Daily report for 12th May. “The clouds were gathering again yesterday evening, while the wind died down and the waves disappeared. That generally happens when the wind changes direction, as had been predicted, so I thought I’d been pretty lucky. When the wind came back just after midnight it was coming from the same direction though, i.e. the south, at force 3 and with one to two-metre-high waves. So I was back to rowing across the waves, which resulted in a nice sawtooth-shaped line on the GPS.

I go west when I row and north when I take a break. It was heavily overcast again and it wasn’t long before it started to rain. It rained for most of the day, but luckily not in heavy downpours. The one-and-a-half day’s worth of sun I’d had recently was definitely a thing of the past, and it hadn’t left me with much battery power. I’ve also lost all my southerly miles again, so I’m back to the stage of having no idea which route I’m going to take, like things were over a week ago. It’ll either be north or south past the New Hebrides.”

“Around three in the afternoon it seemed there was a wind change coming up after all. It changed direction from south to south-east, and later even further to east-south-east. By five o’clock it had had its fun though, veering back to south-south-east and staying there. It seems my northerly progression isn’t over yet.

Smack, I just got a flying fish in the face while I was typing. It landed in the well of the boat, so I grabbed a light to inspect its size. Oh wait, not, it’s an anchovy, about 10cm long. It’s going in the pasta tomorrow morning. Flying fish are good to use as bait, but not anchovies, they fall apart too quickly. It’s like they soften up into a messy mixture that won’t stick to your hook.

A group of dolphins came swimming past in the morning. One of them stuck its head out of the water next to the boat and seemed to say, “Hey, didn’t I see you here last week too?!” Yes, go on, rub it in, why don’t you? Another group went by in the afternoon. Those animals are wonderfully supple, gliding through the water to meet both wind and weather so nonchalantly.

Let’s look at it positively. Although I’m not really going the right way, I’ve still managed to get a bit further away from Fiji today and a bit further towards Australia. The weeks behind me were full of bad weather and unfavourable winds and currents, but that’s all in the past now. ‘Tomorrow is another day’ and the struggle to reach Australia goes on! Let’s think, can we come up with any more clever sayings to add to that? ‘Where there’s a will, there’s a way’, ‘All roads lead to Rome’, and of course ‘Better a tuna in the hand than two in the water’.”