Stein HOFF: News from the route

STEIN HOFF: news from the route

Sunday, 20th.October day 72 Back in business!
12 GMT pos: N0935 W4232 699 n. miles to way-point 4. 48 n. miles past 24 hours. Light breeze from E, moderate to rough sea with swell from various directions.
Very cloudy, cleared a bit in the afternoon. a little rain. The rain-showers are now much lighter, with no change of wind-direction. 28 degrees, only 25 during the night which felt nice and cool. He saw another super-tanker today, about 4-5 n. miles away, didn't try to make contact this time. Otherwise there was a strange fish on the deck this morning, 35 cms. long, and 10 cms of this was a long beak! He has never seen such a fish before.
He would like to finish by congatulating Kelly Marville on getting her PhD. he has known Kelly since she was 10 years old, when we lived in Barbados in 1988.
Diana.

Saturday, 19th.October day 71 Less than 1000 n. miles to go!
12GMT N0938 W4143 747 to way-point 4. 34 n. miles past 24 hours. Temp 30/28, light breeze from NE. The conditions improved last night, and now there is both wind and current in the right direction. The boat drifts the right way at 1 knot when he is not rowing. He is feeling in a better mood, not surprisingly, and in good shape. He saw a large gannett yesterday, with black patches, and listened again to Tom Sawyer and the biography of Billy Connelly. A more optimistic greeting from him today.
Diana.

Friday, 18th.October day 70 Going North!
12GMT pos: N1005 W4114 781 n.miles from way-point 4. 3 n.miles past 24 hours! He has gone a little north for the first time, even though he is 3 miles nearer Guyana. There are still unsetteld conditions with rough sea and squalls, had a northerly breeze at 12 GMT, but during the night it was southerly, and he put out the sea-anchor from 1.30 until 8.30 this morning. During that time he was pushed 11 n.miles north. He had worked hard in a counter-current all evening to make a few miles, but they were lost during the night, very frustrating! His seat was very noisy today, and he discovered that the wheels were quite worn, so these have been replaced. Now he is sliding back and forwards smoothly again! There has been enough glimpses of sun-shine to charge the batteries, and he has made 11 litres of water. Listened to the novel "Man and boy" again. This evening the conditions are better, back to NE breeze, and the black clouds have moved away to the south. maybe trade.wind conditions are returning soon?
The tuna-fish he saw jumping yesterday, jumped again today, at least he thinks it is the same fish! He has now been at sea longer than before, the regatta in 1997 took 69 days, and he sends a greeting to his rowing partner Arvid, also to family Haugen who have taken over Red Admiral, and thanks for the greeting.
Diana.

Thursday, 17th.October day 69 Still unsetteld
12 GMT pos: N0942 W4106 784 to way-point 4. 34 n.miles past 24 hours. Strong gale from south, drifting sideways. 25 degrees, drizzle.
Last night, lots of lightening, but reasonable rowing conditions and he drifted in the right direction during the night. This morning several hour of the southerly gale, lay in bed snoozing or reading Martin Luther King's biography. Saw another ship in the afternoon, Armada form Georgetown, Grand Cayman. Chatted on the VHF to one of the officers, who couldn't see him, not even on the radar, although only a kilometer away. He was also interviewed by a jounalist form the Norwegian broadcasting company, so listeners in Kristiansand got some first-hand news.
Still having areas of strong current and thunderstorms. He is looking forward to more stable conditions again.
Diana.

Wednesday, 16th October day 68 heavy squalls!
12.20 GMT pos: N0940 W4030 18 n.miles past 24 hours. N breeze between strong squalls with varying gale-force winds, thunder and lightening, and enormously heavy rainfall. There are low, dark clouds, the sun has not appeared at all today. 26 degrees in the air, 28 in the water. He has rowed through several areas of about 3-400 metres, where there is obviously strong current and very disturbed sea. Last night he had a spectacular rainbow show. The low sun behind storm clouds caused several double rainbows to appear after each other. During the night, the wind was from north, but the boat still only went 2 miles south, obviously a strong counter-current. He saw a tropic bird yesterday, and today's jumping-fish was a dorado with shining blue and yellow colours.
Lots to see on the ocean!
Diana.

