We have successfully sold FF! Little sad that she is no longer owned by us, although she goes on to conquer many more oceans and hopefully break & set some more records! In actual fact she is already being prepared back at her birth place for a North Atlantic crossing this summer! (We’ll keep you updated)

All debts are settled and Orchid have received a nice share of the wonga. So, we would like to take this opportunity one last time to say thank you to all party’s involved and we can safely say the project can be remembered as a success from start to finish.

Best wishes,

Team MSS

WE MADE IT!  Wow, we are totally overwhelmed by the support we have had during the race it kept us going every stroke.  Walking is a bit tricky and both are a little lighter than when we started some 100+ days ago.  To get those World Records is the icing on the Angel Cake that was waiting for me at the finish!

That was the toughest challenge we have ever attempted and to win is an indescribable feeling. We are having a well deserved beer here in Mauritius and will update you tomorrow when I stop tripping over my own feet!

A big big thanks to Jem & Tim for their enduring commitment, time and passion to the project & especially for believing in us when we where at our lowest. You won us the race!Again a big thanks to everyone who has supported us and contributed to this blog.

And finally a lot of respect to Southern Cross who pushed us all the way.

Goodnight & thanks from Mauritius

Andy

Go to our Gallery where you will see more photographs of the finish of our race!

Well here we are, 2 years down the line and the date that has been stuck in our heads for so long is upon us.  We are just finishing off the last bits and pieces on land before bed, the boat is 99% ready and the weather forecast for the next couple of days is favourable.

Thanks for everyone’s kind words, they mean a great deal, they are actually written in the cabin to keep us trucking along thanks to Tina Watts! Keep up to date with our progress and keep the messages coming. The next time I update this it will be on the cusp of the Indian Ocean - that’s pretty scary!

Andrew

Yes she is finally on the water! Craned in this morning and rowed round to our berth. Still a bit of finishing touches to be made but we will be ready for the race come Sunday.  More photos will be added to the photo gallery page shortly.

For those of you tracking the race either through our website or the official Woodvale site there is also an additional tracking website for the support yacht.  Desiderata is skippered by Mark Terry of Rowtec and you can see where she is throughout the race at http://blog.mailasail.com/desi. They will be putting pictures and messages up of the boats they come across during the race. 

Great picture of the boats today, everyone working hard to finish off any last bits before the boats are put into the water on Monday/Tuesday. Flying Ferkins has had it’s deck paint put on and we have managed to track down all the gear needed to pass Woodvales scrutineering, so not a bad day at all. 10 days to go!

Well the holiday is over and it’s back to some serious work, we had the boat ‘Scrutineered’ today and in actual fact it wasn’t to bad! It took just over four hours as we went through a thorough checklist of all equipment and the boat specs so that we  comply with Woodvale’s strict race rules. These are mainly for our own safety and to make sure that we are prepared for a self sufficient crossing of the Ocean.

We have been to the local chandlers to get the final bits and pieces that we needed and also had to call upon the local steel makers to rig us up some support plates for a couple of the boats fixings. However, there is no real major work to do and we reckon by the weekend we should be race ready. From then on it will just be minor tinkering and getting the boat in the water.

We’ll put some pictures up of the boat in the next couple of days and keep you updated. Still on the search for Haribo… Andrew

We arrived on Friday afternoon in Geraldton with 32 degrees of heat but where thankfully saved from walking anywhere with our kit by Peter Groom from Geraldton Yacht Club who has been very kind in letting us stay in the Yacht Club hall. The boat arrived safely the same day and all equipment & food have cleared customs! To keep updated on the other boats in the race and the various goings on here you can also check out the official Woodvale race website www.indianoceanrowingrace09.com  

We have finally settled and have regular Internet access so we can now keep you all updated on a daily basis. Scrutinising on the boat starts tomorrow which means we’ll find out how much work we’ll have to do on the boat…or not. So, all the relaxing of the last week has finally come to an end and the hard work is about to begin!

Andrew

So we have been in WA for a few days now and are loving the way of life out here. Simon has been a great host kindly letting us use his Nissan Z sports car which means we have been able to get out and see some sights, go to the beach for some surfing and yesterday meet up with Sarah Outen.  For those that don’t know Sarah is attempting to be the first women to row the Indian Ocean. Sarah departed 2 weeks ago from Freemantle but encountered some difficult weather conditions and a few technical issues which meant she had temporarily abort the crossing. 

We managed to catch up with her on Tuesday and with the help of Lloyd, Gerard, Lina & the Royal Perth Yacht Club we were able to follow her this morning for a few hours as she made her way back out to the ocean. Team MSS wish her every success, a safe crossing and a beer in Mauritius!  

Well the flight from Sydney to Perth only took 4 hours so arrived early yesterday (Saturday) with Simon a friend of the Pascoe household whoi is kindly putting us up for the next few days.

Thanks again to Simon & Jules back in Sydney for their kind hospitality and for showing us around we really did have a fantastic time there and only wished we could have stayed longer! Definaltey a place I want to come back too…. Sarah? It was also great to meet up with our school friend Emma at Bondi Beech on Friday, we did the coastal walk all the way to Coogee Bay which was amazing. It’s always nice to see a familiar face when your so far from home!

Click here to donate money for the fight against the spread of male cancers and support Orchid, our chosen charity.

We had a good flight out to Aus courtesy of our good friend Andy at Virgin via Hong Kong and arrived in good time. Jules & Simon picked us up at the airport who we are staying with in Mosman for a couple of days before heading on to Perth. Now off to get some breakfast and see the sights so will be back soon!

Andrew