36 nm rowed yesterday and Simon is closing on Southern Cross. The gap, once over 100 miles is down to 45nm and decreasing daily. Partly a competitive urge and partly because he would dearly like to see and talk to them after so long on his own.

Although the progress is very good, it was not altogether a good day. The seas continue to be rough, so much so that yesterday it snapped one of the oars. He cannot afford for that to happen again. The constant rocking and rolling have also meant that it has not been possible to operate the water-maker for more than 10 minutes before getting air into it. Hopefully the seas will calm enough to get it going again soon, though he does have 18 litres in reserve at the moment. That might keep you or I going for several days but rowing in the warm seas, Simon gets through that in 24 hours.

Keep going Simon, Mauritius (and Southern Cross) is getting ever closer.