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In early 2004 James Doust and Nigel Gower rowed across the Atlantic from Africa to Barbados as part of a transatlantic rowing race organised by the Ocean Rowing Society.
Surviving a capsize and a few other scares, the crossing took them 54 days. They were pleasantly surprised by coming second.
James had never rowed before starting this challenge so Nigel - a rowing coach by profession - had a vested interest in making sure James knew what he was doing.
While on the face of it this rowing challenge is about getting to the other side intact, it's equally about getting to the starting line - the "hidden challenge" of planning, reducing risk, financial management, communication and logistics kept them both occupied for a couple of years.
In early 2004 James Doust and Nigel Gower rowed across the Atlantic from Africa to Barbados as part of a transatlantic rowing race organised by the Ocean Rowing Society.
Surviving a capsize and a few other scares, the crossing took them 54 days. They were pleasantly surprised by coming second.
James had never rowed before starting this challenge so Nigel - a rowing coach by profession - had a vested interest in making sure James knew what he was doing.
While on the face of it this rowing challenge is about getting to the other side intact, it's equally about getting to the starting line - the "hidden challenge" of planning, reducing risk, financial management, communication and logistics kept them both occupied for a couple of years.
La Gomera is one of the Canary Islands, situated off the West Coast of Africa and it made a perfect start line for the 2004 race. The finish line, tropical Barbados, lay 5,000km across the Atlantic.
11 boats lined up along some vague starting line. The crack from starting gun heralded the most chaotic start to any race ever. Some boats were already over the start line; some were still in the dock; and James was hoping the sea-sickness tables would kick in soon.
It didn't matter - after two hours none of the boats would see each other again.
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10 of the 11 boats headed south to pick up favourable currents and winds. James and Nigel took a different approach; taking the shortest route possible, they pointed directly at Barbados; an ultimately successful but daunting tactic.
The saftey yacht visited James and Nigel on the first night and then it too went south to be with the majority of the boats. Satellite images arriving every three days from their land crew showed just how alone they were.
Seeing a tanker, especially at night was a fearsome experience. The tanker wouldn't be able to see a small wooden boat and there was never anyone on the bridge to hear James and Nigel's radio calls.
10 of the 11 boats headed south to pick up favourable currents and winds. James and Nigel took a different approach; taking the shortest route possible, they pointed directly at Barbados; an ultimately successful but daunting tactic.
The saftey yacht visited James and Nigel on the first night and then it too went south to be with the majority of the boats. Satellite images arriving every three days from their land crew showed just how alone they were.
Seeing a tanker, especially at night was a fearsome experience. The tanker wouldn't be able to see a small wooden boat and there was never anyone on the bridge to hear James and Nigel's radio calls.
Spare oars lashed down; hatch covered in masking tape to give some relief from the sun to the cabin; all important camping stove; GPS; various saftey trackers; and a hand pump to the desalination unit. This was pretty much their view!
James and Nigel rowed separately; two hours on, two hours off. Once they got used to rowing in storms, they would keep this up 24 hours a day for the whole trip. While one rowed, the other ate, washed and slept.
They wore as few clothes as possible to avoid chafing. The only concession to shorts-only was some weightlifting gloves James wore to reduce blisters.
There are a few schools of thought as far as food is concerned. Catching nothing on the lines, they were glad they didn't rely on the Atlantic to provide, although various flying fish landed in the boat. Dehydrated food is light, but nutritionally unrewarding - so the self-packed food parcels from Tescos went down a treat!
James went swimming once, mid-Atlantic, and completely freaked himself out.
Absolutely gorgeous sunsets and sunrises; insane cloud patterns; a moon so strong you could read by it, and unfettered access to the stars...
The size of the swell varied; sometimes frighteningly enormous; and on one occasion for about 2 hours utterly non-existent, like a pond. They had to be on the lookout for the tricky sideways little waves that came out of nowhere and knocked them off their seat.
James and Nigel saw amazing wildlife; from sail-fish to mid-Atlantic butterflies; whales and a two-day run of leaping fish. Two tiny brightly coloured fish followed the boat for over 3 weeks.
About two days out from Barbados they started to see the lights from the island. At the same time, they picked up the cricket commentary from the West Indies vs England test match - so nice to hear another person speaking!
One day later they would capsize - an ignominious and potentially very dangerous end to a great adventure.
The size of the swell varied; sometimes frighteningly enormous; and on one occasion for about 2 hours utterly non-existent, like a pond. They had to be on the lookout for the tricky sideways little waves that came out of nowhere and knocked them off their seat.
James and Nigel saw amazing wildlife; from sail-fish to mid-Atlantic butterflies; whales and a two-day run of leaping fish. Two tiny brightly coloured fish followed the boat for over 3 weeks.
About two days out from Barbados they started to see the lights from the island. At the same time, they picked up the cricket commentary from the West Indies vs England test match - so nice to hear another person speaking!
One day later they would capsize - an ignominious and potentially very dangerous end to a great adventure.
The purpose-built rowing boat, Linda, was 8m long and 2m wide. It was big and chunky for a rowing boat but as they came to realise, small for a living space. James and Nigel would spend a month and a half in a space smaller than the average bathroom - and with fewer facilities to boot.
There aren't too many of these in the world and they were lucky enough to buy theirs second hand. It had already made the crossing and survived, so they were hopeful it could do it again.
There's a cabin at the rear that could fit them both at a squeeze - fortunately neither are built like traditional rowers. They spent a couple of storm-tossed nights hunkered down, doors battened shut, hoping that nothing hit them.
Within two kilometres of the finish line, James and Nigel got too close to the breaking waves, and a big one suprised them and toppled the boat.
The boat is designed to be self-righting, but only if the cabin doors are shut. They had decided to take that moment to get changed into their only clean sets of clothes, so the doors were open at the time. The boat stayed steadfastly upside down.
They scrabbled to get to the surface - both fortunately unscathed apart from a few deep scratches and bruises.
Cameras, diaries, passports, clothes, money, credit cards, and the satellite phone all lay at on the sea bed, all very visible in the cystal clear sea. They dived down to salvage what they could.
Fortunately the safety boat was there to tow them into habour.
The Finish
The first cool beer in a while tasted awfully good.
They had both lost a lot of weight, had cuts and bruises all over and having hardly stood up for a month and a half, would find it very difficul to walk on dry land; but they were safe and were grateful for it.
Nigel took the time to enjoy Barbados, while James caught the first plane home and proposed to his girlfriend. 54 days is a long time to think.