; today is no exception.

I’m starting to think that this week might be a tough one. It’s a bit like the penultimate lap of a really long race: everything’s hurting and you can almost feel the end, but you know it’s still just out of reach and you can’t yet start that final kick for home, where all the pain disappears because you know the end is mere moments away.

The weather is gradually coming round, but when I say “gradually”, I really mean it! Last night, I decided to put the para-anchor while I slept, as the wind was expected to get quite northerly while I slept. Whether it happened or not, I’m not sure - I was sipping cocktails in Antigua surrounded by beautiful women at the time - but it always feels a bit defeatist. In hindsight, I think I’d have preferred waking up on the equator!

The heat is another thing that is getting oppressive. Between about 1 o’clock and 5 o’clock (I’m still insisting on working to GMT!), it gets really hard work to deal with, let alone row in.

So, as you may have gathered, progress today has been a little bit poor! This has been, pretty much, entirely my own fault. Despite starting the day well, by the time the heat picked up, I could see the miles weren’t dropping off as I’d hoped, and everything started to get harder and harder work. The breaks got longer, the rowing stints got shorter and, before long, the rowing had disappeared altogether.

I’m ever hopeful that I’ll be able to make a successful evening of it though, now that the sun’s dropped and it’s a little more comfortable. At least it’s not all bad; I am over 300 miles closer than this time last week. But I’d have liked to be another 50 miles along!

So there you have it. It’s been a good few days since I last complained about everything, and here it is; hopefully, my last ever oceanic whinge! Fifty-mile days all the way in from here then… !