Atlantic Rowing Race

The Atlantic Rowing Race is a challenging ocean rowing race from the Canary Islands to the West Indies, a distance of approximately 2,550 nm (2,930 statute miles or 4,700 km). The race was founded by Sir Chay Blyth and early races were run by Challenge Business Ltd. In October 2003 the race was bought by Woodvale Events Ltd.

The race was first held in 1997, and roughly every two years since. A total of 153 individuals have completed the voyage, with the last of the rowers from the 2005 race making landfall in Antigua on 13 March 2006.

1997 race

The Port St Charles Barbados Atlantic Rowing Race

* Winning team: Kiwi Challenge (NZ), rowed by Rob Hamill and Phil Stubbs.

The first ever ocean rowing race saw 30 teams of two depart from Tenerife on 12 October 1997 to race over 3000nm to Barbados. 4 boats withdrew in the first 36 hours, with 6 boats withdrawing in total and 2 boats finishing with single competitors aboard. Prior to this race there had been fewer than 30 successful ocean rows.

2001 race

Ward Evans Atlantic Rowing Race

* Winning Team: Telecom Challenge 1 (NZ), rowed by Steve Westlake and Matt Goodman.

The second ocean rowing race saw 36 teams of two from twelve different countries depart from Tenerife on 7 October 2001 to race over 3000nm to Barbados. 33 boats made it successfully to the finish with Debra Veal (Now Debra Searle [http://www.debrasearle.com/debrasearle.com/Atlantic%20Row.html] ) famously finishing alone after her husband left the boat on 20 October 2001.

2003 race

Woodvale Atlantic Rowing Race

* Winning Team: Holiday Shoppe Challenge (NZ), rowed by James Fitzgerald and Kevin Biggar.

The third ocean rowing race was organised by Challenge Business and sponsored by Woodvale Events Ltd, who then went on to buy the race. 16 teams of two departed from La Gomera on 19 October 2003 to race to Barbados.

2004 Ocean Rowing Society Regatta

Ocean Rowing Society Atlantic Rowing Regatta

* Winning Fours Team: Queensgate (GB), rowed by Jason Hart, Phil Langman, Yorkie Lomas and Shaun Barker.
* Winning Doubles Team: Carpe Diem (GB), rowed by Christopher Morgan and Michael Perrins.
* Winning Solo: TNT (GB), rowed by Samson Knight.The 2004 regatta was organised by the [http://www.oceanrowing.com Ocean Rowing Society] , and is viewed as being a separate event to the regular Challenge/Woodvale ocean rowing races. Departing from La Gomera on 20 January 2004 to race to Barbados, the regatta included 6 Doubles, 6 singles and a four. All boats except one single completed the row.

2005 race

[http://www.atlanticrowingrace.co.uk/index.html Woodvale Atlantic Rowing Race]

* Winning Team Overall: [http://www.rowatlantic.org.uk C2] (GB), rowed by Clint Evans and Chris Andrews.

* Winning Fours Team: [http://www.Atlantic4.co.uk Atlantic4] (GB), rowed by George Simpson, David Martin, Glynn Coupland & Neil Wightwick.

* Winning Doubles Team: C2 (GB), rowed by Clint Evans and Chris Andrews.

The 2005 race saw 20 doubles, 4 fours and 2 Doubles depart La Gomera on 30 November 2005 to race to Antigua. The start was originally scheduled for 27 November, but interference from Tropical Storm Delta and accompanying bad weather delayed the start. Unprecedented bad weather led to 6 boats retiring from the race.

Bad weather

Just as the majority of the crews had completed between a quarter and a third of the race, there was a prolonged spell of time where the conditions were not favourable for rowing. Rather than the typical trade winds that would have been helping the fleet, there were often strong westerly winds, some of which were associated with Hurricane Epsilon, forcing many of the crews to stop rowing completely and put up a sea anchor to prevent drifting.

In early January, much of the fleet ended up passing through the southern edge of Tropical Storm Zeta, which raised high seas and created adverse wind conditions. The tropical storm formed unusually late in the hurricane season.

The bad weather all but prevented most crews from any attempt at a world record for the crossing.

The late-November start date was chosen because, in a normal year, the hurricane season is all but finished for the year, but 2005's season lasted for an unusually long time.

Results

Line Honours

The crew "All Relative", a four-man boat rowed by Justin Adkin, Robert Adkin, Martin Adkin and James Green from Beer, Devon, had a fast start, and were able to get clear of much of the bad weather that has dogged other crews. As a consequence, they had stretched their lead to several hundred nautical miles before other crews were able to start moving again. "All Relative" crossed the finish line in Antigua at 15:37:47 GMT on 8 January 2006, a crossing time of 39 days, 3 hours, 35 minutes and 47 seconds, falling 3 days outside the World Record for the crossing, but breaking the race record by just over 22 hours. The crew also included the youngest ever person to complete the row across the Atlantic, who was 19 when the race began, and turned 20 on 7 January 2006.

