As another day passes, today I reached a milestone that I once had genuine doubts about making. This morning, I hit 17°N, putting me due east of Antigua. So, in return, guess what I get? Yep, southerly winds!

I can’t really complain. These last couple of days, the weather has been almost perfect. So much so that I reached 17°N while resting, went outside to straighten up the rudder, and two hours later was within 200 yards of 17°N. Since then I’ve been pushed another mile and a bit north, but that’s probably no bad thing; the winds will be slightly from the north for the next couple of days.

So now I have two challenges to face. First of all is my bum! It has really deteriorated over the past week, to the point where I can barely sit on the rowing seat at all. In fact, today I made a new cushion out of a big piece of foam I had lying around. It’s ludicrously tall, but quite comfy. The downside is that it’s very unstable, so I constantly feel like I’m about to fall off, which isn’t ideal, but if it helps me row at all, then at least it’s something.

The other big challenge is boredom. I’ve got 100 miles to go, and it should be fairly straightforward; everything’s going west pretty much. I’d just rather be at the finish! I don’t have it in me to keep myself occupied by making a big sprint finish, so I just have to keep plugging away. I struggle to row for more than half an hour at a time, partly due to pain but mostly due to boredom! I can’t wait for the end, so I can do something different for a change.

So, the end. I’m tempted to make a prediction of my arrival, but I can’t bring myself to do it. I’ve never been superstitious, but I can see why so many sea-goers are. You are completely at the mercy of the weather, which is thoroughly unpredictable and can change on a whim. If it gets bad, there’s simply no escape. Just as an example, the two pictures were taken at the same time; one towards Antigua and one behind me!

Hopefully, the weather will stay really helpful, and I can get my assisted limp of a finish to Antigua fairly quickly, ideally arriving during daylight hours. For the time being, I’m just going to have to row as much as I can bear, and watch the miles slowly drift away. Once I get under 100 miles, I can even count every tenth of a mile.

It’s going to be an enthralling few days. I should have brought my knitting.