The report Ralph left for us today was very difficult to make out due to the strong wind in the background, and we couldn’t for the life of us make a decent update out of it.

We were able to make out something about dorados leaping and fleeing away from a three-metre-long marlin (see photo), and that he’d tried to film this spectacle under water but the lens was on zoom so he couldn’t see anything through it. We also heard Ralph saying something about the course he’s rowing and that he’s having to make a lot of corrections to keep going in the right direction towards the city of Lae. Hopefully we’ll get a clear and windless message tomorrow.

The yacht club in Lae on Papua New Guinea

So the way things are now, it looks like Ralph will be coming ashore in Lae on Papua New Guinea. Lae is the second city in that country and the capital of the Morobe Province on the north-east coast of the island. The city has somewhere over 100,000 inhabitants and has a yacht club, which is where Ralph will most likely moor up. The photo below shows the two rivers to its right and left flowing into the sea, which will no doubt cause a few strange currents. By that time it’ll probably be essential to tow him to the city proper.