Adventurer Alastair Humphreys rows the Atlantic (From Craven Herald)

Adventurer Alastair Humphreys rows the Atlantic

10:10am Friday 10th February 2012 in Local news

Airton adventurer Alastair Humphreys is just over halfway through his latest challenge – to row the Atlantic from the Canaries to Barbados.

He is part of a four-man crew, which hopes to cover the 3,000 miles in less than two months.

Ocean crossings are few and far between. More people by far have reached the summit of Mount Everest and have been into Space than have rowed across one of the earth’s oceans.

The rowers set sail early last month aboard the 8.8 metre-long Tusmobil, which has two tiny cabins.

In his blog, Alastair, who has previously completed a 45,000-mile round-the-world bike ride, says: “This is the toughest thing I have done since cycling through Siberia in the wintertime.

“The reasons are quite similar. It's a sleep-deprived dash across an unchanging landscape. The days are relatively short on excitement and variety compared to other trips, so the whole thing becomes much more ‘goal-oriented’.

“The prime objective of everything we do is just knocking off miles, ticking off days, making progress towards an end that will bring both satisfaction and relief and make it all worthwhile.

“It is a dangerous game to play, however. Concentrating solely on the end means spirits can be crushed by how far away it seems and how little impact each long and difficult day makes on the total.

“Little by little, the little pencil mark on our chart creeps slowly, yet undeniably, westwards across the page towards Barbados. We have already covered one fold of the map. Only two folds remain. If we keep going, always a little further, then we are going to make it across this glimmering sea.”

He says the team has faced an extraordinary array of weather.

“We had a night of very heavy rain which froze us as we rowed,” he writes. “We hunkered down against it as best we could in our thin waterproofs. It lashed the boat with the ferocity of fake rain on TV. Our rowing action must have looked terrible, hunched over as we hauled hard at the oars, trying to generate some small warmth in our limbs.”

Alastair, who took four years to complete his 45,000-mile ride, hopes to raise a pound per mile on his Atlantic trip for Hope for Homes for Children.

To read his blog, visit transatlantik.si/eng