"The day began fairly sunny and I also made reasonable progress westwards. Around about midday I suddenly saw a dark shadow swimming to and fro behind the boat. I had a visit from a shark again. It was an Oceanic White Tip Shark of about 3 metres. This species is very easily recognisable by the white patches on the ends of the dorsal fin and the two pectorals, which in this sort are especially large for a shark. It looks as though the fins have been soaked in bleach for a while.

The size of the pectorals is also the problem with this type of shark: they easily get caught in fishnets and the big fins make them a favourite with the Chinese and Japanese for making soup. Particularly the latter is a big problem. 50 years ago this was the commonest shark, today it's become virtually the most rare. About 99% of the species has been killed off, less that 1% is still swimming around, so there's a big chance that our grandchildren will only be able to see these creatures on old photos."

"Although it's the rarest sort, it's the second time that I've encountered one on the Pacific. Like most other sharks, this one is also fascinated by my rudder. He stays with me for about 2 hours so I've got the time to film him. When I empty my urine bottle, he's suddenly gone. I thought sharks were attracted by urine. This one must have smelt the waste products of mouldy Wiener Melange. Just after the shark disappeared, the air closes in again and it begins to rain heavily.

It continues to rain during the night and the wind changes: there's that northerly wind again and the speed therefore stagnates. The rain begins to pour down from the heavens again from the morning, the wind is strong and the sea is rough. I have short breaks in order to keep warm, but at the end of the afternoon I have to dive inside to get warm. When I start rowing again after one and a half hours, when the rain has somewhat slackened, a storm petrel lands on my head. I didn't see him coming and really got a shock - not him. He kept his balance with his wings and I was able to row on calmly. He seemed to be at ease, so much so that I felt my head getting warm, as he had relaxed his sphincters. And thanks, there I was with a warm piece of fish mess on my head, whilst my shampoo is still on Atafu."

"The rain continued throughout the whole night with a lot of squalls, so the Zeeman Challenger couldn't be held on course. It was less heavily clouded the next morning; it would continue to rain lightly for the greatest part of the day. There was however a continual stiff breeze, which varied between North-North-West and North. I therefore continue to drift further to the South. I can't do much against these hefty waves. The weather continues to be very strange and deviates from the normal pattern. After 48 hours of wind from the North, I'm still hoping for an East wind again."

(The photo of the Oceanic White Tip Shark was found on underwaterpicture.com via Wikipedia and was taken by Thomas Ehrensperger. The photo of the storm petrel was taken by Ralph on 19 July.)