After a swift and productive night on the oars the weather appeared to have lost its puff as the winds disappeared the currents just vanished. Consequently we made very sluggish progress during the day notching up little more than 15 or 16 miles. When things are good they are just fab but when it’s hard going it really puts the strain back on the body and mind and this was in of those days where you immediately start to fear the worst.
Had we really seen all of the good stuff that we had been promised already or was this just a lull that had sneaked in under the radar but which would soon be gobbled up? Answers to these q’s were provided by Al who assured us all would be well so long as we kept to our line and just plugged away for a few more hours...and right he was! Bang on cue the winds returned and we made great progress during the night shifts notching up approx 24 or 25 miles making the day total far more respectable.
While on the subject of night shifts it would appear the signs are there that a few of us are starting to deteriorate mentally as the dreams become ever heavier but also more vivid, more bizarre and more active – i for one have had some very strange moments where i have woken to find myself steering the boat from inside the cabin, or at least thinking i was only to get irate once again when told i was back on the oars in 10 minutes – this however is probably second to my attempt to get out of the back hatch of the cabin to get to the oars...had i been successful then we would almost certainly be down to 3 rowers right now as exit from this hatch and you’re straight in the sea! In addition Pete has got up twice and approached the oars one hour early, which given we only have a 2 hour break takes some doing, Matt answers calls from the oars only to deny ever hearing them and Tom continues to be far too over active in his desire to clamber on top of his cabin companion whenever a wave presents the opportunity for a tumble roll...mmm the concern over the Wigram/Hampel partnership grows ever stronger.
So news from the front line is all good, we’re continuing to make good ground having heard today that we have caught the Pura Vida crew and are now in 2nd place...result.
In addition we had two phone calls from Classic Hits in NZ and one from Nick on Radio Hauraki  – yet again, as it always does this provided such a massive boost to the team, not just the human contact but the never ending energy from the presenters as well as light hearted humour which always helps keep this challenge real and fun. The enthusiasm and genuine support that seems to glow in abundance from all the radio lot back in NZ never ceases to amaze us all and it sure helps spur us on whenever the temptation to take a little time out on the oars creeps in to the mind – it’s so easy to turn a good high energy, powerful stroke in to a pathetic ‘feather’ stroke without anyone noticing but thankfully this motley crew are all of the same thinking...to make every stroke count as if it were your last. 
Also got a call from my sis in Hong kong who tells me my nephew is baking chocolate muffins to sell at his school fete with all proceeds going to us...fear not Sandy man i will buy the lot, just don’t let anyone else have any! While on the note of schools i should just mention that Pete’s daughter, Beth, has just won the school audition to play the role of Snow White in this term’s play – she broke the news to her dad earlier today referring to the play as Snow White and the seven vertically challenged folk...clearly Pete’s daughter!
Only other thing to report today would be a quick bit of feedback following our confessions to Father Bannigan. The first word came from mum who emailed me to say,
“oh Billy it’s taken me 30 years to know what happened to my little pieces of Wade china I collected as a child and what’s more whoever the lucky girl was probably doesn’t know that they are now collector’s items and really quite valuable!!”
Mmm some things are probably best kept a secret. Anyway onwards and upwards, i’ll get the first round in Mauritius...

Conditions for rowing were once again favourable today allowing team RFP to once again bound along the Indian at a mighty fine pace and for once proving a test for Lamber and her friends to keep up...or so we thought anyway. Averaging somewhere in the 2.5 to 3 knots these were happy times and for now we just needed tin keep our focus and capitalise on these conditions as we just never know what might be lurking around the corner, although to be fair when in arrow boat sometimes ignorance is bliss.
So the feisty seas and excitable winds made for a morale boosting 45+ mile day and bit by bit the mileage was coming down...next milestone was the 1,000 miles to go mark, which bizarrely seems such a relatively short distance to cover!
Not much else to report from today apart from we saw the first signs of human life ion the firm of a yellow beer crate drifting in the waves. Where this has come from is anyones guess but thoughts were it was either from the Bexhill boys who may well have arrived in Mauritius given they seem to be covering about 200 miles a day or the other theory was it could be from Pura Vida who we knew were north of us, which is where it had come from. Given their pre race ‘form’ in Geraldton the good money would be on it coming from Pura Vida w seemed to have an insatiable thirst for ale and the good times. Regardless it gave us a nice little reminder of the gold on offer at the finish line and that this most extreme of detox regmes would soon be over...although i fear our bar form may have taken a serious dive following this trip, surely a good time in times of a recession!.
