The Finish - Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge 2022
Delighted to finish the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge 2022 with Team Emotive in 45 days 1 hour and 54 minutes. A great effort by the crew.
It has been another great experience with highs and lows, blood sweat and tears.
When it comes to the race, looking back in the early days, we had auto helm issues with the boat on occasions being out of control in some big waves, the boat being hit by a Marlin damaging the dagger board only feet from where I slept and then the realisation that it was likely to be a longer row than the last time I took part, as the team included 3 guys who weren’t rowers prior to the race and some took to it better than others, and conditions were tough.
When it came to incidents the avoidance of a serious collision with a French racing yacht, at night, when our batteries had failed and we had no lights or AIS on so they didn’t know they were about to hit us, was one of the highlights. Using a torch and hand held vhf phone we managed to make contact just in time for the 60+ft yacht to pass us by flat out only 100ft away from us with 5 of its crew waving and wishing us good luck.
The wildlife life was also great, seeing Fergal Sharky, Wally the Whale, Dolly the Dolphin, so many Freddie’s the flying fishes and last but not least catching Colin the Crab whilst scooping a bucket of water to clean the boat 140 miles from land.
Also we enjoyed making the series of videos, which were posted on the team emotive Facebook site.
Finishing the race in English harbour Antigua in 45 days, one hour and 54 minutes was amazing and I am so proud to have been part of the teams journey.