Atlantic Six Diary 21 November to 12 December 2007
( Last Updated: 14-12-2007 )
I don´t really know where to start, so much has happened since we have been out here. We have had crew problems, some boat issues and re-starts. So all in all it has been a rather "Eastenders-like” 3 weeks.
We flew out on Tuesday 21st November and arrived to some strong winds, blowing perfectly from the North East. Ironically these have been the most favourable to date. Had we been ready and Simon able to leave then we would have departed 3 days later.
As you have probably been able to tell from our news alerts we have had some changes to the crew. Guy had to head back to the UK for personal reasons and this meant we had to find a new sixth man. The word went out and we had a lot of interested parties from both well-respected, experienced ocean rowers and those with no experience. In the end it was Andrew Morris who was able to step in at such short notice. An experienced Ocean Rower from the 2005 race he made an ideal watch leader.
We frantically pushed the boat to near completion in time for a departure on Wednesday 5th December.
The wind was blowing a steady 15 knots North Easterly and we crossed the start line at 2.02pm. From there we gathered pace and were regularly achieving speeds of over 6 knots down the following waves. We tipped 8.3 knots on the GPS on a couple of points and at the 22 hour mark were reaching a total distance covered of nearly 83 Nautical Miles. A cracking start by all accounts!
I say 22 hours because at that point we stopped rowing. Andy´s left knee had been playing up and was looking as though it would not get any better. So he had to make the brave decision to speak up and express his concerns to the rest of the crew.
We knew that at this early stage that the right thing to do would be to get towed back and have a re-start. For record breaking purposes it has to be a completely un-assisted row. Putting Andy in a life raft to be pulled over to a support vessel would mean that we would be classed as an assisted crossing. Also taking a support vessel away from the race fleet would be unfair as we weren´t an emergency.
So with the para anchor out we waited for the rescue vessel to arrive. We were 25 miles off El Hierro, our destination for the tow. They arrived and very efficiently we were under tow- at a cracking rate of knots. Andy, Mike and George were out on deck getting swamped by huge waves as they broke over the bow. The boat took a beating and was put under an awful lot of stress due to us taking on such high levels of water. Although not designed for this type of punishment she rode it very, very well and our respect for her has grown tenfold. She would never experience that amount of buffeting during our crossing.
After 4.5 hours of towing we arrived in a small port, soaked through and needing a warm meal. The locals were great, making sure we were fed, and had a place to sleep that night. I must admit being rescued is an odd sensation and believing we would not need shoes and proper clothing until we got to Antigua, we were not best prepared for dry land again. (Our assortment of clothing over the next 24 hours provided a lot of amusement to those who saw us, photos I’m sure will follow!)
Boat and crew made it back safely to La Gomera late on Friday evening after the huge help of Darren and Amanda finding us a trailer, towing truck, catching two ferries (La Gomera to Tenerife and then on to El Hierro), and the same again all the way back.
We are now busy preparing the boat once again for a possible and likely departure around the 16th December. This is ideal for the next weather window and we´ll be using the same winds that are going to bring the UK some cold weather. These strong North Easterlies will arrive down here and mean we can ride them out South West until we hit the easterly trade winds of the mid-Atlantic to take us across.
We have decided against finding a new sixth man as we believe we will be able to cope without one. This will save us roughly 150Kg in weight from the start (including the sixth mans body weight), and although our watch pattern won´t change, (Ben and George will form a two man watch and Simon, Ian and Mike a three man) we should still make good speed!
We will be head to head with the other record attempt boats, Orca and La Mondiale, as they intend to leave around the same time. It will be interesting to see how everybody gets on.
We have made some firsts already! We have been the first 6 man boat to attempt to row the Atlantic and we will be the first 5 man Ocean Rowing boat-... and probably the last!
We have huge faith in the boat- she is really fast! We'll constantly be pushing to set new records along the whole way. These mainly being:
The fastest crossing of the Atlantic Ocean
The fastest recorded top speed registered for an Ocean Rowing boat
The furthest distance achieved in any 24 hour period
All three should keep us on our toes! We still hope to catch up with the rest of the race competitors. However they are all doing so well that it is unlikely that we will catch the tail enders until at least two weeks or more into our row.
We would all like to thank our sponsors for all the support to date. Please be assured that we are not just sitting around but are all hard at work making final preparations on the boat. We are constantly thinking how we can make her faster- however we won´t give these trade secrets away just yet!
The boat was put back on the water yesterday (Tuesday 11 December) after we had stripped her out, cleaned and dried her and repaired those things that were broken or weakened in the tow.
In a way this second chance has been a stroke of good luck. As a crew we are a lot more confident, (we can officially be called Ocean Rowers apparently!) The boat proved her sea worthiness and crucially her turn of speed.
So hopefully our next blog won´t be so long in waiting. To all those already out there rowing, watch out! Were about!
George
(and fellow crew mates, Simon, Ian, Ben and Mike)
Marina La Gomera, Canary Islands, pm Wednesday 12th December 2007