'There will be times I'll be petrified': MTU lecturer sets off on record-setting row across the Atlantic 

Dr Karen Weekes: 'They say when you’re in the cabin at night you just hear dolphins and whales chatting under the sea, and thunderous roars and bangs against the cabin with the waves.' Picture: Andreas Riemenschneider

MTU sports psychology lecturer Karen Weekes has set off on her journey to become the first Irish woman to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

Ms Weekes hit the water on Monday morning to begin her 70-day, 3,000-mile journey from Gran Canaria to Barbados.