Rowing across the Atlantic

b_girl · Posted: Dec 20, 2011 10:24 am Post subject: Rowing across the Atlantic

A friend of mine (Rory Mackenzie) is currently rowing across the Atlantic Ocean. I meant to share this with everyone earlier...

He is part of a team called Row2Recovery, raising money for injured soldiers... he fought in Iraq and in 2007 had his leg amputated due to injuries. Him and 5 of his veteran buddies (4 injured in battle, 2 of them also missing 1-2 legs) started this team and joined the Talisker Whiskey Atlantic Challenge... the race is made up of 17 teams from anywhere from 1-6 team members. They left the Canary Islands 16 days ago and are rowing to Barbados. They are currently in 3rd place.

As they're on a team of 6, they row 3 at a time on 2 hour rotations. They are rowing 24/7... so I can only imagine how tiring that must be. They worked out that they'll each be burning about 6000 calories per day!

There have been 5 teams now that have had to pull out of the race, which is unfortunate... one team actually capsized a few days ago and was rescued by a cruise liner.

They are tracking them with satellites so you can actually see their position online. Check out their website for blog entries (they have some sort of satellite internet connection), team updates, etc:
http://www.row2recovery.com/

They've had some mishaps along the way so far, but their spirits are still high. I am almost obsessed with checking up on them, I find it very motivating and inspirational.

I hope you take a moment to check it out.

Tbonez · Posted: Dec 20, 2011 10:31 am Post subject:

Those guys all have major brass pairs...

Rowing across the Atlantic in that dingy? I've been thirty and forty miles off shore and there is no way you would catch me out in it in that modified tinfoil raft...

Okie Boarder · Ladies Man Joined: 03 Mar 2008 Posts: 10056 City: Edmond

Craig-R · Wakeboarder.Commie Joined: 19 Dec 2008 Posts: 1676

geez i've been kayaking every day for the past 4 days or so and i hate even a couple waves Laughing

b_girl · Posted: Dec 22, 2011 5:31 am Post subject:

haha. They've been battling waves up to 40 feet high! They just dropped to 4th place, but are only 2nm (nautical miles) behind the 3rd place boat. Here's a video blog that my friend did - it was aired on the UK's ITV news:
http://youtu.be/emNlP_3Lrps

Tbonez · Posted: Dec 22, 2011 6:21 am Post subject:

Do they have any go pro footage posted from the boat? I would like to see them paddling a 40 foot wave...

b_girl · Posted: Dec 22, 2011 7:07 am Post subject:

I haven't seen any yet of them on those big waves - they had gone through a storm which is when they experienced those... I think on average they're about 10 feet or so.

Here's some other videos:
http://youtu.be/taTkwNeN4bk

This one is from one of the support boats, you can see the size of the waves better from there, they describe how they find the row boats: http://vimeo.com/33671157

b_girl · Posted: Jan 25, 2012 6:43 am Post subject:

Well... they did it! They had no end of troubles... their water desalinator broke (they went 5 days or so without rowing while waiting for the support ship to resupply them), their rudder snapped, among other trials & tribulations... but they made it. They literally just pulled into port St Charles in Barbados.

They came in 7th place (were 3rd before they had to stop and wait for water). Total time to get to the finish line was 50 days 23 hours 12 minutes, then I think it took an hour or so to get into port... so just over 51 days!!

I'm so happy they made it!

Rhawn · Posted: Jan 25, 2012 7:24 am Post subject:

Holy stuff 51 days!!! Insane.

GnarShredd · Posted: Jan 25, 2012 7:29 am Post subject:

Wow, that's incredible. I don't think I could do something like that. I can get antsy after a day of fishing on a smallish boat with a few people. 50 days in a tiny row-boat with the same people would drive me crazy.

jt09 · Ladies Man Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 22083 City: Austin

wow - that's impressive as all get out! congrats to your friend and his crew b!

wakechick13 · Posted: Jan 25, 2012 7:55 am Post subject:

That is awesome! They have a lot of strive in them. Congrats to all of them for making it all of the way!

b_girl · Posted: Jan 25, 2012 8:07 am Post subject:

I wish I was celebrating with them in Barbados! (instead, stuck in an office, *bleh*) They had a web cam running when they pulled into port and it was amazing to watch. I can only imagine how happy they must be, especially after everything they've been through in those 51 days!

I'm so proud of my friend right now, not only did he lose a leg in Iraq, but now rowed across the atlantic, raised over £700000 for injured soldiers and inspired a nation (the nation being mainly the UK, but also us other people worldwide who happen to know him or his teammates)

Okie Boarder · Ladies Man Joined: 03 Mar 2008 Posts: 10056 City: Edmond

Very cool!

Hollywood · Posted: Jan 25, 2012 9:16 am Post subject:

That is pretty wild. Good for those guys.