It has now been over two weeks in the world’s first official Indian Ocean Rowing Race which was organised by Woodvale Challenge and The 'Ocean Angels' (the only female crew in the race) are now in first place.
A Welsh children's nurse is among four women who are now very much into their challenge of rowing across the Indian Ocean and into the record books.
It is some 3,720 miles from Australia to Mauritius. The girls are travelling in a 29 foot rowing boat named 'Pura Vida' to raise money for the charity that supports people suffering with Breast Cancer.
Elin Haf Davies, from Bala, North Wales, is part of the quartet of "Ocean Angels" who are on the last leg of a gruelling 3,720 voyage from Australia to Mauritius.
The four Elin, 32, and her friends Fiona Waller, 34, Jo Jackson,28, Sarah Duff,25, have been at sea for more than 70 days after setting out from Geraldton, Western Australia.
The ocean angels whom are travelling in boat No.13 have now been in the lead for over five days and their lead has gained a lead of over 89 miles over a men's four in boat No.7 - 'Bexhill Trust Challenger'.
They have now completed a fifth of the race and were averaging around 55 miles per day for the first ten days.
The four are expected to reach land within the next week to set a new world record with a target of raising £50,000 for the charity "Breast Cancer Care".
At the start of the race there were 10 class boats but now there are just six as there was extremely rough weather in the first few days of the race which forced three boats to retire (Boats; 8, 2 and 10) and some days later a fourth boat (Boat 1) had to retire. All four boats either retired due to boat damage and in one case – medical problems.
There are still three boats which all contain four occupants, three boats that contain pairs, one solo boat and a classless eight person boat which is the first boat to have eight people on board. All boats have had it tough and have faced problems such as damages and loss of objects such as oars and technical glitches such as power problems and glitches in the autopilot system.
On route the woman have been totally self-sufficient dealing with equipmentbreak-downs, flooding, and steering problems.
Extreme weather has at times seen them pushed backwards as they battled with headwinds and strong currents.
Despite the setbacks and physical discomforts like salt water sores, the Ocean Angels are currently in 1st place far ahead of the other boats.
Operating in shifts the girls have rotated in pairs, resting for 2 hours and rowing for two hours all day every day.
Food has been dehydrated rations and water comes from a solar powered de-salinator.
The progress of their epic journey can be followed at www.oceanangels.co.uk where the crew have been exchanging messages with wellwishers.
And with the end in sight the Ocean Angels say they are dreaming of clean sheets, fresh food and hot showers.
Elin said "The messages we get through really keep us going when times are tough.
"Friends and family are fantastic but it's also amazing to hear from complete strangers and breast cancer sufferers who we hope will benefit from what we're doing."
The Ocean Angels are due to arrive in Mauritius some time between Wednesday 1st July to Friday 3rd July.
If you want to follow the girl's progress visit: http://www.indianoceanrowingrace09.com/progress/
The girls are the dark green dot.
The girls also have a blog in which they talk about naked rowing, toilet habits, showering an general team morale. You can read it at: www.oceanangels.co.uk
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