Tiny: Still out to sea!
Mar 11, 2005 12: 43 EST
Well, the Tiny man is still at it. James Little is still alone on the Atlantic, heading towards Antigua. Let’s see what’s on his mind these days.
Friday 4th March 2005
As today progressed my excitement grew. Four dolphins came by earlier today but showed no interest in the boat, just passing through. The underneath of the boat is now a mobile aquarium with hundreds of small stripy fish. There is one fish which I particularly like. It doesn’t glide around like the Dorado but seems to fly like a slow-moving sparrow. It is about a foot long and has puckered lips as though made for cleaning the bottoms of boats. Perhaps it has been sent by a well-wisher but as yet the goose barnacles continue to grow and need scraping regularly. This afternoon a plane came over, circled a few times and left towards the south. I caught a curiously familiar glimpse of good quality silver gleaming from the cabin. This brought on a feeling of déjà vu which stayed with me for sometime.
Today’s breakfast was a grand bowl of special muesli with yogurt, wild berries, dates, dried apricots and banana chips. Coffee, no newspapers. Happy weekend everyone.
Saturday 5th March 2005
My excitement yesterday was well founded. This morning the wind was still in the north but soon veered eastwards and by noon was northeast 10 knots. As the day progressed our speed crept up until later this afternoon we were bowling along at 2.7 knots. Let’s hope it stays ‘til Christmas.
A potentially serious problem occurred this morning at 0945 just after the Womble song and during a spoof state of the nation address by GW Bush Esq.; the remaining speaker on the music system fell silent. The snag might be fixable but I must face the possibility that the rest of the journey could be somewhat quiet. My short wave radio took a wave on board a few days ago and has not been heard from since, so no World Service. What next?
Sunday 6th March 2005
Happy Mothers Day mums everywhere and you, Mum.
This morning the wind was from the east and at 15 to 20 knots. Perfect. I began making miles but during the afternoon I ran short of steam. Sitting around on the sea anchor for so long has softened me up somewhat, but in a few days I should be back up to fitness.
An exciting navigational moment today; we entered the box grid on my routing chart which takes us through the westbound stages all the way to Antigua. There are seven boxes to transit, each one a mental milestone.
Today was definitely for the flying critters – I spotted two new petrels, a British storm petrel and a soft plumage petrel. We were also visited by two types of shearwater but I haven’t got a definite ID on them. Center stage today though were the first two squadrons of full size flying fish. I have only ever seen these from the deck of a large ship and I always had the impression that they just made it out of the water and skimmed about. From my best seat in the house at the greatest show on earth I can report that they fly well clear of the water achieving heights of maybe 20 feet and are very agile and aerobatic. No doubt I shall witness even more spectacular flights from them but today’s was a good starter. The Dorado are meant to prey on these fish but ours didn’t seem to notice them. I wonder if they haven’t seen them before.
On the subject of Dorado, it is becoming more likely that I will have to supplement my diet with fish as the food stocks on board might not last me all the way. We’ll give the situation consideration over the next two weeks.
James “Tiny” Little set out from La Gomera in the Canary Isles to Antigua in the Caribbean to attempt a solo and unsupported Atlantic crossing. Only 25 people have completed a solo, unsupported east to west crossing of the Atlantic. Tiny is a pub-owner from Norwich, England who spent 14 years in the navy. More information on Tiny’s voyage, his daily diary updates, and his charity, The Davenport Trust, can be obtained on his website.
Image of James "Tiny" Little courtesy of oceanrowing.com.
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