Irish rowers part of team in record Atlantic crossing
The 14 rowers arrived at Port St Charles, Barbados, at 8.40pm yesterday after leaving Gran Canaria, off the coast of Africa, on December 15.
They crossed the Atlantic in 33 days and seven hours — beating the previous record by two days and a hour. The 14 rowed the 2,596 nautical-mile journey in a French-built boat called La Mondiale, which 16 years ago set the world’s fastest Atlantic crossing time of 35 days, eight hours and 30 minutes.
They rowed the Atlantic Ocean from east to west for charity in a challenge organised by the Ocean Rowing Society International. Society director Tatiana Rezva-Crutchlow said the 14 had completed a magnificent achievement.
“Everyone says you don’t have to be strong for the crossing but you have to be fit and able to take discipline,” she said.
She said the 14 had spent more than a month cooped up in a space the size of two small bathrooms. They decided to embark on their journey in December to avoid the hurricane season.
The distance between the start and finish point is officially 2,596 nautical miles but the rowers completed 3,100 miles by the time they reached the Caribbean island. “No one rows in a straight line and at one point they almost went in a circle because of bad weather,” said Ms Rezva-Crutchlow.
The 14 even spent Christmas at the oar, rowing more than 100 miles a day.
The boat was skippered by Briton Leven Brown, a 35-year-old sailing enthusiast who has already crossed the Atlantic solo in a 23ft wooden rowing boat.
The crew comprised 10 other Britons as well as three Irish rowers including Galway engineer Ray Carroll, who celebrated his 31st birthday in the middle of the Atlantic a week ago. The other two Irish rowers were Peter Donaldson, 49, from Dublin, and Reinhardt Von Hof, 30, who grew up in Northern Ireland.
Mr Carroll rowed in aid of the depression charity Aware, Mr Donaldson for the Children’s Medical and Research Foundation, and Mr Von Hof put his sponsorship towards Cancer Research. The boat was racing against the US multi-hulled Orca, but La Mondiale was last night ahead of the rival vessel.
