Life onboard an Atlantic crossing

The aim is always to maintain momentum so there were always six people rowing. We rowed 2 hours on, 2 hours off, with some other adjustments as required, day and night. The deck layout allowed two people to change over at a time, so four people could keep the momentum going.

We split into 2 watches of 6. Each watch further split into 3 'peer buddy' pairs. The routine was simple: row, clean yourself, feed, check your buddy, the boat, complete tasks (clean solar panels, mark charts etc.) rest and repeat!

We mainly wore specially made rowing shorts, which had extra thick bottom padding! although this enviroment puts even the most high-tech gear to the test, I found the seams on the inside caused the most terrible rubbing.. so I wore mine inside out.
I tried the old method of rowing naked to see if that eased the rubbing! This did ease the sores, as the clothes held the salt - which is what causes the rub effect.
The body is constantly wet, you never dry out and this for nearly 40 days! We all had salt sores and red blotchy bums (basically like severe nappy rash) and pressure points.
My hands got rubbed raw, blistered and so very very stiff from holding onto that oar for over 12 hours a day every day! I have heard of previous rowers taking months to recover full finger movement!
The worst was when the oar would crack down and hit the middle of your thigh, ahh like a dead leg.

Food consisted of dehydrated meals supplemented with high energy snack foods and supplements, giving a total of around 6000-6500Kcal a day.

Here you can see bandages on my wrists - I was struck down with terrible tendonitus. I rowed through it and with lots of anti-inflammatories, it passed after about a week/10 days

Me in bed! The crew nick-named this tiny space where I slept 'the coffin' or the 'torture chamber' - the latter because of the roof being inches from your nose and because of the suffocating, relentless heat.
I had to crawl into this tiny place under the boat through two small hatches, half blocked by equipment.

Good night! Looking a little tired here, but as you can see not much room.

My hands several days after the row had finished

The Grid referances of our route

Row Started 04 Jan 2010 05:30
Last Update 13/02/2010 12:03
Distance From Start 2299
Row finished 12 Jan 2010 13.30

