AFTER a torrid time with sunburn and thoughts of food rationing, a wind shift has brought a change of luck for lone rower Simon Chalk.
The alteration in wind direction is taking him properly off the west Australian shore for the first time in his epic odyssey across the Indian Ocean, he has told Oceanrowing.com.
'I've been working my socks off and making really good distance,' he said, just three days after confiding on the site that he had begun to wonder if the 64 day record was a realistic target.
He is hoping that the weather system stays with him for the next five days and adds: 'I've had my share of bad luck with the weather so it's about time it went with me for a change.'
In the past 24 hours cloud has built up, easing the sunburn problem for the 30-year-old Newton Abbot property developer, but that means his power generation is limited as his boat, True Spirit, is solar powered.
He has had to choose between having on either the water maker or the steering.
'It's taken so much work to make each mile at the moment that I've stuck with the steering,' Mr Chalk explained.
'Originally I was going to be rowing at night and taking rest during the hot periods of the day,' he added.
But the wind hadn't allowed him to do that so he has been rowing from six in the morning until four in the afternoon and trying to catch some sleep at night.
'I've made movement forward, I've been pulled back, and each time I think I'm going to get a break it gets snatched away.'
Although the weather had been very cruel he was actually feeling 'very confident', and as he posted the latest news on the site he was 200 miles away from Kalbarri, his start point.
'If I can just have this breeze with me for the next few days I'll be well into the trade wind system. You won't see me for dust then!' Mr Chalk declared.
He aims to be the first Briton to cross the Indian Ocean as well as the youngest and the fastest. His destination is Reunion Island off the coast of Madagascar, a journey of almost 4,000 miles.