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Day 96 – Back On Course, Sea Weed, Turkish Tanker, Liquid Diet
04 June, 07 – 22.01
17.1222N,58.1790W
24 hr progress: 43.7 Nautical Miles (1 nm = 1.85 km)
Distance left to Antigua (straight line): 196 Nautical Miles ( 362 km)
Distance completed: 3189 NM (5899 km)
Wave height: 6-10 ft, Winds: 18-20 knots E, Bearing: 250-270 degrees.
 I was greeted this morning by clumps of sea weed (Saragasso Seaweed maybe?) floating in the water. Its quite a strange feeling to see plant life again after 95 days. The wind has shifted from SE to E causing a slightly confused sea, as the old waves continue to come at the boat from the SE and clash with new larger waves coming from the East. If the wind stays put at E for a few days, the E waves will dominate, the SE waves should subside and rowing will be easier.
The weather got off to an erratic start. I had a rain squall in the morning and the sea got a bit rough by mid morning. By noon it was calm and sunny again. Then another squall came by and it went back to being calm and nice. Anyway, I'm very pleased with the progress for the day. The windspeed was good and I took advantage of its direction and made good progress, correcting my course back towards Antigua. I'm now just 12 miles off course.
 The rudder is starting to come loose again so its on my fixing list for tomorrow. I will try and fix it back on in a way that allows me to steer the boat rather than just keep the stern centered into the waves. Right now I'm steering with the oars, but will need more control to navigate the reef surrounding Antigua.
Normally, the crew on passing ships are unusually friendly when they get to know that I am rowing across the ocean. Today was different. The captain of a Turkish tanker in the area, did not believe I was rowing across the Atlantic and refused to give me his GPS location over the VHF, thinking I was some sort of pirate. Anyway, while we are busy arguing over the VHF, the Tanker appeared over the horizon, almost dead ahead, bearing 070 deg. After much shouting back and forth, they spotted my boat in the swell and finally altered course. It was interesting to watch the conversation turn amazingly friendly and apologetic when they realized I was really rowing. Unfortunately, the conversation did not get very far. I said “Istanbul is a beautiful city” and the captain replied “I'm aware its a beautiful city”. And that was the end of that. What a conversation killer.
 The Turks were quite fascinated at the rowing thing and extra hospitable to make up for nearly running me down. They inquired about my water supplies, food supply and offered to drop off wine, cheese, vegetables, batteries. I had to politely refuse primarily because I wanted to complete the row without outside help and secondarily cause the tanker seemed to be kicking up a massive bow wave that most likely would have capsized the boat if it had have come too close.
The most striking part of meeting the tanker at such close proximity though, was the smell of land, of paint, dirt, food and diesel fumes, things I had long since forgotten.
My food packs are over and its a liquid diet of protein shakes from now on. There is no fear of running out. There is plenty of protein on board for myself and the rest of China. Plus I find it a good way to de-tox from the preservatives in the meal packs. Not overly bothered about the lack of choice. Trying to focus on keeping course as much as possible. I tell you - after 95 days on freeze dried meals, I could eat sweets while they are still in their wrappers and still find them tasty.
It's good to be back on course to Antigua..
Day 97 – Course, Steering problem, Ballast
05 June, 07 – 23.15
17.0745N,58.5731W
24 hr progress: 38.1Nautical Miles (1 nm = 1.85 km)
Distance left to Antigua (straight line): 159 Nautical Miles ( 294 km)
Distance completed: 3230 NM (5975 km)
Wave height: 10 ft, Winds: 18-20 knots E-NE, Bearing: 250-270 degrees.
 Life here is back to rowing without a rudder. The steering continues to be a problem. The lashing on the rudder
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