We have now arrived back in the UK. We spent 11 days in Antigua relaxing and enjoying the atmosphere before we boarded an overnight flight which touched down here on Tuesday morning and with it brought back a sharp sense of reality. All that is left to do now is collect Heritage Explorer from the docks in Southampton, to where she is being shipped at the moment and should arrive sometime in the next couple of months. We are still not sure exactly when. Once we have her she will be sold and the proceeds will be donated to our charity the Special Boat Service Association (SBSA). We are hoping that the total raised will be around £20,000. There is a selection of pictures which cover our adventure which can be seen on the Gallery page of this website.

We have been invited to several talks/presentations to speak about our experiences and are intending to do as many as possible over the coming months. We have bits and pieces to tie up with the project, in terms of loans to pay off, sponsors to visit, etc, but it is just about complete.

We are extremely pleased to be able to officially announce that we are the ‘youngest pair/team to ever row any ocean’ and the race organizers are in the process of alerting Guinness World Records who should recognize the record in due course.

Our intention throughout the project was to safely get ourselves and our boat across the Atlantic and in doing so raise money for the SBSA. With ourselves and the boat intact and the money from its resale handed over we will be able to deem the project a success and our intentions complete.

We are well aware of the fact that this simply could not have been made possible without the extensive and often overwhelming support we have received since we began the project in January 2009. The bulk of the funding for the project came from our 16 corporate sponsors, Heritage Oil obviously being our Major sponsor, hence Heritage Explorer. We were extremely lucky to have nearly 30 Major Individual Sponsors and hundreds of others as well. Not only have we been very touched by the financial support we have received but countless others have given us their time, advice, and help in numerous ways. We would like to offer our most sincere thanks to everyone who has supported us in whatever way. We both consider ourselves extremely lucky to have been able to spearhead this fantastic team effort.

We made it! At 0949 local time (1349 UTC) we crossed the finish line after 80 days and 19 minutes at sea. We were met by a 140 foot yacht with our families on board and escorted by them and the ABSAR rib into English Harbour to be greeted by over 100 people and an incredible reception. Foghorns, bells, flares and women flashing us created an electric atmosphere and we were presented with a bottle each of the local rum by a government official who announced to the crowd that we were the youngest pair to ever reach their shores by rowing boat and she then led a three cheers. We were so unsteady on our feet that we actually fell backwards into the harbour only adding to the sensational occasion and once out of the water we had numerous photos taken with our families and the other ocean rowers present. A full English breakfast with a glass of chilled, fresh orange juice was quickly presented to us and we sat down to indulge, feeling massively overwhelmed and extremely grateful. Having finished the breakfast all of the ocean rowers and their families were invited on board the 140 foot yacht, kind courtesy of our major sponsor, where we enjoyed drinks, more food and a chance to catch up and share stories about the race.

Since then we have been relaxing and enjoying all those things that we fantasized about whilst at sea, such as fresh bed sheets, showers, sleep and we have had the bacon sandwich and cup of tea on many occasions now! Antigua is an amazing place and we have been swimming, sailing and having a few beers. A couple of other teams have arrived in the last 3 days since our arrival and we have enjoyed greeting them in. Heritage Explorer has been post race scrutineered to ensure that we did not cheat and she is now sitting at the dockside waiting for us to give her a good clean and sort out before she is shipped back to the UK sometime in the next few months. We are yet to book our flights back to the UK but will do so in the next few days and intend to be back in about 10 days time.

The support we have received over the last 15 months and the countless number of people that have offered their advice, time, help and sponsorship has been overwhelming to say the least. We are extremely grateful and quite simply could not have made the project successful without this support. The messages and comments we recieved whilst we were at sea were brilliant motivators and kept us going. We would like to offer our most sincere thanks to everyone who has helped and supported us.

Please see photos of our time at sea and the arrival in the Gallery section of this website (It may be a few days before they are all up so please keep checking to see them!).

At the time of writing this, the time in Antigua is 1400 (1800 UTC) and with 38nm remaining to the finish line we have an ETA of 1000 (1400 UTC) tomorrow. At 20nm to go we are required to make a phone call, using our sat phone, to the Race Duty Officer and advise them on our expected time of arrival at the longitude of 61 degrees 44.8 minutes west, where the finish line lies from the bottom of Antigua for 1nm south. We are required to officially log our finish time and GPS position on crossing the finish line and at this point the race is completed. A few miles off shore the ABSAR (Antigua and Barbuda Search and Rescue) Rib will meet us, as is procedure, and escort us into English Harbour, where we currently have family waiting to meet us.

