DARTMOUTH'S Jo Langmead has an added incentive to row a little harder with her 'Mission Atlantic' crew having now completed around 2,000 miles of their epic journey from the Canary Islands to the West Indies.

Her family have left Dartmouth to meet her in Antigua but are booked to return on March 19 and it will be 'touch and go' whether they are still at English Harbour when their daughter arrives.

In a blog message, Jo says: "For me the key factor is the knowledge that my family will be in Antigua until March 19. This gives me a target to aim for and at present it's looking like a realistic one."

In an email to her parents, Jo wrote: "Got a bit of a sore bottom with a pressure sore now fully developed on my left butt cheek.

"It has gone very dry so I am trying to use the Sudocream to keep it moist.

"My knees are getting better every day but still only good enough for half slide. I am now steering too, so it breaks up the long two hour shifts.

"Getting a slightly bad back but it seems only muscular."

The gruelling 2,550 nautical mile race from San Sebastian on the island of La Gomera in the Canary Islands to English Harbour on Antigua has already been won by Charlie Pitcher in a record breaking 52 days.

Langmead's all-female four are in 14th place with about 500 miles to go, while former Torbay doctor Stu Burbridge, aboard 'Ocean Summit' has moved up to eleventh

And Trusham's Dave Brooks aboard 'Team Panasonic' remains in twenty-first place with less than 700 miles to go.