Still Got It: Halfway Across the Pacific With Smiles, Salt Sores & Surprises
After 90 days at sea and 4,575 miles rowed, Jess and Mims have officially crossed into another time zone, Papeete in French Polynesia. Their clocks have gone back another hour, which means they are now 11 hours behind the UK. Numbers aside, this milestone carries weight. They have rowed almost a quarter of the way around the planet.
A recent video shows Mims dancing to ‘Jump’ by the Pointer Sisters (Much better than Hugh Grant’s moves in ‘Love Actually’ we might add!) and Jess peeping out through the hatch door grinning. And yes, they still got it. That cheeky burst of humour sums up the expedition perfectly. Resilience, grit, and the ability to turn even three months at sea into a story worth smiling about.
😁Sunshine, Miles & Smiles
This last stretch has mostly been kind. Sunny skies, following seas, and steady progress of 50 to 60 nautical miles a day. Amazing progress considering Mims and Jess are hauling a one-tonne boat across an ocean with nothing but oars.
The boat may creak and their systems may falter, with the power supply and water-maker continuing to cause headaches, but Jess and Mims keep on smiling. Their social media posts have become a highlight for supporters at home, a mix of humour, honesty, and joy in the face of chaos.
📜Ship’s Log – 25 July
“We’ve had a bit of a problem with the tracker over the past week or so as it’s been stating we’ve only travelled 10 miles a day which is incorrect … fear not - we are still rowing! The problem has now been fixed so the mileage should be accurate now. You’ll now see that we have less miles to row than have been rowed.
My goodness - it feels pretty wild to have passed the half-way point of the entire Pacific Ocean. It really does feel like the world is so small. We’ve pretty much rowed a quarter of the way around our planet.
Mentally, it feels like we’ve reached the top of the mountain and we’re on the home stretch now. As much as we’re counting down the miles, we really don’t want the expedition to end. We’re loving our little nautical home.
Half- way was celebrated on deck together reading through letters we’d been given by loved ones, our support team and from Southbourne Junior School, while watching the sunrise.
Milestone treats included cans of refreshing magnesium water from BetterYou and Percy Pigs from our ocean rowing coach (Duncan Roy). For supper we had instant mash potato and canned sustainable Tuna from our rescuer (Alec Hughes). This was topped with a bumper crop of radish sprouts from our Home Harvest.
We’re sure the second half of the row will present new challenges, but we’re ready to tackle them head on. I wonder if we’ll need to dip into any of the three spare rudders in the bow!
As you know, whenever we reach a milestone, we tend to be rewarded with something else to repair! … When rowing I’d noticed the boat listing to starboard as I kept catching crabs and expressed this to Mims, who had the water maker running. She promptly opened the water maker hatch to find the water maker was submerged in water and the accumulator was smoking a little. Batteries were switched off, fire extinguisher at the ready and we pumped the water out as quickly as possible.
Turns out the non-pressurised pipe we’d been nursing since the first week of the crossing now had quite a few more holes, as water was spewing out from everywhere. To be honest we can’t believe how long it’s lasted wrapped in tape and rope. We have made seven repairs to it but now need to try something new as we’re unable to trim anymore pipe off the ends.
The last few days we’ve been getting into a rhythm of making water manually with our emergency pump. Well … let’s just say we didn’t think it would be such hard work and perhaps we should have trained our arms more in the lead up! We’ve reduced our hours of rest and now start making water at 0600 and tend to finish around 1000. We make just enough for drinking, to rehydrate our food and to clean our solar panels for the day. If we want to wash our clothes or ourselves then we’ll need to spend a considerable time longer.
Anyway! We’ve started a water maker beats playlist to keep us going, so if you’d like to add to it then we’d be very grateful.
We’ve found the weather has completely changed going through the islands. It’s scorching hot during the day, there’s not a lot of wind, nor much swell either. It’s so peaceful and quiet, we’ve seen lots more birds about and we haven’t been getting waves across the deck. What a dream! Below is a red footed booby who took a rest on board for several hours – and he didn’t even try to eat our tuna lunch!
We spotted two Marlin beneath our boat yesterday. They’re such an incredible blue glistening in the water, but Marlin have been known to pierce through a lot of rowing boats in the yearly Atlantic rowing race, so we had the bungs and hull repair kit at the ready, just in case!
“If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water.” ~ Loren Eisley
Thanks to each, and every one of you, whether you’re a sponsor, supporter or just an avid dot watcher, it’s been truly heart-warming to have everyone in our corner. This may be a pairs row but it’s certainly not a pairs effort.
Here’s to the next half! 🤩”
🎉Halfway Celebrations
REMEMBER: You can track Mims and Jess on the homepage or on the YB Races App 📱 by searching Seas the Day.
📢Big News: Cairns, Here We Come
Their safety officer and weather router have been mulling over their next 4,000 miles and what their best route might be. It appears that the cyclonic activity, which builds up south of Australia, and produces cyclones that make their way up the east coast of Australia to Brisbane, is already producing weather systems that would usually start in November and run to April; this is the usual cyclone season. After much deliberation the team have decided that they need to stay north and try to make Cairns, an extra 500nm of rowing but hopefully in more favourable conditions. The added complexity is that they will also have to navigate through the pacific islands on their way, and the great barrier reef.
It has become very clear that their next 2,000 miles will be the toughest. Apart from rerouting to Cairns, they are about to enter the South Pacific Convergence Zone (SPCZ). The SPCZ occurs where the southeast anticyclones to the south meet with the semi-permanent easterly flow from the eastern South Pacific anti cyclone. This is where low- and high-pressure systems converge and clash, often causing storms and high or contrary wind. They will have to battle these currents and wind at times, to break into their next weather system and continue west. It generally stretches from the Solomon Islands through Vanuatu, Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga. They can expect lots of showers and thunderstorms along this next stretch.
Their immediate goal will be to pass to the north of the Cook Islands. Fiji is still another 1,600nm away and they will be aiming to pass to the north of Fiji and then go in between the islands Vanuatu and north of New Caledonia before entering the Coral Sea and the last stretch to Australia.
You can see from the map below (courtesy www.windy.com) that this zone can be very hectic indeed! Red = cyclonic conditions with very high winds which can stop them in their tracks.
Red = cyclonic conditions with very high winds which can stop Seas the Day in their tracks.
For any of us following this journey in almost real time, sitting in comfort wherever we are, and seeing how the girls are coping with all of the challenges thrown at them with humour and true grit is truly humbling. “Dot watching” has become an obsession! We will them on and check their position every few hours, and then check their media in the evening, hoping for another rendition of ABBA! We wish them the best of luck for this next and very challenging phase of their journey.
👏🏽Cheered On From Afar
Back home, “dot watching” has become an obsession. Supporters check the YB Races app every few hours, watching the little boat inch across the chart. In the evenings, people scroll eagerly through Jess and Mims’ media updates, hoping for another burst of ABBA karaoke or salty humour from the cabin.
And through it all, their charity drive keeps growing. Donations to The Outward Bound Trust fuel their determination. Jess and Mims put it simply:
“That the donations are increasing is a major motivation for us and helps us wake up every two hours to get back on the oars, no matter what the weather. If everyone who follows us on TikTok and Instagram gave £5.00 we would have reached £600,000 already. Let’s do it!”
Halfway & Holding On
So here they are. Halfway across the Pacific. Stronger for every mile already behind them and grinning into the miles still to come…And if this is what halfway looks like, the second half promises to be just as extraordinary for Mims and Jess!
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.