As we have got closer to land the amount of wildlife around has increased; recently we’ve seen 2 massive sea turtles, another 8/9ft blue marlin, loads of jumping and flying fish and with the number of birds around you would have thought this area was some sort of sanctuary. Unfortunately we haven’t seen any sharks, but we haven’t given up hope just yet. The water has also changed colour indicating landfall and we have just enjoyed our last swim before writing this. Unbelievably, Lenny is still with us and we’ll be entering English Harbour side by side, through it all to the end!

Fast, furious and punishing is the best way to describe the last few days. Strong seas have been giving us a considerable battering and we’ve barely been dry for 5 minutes as a result. It has however been a lot of fun surfing the big waves on our approach to Antigua and we have a new boat record of 13.5 knots. The challenge the sea has presented over the last few days has certainly made us further realise that we are ready for a sit down and that bacon sandwich. We have calculated that we will each have spent a total of 840 hours (or 35 straight days) at the oars by tomorrow, allowing for our admin hour each day and the 7 days spent on the para anchor; not a figure we would have liked to have known at the start! We’re wet, salty, sore, exhausted and bloody excited. 

We will write again once we’re on dry land.

A minute in the boxing ring with Mike Tyson? Yep. Kiss Vicky Pollard off Little Britain? Definitely. Eat a bar of soap? Not a problem. Take the stairs up the Taipei 101 Building in Taiwan? Done. There is very little we wouldn’t do right now for a bacon sandwich and a cup of tea. We have, after hours of discussion, concluded the perfect method to make the ultimate bacon sandwich. Standard, everyday things have become the main focus of our thoughts and we have found ourselves fantasizing about food, beer, a shower and a bed with clean, fresh sheets. Even sitting on a sofa would be incredible. In fact, even sitting on a stationary stool would be a luxury right now. After much thought we have put together a list of the things we will and won’t miss after the conclusion of this journey.

 What we will miss:

Swimming in the sea

Incredible sun sets

Shooting stars

Flying fish

Whales

Sea Turtles

Dolphins

The adventure

Surfing down waves

Snack bags

Sun tans

Time to think

The challenge

Our ridiculous speakers

Steadily getting 6 packs!

Fishing and eating fish jerky

Peace and tranquillity

Simplicity of life

What we won’t miss:

Rowing for 12 hours a day

Never having more than 2 hours of sleep

Scrambling around on our hands and feet to move anywhere

Freeze dried meals

Plain lukewarm drinking water

Waves crashing over the gunwale and soaking us

Having a bucket for a toilet

Having sore bums and hands

Hand washing clothes in a bucket

Salt being everywhere

Constantly moving on an unstable surface

Being on the para anchor

Near collisions with ships

Last week saw the mourning of a vital piece of Heritage’s kit, and also a vital part of our on board entertainment.  I am talking about the king of all fishing lures, described on the box as ‘extreme action’, it brought nothing less! Within moments of deploying it into the water it would have every fish in the surrounding area salivating at the gills,  its disjointed waggling tail proved too tempting to many a tuna, and kept fish jerky permanently on the menu as a delicious high protein snack. However, the extreme nature of the lure soon became its downfall. We decided to put the line out one morning as conditions were good to land some food for the day and literally within minutes our guy had done his job. With a massive tug on the line we were sure we were about to land our biggest catch yet and after struggling to pull the line in due to some incredible resistance on the fish’s behalf, we caught our first sight of the beast. At least five foot long it instantly became recognisable by the long shaft coming off of its nose like the business end of a javelin. It was clear we had a monster on our hands that didn’t want to become the next savoury snack! After minutes of fighting by Heritage’s side, the strength and power of the fish got the better of our whopping 125lb line and with a twang the fish departed in a hurry. Devastation is the only word I can use to describe the feeling on board that morning after we came so close to ocean rowing fishing history. Fortunately we did manage to get some underwater footage of the prey as we were reeling it in. With tens of fish to his name we feel that our beautiful blue sparkling lure had an innings to be proud of and certainly cannot be accused of going down without a fight. His loyal service to our jerky stocks will never be forgotten and luckily the spares bag contains a smaller, less successful lure that we can use in the mean time to stock pile jerky for all to try in Antigua.

The weather has continued to hinder our progress over the last 10 days with this strong southerly wind still not letting up since our last blog. However, our recent weather reports suggest that a big change is due in the next 24hrs. The wind and waves are due to move round to the east, hopefully giving us ideal conditions to complete the last leg of the journey. We are eagerly awaiting this change as we can barely remember the last time we had a favourable weather forecast.

Of all the things we desire right now, strong seas from the east are at the top of the list.