The only other thing to happen today was that Billy ‘Worrall Thomson’ Gammon had a slight mishap in the kitchen whilst trying to multi task with pouring coffee and making porridge, but surely the smell of caffeine is better than that of sweat which given temperatures have now reached a scorching 40 degrees in the boiler room/fous fous lounge seems to be the accepted daily aroma.
So all in all a pretty quiet day and an easy one for the ever increasing claw hand to blog. Here’s hoping for more of the same tomorrow...much as it may be dull to read. 

Well after yesterday’s news today was always going to be something of a weird day because none of us really knew how Tom and the mood in the camp would be. Last night we had all offered to cover Tom’s shifts to help give him time to reflect etc but in typical Tom fashion he declined and instead ploughed on – although the nightly howling to Cold Play was absent on this occasion.
Anyway we discussed the funeral and all agreed that we too would have our own little ceremony on Saturday and i think this gave Tom some comfort that the mourning would go ahead and that we too were right there for him.
The day itself was a good one with clear skies and again favourable conditions all helping us make some really good progress  - something in the region of 55+ miles i think. In addition the sun’s rays graced us with their presence putting an end to the hand pump for a day at least meaning we could now just focus on pumping the oars and making good ground. The only slight blip was that Tom flooded the aft cabin, our sleeping quarters...not once but twice – actually flooded sounds a bit drastic and infact all that happened was a couple of rogue waves crashed in through the back hatch which Wiggers had left ajar...but that was ok because right now things like that just weren’t a problem...had it happened 2 days prior and the boy would have been sent to naughty boy corner and put on bread and water...if we had any bread that is.
Today also marked the end of week 6 and with the end of every week comes the welcome sight of another party pack courtesy of Bex and Michelle. This week it was all about karaoke and each of us has been given a song we have to belt out to the rest of the crew...oh joy another excuse to let rip to the Carpenters ‘Mr.Postman’ – meanwhile Tom has to sing Coldplay’s Yellow, Pete ‘The ****** Factory (some rugby song apparently...trust the navy boy to let the side down – just another weak attempt from Pete tp try and fit in with the younger crowd) and Matt has Jason Mraz ‘I’m Yours’...mmm that should be a real sell out concert and if will surely scare off what limited sea life there is!
In addition there was a Boost bar and a lolly pop...both just teasers for what i was going to dive in to when i get to M! Once again we had messages from loved ones and like so many party packs in the past the timing of this had been impeccable and the results just sensational as a wave of renewed optimism and cheer swept through the camp – yes it had been another very trying week and had ended in the worst possible way but we were going to be ok and what’s more we were going to succeed in this challenge.
The night was again uneventful and we continued to make good progress, all combining to make a very successful 24 hours...and absolutely no shockers to tell you about, although news we were approx 10 miles behind Pura Vida wasn’t the best...but there’s a long long way to go!

Writing this blog has not been an easy task, and i’m not talking about days 1 to 41 but just day 42. As you’ll see from the below today has been a difficult one on board, and a day that has given me in particular a serious reality check about all the previous blog entries where i have whinged, complained and bemoaned our luck – what happened today suddenly made me realise just how lucky we are to be living this dream but also just how purile all our problems to date had really been. anyway here’s the low down on the day that will for eve be etched in our memories as one of the saddest on our Indian voyage...
 After an excitable night on the oars we were greeted by similar conditions in the morning – high winds and a very feisty sea combining to make favourable rowing conditions, even if it would be another rough ride.  These were just the kind of conditions we had been waiting for following so many days of undiluted frustration. No matter how wet, how cold and how rough it was the elements were with us and that was all that mattered.
Unfortunately power was so low that we had to hand pump once again but unlike the previous two days this didn’t bother us because we were back in business and back on the semi fast road to Mauritius. So for now things were looking up and whether we had Father Bannigan to thank for this wasn’t certain but regardless we were grateful for the change and the new lease of life it had given us all.
However as has happened so often on this trip, infact throughout this campaign, the good news was soon to be tempered by some bad news...infact arguably the worst news any of us could have received during the crossing. It was during the 3 to 5pm shift and Pete and  were on the oars when Tom suddenly burst out of the cabin  to the deck gasping for some air. At the time you could have been forgiven for thinking he was escaping one of Matthew’s bottom bombs, or for that matter even one of his own but sadly not this time. tom scrambled out and sat hunched on the deck floor, short of breath and with tears streaming down his face. Oh sh*t i thought what on earth has happened... clearly something drastic was up and the boy was not in a good way.
