Sorry for not being in touch sooner. Once again we’ve been suffering with power shortages and the computer needed charging before we could send this on.

For some reason our batteries went quite low again and we have to return to Stealth boat mode. We think the cause of this problem was yet another thing breaking down – our external GPS. It decided it was bored being a GPS and turned itself into Etch-A-Sketch gone mad with loads of lines all over the screen. So once again, we switched it off and over night it decided to keep switching itself on and off. We’ve now disconnected it completely just in case it was part of the drain on the batteries.

Thankfully this isn’t our only GPS as we have 3 handhelds and another fixed one in the cabin so all is not lost – just a tad inconvenient really.

The last few days we have been rowing solidly, and hopefully the mileage will be testament to that – we heard today that we had done 55 miles yesterday – woohoo!

The weather is still not perfect but the howling wind and the very choppy seas are at least heading in the right direction.

The nights are getting a bit easier now as the moon is staying out for longer and lighting the way a bit.

You might wonder how we stay so focused during these long sessions and here is a touch of what we get up to.

Studying the waves – they are generally our friend and help us in the direction we need to go. The big rolling ones are great fun as we climb to the top (sometimes up to 50ft) and surf down the back of them. However, there are these very nasty little side winders that come in across the main waves, side swipe the boat and if you’re lucky go underneath giving you a bit of a shake up. If you’re not so lucky, they go over the top of the boat and soak you from head to toe. Needless to say, this leaves the air a bit blue at times!

Studying the clouds – It’s amazing how the clouds make such random shapes but sometimes they look like something so clearly. We’ve had the perfect cube, the eye and the scull (a bit scary as they were at night), Santa pulling an empty sleigh (well he may have just been getting ready for Christmas), Bart Simpson and various Disney characters.

Just in case you think we’ve finally lost it, please consider that there really is nothing else out here!!!!

We had another group of dolphins go by very quickly and one of them leapt so high out of the water, unfortunately it was all too quick to get any photos.

We’ve also had our first really encounter with flying fish – we thought they would be much bigger and kind of expected something the size of cod slapping us round the face. These may however, just be baby ones but we’ve found 3 on deck – only managed to save 1 so far though.

Rachel is really looking forward to her birthday tomorrow and we’re both quite excited about Christmas. Guess what we’ll be doing? Er, rowing of course!

In response to some of your messages:-

Dave – Harness all at the ready to engage Treacle in a spot of towing action.

George S – Fern & Reggie would love to go to dinner with Colin & Edith but could they bring their friend Treacle along too.

Greggy – The food is mostly really nice but we’ve gone off of the breakfasts. The porridge is really creamy and just a bit much for us but we’re enjoying our Snickers and M&Ms. We’ll probably have some of the food left over if you would like to try some of it.

Emmanuel et Saupy – thank you for your message in French. We haven’t really had to use our brains for the last 3 weeks and now you’re putting us to the test. We think we’ve worked out some of it but we’ve had to go back to Charles for help with the rest.

Those of you who sent test messages from work – yep, they got through, we now look forward to reading something other than Test!

Finally, thank you to everyone who has sent messages and Christmas wishes, we’ll be thinking of you all with envy as we imagine you tucking into your turkey and Christmas pudding!

Look out for our version of the 12 days of Christmas that will be posted on Christmas day!

Have a great Christmas Love and hugs

Lin & Rachel{/body}

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