Over the last 2 months we have attempted to grow some beards in the hope of arriving in Antigua looking like we’ve actually been at sea for some time. Will has some ridiculously massive sideburns but no moustache whatsoever and a patchy chin. I have only one sideburn and what patchy hair there is on my chin is unfortunately ginger. Rather than giving the desired impression of mature, hardened sea farers, we really just look like a couple of very unattractive adolescences. On the plus side however, we have started to lose some of the weight we put on for the race and have both never been so tanned. Our hair is shorter than usual as we both cut it to grade 5 before we left La Gomera. The sun has made Will’s much fairer with blonde tips making him look increasingly feminine, whilst mine is verging on albino.

We have now had 3 ships heading directly towards us, the most recent of these being 3 days ago. We had just stopped rowing to open a present for Day 60 (wrapped up by our parents before departing) and enjoy our last can of coke, which was to celebrate reaching 50 degrees west, when a 277m ship appeared very quickly on the horizon and our AIS radar started beeping to warn us of the danger. It was coming directly at us, as the 2 before has done, and we quickly got on the radio to check they were aware of our presence. They weren’t, but upon checking their radar they located us and altered course accordingly. This ship had a draught of 24 feet, the same depth as our boat is long, and as it passed by less than a half a mile away, its vastness was simply staggering. The biggest we have seen is 333m long and had a draught of over 45 feet – the AIS gives us all this information.

For the last 5 days we have been experiencing some tricky southerly winds. As we attempt to maintain our course of 270 degrees due west, we are being hit side on by the sea. Big breaking waves are crashing over the gunwale soaking us regularly and smaller, faster waves, which do the most damage, are aggressively slapping Heritage on her broad side, shoving her side ways and making it difficult to stay on the seat whilst rowing. Keeping control of the oars whilst this is happening is pretty difficult and the handles often smack us in the legs and stomach as they’re ripped from our hands. It’s during these moments, sat around 2 feet above the surface of the water, that the real power of the sea is understood. In amongst these waves little flying fish keep finding their way onto the deck. One actually hit Will in the face a few nights ago and as we don’t often completely shut the main hatch, another found its way into the cabin, flapping around underneath the switch board. A little black bird also hit me in the temple, in the middle of the night a few weeks ago, which was a bit of a shock. The amount of birds out here is quite surprising; we see them almost every day.

Being slapped in the face by a wet fish, or soaked by a breaking wave, do have their benefits though. The effects of rowing 12 hours a day every day and the limited sleep become most obvious at night. At times, when there’s been a pause, and there are no waves or fish to help, staying awake can become a bit of a fight. We will catch ourselves having rowed 4 or 5 strokes with our eyes closed or heads rolled forwards. To aid the battle we’ll play loud music on our ipods – Will some Take That or Spice Girls and I’ll be found listening to some offensive, pumping beats. Our tastes differ drastically and we tend not to discuss it as only aggravation is caused when doing so.  Energy drinks, strawberry and cream boiled sweets, and head torches to force our eyes to focus also aid the staying awake. We are looking forward to a proper sleep and a shave!

Unfortunately, since our last blog, we have extended our total time on the para anchor. Due to yet more adverse weather we have now spent just over 7 days on the para anchor. Although our most recent spell only lasted for 24hrs, we did manage to lose a whopping 20 miles, drifting east of our position, which was hugely frustrating. To try to prevent a further loss of mileage the following day we decided to row into the head wind, hoping that at least we could hold our ground. This proved very difficult with the oars having never felt harder to pull and we continued to go backwards. However, the loss was only 6 miles over the 24hr period, probably making our efforts worthwhile. At this stage, we have given up hope of ever getting the weather we are supposed to. This just seems to be a strange year for some reason!

Since then the weather has actually improved and we have had some reasonable conditions, which feels very strange! We are now heading south to try and find some more consistent easterly winds to aid us with the last 800nm of the race. Due to this recent set back we have had to change our target to 80 days at sea, which seems more realistic, and within our grasp. Fortunately we still have plenty of food and supplies on board Heritage to last us for the foreseeable future.

It hasn’t all been bad news on Heritage Explorer, on day 55 I woke to find another ocean rowing boat, Spirit of Manchester Airport, on the GPS screen approximately 13 miles away. After calling them up on the VHF Radio, we agreed to stop rowing for a while and let them catch up so we could meet. A few hours later there was a white dot on the horizon, Tom took to the oars and we set about closing the gap between us. Within half an hour they were well within eyesight, it was a very exciting feeling seeing another boat and about to see other humans again after 54 days! When we drew alongside we all started laughing and frantically chatting away, elated to see each other. This was particularly special for us as Neil and Dean were one of the first teams we met taking part in the race, back when we were doing our mandatory courses  in June. The two of them couldn’t have looked more different since the last time we saw them on the morning of the race start. Both had well established thick beards and Neil, who normally has a shaved head had short hair, Dean’s was much longer and the tips had been bleached blonde by the sun. We chatted away for a couple of hours, sharing stories and experiences before setting off again and getting some truly unique footage of us rowing in the middle of the Atlantic. This will be ideal for our small video which we plan to put together upon our return to the UK.

