‘He was with me all the way… we did it together’

RAY CARROLL is lucky: he does something that allows him plenty of time to think.

Having achieved record breaking crossings of the Atlantic, he admits that the solitary, grinding nature of the challenge appeals to him, but then, he never feels he is entirely alone.

He believes he has been accompanied on all his journeys by his brother, Aiden, who took his own life back in 1997.