The rowers have already attracted the attentions of a shark and some turtles in the short time they've been at sea. However their biggest challenge so far has been getting into a daily routine. Since leaving the Canaries Lt Rogers and Capt Gaffney have been filing regular diary reports to their website. In his latest posting Lt Rogers explained some of the difficulties they have been facing with the boat:

"For the past 2-3 days our progress has been slowing to an agonising pace of approximately 40 miles per day," he said. "We were doing so well but it became apparent to me that something was seriously hindering our progress during a phone call to my girlfriend in which she informed me that other teams around us had done at least another 10 miles in a 12 hour period. How infuriating. Surely there was something other than our rowing technique that was hindering us?

"During my next shift I was pondering over what to do. My back was in agony and every oar stroke was like lifting a heavy weight, and I could feel the pain in every back muscle I had - and in a few I never knew I had too. We were achieving a mere 1.7 knots, 2 knots if we turned it into a self thrashing. I decided that during the changeover period I would discuss with Ben what we should do, my idea being to ditch overboard all our excess weight within the race rules.

"This came to approximately eight litres of olive oil, 10kg of energy drink, 20kg of luxury food items, drinks, soups etc. Ben agreed and we set to feeding the local wildlife the biggest meal of their lives. Ben then suggested we check over the side of the boat to feel the hull in case of any growth on our anti-foul."

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Capt Gaffney's fear that unwanted growth was beginning to appear on the hull of the team's boat, 'Go Commando', were proved right and so the pair set about giving the hull a bit of a clean:

"It was as if our boat was growing a beard, pretty much every inch of the hull was absolutely covered in small growths about an inch long," Lt Rogers continued. "How on earth had they got there?  What about our super duper racing yacht anti-foul that would kill anything that touched it?

"We jumped in the water and set about scraping the hull - a side each with the other person on shark watch. The actions on seeing a shark are to hit it with an oar while the other person clambered out, but luckily this was not needed. After a half hour of scraping and our boat was smooth again. Ben hopped on the oars and hit 3.3 knots with little effort. 3 knots was a pleasant pace. There was joy and elation on the boat, and to celebrate we had an extra bar of the finest military chocolate, and a packet of slightly soggy iced party rings.

"We were both over the moon that we had solved the mystery, and relieved we had not become rowing weaklings who could not keep up with other competitors. We were also slightly annoyed that it had taken us 2-3 days of losing positions to work out what was wrong. But, at least the problem is solved and our progress should be back up in the 60 mile a day bracket before the day is out."

In 1992, a French team set a World Record for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic in a rowing boat in 'Le Mondiale'. The record stands at 35 days, 8 hours and 30 minutes.

Lt Rogers and Capt Gaffney, who have now completed 15 days at sea, hope to complete the 3,000 mile (4,828) journey and make it to the finish line at English Harbour in Antigua, in mid-January.