 Just to update the many fans, Lenny is still with us and going strong. We have taken to beefing him up to keep him fit and strong for the next 800 miles, by feeding him on a high carb rowers diet. He has particularly taken to the Spicy Thai Peanut Sauce meal, which he gladly comes and gobbles up when we clean our food sachets out over the side of Heritage.

Once again thanks for all the messages of support, they’re brilliant at this stage in the journey.

During the fourth week at sea we noticed that we were starting to get a constant visitor. A little black and white fish seemed to be following us and on Day 28 we christened him ‘Lenny’. Ever since, Lenny has remained with us and we always see him excitedly swimming around underneath Heritage every time we swim or clean the hull. He is completely unafraid and often approaches us with amusing curiosity, coming right up to our hands whenever we lean over the side to wash spoons and food sachets. He has recently acquired himself a couple of mates, of the same species, and we’re extremely pleased for him. We hope that he’ll remain with us for the rest of the trip.

Aside from keeping ourselves amused with Lenny, we have recently been paying particular attention to ‘Boat Records’. Although with the current windless conditions it is probably not the best time to be hoping to set distance and speed records for our day time 1 hr sessions, and night time 2 hr sessions, we have been going for it anyway. At present Will holds the 1 hr record of 3.31nm and Tom the 2 hr record with 6.23nm. We both claim the speed record and have been unable to confirm who has it; although we do know we’ve both had her above 9 knots coming down waves. The record attempts are a lot of fun as they provide both something to focus on while rowing, making the time pass quicker, and they also provide some good banter between us.

 Day 48 is worth mentioning as it went from one of the worst days of the journey so far, to one of the best. It began with no wind and extremely hot conditions, making rowing pretty unbearable. We found that the runner on the footplate was broken, preventing us from being able to use the foot steering. Most ocean rowing boats are steered using a system which can be controlled with one of the rowers feet; a side-to-side movement pivoting at the heal pulls on lines which in turn operate the rudder. Will did what he does best, which is fixing things, and spent 3 hours putting it right with some spares parts we were fortunate enough to have brought with us. This was an immense relief and the reversed mood on board was complimented with our best sighting yet of some whales. We think they were ‘Fin Whales’, about 3 or 4 of them each 40-50 feet long and they surfaced near to us repeatedly for around 45 minutes.

We have now hit the triple figure mark with around 950nm to go at the time of writing this. There is over 900nm of water in every direction, with the nearest land being South America. With the current weather conditions being so slow; there is very little consistent wind to help us along, we are struggling to average above 40nm per day. If this continues, which it is likely to do so (we have begun to wonder whether the trade winds actually exist!), then we are unlikely to reach Antigua before 20th March, making the total journey around 75 days. We’ll just have to see what happens.

We are now over half way through the race and to celebrate, on 14^th February (day 41), we had Christmas day. The day began at 7am when we both got into the cabin for 6 hours sleep. We woke at 1pm for our Christmas meal; Will had classic beef curry and tom had beef stroganoff, both seasoned with Patak’s chilli pickle. We then opened various presents and cards from friends and family and we now have puzzles and trivia quizzes to entertain ourselves with. The afternoon was spent watching Michael McIntyre’s DVD: Hello Wembley and eating our celebratory bars of Lindt chocolate. We then went for a Christmas evening swim before returning to the night shift at 7pm. As the only way we could tell that we were half way was by several digits on our GPS screen, we felt that we should make the effort to take time out and appreciate where we are, and also to have something to remember it by. As you might be aware we aren’t having the best of luck weather wise this year. The lead pair’s boat from the 2007 race would have been finishing within a week from now (around 50 days). As it is, we are looking at four more weeks until we reach land, as long as we get some more consistent weather.

Four days ago saw the hottest weather of the trip so far – a low pressure system passing to the north of us removed all wind and as a result any swell. We were left with clear blue skies and a sea so flat and motionless it could have been mistaken for a pond. As a result the heat was unbearable and combined with a current which left us in the same place after every rowing shift, it was very demoralising. It got so hot that all we could do was swim in the water to keep cool. The top foot of the water had literally been heated to a hot swimming pool temperature. Luckily these conditions only lasted for three days and we will now be much more appreciative of a cool breeze (in the right direction!)

