Three Crews have now Completed the 2013 Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge

The Atlantic Polo Team. Photo: Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge.

After 48 days, 7 hours, and 3,000 miles, the rowing crew The Atlantic Polo Team crossed the finish line in the habour of Antigua. The four Brits, 38-year-old Henry Brett, 39-year-old James Glasson, 29-year-old Bobby Dundas (10th Viscount Melville) and 31-year-old Fergus Scholes, all polo players, thereby won the four class in the 2013 Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, called the toughest rowing race in the world. They rowed to raise money for The Brooke, Hilton in the Community Foundation and Right to Play causes.

Henry Brett said, according to the Talisker’s website: ‘The Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge is something we feel extremely privileged to have experienced, yet would not have wished upon our worst enemies – we have been through hell and back again out there.’

However, coming in as the first boat in the four class did not mean that the four polo players won overall; they came in second. The first boat to cross the finish line in this race was Locura Rows the Atlantic with the two Brits 53-year-old Mike Burton and 30-year-old Tom Salt, both experienced sailors. Their winning time was in 41 days, 2 hours, 38 minutes and 54 seconds. They raced to raise money for the Generous Hearts Foundation.

On the Talisker’s website Tom Salt commented on their win: ‘Mike and I are absolutely ecstatic to have won! We’re no strangers to extreme challenges, but this is definitely the hardest thing we’ve ever done and pushed us to new limits both physically and mentally. We will be celebrating this evening with our friends and family – and the burger we have been dreaming about since day one!’

Watch how Salt and Burton arrive to Antigua – and how they finally could have those burgers!



While writing this, late Tuesday evening, the third-placed boat in the race, the British crew Row2Recovery, has just yet crossed the finish line. Racing in this four were 27-year-old Cayle Royce, 27-year-old Scott Blaney, 34-year-old Mark Jenkins, 31-year-old James Kayll. Royce and Blaney were injured while serving in Afghanistan and Row2Recovery are rowing to raise money for three military charities, Help for Heroes, the Endeavour Fund and Row2Recovery.

Three crews, The Atlantic Polo Team, Row2Recovery and Atlantic Row 2013 (with Dan Howie and Will North), were even featured in the January 2014 issue of the glossy magazine Tatler.

Read more and get updates about the race and the teams here. HTBS congratulates all the crews for their brave effort to reach Antigua.

The Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge is on!

Team “Inspirational Friends”, 23-year-olds Lauren Morton and Hannah Lawton, two of the four women who are rowing across the Atlantic right now in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge.

It has been called the toughest race on earth – the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, which started on Wednesday, 4 December, from San Sebastian in La Gomer, the Canary Islands, to the Harbor of Antigua, in the West Indies, a distance of roughly 2,600 nautical miles (3,000 miles/4,828 km).

Sixteen boats started with crews from four countries: Great Britain, Sweden, Australia and Spain. There were crews with solo rowers up to crews with five people on board:

Solo – two boats from Australia and Sweden;
Pairs – five crews from Great Britain, three from Sweden and one from Spain;
Trio – one crew from Great Britain;
Fours – three crews from Great Britain;
Five – one crew from Great Britain.

Four women are competing this year, the pair Hannah Lawton and Lauren Morton in team “Inspirational Friends”, and Jane McIntosh and Liz Beauchamp who are rowing in the Royal Air Force four team “Atlantic Forces” with Warren Burns and Howie Raw.

The media coverage for this race, at least in Great Britain, has almost entirely concentrated on the British crew “Row2Recovery” with Cayle Royce, Scott Blaney, Mark Jenkins and James Kayll. Royce was injured in 2012 whilst serving in the British Army in Afghanistan. He stepped on an explosive device and had to have both his legs amputated above the knee, and suffered facial scarring and multiple amputations to the fingers of his left hand. Blaney suffered an above-the-knee amputation and soft tissue injuries from a bomb whilst conducting operations in Afghanistan in 2007. Blaney and Royce will row with Captain James Kayll of the Light Dragoons and Captain Mark Jenkins, who serves with the Royal Army Medical Corps as a Physiotherapy Officer.

Here is a video clip of the brave men in the “Row2Recovery” crew:



HTBS wishes all the teams the best of luck in their endeavour to cross the Atlantic Ocean. 

Anything Is Possible!

Finishing as the seventh boat, Row2Recovery arrived to Port St Charles, Barbados, after 50 days, 23 hours and 12 minutes at sea, rowing in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge. The brave crew of ex-servicemen had then travelled 2637 nm, raising close to £700,000 to support service men and women who have been injured in battle. At their arrival, the crew, Neil Heritage, Rory Mackenzie, Carl Anstey, Will Dixon, Ed Janvrin, and Alex Mackenzie, received the following message from Queen Elizabeth II: “Please convey my warm thanks to all the members of the Row2Recovery team on the occasion of them reaching the end of their row across the Atlantic, in aid of injured soldiers and their families. I heard of the trials and tribulations on your journey and, in return, I send my good wishes to you all for the successful completion of the challenge.”

During the crew’s voyage, the media has pumped out the message that these fellows, four with severe injuries from serving in Afghanistan and Iraq, are trying to prove that anything is possible. That is what these brave men now have proved. Well done!

Two Men In A Boat

Yesterday, on HTBS, I pointed you readers in the direction of the Daily Telegraph which had interviewed solo-rower Andrew Brown, who broke the world record crossing the Atlantic earlier in January. In this interesting article, Brown says that "My heroes are the old-fashioned hardy sailors like Chay Blyth and Robin Knox-Johnston, who thought that if someone had to come and rescue you, then you would be putting them in danger. So if you get yourself into trouble, then you've got to get yourself out of it."

