The one that paid up to get away

By Roger Diss

WHILE Victor Gavrishev fumed on the dockside at San Sebastian port another rower, 59-year-old Briton Graham Walters, started his bid to row from La Gomera to Antigua aboard the 15ft, 40-year-old, wooden-hulled boat Puffin last Saturday.
He, too, had been towed back on Capitano Padron’s orders when he first tried to leave with Gavrishev on his second attempt on December 20.
The carpenter from Thurmaston, Leicester, who is on his fourth trip – his second solo –across the ocean, had agreed to post a bond of €12,000 to cover the fines he incurred.
He also came up with the additional paperwork demanded by Padron.
Walters is rowing to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the deaths of David Johnstone and John Hoare, who were lost in a hurricane in September, 1966, while trying to become the first to row the Atlantic in the 20th century.

Their boat was later recovered in mid-Atlantic, restored and kept in a museum. It is that same boat, now fully restored and modernised, that Walters is using for his commemorative row.
As he left Port San Sebastian on Saturday Walters told The Tenerife Sun: “At last I am on my way and there’s no turning back. But I still have to return to Tenerife after the voyage to attend court and try to claim back part, at least, of the €12,000 in fines I incurred.”