Tom then proceeded to tell us the tragic news that his grand dad had passed away unexpectedly that day back near his home in Yorkshire (UK). This was something we had all spoken about before we left NZ and it was the one thing above all else we both feared and hoped and prayed would never become a real life issue or concern. We had all agreed that should anything happen to our families we wanted to know but whether our families would ever tell us is another matter entirely... but as i say you just hope and pray it will never actually happen. When Tom told us i cannot explain just how i felt, let alone how the other boys felt. It was absolutely devastating, and for so many reasons. No one ever likes to see their mates get hurt and especially not in a situation like this where that person is such a special friend and where tensions, emotions and stresses are running at an all time high anyway – not to mention the fact that he was so far away from the comfort of home and the very special comfort of his family...and especially Bex. For us there was also the desperate feeling of complete helplessness - here we were at the furthest point from land in the Indian and one of your best mates has just been told he will never see his grand dad ever again – never see again but worse still was never able to say goodbye...that is just too cruel to imagine and something i still struggle to get my head around.
This suddenly put everything that had happened to date in to perspective. Yes we had encountered dramas with the steering, the power, the weather and various other things but right now that paled in to insignificance compared to the news Tom had just received. We thought we had been through some rough stuff and were pretty convinced things couldn’t get much worse but how wrong we were.
Not surprisingly the atmosphere on board soon turned to one of reflection and thoughts immediately turned to home and to mum, dad, Nick, Fi, Ant, Tips, Gran the nephews, nieces and all the rest of my family and friends. Yikes this was so real, so real and so very frightening and desperately worrying. However first job in hand was now to look after our mate, our fellow crew member and for so long a rock of this campaign. It’s hard to empathise with this kind of situation but the puffy eyes and stunned faces from the rest of us told a very clear story that each and every one of us was feeling his pain. All that said attention had to turn to Tom and to making sure he was ok – and for now all we could do was just be there for him and offer him all the support and encouragement we could muster.
Following  a period of stonely silence and deep reflection conversation then started about Bryan and about what a great man he clearly was – a great man but also clearly a real inspiration to Tom (Tom has always spoken especially fondly of how G’Pa has taught him all he knows about fishing...something i doubt G’Pa ever laid claim to given his grandson’s total incompetence with the rod). There no more than 5ft away from the boat was this enormous beast, basking in the sun and surfing down the crest of the waves. This my friends was the Indian at its most natural best and the timing of this visit couldn’t have been more perfect (and just for my nephews and niece, yes i de robed and jumped on the back of him...Keisha Castle Hughes eat your heart out) . It was eerie and as if he had come to offer Tom a hand, or rather a fin of support. We had barely seen any sea life and what little we had was predominantly at night when vision is obviously pretty poor, so to have this amazing beast snuggling up to the boat for so long was just sensational. Immediately we named the whale Bryan after Tom’s grand pa and with that off he went with a big puff of water, as if to say, ‘I’ll see you in Mauritius boys but for now i’m off to clear the path for you safe crossing’ – call me crazy, call me whatever you like but this whale gave us all such a great feeling of support and strength and whilst none of us are the beardy weirdy type (umm well i say that but here i am sat here with one out of control beard looking very weird) or necessarily spiritual in any kind but we all felt this was some kind of a sign and i know it provided a huge lift to Tom.
So off went the whale and with it the close to the afternoon shift and the curtain came down on one of the most traumatic couple of hours of the trip so far. We’re not quite sure when the funeral is to be held but we too will be holding our own special service on the boat – especially now we have Father Bannigan with us, and somehow we will find a way to ensure Bryan remains part of this challenge for the remainder of the trip.
I’m not going to say much about the night shift, sufficed to say it came and it went and whilst conditions deteriorated it was relatively very uneventful. The one little bit of humour i should let you know about however involved the bedroom antics of the Hampel and Wigram shift where Tom (fully naked of course) ended up on top of Matt after Pete and I got hit by a mother of a wave whilst on the oars – mmm was Tom taking early advantage of our sympathy???
So all that remains t be said for this day is that all our thoughts and best wishes go out to Tom, Sue, Will, Tess and all Bryan’S family, especially his wife and Tom’s grand ma Barbara. We will be thinking of you all over this difficult time and hope and we are sending you all the strength and love in the world. If nothing else this will add further fire to our bellies and you can be sure that we will be thinking of Bryan every stroke of the way.#