Tuesday, 15th.October day 67 slow going
12 GMT pos: N0952 W 4014 835 to way-point 4. 10 n. miles past 24 hours. NW breeze, which later veered to N. Light cloud, 30 degrees.
He is rowing longer sessions, but less hard, feels that it gives him less drift in the wrong direction when conditions are not ideal. He has developed a style of rowing that doesn't give pain in the neck. It was a pleasant, fairly calm night, not too warm, listened to BBC radio, including sad world news.
Saw another huge fish jump out of the water, this time probably a sword-fish. he has been making more water than before, needs more to shower in this hot weather.
From 10 a.m. there have been several squalls with varying wind direction. He has really had a lot of pleasure from his alfa-alfa sprouts, sprinkles them with crushed potato crisps over his freeze-dried meals. A bit slow-going, but all well otherwise. Cheers from Stein.
and Diana.

Monday, 14th.October day 66 No progress!
12 GMT pos: N1007 W4006 846 n.miles to way-point 4. 1 n.mile past 24 hours (yee-hoo!) Light breeze from west, almost cloudless, long swell from both NE and SW. Current going NE. Temp was only 25 degrees this morning, felt almost cool, but usual heat later.
He has rowed as much as usual, but mainly to prevent being pushed the wrong way. The sea-anchor only helps against wind, but it has been mainly current pushing him in the wrong direction. He rowed for several hours after it was dark, then drifted east while he slept.
He has had lots of entertainment from the wild-life in the sea, small fishes, dolphins and small whales. Last night he saw about 10 pilot-whales, shortly followed by about 15 dolphins playing and jumping, then another group of pilot-whales shortly after. He also got a shock when two fish jumped right over the boat, a king-mackerel chasing a dorado, the dorado fell onto the gunnels and bounced into the sea, then they both carried on the chase. He didn't get to see if the dorado got caught.
He has just seen a huge oil-tanker, 150000 tons, Zallaq from Barain, on its way to USA. It hooted, slowed down and approached to see if he needed help, then Stein had a pleasant chat on the VHF to Captain Staar form England. The captain could tell him that there have been constant squalls all the way from Equatorial Africa.
He has had a good chat to his son Robert in England, and otherwise listened to David Copperfield, Wilbur Smith's 2 novels, and some of Hobbits by Tolkien, all for the second time.
He says thank-you for the greetings from both friends and strangers which I have read to him, and wants to say good luck to his old friend Hans who is building an oil-rig in Iran!
Diana.

Sunday,13th.October day 64 On the sea-anchor.
12 GMT pos: N1006 W4008 22n.miles past 24 hours. 847 n.miles to way-point 4. Light breeze from W.
There were more strong squalls during the night with heavy rain, the wind turned first to south then west. He has had the sea-anchor out from 9.15 this morning until 17.45 this afternoon. He tried to catch some rain-water in one of the squalls, but only managed to get 2 litres, and had to make some more. The weather became better during the afternoon, even though the wind was in the wrong direction. He washed both himself and the boat and had a swim. To his surpise, there was nothing at all to scrub on the hull, whether this is due to a change of temperature of if the remora fish sucks up new growth, he does not know. He swam out to the sea-anchor, about 70 metres each way, and noticed that he has become weaker in his legs. He ate a good lunch of Guyanese rice (from Normal Farier, the Guyanese consul in Barbados), onion and pepper-mackerel. Tried once more to open the PC, but didn't manage and has now finally and for the last time given up! He is rowing again this evening, but the boat drifts NE at one to one and a half knots when he stops, so he hopes that the wind will swing round to east again soon. There have been lots of fish to look at, both from the boat and when swimming. Once, a big fish, about 2 metres long, jumped right out of the water, maybe a large tuna-fish. He now feels rested, and is in good spirits, but misses having the greetings in the guest-book to read, which was inspiring. So I would like to remind those reading that you can still write a greeting there, as I read them to him, or send to me at dhoff@online.no
Cheers, Diana.

Friday, 11th.October day 63 Warm and rough.
12 GMT pos: N1034 W3908 46 n.miles past 24 hours. 980 miles to way-point 4. Moderate to fresh E breeze, rough sea which has increased throughout the afternoon, warm, damp and hazy. There have been some heavy squalls with rain during the afternoon, and the sea has become very rough, breaking on both sides of the boat. It is extremely warm, 32 degrees in the shade. When he gets his freeze-dried food ready, he can't manage to eat it at once in this heat, so leaves it for about an hour to cool down. But he is going in the right direction, so no complaints!
Diana.