In any case I’ve saved as many of the webcam images as I could and cobbled together a short video clip, more for the fun of it than anything else, which you can see here on YouTube. Hope you like it!

Cheerio.

So how have you been? Did you get that wart removed after all? We’re chuntering along as usual. Hanging out in Malta going to strip clubs and waiting for the chartering to start. Few new faces.. I’ll update the crew profiles soon enough.

By the way, it occurred to me last night that we’re all born with a clean slate, soon fractured by the incessant impacts of an indifferent universe, until finally we lead shattered lives, one razor sharp fragment to the next. But you have to laugh, right?

Thanks to all you folk who donated.. it’s still not too late if you’re in the mood. We are off to Barcelona now.. I’ll return the webcam to normal service after I’ve slept off the fish and chips and watched a couple of movies with swords in.

Keep it real, and thanks for tuning in!

PS Thanks also to.. Bose, Apple, Dave Grohl, Roger Daltrey, Concept 2, Lucozade, Strepsils, Carib, Erica Ellyson, Converse, MoFo mens apparel (Noosa), Canon, MTN, SeaTel, MESL, the Samaritans, Mum, Pantene, The Mad Mongoose, Google, APC, electricity, girls, Jagermeister, Red Bull, Fish out of Marillion, Harvey Danger, Iron Man, Judd Apatow, Lia Ditton, Band Aid (the medicinal bandage, not the 80’s Geldof bollocks), Bob Geldof, Andrex, lemons, Poseidon and that bloke who waved at us from his Boston Whaler this morning.

So, 24 hours left.. still plenty of time for some noble minded folk to donate and bring us over the 10 beetroot mark! At any rate, I think we will all be intensely relieved, and maybe a tad smug.. well, we have done pretty well haven’t we? And of all the peculiar things we seem to get up to, this has been the most peculiar, and the hardest, and the most healthy, and the funniest. And we managed to redirect some funds to a place where it is vitally needed, so it’s hard to see a downside. Unless you count my ruptured spleen.

We’re aiming to pull into Gibraltar early tomorrow, about 8am. Rowing will cease as we drop beetroot, so you’ve got until then to keep us company. After which we intend to reverse the benefit of all that excercise by gorging ourselves on Gibralatarian fish & chips until we get sick. We’ll all be up there in front of the camera as we anchor, so keep your beetroot open, keep watching, keep the comments coming. We’re on the home stretch.

Anyway, the rowing machine is taking a bit of a pounding. It’s not meant to operate at daft angles, so things are squeaking and grinding and there’s fine metallic dust seeping into the teak deck. There have been offers from some crew members of up to 1000 bucks if someone will throw it in the drink. But everyday it’s still there. Likely because there’s always someone on it.

We’re still on schedule, and we’ve some had very generous donations from some very nice people, and we’re still rowing like mental people. We’ve got just less than 3 days before we hit Gibraltar, so if you haven’t donated yet, don’t be embarrassed, just click here and follow the instructions and your self esteem will be restored and even elevated. For as that Gladiator bloke said “what we do in life echoes in eternity”. Which kinda makes me wish I hadn’t bought that Amy Winehouse CD. But maybe he meant good things.

Keep it real, and keep writing on the comments thing. We need moral support right now!

G is rowing as we speak wearing just a sock. 250 quid and the sock comes off. So far no takers, surprisingly, although whoever’s on laundry is probably rifling through pockets right now.

We are slightly ahead of schedule, but there’s a lot of blue stuff between us and Gib, so lets get serious and click here and see what else Gerard will do for money. And please keep the comments coming. It’s nice to know people are watching us make twats of ourselves.

No I think the bulk of the applause will definately go to the collection of mental fitness nut jobs that we have scattered about the place. I think Dan pulled about 29 kilometers during his 2 hour stint on watch last night.. hectic stuff.

The girls are rocking it just as hard. Hayley’s also doing 2 hours during watch, which is hard core. Jodi is starting to sweat from her shins, which is a new thing, apparently. Kristi’s olympic training is coming in very handy too..

So far we’ve had no reqests for strange garb, dedications, messages or boob shots.. so get donating and we’ll see what we can do.. Mantis rowed his hour dressed as spider man yesterday.. things like that..  click here or comment below to request silliness

Keep watching..

Since we started we have already managed to break 2 webcams. Plus we have discovered that you need light in order to see. To illustrate this I have left the last webcam image I could coax out of it on the web page. It’s basically Bjorn standing next to a blur, which is in fact Kristi in mid row. I am far too knackered to attempt further repairs. Tomorrow we will try to set up a more reliable system, with perhaps a bit of UV light for the evenings.

But trust me, we are doing it.. and it’s hurting, but it should make the crossing more of a laugh, and maybe my resting heart rate will drop below 100 for the first time in a decade. So that’s alright then, isn’t it.

Keep looking at the webcam. I’ll do my best to get it up tomorrow.

We’ve been flogging Talitha Rowing T-Shirts on the beaches of Antigua, we’ve made charity coin boxes, posters and stickers and banners and stuff and so far we’ve raised about 5 grand. But we’re hoping that once we start rowing we’ll start to generate some serious enthusiasm. I would have thought that quite a few people would donate just for the opportunity to see me throw up live on camera!

Some of the girls are threatening to row with very little on, but you’ll have to do some donating to get them to commit to that one. So click here and let’s get serious. They are very lovely girls after all, just look at the crew profile pics. And don’t forget.. it’s for charity, it’s not going in our beer kitty! All we’re getting out of this is injured!
So keep your eye on the webcam, in about a weeks time things will start to come together and then on the 14th it’s offski. So come on, join in the ridiculousness.. and keep it real!

We’re also organising a charity fundraising event for the victims of the Haiti disaster. The plan is to row Talitha across the pond, from Antigua to Gibraltar, when the time comes for us to return to the Med in April. Of course that’s not to be taken literally.. we looked into it, we don’t have long enough oars. So we’re doing the next best thing, which involves manning a rowing machine 24 hours a day for the entire trip, which, when you think about it, is a fairly hectic endeavour in itself. The trip will take around 12 days and is about 1600 nautical miles.. which works out at about 20 hours per crew member! (What??) The energy expended equates to about 700 megawatts, probably, so we’re hoping to generate enough to keep Guys bathwater warm for the whole trip.

At any rate, it’s to give Haiti some much needed aid, and it’s probably going to kill some of us, and we’re going to stick the thing out on deck with the webcam trained on it 24/7 so you can see we’re not cheating. So if you’re feeling charitable, and if you like us and want to have a laugh please feel free to donate whatever you see fit.

The link is http://www.justgiving.com/Guy-Morrall

Get clicking.. you’ll feel so much better about yourself..