A 14-man crew trying to beat the Atlantic rowing record are well on course, past the halfway point and have already broken several world records.The team, which is in the rowing boat La Mondiale and includes three men from Norfolk - Julian Barnwell, Liam Hughes and Mike Tooth - set off from Gran Canaria on December 15.

A 14-man crew trying to beat the Atlantic rowing record are well on course, past the halfway point and have already broken several world records.

The team, which is in the rowing boat La Mondiale and includes three men from Norfolk - Julian Barnwell, Liam Hughes and Mike Tooth - set off from Gran Canaria on December 15.

Since then they have managed to set a record by making 100-plus miles per day for nine consecutive days and on Thursday they set a new world 24-hour distance marker of 117 miles.

On Wednesday at 1pm they crossed the halfway point to Barbados, at which stage they were 1,527 miles from the start and finish line.

On only two days in the last fortnight have they failed to complete 100 miles per day, with the daily total dropping to 90 and 97 miles on December 31 and January 1 respectively because of a change in the wind conditions and rowing conditions described as “like treacle” by the crew.

The latest available mileages from yesterday lunchtime meant La Mondiale has a little more than 1,300 miles to complete in slightly less than 15-and-a-half days, an average of around 85 miles per day.

Communication from the boat is very intermittent at the moment because of low solar power, but skipper Leven Brown wrote on his blog yesterday: “What an achieve-ment for our team of brave rowers.

“They are striving to be the very best.”

La Mondiale is also up against an American boat called Orca in a head-to-head race. Following the progress of Orca has been difficult because they have no Argos tracking beacon installed as recommended and their satellite phone has not been working for several days. It is known however that they remain some way behind La Mondiale.

On Wednesday, after the Orca crew failed to report their position for several days, the captain of a Philippine vessel which met Orca at sea contacted the authorities to give an updated position for the American team and also reported that everything was fine on board except for the problem with communications.

To break the record of 35 days, eight-and-a-half hours, La Mondiale and Orca need to have landed at Barbados before 9.35pm on January 19.

You can follow the progress of the Atlantic crossing teams on www.oceanrowevents.com and www.oceanrowing.com.