Atlantic Row – Week 3 (Pressing On)

This week has been a week of getting heads down and getting on with the task in hand. Nabs and the Britannia III crew have been suffering with sore hands and bums, as all ocean rowers can sympathise with, and are rowing as hard as they can to get to Barbados.

Nabs witnessed his first container ship this week when it appeared out of nowhere and came alongside the rowing boat to say hello. The liner tooted her horn a few times and then sped off. It’s pretty scary seeing a 1181ft container ship that close when you’re in a 38ft rowing boat and Nabs commented: “At the time our hearts were in our mouths and we were seriously considering abortive action but when we realised the ship was just coming to see what we were up to we calmed down.”

This week Britannia III have been ruled out of the Blue Riband Trophy (the fastest crossing). It appears, from their daily progress, that Britannia won’t be able to break Sara G’s record, set earlier this week. They have decided to focus on trying to become the third fastest boat over the ocean. Some of the statistics from Nab’s row so far are as follows:

• Average “Distance to Finish” = 58nm per day
• Average “Distance over Ground” = 61nm per day
• Rowed 870nm so far (just over a third of the way)
• 1785nm to go
• Average speed = 2.975 m/h

Ocean rowing is the sport of rowing across oceans. The sport is as much a psychological as it is a physical challenge. Rowers often have to endure long periods at sea with help often many days, if not weeks away. The challenge is especially acute for solo rowers who are held in especially high esteem within the sport. The history of ocean rowing is sometimes divided into two eras. The first 12 ocean rows are considered “Historic Ocean rows” as they were completed with very limited if any modern technology. The subsequent rows are described as “Modern Day rows.”

Despite the now regular rowing races, fewer people have rowed an ocean, than have climbed Everest or been into Space. Nabs joins this elite group of people as the “FIRST ARAB TO ROW AN OCEAN.”