First attempt to row two oceans

LONE GRAHAM WANTS TO DO THE DOUBLE … AND HE HASN’T TOLD HIS WIFE!

AS THE Atlantic Challenge rowers disappeared over the horizon 56-year-old Graham Walters was preparing to follow them to Barbados ... and on to the Panama Canal ... and on again, another 6,000 miles across the Pacific to New Zealand.

The only thing that scares him about the incredible 9,000-mile journey is telling his wife.

“She knows I’m going to row the Atlantic on my own,” he said, as he completed packing for his departure early next week. “But I haven’t exactly found the right moment to tell her I’ll be continuing on to row the Pacific as well.

“I’ll probably ring Margaret from Panama to tell her I might be late home for dinner.”

The Leicester man who sold his share in a loft conversion partnership to finance the £30-40,000 endeavor has gained a reputation in the ocean rowing fraternity for his off-beat attitude to the sport.

He endeared himself to other rowers in the first, 1997, Atlantic Challenge race by turning up in Los Gigantes with his £15,000 kit boat, which he had put together in his front garden, still unfinished and in need of considerable quayside work to get it ready for the race. Still, with rowing partner Keith Mason Moore, he came 10th in the race.

He lugged the boat out of his front garden again to compete in the 2001 race with partner Michael Ryan, whom he found at the last minute, and come 26th. Again the boat needed a quayside paint job to get it ready.

But this time Graham has excelled himself. Operating on a shoestring, he won’t even have a GPS system to allow friends to keep track of his progress, although he will have the EPIRB location to set off in case of dire emergency.

“I’ve ben planning this since the lastAtlantic race,” said Graham, “and, to be frank, my business partner got fed up with my long absences at sea and suggested I sell my share in the business.

“My wife has always taken it better, though. All she asked was that I plant some flowers in the front garden so that she could enjoy the view without the boat there while I was gone.

“Oh, yes, she also asked me to stock up the wine cellar. That cost me a thousand quid.”

On arrival in La Gomera two weeks ago Graham wasn’t surprised to find that his boat had been knocked about a bit. It meant some more repairs before he could get under way.

“The steering apparatus was broken,” he said, “and there were various other holes and things missing, but a few more bolts and bits and bobs fixed all that.” He even had to borrow a liferaft from 1997 race competitor Jan Meek to top up his safety arrangements.

The strangest piece of equipment he is taking on the journey is several rolls of wallpaper.

“I thought, when I get bored I could wallpaper the cabin,” he said. “When I’m at home my wife is always telling me some room or other needs wallpapering.

“It’ll make me feel quite at home.”