As you probably know by now, it was Chay Blyth's and John Ridgway's 92-day crossing in a row boat in 1966, which "laid the foundation for the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge of 2011." Here are two short film clips about them and their boat, the English Rose III:

(1966)

TWO MEN IN A BOAT

English Rose III was later on display in a boat show in London in 1967:

BOAT SHOW - LONDON-ON-SEA

More Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge Reports

Here is some more reports about the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge – The World’s Toughest Rowing Race.

As HTBS has mentioned before the all-female crew Row For Freedom in The Guardian has reached Port St Charles in Barbados. The women – Julia Immonen, Debbie Beadle, Helen Leigh, Kate Richardson and Katie Pattison-Hart – have set two world records: they are the first five-woman team to row any ocean in the world and have broken the record for rowing The Atlantic in the fastest time by an all-female crew. Here is an interview with the ladies, who almost seem to have laughed their way across the Atlantic.

The other day, there was a great article in the Daily Telegraph about Andrew Brown, who came in on an over-all second place, but broke a new record for solo-rowing the Atlantic. Read the article about this extraordinary man here. (When he is back in England, I hope he will sit down to write a book about his experience how to battle the Ocean all alone. That would be hot stuff, as they say…)

The team The Atlantic 4 with Adam Wolley, Greg Symondson, and twin brothers Hugo and Ross Turner came in on a third place.

Coming in on fourth place was two Welsh firefighter, John Haskell and Jamie Windsor. Read article here and watch interview with these brave fellows.

Spirit of Corinth with Chris Walters, Elliot Dale, Tony Short, and Brian Fletcher, who docked Port St Charles as the fifth boat, have promised to update their blog after they have had some beers, which is a very reasonable request……

At the same time as these boats are arriving in Port St Charles, oarsman Tommy Tippetts has now left La Gomera for his solo-row to Barbados. Follow his voyage here.

Five Very Brave Women!

The Row For Freedom crew, left to right: Kate-Richardson, Captain Debbie Beadle, Julia Immonen, Kate Pattison-Hart, and Helen Leigh.

Feeling a little ashamed that HTBS has neglected to mention Row For Freedom, an all-female team from the U.K., rowing in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, we are here trying to emend. Like the rest of the Atlantic rowing teams, The Row For Freedom race to raise money and awareness of a special, noble cause, in their case, the issue of child slavery and human trafficking.

According to their website, this female crew of five, Captain Debbie Beadle, Kate-Richardson Julia Immonen, Kate Pattison-Hart, and Helen Leigh, has also decided to try to break two world-records, to become the first female crew to row across the Atlantic Ocean and to do so in the fastest time.

The team, hard at work at the oars in their boat The Guardian, has gained a lot of media attention, for example from The Huffington Post the other day, and from The Evening Standard, which could not ignore to mention to its readers that the ladies in Row For Freedom were rowing naked.

According to the latest reports, The Guardian seems to be the next boat making landfall in Port St Charles in Barbados.

Here is an earlier film clip about these brave women’s voyage over the Atlantic:



HTBS would like to express our admiration for these five brave women. Well done, ladies!

Box No. 8 Wins Whisky Voyage

After having travelled 2591 nm during 40 days, 9 hours and 15 min., Team Box Number 8, with Toby Iles and Nick Moore, has now reached Port St Charles, Barbados, as the first boat in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge. Congratulations! HTBS would also like to congratulate Andrew Brown who came in on a second place, breaking the world record for solo rowing, at 40 days, 9 hours and 41 min.

Read article and see short film clip about these three brave fellows here.

The support boat Aurora reached Row2Recovery, which HTBS has written about earlier, on Saturday to supply the boat with drinking water. For a week the six-man crew has been on water ration down to a litre per day since their desalinator broke. Read more about Row2Recovery’s adventurous voyage here.

This post was updated on 15 January.

Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge 2011

While HTBS has written mainly about the British crew Row2Recovery, the Talisker Whiskey Atlantic Challenge 2011 actually has 17 teams rowing in 'the world's toughest rowing race' from La Gomera, Tenerife, to Port St Charles, Barbados. All the crews are racing to raise money for a charity or a good course. After a month on the Atlantic, a few boats have retired from the race due to different setbacks. Read more about all the teams here.

Row2Recovery Crew In Trouble

One brave crew: front row (ltr) Will Dixon, Neil Heritage, and Rory Mackenzie; back row (ltr) Carl Anstey, Ed Janvrin, and Alex Mackenzie. Photo ©
Row2Recovery.

The six British ex-soldiers, Neil Heritage, Rory Mackenzie, Carl Anstey, Will Dixon, Ed Janvrin, and Alex Mackenzie, who form the crew Row2Recovery, which right now is trying to cross the Atlantic, and which HTBS wrote about on 18 November, 2011, has run into problems, writes the Daily Telegraph. The brave crew, four who have lost limbs in combat and their two able-bodied crew members, is running terribly low on fresh water since their desalinator that converts seawater to drinking water broke down. The manual pump also broke down. Their supply of water will run out in slightly more than a week, so it is extremely important that the rescue boat, which has 300 litres of water bottles, will reach them in a week’s time, at the latest.

Read the article in the Daily Telegraph here.

These brave men’s campaign Row2Recovery to support service men and women has so far raised £625,000.00. They hope to raise £1M during their daring voyage across the Atlantic. Please donate here.

Row2Recovery

In December, a very special crew will try to cross the Atlantic, they are British former soldiers who have been injured in Iraq and Afghanistan. Please click here if you would like to watch a video and read an article in the Daily Telegraph about their voyage. Last September they rowed in the Great River Race on the Thames in London to get some practice, although, the Thames is maybe not as wild as the Atlantic. Read more about these brave men’s campaign Row2Recovery to support service men and women, here.