Diary of a world record

Monday 21st May
Jan and I are up again at 3am EST for another 4 hour watch. We're a hundred miles south of the coast of Nova Scotia, out of the fog, and indeed the sky is brilliantly clear. There's also ice forming on the windscreen. It's definitely a lot colder.

        Just as I think we're about to see a lovely sunrise, we disappear into another fog bank. Later in the day, and the sea is calm, and the sun shining. The only thing that confirms that we are indeed heading towards chilly Newfoundland is the decided nip in the air. It'll certainly be cold tonight.

        During the afternoon, we receive a weather update from Keith Walker, our man on the ground in St John's. 25 to 30 knot northerlies along the east coast of Newfoundland, with ice between 45 and 46 degrees N, and 52 and 53 W. St John's is about 45 miles up the coast after we round the corner from the south coast, so with the two combined, we can expect a major battle on our hands.

        We spot a few seals in the water. Later on, as we're zipping along at around 22 knots, Alan catches a glimpse of some whales. "Over there," he says, "dozens of them." The spouts are clearly distinguishable around a quarter of a mile away, a large pod of whales.

        My first watch sees the sun go down and an inky darkness descend over us. The sky is intensely clear though, with stars twinkling brightly, including some so close to the horizon, it's difficult not to mistake them for ships. We've adjusted our watches to Newfie time, three and a half hours behind BST. The seas are following now, and at times we're surfing along at over 23 knots.

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