Day Date Range (GMT) Latitude Longitude Progress (to finish) Last Update (GMT)
40 12 Feb 05:30 - 13 Feb 05:30 13°15'38 N 59°38'32 W 0 13 Feb 2010 05:02
39 11 Feb 05:30 - 12 Feb 05:30 13°15'38 N 59°38'32 W 24 12 Feb 2010 05:02
38 10 Feb 05:30 - 11 Feb 05:30 13°09'22 N 59°02'50 W 15 11 Feb 2010 05:03
37 09 Feb 05:30 - 10 Feb 05:30 13°29'27 N 58°12'32 W 33 10 Feb 2010 04:03
36 08 Feb 05:30 - 09 Feb 05:30 13°30'43 N 57°25'01 W 51 09 Feb 2010 05:02
35 07 Feb 05:30 - 08 Feb 05:30 13°38'29 N 56°13'04 W 55 08 Feb 2010 05:03
34 06 Feb 05:30 - 07 Feb 05:30 13°49'50 N 55°01'25 W 61 07 Feb 2010 05:03
33 05 Feb 05:30 - 06 Feb 05:30 13°55'04 N 53°50'40 W 58 06 Feb 2010 05:02
32 04 Feb 05:30 - 05 Feb 05:30 14°10'01 N 52°40'19 W 66 05 Feb 2010 05:02
31 03 Feb 05:30 - 04 Feb 05:30 14°16'15 N 51°27'02 W 73 04 Feb 2010 05:03
30 02 Feb 05:30 - 03 Feb 05:30 14°14'00 N 50°09'07 W 71 03 Feb 2010 05:02
29 01 Feb 05:30 - 02 Feb 05:30 14°27'29 N 48°50'47 W 63 02 Feb 2010 05:02
28 31 Jan 05:30 - 01 Feb 05:30 14°27'33 N 47°43'36 W 73 01 Feb 2010 05:02
27 30 Jan 05:30 - 31 Jan 05:30 14°34'15 N 46°25'25 W 70 31 Jan 2010 05:03
26 29 Jan 05:30 - 30 Jan 05:30 14°35'11 N 45°11'37 W 63 30 Jan 2010 05:02
25 28 Jan 05:30 - 29 Jan 05:30 14°52'53 N 44°02'33 W 50 29 Jan 2010 05:02
24 27 Jan 05:30 - 28 Jan 05:30 15°19'56 N 43°05'23 W 52 28 Jan 2010 05:02
23 26 Jan 05:30 - 27 Jan 05:30 15°54'52 N 42°06'52 W 67 27 Jan 2010 05:03
22 25 Jan 05:30 - 26 Jan 05:30 16°20'19 N 40°54'32 W 74 26 Jan 2010 05:02
21 24 Jan 05:30 - 25 Jan 05:30 16°38'20 N 39°36'05 W 56 25 Jan 2010 05:02
20 23 Jan 05:30 - 24 Jan 05:30 16°45'29 N 38°36'51 W 70 24 Jan 2010 05:02
19 22 Jan 05:30 - 23 Jan 05:30 17°03'33 N 37°22'40 W 67 23 Jan 2010 05:02
18 21 Jan 05:30 - 22 Jan 05:30 17°36'31 N 36°10'31 W 74 22 Jan 2010 05:02
17 20 Jan 05:30 - 21 Jan 05:30 18°01'39 N 34°52'06 W 72 21 Jan 2010 05:02
16 19 Jan 05:30 - 20 Jan 05:30 18°18'18 N 33°35'39 W 75 20 Jan 2010 05:02
15 18 Jan 05:30 - 19 Jan 05:30 18°33'43 N 32°15'54 W 67 19 Jan 2010 05:02
14 17 Jan 05:30 - 18 Jan 05:30 19°06'21 N 31°05'10 W 76 18 Jan 2010 05:02
13 16 Jan 05:30 - 17 Jan 05:30 19°17'58 N 29°44'13 W 71 17 Jan 2010 05:02
12 15 Jan 05:30 - 16 Jan 05:30 19°34'10 N 28°28'44 W 62 16 Jan 2010 05:02
11 14 Jan 05:30 - 15 Jan 05:30 20°06'40 N 27°22'60 W 66 15 Jan 2010 05:02
10 13 Jan 05:30 - 14 Jan 05:30 20°28'16 N 26°11'52 W 75 14 Jan 2010 05:02
9 12 Jan 05:30 - 13 Jan 05:30 20°48'54 N 24°52'20 W 75 13 Jan 2010 05:02
8 11 Jan 05:30 - 12 Jan 05:30 21°12'30 N 23°32'14 W 78 12 Jan 2010 05:03
7 10 Jan 05:30 - 11 Jan 05:30 21°39'25 N 22°08'18 W 68 11 Jan 2010 05:02
6 09 Jan 05:30 - 10 Jan 05:30 22°07'49 N 20°55'10 W 65 10 Jan 2010 05:02
5 08 Jan 05:30 - 09 Jan 05:30 22°37'35 N 19°44'50 W 62 09 Jan 2010 05:05
4 07 Jan 05:30 - 08 Jan 05:30 23°20'55 N 18°38'32 W 28 08 Jan 2010 05:03
3 06 Jan 05:30 - 07 Jan 05:30 24°30'25 N 18°09'42 W 27 07 Jan 2010 05:02
2 05 Jan 05:30 - 06 Jan 05:30 25°39'54 N 17°42'53 W 31 06 Jan 2010 05:02
1 04 Jan 05:30 - 05 Jan 05:30 26°48'18 N 17°13'42 W 9 05 Jan 2010 05:03
All distances are in Nautical Miles.
All speeds are in Knots.

1 Nautical Mile = 1.151 Miles = 1.852 Kilometers
1 Knot = 1.151 Miles/Hour = 1.852 Kilometers/Hour