Second to finish, was the four-man boat "Atlantic-4" crewed by David Martin, Neil Wightwick, Glynn Coupland and Dr George Simpson, who crossed the finish line at 02:26 GMT on 19 January 2006, a crossing time of 49 days, 14 hours, 21 minutes.

The third boat to cross the finish line was "Spirit of EDF Energy", but was placed second in the Doubles division due to a time penalty. The crew was made up of double Olympic champion oarsman James Cracknell OBE, and Ben Fogle, a UK TV presenter, who first made fame on the reality TV show "Castaway 2000". They crossed the finish at 07:13 GMT on 19 January 2006, a crossing time of 49 days, 19 hours, 8 minutes. A BBC television programme on their experience, "Through Hell and High Water", was aired in February 2006.

The fourth boat to cross the finish line, and winners of both the overall race and the Doubles division, was "C2" who crossed the line at 14:15 GMT on 20 January 2006, a crossing time of 51 days, 2 hours, 10 minutes. "C2" were the first crew to finish the race without incurring any penalty.

In fifth place overall, and third in the Doubles division, was the crew "Boat de Vie". They were the first non-United Kingdom residents to finish the race, both crewmembers being resident in France. Both rowers were also leg-amputees, and competed on equal terms with everyone else. They crossed the finish line at 15:36 GMT on 23 January 2006, a time of 54 days, 3 hours, 31 minutes.

In sixth place overall, and fourth in the Doubles division, was the crew "Atlantic Prince", both rowers former captains of 1st & 3rd Trinity BC, who broke the two-man 1,000,000 meter World Record on the rowing machine by about 4.5 hours a couple of weeks prior to the race. They finished at 00:21 GMT on 28 January 2006, a time of 58 days, 12 hours, 16 minutes. Their boat Has the distinction that this was its fourth successful atlantic crossing.

In seventh place overall, and fifth in the Doubles division, was the crew "Team Scandines". They were the 2nd crew of non-UK residents to finish, with both crew members from Denmark. They crossed the finish line at 21:11 GMT on 28 January 2006 - a time of 59 days, 19 hours, 6 minutes.

In eighth place overall, and sixth in the Doubles division, was the crew "Row4Cancer" (couple; 'Liz O'Keeffe' and 'Richard Mayon-White'). They were the 1st mixed crew to finish and Liz was the first girl to reach Antigua - over a week ahead of the next girl. They crossed the finish line at 07:01GMT on 30 January 2006 - a time of 60 days, 18 hours, 56 minutes. They also suffered 4 complete capsizes during the race and much loss of kit.

The first solo to cross the finish line was Chris Martin in the boat "Pacific Pete". Chris rowed for Great Britain in six consecutive World Championships - at junior, under 23, and senior levels. He crossed the finish at 03:24 GMT on 7 February 2006 - a crossing time of 68 days, 15 hours, 19 minutes.

Adjusted Final Positions

The final positions were adjusted from the Line Honours due to the ballast rule, which penalises the use of emergency drinking water, as this makes the boat lighter, and therefore faster. Due to the bad weather, four boats were forced to use this supply. The positions were not adjusted until the last boat had finished, leading to accusations of favouritism for the celebrities. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/4648796.stm] and some confusion as to who had "won", as the penalties were applied across all the finishers, not within each class.

* Solos:
** Both disqualified (Roz Savage for missing the finish buoy, Chris Martin for being assisted)

* Doubles:
**1st C2
**2nd Spirit of EDF Energy (penalised 1 place for using 60L of water)
**3rd Bout de Vie

* Fours:
**1st [http://www.Atlantic4.co.uk Atlantic4] (Penalised 1 place for using 60L of water)
**2nd All Relative (Penalised 2 places for using 120L of water)
**3rd Mission Atlantic

* Overall:
**1st C2
**2nd Atlantic4
**3rd All Relative
**4th Spirit of EDF Energy

Retiring crews

Six crews retired from the race:

*"Digicel Atlantic Challenge" (Double) - retired 8 January 2006 due to boat capsize and subsequent unrepairable damage.
*"American Fire" (Double) - retired 15 January 2006 due to boat capsize.
*"Sun Latte" (Double) - retired 15 January 2006 due to unrepairable damage sustained during a shark attack a few days earlier.
*"Moveahead" (Double) - retired 19 January 2006 due to boat capsize.
*"Spirit of Cornwall" (Double) - retired 23 January 2006, due to boat capsize with less than convert|200|mi|km left in the race. They were in 6th position overall before the capsize.
*"Serenity Now" (Double) - retired 24 January 2006 due to boat capsize.

