Row, row, row your boat
Gearoid Towey finds it hard to believe that his transatlantic rowing exploits have attracted so much interest among the Irish public. Wallowing along, with about 1,000 miles of the ocean behind himself and fellow oarsman Ciaran Lewis, it is hard, in this vast empty wilderness, to believe that so many people back home have latched onto their adventure and are following progress so keenly.
“I can’t believe so many people are getting excited about two fellas rowing a boat,” Towey reports via satellite phone from mid-ocean. “I’m not complaining mind, because it has given Ciaran and myself a huge lift - all those messages coming to us. It’s really fantastic.”
Towey and Lewis, international oarsmen both, left La Gomera in the Canaries on the last day of November, headed for Antigua in the Caribbean, some 2,795 miles west.
As of yesterday, the Irish duo had over 1,600 miles left to go, and were lying in seventh place in the doubles race, some 150 miles behind the leaders in the biennial Atlantic Challenge - and with conditions continually improving in their favour, Towey reckons that they will make the finish somewhere between 45 and 50 days after they started.
But the fact that so many of their countrymen are keeping in touch with their progress, and continually messaging them with supportive texts, has amazed the crew.
“I don’t know if people really understand how cool it is to get so many messages when you are bobbing about in the middle of the Atlantic. Our only frustration is that we can’t reply,” Towey reports.
Even so, their regular appearances on various radio shows via their satellite phone link has only served to further fuel public interest in their fortunes and increase the numbers of people texting messages of support. It’s a phenomenon the two guys are only too grateful for - not least because it helps keep their minds off the physical demands being made on their bodies as they try and become the first Irish crew to win this event.
Towey and Lewis each row six two-hour shifts per day, eating and sleeping as much as they can in the two hours off they get between stints on the oars and, according to the Fermoy man, the system has worked a lot better than either envisaged.
“Not having done something like this before, we didn’t really know what to expect, and I have to say the thought of having to row two hours on, two hours off for up to 50 days was pretty horrendous. But it hasn’t worked out that way, and after the first few days at sea we got into the routine no problem. We were also worried about things like getting sea sick and the effect it would have on us but that hasn’t been a problem either.”
They’ve encountered two fairly bad storms thus far on their voyage and those were their only real obstacles to progress. Depending on wind conditions, they have been able to make up to 66 miles a day, and Towey says they hope to increase their average daily distance to nearer 70 miles per day mark as conditions get better the further west they go.
“The seas have calmed down a lot since we started out and the average temperature is now nearer the 20-degree mark. The first storm we encountered left us at anchor for three days. We thought we’d be a lot more scared - shacked up in the tiny cabin for that amount of time - but there was no real panic and we just let it blow itself out,” he reports.
“The conditions so far have not really been conducive to us making fast progress, but we’re working towards averaging about 70 miles a day and on that basis it will take us 45 to 50 days to complete the journey.”
The Irishmen have found that, rather than making a big issue of anything bad that befalls them, they try and make light of it instead. They thought, for example, that Ciaran losing both of his MP3 players overboard could have a devastating mental effect, but they’ve just laughed such problems off.
“If you run into trouble, you have to try and laugh it off, otherwise we could be at each other’s throats. So we have been having a good laugh between ourselves, whatever’s happening,” Towey says.
The elements aside, the Irishmen have had to keep a weather eye out for passing ship traffic and they reckon they’ve had a couple of close calls, which were more frightening than any of the thunder or lightening or storm force winds.
“It’s so quiet out here you can hear the engines coming for miles and it’s imperative to keep out of the way because invariably they won’t see you. Thankfully, though, we haven’t seen anything or anyone for about three weeks now,” Towey says.
Physically, he adds, the duo are holding up well and “eating like horses” but he does admit that the blistering of “hands, feet and asses” has been “f**king awful” but probably no worse than they envisaged it might be.
“Our bodies are pretty much used to the regime now and when we go to sleep we are going into a really deep sleep which is good. While we found we had no appetite for the first few days at sea, we’re eating fine now.
“But it’s the support we’re getting - over 50 texts a day - that’s unreal. We seem to have caught the imagination of a lot of people and to think we’re having that effect helps us to push on.”
* Anyone wishing to send massages of support to the Irish rowers can do so at www.atlanticchallenge.ie.
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