The phone calls are getting more frequent, which is not a good sign (except for the phone companies).

They are also the focus of the current concern.

The rudder lines only have a couple of days at most left in them and a repair is going to be very difficult at sea. His nether regions improved after a course of antibiotics but are again sore and re-infected. Although the sea are relatively calm today, the sound of waves crashing over the boat and rattling the oars was plainly audible during the phone call. It is now winter in the Indian Ocean and there is only 11 hours of daylight per day. The batteries are low at the end of each day unless it has been particularly sunny.

All this, he can cope with but it took an hour and a half of fiddling about with the phone charger to get it to work today and that is becoming routine. On his own, he could not survive without telephone contact, and neither could we. If it comes to an end that will be the main reason.

 The thing that is keeping him out there is no longer the ambition to be the third person to make a solo crossing but the wish not to lose the boat -  for financial as well as emotional reasons.

Whatever he decides, he is likely to be out there for a few more weeks yet.