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WITH its icebergs, fierce storms and strong tides, the Atlantic is one of the world's most treacherous stretches of sea.
Yet four British men will set out next week to cross it in record time in nothing more than a light-weight boat. They hope to make seafaring history by rowing west to east - the most dangerous route because of stronger tides -in far less than the 55-day record set back in 1896.
"It's a very risky exercise, and I'm not doing this to lose my life, but you don't get a much better challenge than rowing across the Atlantic,' said George Rock, 39, a customer service coach with BT. 'There have been 24 attempts to cross the Atlantic. Sixteen have failed and in five cases the people involved have never been seen again, which is worrying. But I think whatever will be will be.'
Rock and his fellow adventurers - team leader Mark Stubbs, a 37-year-old firefighter, docker Nigel Morris, 38, and fitness expert Rob Munslow, 23 - are determined to avoid the fate suffered by the last rower to attempt the same feat. Nenad Belic, a Chicago doctor, died last year after 151 days alone at sea when his boat disappeared in a storm off the coast of Ireland.
The British quartet are heading to St John's on Canada's Newfoundland coast, from where they will set off on 2 June, weather permitting, en route for Falmouth in Cornwall. They plan to cover between 80 and 100 miles a day, travelling at about three knots, by rowing
non-stop.
Two of the men will always be pulling the oars, while the others sleep, in an attempt to traverse the 2,300 miles in less than 35 days. That is the shortest time it has taken anyone to row across any ocean -11 Frenchmen going east-west across the Atlantic in 1992 - and is the other record the quartet want to
break.
While the rowers will not have the tidal and wind advantages the French enjoyed, they do have a futuristic, aerodynamic boat designed to skim over the water more readily than any previous craft. The Atlantic Spirit is only 10 meters long and less than two meters wide. But the lightness of its construction from carbon fibre, which is usually used in Formula 1 racing cars, and its ability to reduce water friction by sitting on top of the waves rather than having to push through them, should speed progress.
The men will endure a range of discomforts and dangers ranging from sleep deprivation and dehydration to filthy weather and passing ships. 'It'll be brutal out
there,' said Rock who, like Stubbs, has already completed the journey as a competitor in the 1997 Atlantic Rowing Race.
Their cabin, containing beds which are merely foam sheets stuck on the floor, is only 18 inches tall. The resting pair will get just 90 minutes' sleep at a time before getting up and preparing food for their crewmen who have just rowed for two hours, then taking the oars themselves. All four will be attached to the boat by a safety line. |
