Monmouthshire | Archive | 2006 | January | 5
From the archive, first published Thursday 5th Jan 2006.
OCEAN oarsman Andrew Barnett passed the 1,000 mile on Boxing Day on his epic Atlantic row.
But Christmas and New Year didn't prove a cracker for the 46-year-old father-of-two as his 22-foot-long boat was battered by two tropical storms. At least the Monmouth rower and his Guatemalan partner Juan Carlos Sagastume were moving again yesterday, after a hellish three days being blown backwards 25 miles.
But after seven days at anchor sitting in 15-20 foot seas over the festive period, they are now 400 miles behind the leading boat, a complete turnround to two weeks ago when they led by 80 miles.
"We drank some rum and ate a spot of cake on Christmas Day, but didn't have much else to celebrate, as we had to put the anchor down and sit out yet another storm," said Barnett, calling Monmouth Rowing Club crewmates by satellite phone.
"In four weeks we've now spent more than a week on the anchor waiting for conditions we can row in. We moved into the lead but were then held up for three days by unrowable conditions and were overtaken on Christmas Eve."
The duo got moving again only to run into tropical storm Zeta on December 30 which blew them back towards the Canary Islands on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.
"Not a great way to start the year," said Barnett, who has now spent five weeks at sea. "You feel really low when that happens, sat in the middle of a raging ocean in this little boat being thrown all over the place, but you've got no choice but to sit it out and wait for better water.
"It's been very frustrating, and we didn't feel much like celebrating. But we're moving again now, and hopefully we can pass the halfway mark by the end of the week.
"Going 400 miles further north than the other boats, we've really copped it with storms, while they've just been cruising."
After sitting out a three-day tropical storm two weeks ago - the aftermath of Hurricane Epsilon - Barnett and Sagastume raced into the lead in the pairs class of the 26-boat ocean challenge, with only one four-man crew in front. They even had time to enjoy a visit from a friendly 25-foot long whale which swam under their boat.
But over 72 hours from December 19-21 they covered just seven miles, and were then hammered again for three days over the New Year weekend.
Double Olympic rowing champion James Cracknell and TV presenter crewmate Ben Fogle now lead the pairs class race by nearly 100 miles from their nearest rivals, with Barnett's boat back to 12th place overall.
But it could have been worse - one of the boats suffered a terrifying attack from a 12-foot long shark which battered into the boat for half an hour, rocking it violently.
But even more scarily for the crew, exactly 24 hours earlier, they had been in the water cleaning the hull of their boat.
"The scary thing is I was in the water cleaning the hull for barnacles at exactly the same time the day before," said one of the crew. "I haven't bitten my nails for years, but in that time I chewed two nails right off."
Barnett said: "That's scary, but thankfully we've seen nothing like that. It's just really annoying sitting out at sea on the anchor, but it's impossible to row with water pouring across the deck of our boat. The winds are so strong, we've been blown backwards.
"When it's like that, we just have to lie inside our cramped cabin and wait for things to improve.
"But we're in good health and had a few tots of rum over the festive period to lift our spirits. There's still a long way to go and anything can happen."
By yesterday, the duo had covered more than 1,200 miles on their epic La Gomera to Antigua crossing, but still have 1,700 miles to go.
If Barnett succeeds - which less than 200 people have done to date - he will become the second Monmouth man to row the Atlantic after Rob Munslow helped set a four-man record last year.
You can keep up with MayaBrit's progress at www.atlanticrowingrace.co.uk
© Newsquest Media Group 2008