2007 race

The 2007 race left San Sebastián de La Gomera on Sunday 2 December 2007, with the finish in English Harbour, Antigua, i.e. the same course as the 2005 race. 2 Singles, 15 Pairs and 5 Fours started the race, with a six starting slightly later, however, one Pair "Titanic Challenge" and one Four "Move Ahead II" retired early on.

Line Honours

The first finisher, [http://www.atlanticrowingchallenge.com Pura Vida] , a four, rowed by John Cecil-Wright, Robbie Grant, Tom Harvey & Carl Theakston (all GB) finished at 14.52 GMT on 19 January 2008, taking 48 Days, 2 hours, 52 minutes.
The first pair, [http://www.gquma.co.za Gquma Challenger] , rowed by South Africans Bill Godfrey & Peter Van Kets, finished at 00.15 GMT on 22 January, with the second pair, [http://www.row4cornwall.co.uk No Fear] , rowed by John Csehi & Nick Histon (both GB) just 5 hours 50 minutes later, after over 50 days at sea.

The next finisher, [http://rowformeningitis.com Unfinished Business] , comprised four girls, Jo Davies (GB), Sarah Kessans (US), Emily Kohl (US) & Tara Remington (NZ) who had all started the 2005 race, but failed to finish due to injury, capsize or sinking. They finished on 23 January, in a time of 51 days, 16 hours and 31 minutes, a new fours female record for an Atlantic crossing. The girls then renamed the boat "Finished Business".

Fifth finishers, [http://www.rowcommando.com Go Commando] with Ben Gaffney & Orlando Rogers (both GB) finished in 54 days, 8 hours and 39 minutes. Their row, and the preparation for it, were the subject of a 1 hour TV documentary, shown on ITV 4 (UK) on 7 March 2008. "Go Commando" pulled away, right at the end, from [http://www.the-reason-why.co.uk The Reason Why] rowed by Steve Gardner & Paul Harris (both GB), who finished 3 hours 24 minutes later, the sixth finisher.

Having started much later, [http://www.atlanticsix.com Oyster Shack Ocean Challenger] came in next, a "six" boat, which was eventually rowed by five. Although Oyster Shack accompanied the race, it was a record attempt, not a race entrant, so was not placed (see below).

The seventh race finisher, [http://www.atlantic2row.com/index/index.asp Pendovey Swift] with Ian Andrews and Joss Elliott (both GB), finished in 62 days, 20 hours and 56 Minutes. the next finisher [http://www.4row4cf.co.uk Mission Atlantic] , was a four comprising Andy Ehrhart, Justin Ellis, Mark Hefford and Nick Young (all GB) who completed the crossing in 65 days, 0 hours and 28 minutes, although they were later disqualified (See "Race Positions" below). In eighth place came [http://www.panatlantic.org Komale] with James Burge & Niall McCann (both GB), who took the start line, but immediately returned to San Sebastian, due to a medical problem, and eventually started 2 days late, so had a crossing time of 63 days, 2 hours and 5 minutes, but a race time 2 days longer than this.

[http://www.jaydubyoo.co.uk/da/42121 Jaydubyoo] rowed by brothers, Andrew and Joseph Jordon-White (both GB) came ninth, in 65 days, 19 hours 43 minutes, narrowly beating [http://www.rowoflife.net Row of Life] who finished in 65 days, 23 hours 24 minutes, which was rowed by Angela Madsen (USA) & Franck Festor (France). Angela, a paraplegic, and Frank, a leg amputee, had originally planned to row the Atlantic in a differently abled four, "Differents?" in 2006, but when this was cancelled, agreed to row as a pair, in order to "inspire, motivate and effect positive changes in the lives of those who are born differently abled and those who suffer serious trauma in their lives." The boat made its first Atlantic crossing in 1997 and competed in the 2005 race as "Bout de Vie"

Eleventh was [http://www.2menpulling.co.uk/index2.html Ocean Summit] with Neil Hunter & Scott McNaughton (both GB) in 66 days, 10 hours and 10 minutes, and twelfth was [http://www.rame2007.com Pygram] with Fabien Decourt and Benoit Dusser (both France) in 72 Days, 3 hours and 3 minutes. [http://www.extremerowing.com Atlantic Jack] rowed by Catherine Allaway (GB) & Margaret Bowling (Australia) came in only 2 hours 11 minutes later, although they were disqualified from the race (See "Race Positions" below). C2 with Andy Watson (GB) and Ian McGlade (Ireland) also finished the same day, in 73 days, 10 hours 45 minutes, but were relegated 2 places, for using emergency drinking water.

