
Rowing across the Atlantic in 48 days - clementmas
https://clem.travelmap.net
======
bisRepetita
Congrats Clément and team! Just spent 45 minutes reading the blogs!

Two random comments I liked:

"Last night we saw a meteorite land a couple miles away from us - it was only
small but it had a big blue trail"

"For example, one weekend, go out saturday morning on your bike and don’t come
home until Sunday evening. Or maybe take the whole family out, bring a tent
and go for a hike that takes longer than a day. Or even just sleep in your
garden one night with the kids"

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didymospl
Congrats! If you like the story, here's something that may interest you: a
website of 71-year-old man who kayaked alone across the Atlantic three times
in the last few years
[http://www.aleksanderdoba.pl/en/](http://www.aleksanderdoba.pl/en/)

~~~
imglorp
And there's Katie Spotz who rowed it solo in 3 months in 2010, for a clean
water charity.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katie_Spotz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katie_Spotz)

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dsnuh
Amazing accomplishment!

Strange thought: A future where we have VR world records, crossing a virtual
realtime ocean. Sitting for days in a chair, rowing and rowing.

~~~
clarabaloo
there are already WR for indoor rowing. We are getting there!

~~~
dredmorbius
As a friend at a rowing club said, ergs don't float.

It's good exercise, but it's not at all the same thing.

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nraynaud
Lets us all remember Alain Bombard (
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alain_Bombard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alain_Bombard)
) who taught us the most important lesson: if shit happens you will survive a
very long time at sea.

~~~
dhskajvddbfk
I was under the impression his claims were discredited and he was sneaking
supplies (including fresh water).

~~~
nraynaud
I don’t know that, but his impact is on the psychology of the victims: the
idea that they will survive for a long time.

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curiousgal
Whenever I hear of someone crossing the Atlantic, be it in a boat or a barrel,
my immediate concern is the huge waves, how would they deal with them?

~~~
clementmas
Yes, we had a storm at the end of the first week. 6m high waves. We dropped
the para-anchor, locked ourselves in the cabins and waited 36 hours.

~~~
wrigby
I had never heard of a para-anchor[1] before, so I just looked it up - they're
really cool! It's a brand of sea-anchor[2] that looks like a big parachute
that goes underwater, effectively anchoring the boat where it is without
having to reach the sea floor.

1: [http://para-anchor.com/](http://para-anchor.com/)

2:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_anchor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_anchor)

~~~
dredmorbius
More significantly, a sea anchor orients a craft parallel (and leeward) of the
wind, and hence, prevailing swell.

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Theodores
In case nobody noticed but the author of the blog and the record breaking
rower also wrote the software to do the blogging. Very clever!!!

I liked the entry concerning Red Nose day:

"We are team 4 nations and one of us is English. He brought us all today a red
nose because today is red nose day in England and you have to wear the thing
all day so that you can't hardly breath during rowing but that's all ok
because it is for charity! Colin explained us that today that they collect
money to support poor English who don't have a penny left to buy enough booze
to get drunk which results in a nice little red nose. As team 4 nations we
support that kind of causes so to everybody out there who reaches this tune in
this evening to the BBC and make your donation!"

I imagine banter on expeditions goes like this, it reminds me of some of
Shackleton's journals and the things the men did for amusement.

I do think that one thing that is forgotten is how brave seafarers have to be.
I get on the water to kayak the mile or two to work, just on the Thames which
has to be the easiest water to be on. Nonetheless the terror of the water is
real. If it is slightly too cold, too windy, too rainy or the tide is not
right then I go by bicycle instead. Having read about 6 metre high waves, the
mind boggles as to how Team 4 Nations coped. Congrats.

------
armenarmen
Reminds me a bit of Thor Heyerdahl's Ra expedition:
[http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/heyerdahl-
sails-p...](http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/heyerdahl-sails-
papyrus-boat)

------
mikhailfranco
How long does it take without rowing, just relying on winds and currents?

Are there good examples of a 'control' crossing of a (perhaps unmanned)
drifting boat?

~~~
danielvf
In 1970 a guy named Thor had a reed raft built matching stuff found in an
Egyptian tomb. He then rode it with friends from Morocco (Africa) to Barbados
(Caribbean). The book is great if you can find it.

Travel time 59 days, but the rowers covered a longer distance - mainland
Europe to mainland Americas.

~~~
mikhailfranco
The Algarve is close to Morocco, even if they left from Agadir, so not much
difference in distance. The total drifting distance Agadir-Barbados is about
5500km, compared to nearly 6000km for rowing Algarve-Guiana.

In 48 days they could have drifted up to 4500km (75%), leaving over 1500km
(25%) due to rowing, which is an average rowing speed of at least 1.3kph.

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kpil
Where can you start? Wouldn't starting from West Sahara shave of some days? Or
would you drift too far south?

~~~
Someone
I wouldn’t know, but looking at
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_winds](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_winds),
that should be an option. It may be unpopular because of logistic and security
concerns, though (the Canary Islands are regular departure points, but that
may be cheating for this record)

The (I am sure) bestselling book “How To Row An Ocean”
([http://thenextchallenge.org/books/row-
ocean/](http://thenextchallenge.org/books/row-ocean/)) probably has an answer.

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jpalomaki
There's also organized, annual race for rowing across the Atlantic:
[https://www.atlanticcampaigns.com/the-
challenge/](https://www.atlanticcampaigns.com/the-challenge/)

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tetraodonpuffer
so for 48 days they were on a 2-hour-row-2-hour-sleep schedule with no breaks?
wow

~~~
clementmas
Yes, the 2 hours on / 2 hours off non-stop for 48 days was the toughest. After
eating and cleaning ourselves, there wasn't a lot of time left to sleep.

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chrissnell
The map is neat but I want to hear the story and see the photos!

~~~
clementmas
Photos are on the blog. You can read more about the expedition on the blog of
another team member:
[http://atlanticrowblog.blogspot.com](http://atlanticrowblog.blogspot.com)

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m3kw9
How does one prove they did that officially?

~~~
clementmas
The Ocean Rowing Society keeps track of the expeditions:
[http://www.oceanrowing.com/ORS_Archive/ORS_archive2017.htm](http://www.oceanrowing.com/ORS_Archive/ORS_archive2017.htm)

