2021 Atlantic row

Almost 9 months after finishing the Deck I bumped into my mate John Haskel (he used to be a fireman and also rowed the Atlantic in 2011) on his boat/house in Cardiff marina Lockdown while I was out on my bike getting some exercise.

He told me to jump aboard so I did in full bike kit and we then sailed out into Cardiff bay in the summer sun and had a few beers. He was telling me that he was signed up to row the indian ocean next year and told me all about where they were rowing from and to along with the logistics. It sounded mega. Johns a great dude and if there was any man for the job it was him.

A few days later I got a call off John telling me that the indian crossing was canceled due to australia (it was the starting point to their row) closing its boarders. I was gutted for him but he then said that Billy the skipper wanted to do the Atlantic ocean (Billys got 2 Atlantic crossings under his belt) instead and asked if I would like to join them. As you can imaging, I jumped at the chance. My search for something bigger literally just happened over a phone call.

I was so hyper excited considering all the lockdown hell that was going on worldwide. I’d rather be locked on a boat rowing 24/7 with some amazing scenery than stuck in my house surrounded by 4 walls.

After checking with my fiancé, parents and business partners to get their permission I was good to go and start training. I’m lucky to be surrounded by some great support.

To cut a long story very short the crew consisted of myself, Billy the skipper, Johnny (a blogger who’s traveled to every country in the world) and an ex oil worker and sailor Martin. The plan was to leave Lanzarote and head for Antigua but we had so much red tape in the way it’s a surprise we even got it off the ground but we got to the start line in the middle of March and are our way to Antigua.

As you can imaging the first fe days of getting used to a routine we’d be doing day in day out for at least 50 days depending on weather conditions etc took a while to get used to but we got it dialled after a while.

2 hours rowing and 2 hours rest/eating/fueling all day everyday 24/7 until we got to Antigua.

Yep, this beat the Brutal deca for toughness and relentless hard work but it was one of the best experiences of my life shared with the team.

52 easy later after many memorable experiences we arrived in Antigua minus are loved ones due to COVID and unable to travel but Alex the owner of Sheer and Catherines restaurants greeted us with a huge bottle of champagne. We were shattered, lots lot of weight but were very happy. The time was 10.30am and we went on one huge bender to celebrate our mission. What an amazing experience that I’m hugely grateful to have been part of.

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