[http://www.atlantic-angels.co.uk/ Silver Cloud] with Clair Desborough, Sarah Duff, Rachel Flanders & Fiona Waller (all GB) finished in 74 Days, 1 hour, 3 minutes, putting them thirteenth in the race, and making 17 year old Rachel Flanders the youngest person to have rowed an ocean.

The two Solos both came in on 16 February, [http://www.atlanticsolochallenge.com/ 1 Charmed Life] with Peter Collett (GB/Australia) finished in 75 Days, 23 hours, 46 Minutes, in 14th place, and [http://www.solotheatlantic.com/ Spirit of Fernie] with Paul Attalla (Canada) in 76 Days 7 Hours 46 Minutes, who was placed 16th, by the demoting of C2.

[http://www.atlanticrowingchallenge.co.uk/ Barbara Ivy] with Linda Griesel & Rachel Smith (both GB) finished 17th in 76 days, 7 hours 46 minutes, and the final finisher was [http://www.gosh.org/nauticalnurses/index.html Dream Maker] with Elin Haf Davies & Herdip Sidhu (both GB)in 77 days, 7 hours, 37 minutes

Race Positions

Most finishing positions were unaltered, but C2 was relegated 2 places, from thirteenth to fifteenth, for using over 110 litres of their emergency drinking water

Two boats who completed the crossing were disqualified from the race for receiving assistance en-route. These were Mission Atlantic, who were supplied with food, and Atlantic Jack, who received food and a rudder-pin.

Oyster Shack

[http://www.atlanticsix.com Oyster Shack Ocean Challenger] was attempting to beat the record for the fastest rowed Atlantic crossing, of 35 days, 8 Hours and 30 minutes, set in 1992 by "La Mondiale", with a French crew of 11. The same "La Mondiale", this time with a British & Irish crew of 14, and an American tri-maran "Orca" with a crew of 4, set out from Puerto de Mogán, Gran Canaria for Port St. Charles, Barbados at about the same time, all trying to beat the record.

"Oyster Shack" had a late crew change, and delayed their start until 5 December 2007, 2 days after the race started, hoping for better weather. Unfortunately, the new crew member, Andy Morris, injured his knee, so the attempt was abandoned after 22 hours, and the boat towed to El Hierro. Having returned to La Gomera by ferry, the boat was repaired and the five remaining crew members: Simon Chalk, Ian Couch, George Oliver, Mike Martin & [http://www.benthackwray.com Ben Thackwray] (all GB), decided to try without a replacement.

Having waited for favourable weather again, the second attempt left on 23 December 2007. Initially they had good weather and made good time, but the rudder sheared off, the weather deteriorated, and the repaired rudder broke again. They finally arrived in 37 days, 5 hours, 39 minutes, i.e. outside the old record, which in the meantime " La Mondiale" had reduced to 33 Days, 7 hours and 30 minutes. This was, however, the first, and therefore fastest, crossing by a five, and the fastest time to Antigua, as the four faster Atlantic crossings have all been to Barbados.

Records

Race times tend to be slower than record attempts, for three reasons:-
* Boats leave on a predetermined start time, so cannot wait for favourable weather.
* Boats are "one design", i.e. fundamentally the same, so cannot be very innovative.
* The rules require extensive emergency equipment and stores e.g. water, which add weight.

The Record for the crossing (from La Gomera to Barbados), set by a four of Phil Langman, Shaun Barker, Jason Hart and Yorkie Lomas in 2004, is 36 days, 59 minutes breaking the previous record, set by the New Zealand double, Kevin Biggar and James Fitzgerald during the 2003 race, by just over 22 hours.

The Record crossing for a four (from La Gomera to Antigua) was set by "All Relative" on 8 January 2006, who completed the course in 39 days, 3 hours, 35 minutes, 47 seconds.

In the 2007 race, "Unfinished Business", Jo Davies (GB), Sarah Kessans (US), Emily Kohl (US) & Tara Remington (NZ) set a new female fours record of 51 days, 16 hours and 31 minutes.

External links

* [http://www.atlanticrowingrace.co.uk/ Atlantic Rowing Race 2005]
* [http://www.woodvale-events.com/ Woodvale Events]
* [http://www.oceanrowers.com/ Association of Ocean Rowers]
* [http://www.oceanrowing.com Ocean Rowing Society]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/rowing/4474854.stm BBC report of the 2005 start]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/content/articles/2006/01/09/atlantic_rowers_feature.shtml BBC report — Champagne for Beer Rowers]