In the last blog Jess and Mims had passed the ¾ mark and 6,000 nautical miles rowed. They have now passed through the South Pacific Convergence Zone with lots of contrary weather, clouds, rain and a lot of squalls marching along their path. They are still suffering from power system issues and only able to run their basic equipment still like the water maker and auto helm when they can and are entirely sick of the freeze-dried food that they have to force down to keep their energy levels up. They had also passed that magic imaginary line (IDL) between the Western Hemisphere into the Eastern Hemisphere at 180 degrees East – and gained a day. They also spotted their second piece of land North of Fiji and passed through Vanuatu.

Fiji Done – onwards to Vanuatu🚣🏼‍♀️🌊

As they crossed to the North of the Fiji Islands the wind did an about turn and came strong from the South so very difficult to make westerly progress. They then made the sensible decision to deploy the sea anchor to stop them drifting too far North and were stuck on that for a couple of days before conditions became more favourable for their onward journey to the West.

They lost a lot of ground in those two days and only made 3 nautical miles Westward. On 9th September the conditions became more favourable with a 15-20kt breeze blowing ESE and good following waves for some surfing and back up to daily mileages of 40+ nautical miles. They are working extremely hard, rowing together during the day, all day, before settling into their nighttime routine of 2 hours on the oars and two off between 1800hrs and 0600hrs. They passed to the West of the last Island of Fiji on 9th September and the next target Vanuatu.

📜Ships Log By MIMS - Mid September

We’ve been a little quiet on here lately and that’s because we’ve not had too much to report. We’ve been trying to row a lot harder now, knowing that we just have the length of an Atlantic row to go.

We’re still working on the 2 hours on, 2 hours off shift pattern from 1800 - 0800 and rowing together throughout the day to try and gain a few more miles!

There’s been a massive variety of conditions out here lately, from flat calm scorching days to beam on chop and more recently, following conditions where we’ve been absolutely flying along. We’ve also had a lot of rain and squalls which are always a pleasant welcome as the boat gets a rinse, we get a rinse, and the cabins cool down a little. We’ve got a thermometer on deck which suggests it’s been over 40 degrees Celsius some days and the closer to Australia we get, the hotter it seems. Even briefly sitting in the cabin to put things on charge and make water during the day is quite unbearable and we wish we had enough power for a fan!

It looks like we may be past Samoa by the end of next weekend if we carry on as we are and this means putting the final chart on the ceiling of our cabin!

As for wildlife sightings, we’ve not seen too much although a black marlin came to visit us and we’re continually in the company of various sea birds. Still no fish but we did have our first bite on the lure. Surely, we can’t row the whole way without catching anything!

We’ve also seen a total of five vessels now which isn’t a lot! We’ve reached out to two sailing yachts who’ve come within a mile of us, using our handheld radio for a short chat. It’s amazing how excited we get when we see other humans out here … although they all think we’re nuts!

We’ve been reminiscing about what we’re looking forward to when we reach land. Here’s the beginning of our list of cravings …

Cold beer, broccoli, fruit salad, cold fizzy drinks, a big juicy burger… plus a loo that doesn’t rock, a long shower and the ability to walk more than two steps on some very green grass. 🤣

We’re so grateful to those of you who’ve sent us Spotify playlists, audiobook and podcast recommendations. It’s unbelievable how many books we’ve listened to so far. I’ve found myself exploring new genres after only reading adventure and personal development titles in the past.

We’ve seen a whole load more donations come in lately off the back of the Times and Guardian articles recently published, which has got us all excited. We’re slowly getting to that charity fundraising target of £50,000.

Thank you all for spreading the word as usual. 🥰

Finally – a huge fish and some weather challenges!🐟🌧️

The 12th September brought some great respite from the dreaded freeze-dried food. They landed a 40kg yellow fin tuna on their hand line; goodness knows how they managed to pull it in without a reel or winch, and without it being attacked by sharks on the way, but their arms are strong and their hands properly calloused. This reminds us of the story “the old man and the sea”..

The next challenge was to eat as much as possible in two to three days before the fish spoiled so they set about turning it into bite size steaks with the help of their hand forged knives (they wanted a shout out to them #mbk_forge) which have not gained a spot of rust at sea and retained their wicked edges. So, first on the menu was sushi – they had plenty of soy and wasabi for this and then they made a ceviche; a delicacy that they enjoyed in Peru. The rest was boiled and the feast continued. They have not said what this sudden fresh input did to their digestive systems but let’s leave it there!

Many have asked about their fishing gear and why they have not caught more on the way. The simple omission from their gear was wire leaders before the lures they have, so anything with teeth has been lost. Tuna do not have teeth so let’s hope for more!

As they approached Vanuatu the weather challenged them properly. 20+kt wind on the beam (southeasterlies) and they spent an uncomfortable few days struggling to stay on course and constant waves over the deck, meaning that they seldom got dry and the salt sores all over them gained the advantage.

Vanuatu negotiated, Land Ho! Again! – and some more weather challenges…

After Fiji they were aiming to go South to pass between the island of Efate and Erromango; both part of the Vanuatu group of islands. The conditions did not allow this, and they had to head North of Efate and Emae and negotiate the Shepherd Islands in between. This turned out to be a wonderful passage, coming as close as 4nm as they rowed between the islands in, luckily, very calm conditions. They were surprised they did not encounter any local fishermen or boats on the way and mentioned that the islands appeared to be deserted. All volcanic and rising steeply out of the sea, many are sparsely populated.