Yesterday, during admin hour, we were greeted by a 250 metre tanker passing just a mile south of our position. Tom decided to call them up on the VHF radio in the hope of a general chat. A Spanish captain answered in English, he said he was heading to the gulf and aimed to be there in 10 days. The chat came to an abrupt end after we asked him if he could give us a tow!

Trango are a ‘Global Safety Services’ company based in Hampshire. They provide disaster management when required for individuals and companies located all around the world. They put in place contingency plans and provide safe travel systems for those who need their support. They have an operations room which wouldn’t look out of place in a James Bond film! We are fortunate enough to have them as one of our ‘Gold’ sponsors.

Each day at 1150 UTC we call Trango using our satellite telephone, which they provided us with as part of the sponsorship. They take our position and we confirm to them that we have no problems. If there was to be a problem of any kind they would liaise with the race organisers, Woodvale, to help resolve the issue as quickly as possible. They basically provide us with an invaluable safety net, for which we’re extremely grateful. They do, at least, provide fewer sleepless nights for our families!

After this call, we then stop rowing for an hour and do all our admin. This includes, washing ourselves (usually in the sea), washing clothes, brushing teeth, taking vitamins, completing our log, tidying and cleaning the boat and generally checking that everything is in order and as it should be. We have set aside this hour each day to ensure that we maintain the boat, ourselves and stop our bodies deteriorating more quickly than they otherwise would do. We have chosen this hour off from rowing to be between 1200-1300 as this is during the heat of the day and when we would be rowing least effectively. Although our attitude is as relaxed as we feel it can be under the circumstances, this hour does ensure that we stay disciplined. Discipline with this admin hour and our routine is obviously crucial to our success.

Either side of admin hour we each boil water for our freeze dried meals. We have four freeze dried meals each a day, a snack bag and occasionally a wet ration pack as well if we’re particularly hungry. Favourites of these freeze dried meals include Roast Chicken, Mexican Chicken, Strawberry Ice-Cream Dessert, Chicken Tikka and Beef Stroganoff. The ones we hate and are greeted with much hostility are Pad Thai, Porridge Supreme and Jamaican Chicken! The snack bag consists of pork scratchings, pepperami, electrolyte powder to add to our water, three or four chocolate bars and hot chocolate or soup which rarely gets drunk. The wet meals are mostly really good, but we have less of them as they are heavier. We boil the water using our jet boil and add some immediately to the meals, with some stored in a Thermos for later.

We are very much looking forward to reaching half-way, for which we have big celebration plans. The things we have been missing the most are fresh food, solid ground and being able to sleep for more than 90 minutes at a time. It has just become about normal to see nothing but waves and sky and with the nearest land at over 700nm away we feel like we’re having a proper adventure! Everything is good and we remain very positive, despite a few moans from Will about missing his little Jack Russell, Tia!

We are now off the para anchor at last! We pulled it in on the afternoon of the 1st of February – much to our relief. We started rowing with the wind south and within 24hrs we were back on a due west course, we put the experience down to one of those things that happens when you row an ocean and we hope that it won’t be repeated too soon!

A question that people often ask us is “Where do you get your drinking water from?” The answer is that we produce it as we row, and do not carry it like most vessels due to the fact that we don’t have enough space to keep that much water on board, and if we did then it would massively weigh the boat down. Instead we have a watermaker on board. There are various models to choose from, each varying in size, power consumption, water output and price. We have a Katadyn 40e, this is the most compact, robust and cheapest in the range and also draws the least amount of power. The compromise is that it has a lower water output and is slightly less efficient than rival products.

We typically run the watermaker for four hours a day which gives us 20 litres to drink and also rehydrate our meals with. The watermaker is powered by the two 12 volt batteries we carry on board, which are in turn recharged by the solar panels located on the cabin roof. The watermaker is our priority power wise along with other essentials such as the radar which provides an anti collision system and our GPS unit for navigation.

We have now covered over a thousand nautical miles, and to celebrate we are each allowed to indulge in the luxury of…………….a chicken and mushroom pot noodle! This habit stems from school days, it brings back some good memories and provides a great topic to talk about as we eat them. As you can imagine conversation can become fairly limited after a month at sea in permanent confinement with one other person. We have some good talks about the project, what we plan to do afterwards, gap years, careers etc.  but conversation usually breaks down at some point over the day to banter about how bad one of us is at rowing, or how fat they are! This does however bring some amusement.

Many thanks for the continued messages of support which ensure that morale is kept up.