Historical Blog Archive

Happy Birthday boys. Sounds like a great birthday bash. We are following you every step (stroke?) of the way. David took some Paragon boys sailing last week. They just about made it to Lulworth Cove!! What you are doing is amazing. We are totally in awe. Love and kisses. Jill and David Holmes

Happy Birthday!!! Sorry to be a day late. Hugely impressed with your progress, keep up the good work. Hope the party went well and you are not too hungover / don't have to redecorate your bathroom. Did anyone need carrying upstairs? Keep being heros and we shall have some real pints on your return! Steve

Can you also tell the thousands who are reading these blogs daily a bit about what the differene arrows on the wind chart mean. What is the significance of 1, 2 3 barbs on the end of the arrow? Is there a significance as to which side of the arrow the barbs are placed? Also I notice on th woodvale charts there are a number of, for want of a better name, blobs. There are a pair of them at approx 22S 56E. What are these.

Hi there guys, Hope all is well with you both.Sorry not to have posted for a while but life has been a bit busy here in Rutland! ( I was gpoing to say "sunny" BUT we have had RAIN, RAIN and yet more RAIN today!!! and thunder and lightening too. Very wet indeed!....just in case you think you have the monopoly on weather, I thought you ought to know that we still get weather here too!! have just read an email from Sarah, she sends her best wishes to you both. She's having a mixed bag of weather too...Bob's been oput again, but she did have a bit of a break and manage some serious rowing today too. How was the party....sorry I ddin't make it but my swimsuit was at the cleaners, and then i couldn't find the right shoea to wear....you know the sport of theing!Anyway, hope it went well and that you had something suitable to toast with............................if not, I'm sure you'll make up for ut on Mauritius!! take care, you're doing really well. HUGZ Helen

Hi again...sorry about the previous typing errors..... and then I hit "post "before checking it through. Helen

Come on Helen it's that glass of wine and the addiction at the end of the day we are all getting hooked on!! It's great that you are here supporting the girl's(as Jem calls them) what with your own huge support for Sarah,dipper's and Bob. I met a friend's husband the other day in town and he told me that his wife is coming up to bed later and later,he hardly ever see's her now!! I'm thinking it must be the addiction that's getting to us all; hey Jill? Has anyone ever seen a Moonbow? Woodvale reported that J&J saw one last night! Moonbows or Lunar rainbows are rare ~ A bright moon near to full is needed,it must be raining opposite the moon,the sky must be dark and the moon must be less than 42* high. Wonder if Guy and Andy have seen one yet? T

JohnP, The barbs on the arrows indicate the wind speed, difficult to explain without drawing, but I'll have a go, but it's very easy to understand. The longest line of the barb with the smaller ones at one end indicate where the wind is coming from [winds always come from]. The smaller lines are two different lengths and indicate the wind speed. The longer one equates to +2 forces of wind on the beaufort scale, the smaller one, +1 force of wind. So two longer ones would be force 4 and one large and one small one would be force 4, and so on. For more information on the beaufort wind scale, see here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaufort_scale They currently have a westerly wind scheduled to go southerly, so scroll through and you can see the barbs and wind direction change. The pair of blobs around 22S, 56E are Reunion Island and Mauritius, and hitting Mauritius is like threading a needle at 3000 miles as it's only 17 miles long, but here we come! Jem

Happy (belated) birthday boys - good progress

wow that must have been amazing, it's sites like this that must make it all worthwhile...hope A&G see something oarsome soon too x

Happy belated Birthday Del. Great stuff so far. Keep rowing your little boat and bring me back a souvenir. Man love to you both, Neil

It's little consolation, but at least Southern Cross and Old Mutual also have the same problems with the wind.

I have a question... :) is there anything you would do differently if you could go back in time? lol

spotty bum.... reminds me of summers spent riding horses all day long on Wimbledon Common (too much information I'm thinking here..!!)... but I can entirely sympathise.. Exam week this week so am looking for any distractions other than studying. Getting drunk in the Swan was a better plan this weekend. (better not tell the boss). Hope the weather perks up a bit.. back to Beverley Hills 90210 and maybe a glass of wine too.... xx

Hi there guys!! Hope all ok. Sarah says you were envious of her choc again yesterday! She's fine but like you, frustrated at not being abl;e to make any real headway ay the moment.............................................. a little joke ( passed on to me from a friend) Five surgeons were discussing who makes the best patients to operate on. The first, from Manchester, said : 'I like to see accountants on my operating table, because when you open them up, everything inside is numbered' The second, from Birmingham, responded : 'Yeah, but you should try electricians - everything is colour coded.' The third surgeon, from Edinburgh said : 'No, I really think librarians are the best - everything inside them is in alphabetical order.' The fourth surgeon, from Belfast , chimed in : 'You know, I like construction workers... those guys always understand when you have a few parts leftover.' But the fifth surgeon, from London , shut them all up when he observed : 'You're all wrong. Politicians are the easiest to operate on. There's no guts, no heart, no balls, no brains and no spine, and the mouth and the arsehole are interchangeable.' I hope this won't be offensive to anyone, but I must admit that in view of recent political events, I did find it rather funny and it made me chuckle. Its always good to laugh, even when the chips are down . On that note I must go and make myself a cup of coffee..............its 0610 hrs here, and I should be in bed asleep, but am awake so I thought I'd get my computing done early today. Have already been on Sarah's site and sent her an e-mail for this morning. Take care, Hoping for good wind for youy today.

Hold tight guys - must be pretty frustrating sitting there waiting for the wind to abate. Hope the iPod is still charged. At least you can take comfort fomr not having to listen to all the politicians going on and on and on all the time - thought Helen's joke summed it up nicely.

hey del, wishing you a belated happy birthday...can i blame the time difference? sure it was one to remember! love becs xx

Hi Guy and Andrew, can't believe you're almost at the half way point. What a shame you couldn't down a pint on your b/d but don't worry Denise and I did it for you! Keep up the good work LOL Gail and Denise xxx

I clearly read this too much, as I dreamt about you guys finishing last night...only when you got there you had to run to a hotel that didn't exsist! That would suck! Weird! Was wondering if you have taken a camera? (as you have other things like DVD). SO that you can capture things en-route, such as you changing from where we could hide behind your belly to skinny bean poles! I guess pics would get a bit boring after a while, of Del, Guy, both of you...the sea, non exsistent wildlife! Beard progress!!! xx xx

This sucks, hang in there folks. Everyone is working on it at full speed to do the best we can. Jem

Hey Hope you two can get some rest - stay strong - you are doing great Kx