A “somersault” into the Coral Sea🪸

Having negotiated Vanuatu, they entered the coral sea and the last stretch of their journey; 7,000nm rowed and about 1,200 left. This last stage was always going to be a huge challenge. There are reefs running far north of New Caledonia and they must pass these to the North. Then there are other reefs dotting the centre of the coral sea before they meet the barrier reef. Their main challenge will be to fight to stay South, at around 18 degrees of Latitude as the wind conditions are likely to be SE at 20+ knots – ever pushing them North. In a rowing boat at sea, you cannot compete, or row against, winds of over 20 knots.

As they entered the Coral Sea the wind veered to the NE and then South. They decided to deploy the sea anchor again and it was a good decision. This prevented them from drifting too far North and enabled them to hold their position. On 25th September they brought in the sea anchor under more favourable conditions and were able to continue West as the wind and waves became more Easterly. They are riding these now and their daily mileage has picked up to 70nm again per day – surfing every wave!

*Unfavourable wind direction meant Mims and Jess deployed the sea anchor but were soon back on the oars*

📜Ships Log By JESS - LATE September

Only 1,000 miles to go! Where on earth did the time go! It certainly doesn’t feel like we’ve been out here for 5 months.

Those following our tracker will have seen that we recently passed through the Vanuatu islands in a gap with only 4nm either side of us. This is the closest we’ve been to land throughout our expedition and we had the most incredible sunset. The approach took us longer than expected as the current wasn’t doing us any favours.

We cleared the islands at sunrise the next morning, however after 20nm, we faced headwinds and currents pushing us backwards. We battled against them together throughout the morning and weren’t making any way in the right direction, so decided to put the parachute anchor out for a few hours in the late afternoon. This gave us a chance to get to work on a few bits of boat maintenance and we gave Velocity a good scrub. Thankfully, the wind turned by sunset and we got going again.

We got in to clean the hull recently too, after not managing to get in for a while. The growth underneath has not been so bad for the last few months, but this time we had quite a lot of gooseneck barnacles everywhere. Usually when we’ve been in the water before there’s been some sort of current, wind or swell pushing the boat, however this time the water was completely still, but quite murky and full of sediment. Sadly, no sharks spotted this time!

The weather has been very mixed, we’ve had cold windy days, muggy cloudy days and very hot scorching days as well as lots of rain through some of the night shifts leaving us very cold and soggy.

We’ve now entered the Coral Sea which means we’ve rowed the full Pacific Ocean — a pretty cool feeling!

We’ve had more boobie birds visiting us, lots of coconuts floating by and even caught a giant tree branch on the fishing line yesterday! We are determined to catch another fish and have been using flying fish as bait as it seemed to work last time.

We’ve been feeling pretty slammed lately, trying to fit in social media content, media interviews and write ups as well as solidifying plans for the finish line. Our hours of rest have lessened to about five, with hours of sleep even less. We don’t hear each other when receiving a wakeup call in the night anymore and it may take about five calls and the blast of the foghorn to realise it’s time to row again! The sleep deprivation has to be the hardest part of this row and it’s not getting easier. Falling asleep in an instant whilst rowing and hitting the deck hard and falling off our seats has become the norm. If only we had the cameras on as I’m sure you’d all find it all entertaining! Luckily Paddington is still with us all the way!

Yesterday we had our fastest day yet and were receiving lots of excited messages from friends and family on the InReach telling us how quickly the miles were being covered! 84 miles in 24 hours, which beats our 74 miles in the first month. Finally, Velocity is living up to her name!

We’ll be fast approaching the great barrier reef which may be navigationally quite tricky without our chart plotter, but we’re in safe hands with our weather router.

In other news, our Instagram followers have reached 100k which is completely wild. Hopefully we see an increase in charity donations too. We can’t believe how many people are interested in following our journey — especially when it feels like we’re in our own little bubble out here. This wouldn’t have been possible without Jodie from Coastin Media who is running our socials, creating videos and sharing our story. We’re beyond impressed with her work and there couldn’t have been anyone better for the job.

We’ve heard that England won the World Cup and will be celebrating today with our second to last bar of chocolate! 🍫

The latest weather report from Simon🌤️

147/1/5 Hi Jess, hi Miriam, 84M on 266T, absolutely smashing it! V well done, broken the old top run by 10M. Looks like 4/8 cloud, but not deep.

147/2/5 Current’s building, should get 1 kt going SW TDY&TMW. Seas should be easing, estimate around 1.5-2m by TMW, and mostly wind driven.

147/3/5 TONIGHT E/ESE 18-23. TMW E/ESE 13-20, rather up&down TUE&WED E, occ bit of N in it, 10-15 THU&FRI ENE 8-12, patchy. SAT coming back ESE 15-20.

147/4/5 You’re clear of NCal now, so can push more S to stay in current. Ideal course would be 245T/234M/054backM but that’s probably going to be too beamy in these conditions.

147/5/5 See what works & let me know. Looking ahead it’d be good to get down to about 18S by the time you hit 155E., and this next week should be good for that. Cheerio, Simon.

REMEMBER: You can track Mims and Jess on the homepage or on the YB Races App 📱 by searching Seas the Day.

Jess and Miriam are raising vital funds for The Outward Bound Trust, a charity helping young people get outdoors, push their limits, and grow in confidence. The team hopes to inspire the next generation to take on challenges of their own.

If you’d like to be part of their story and help Seas the Day make history with the Great Pacific Escapade, please donate.

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7,000 Nautical Miles Rowed, over 140 days at sea, and we have left the Pacific!