OCEHEADER
AN ROWING
ABOVE Eric Grafstrom (30) and Stefan Erlandson (30). 6th position, 57 days 55 minutes 39 seconds at sea, the fastest crossing of any ocean by a Swedish crew.
James Kayll. In a twist of fate, Royce was to spend as long at sea as he did, unconscious, in a hospital bed. His final preparations were witnessed by The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, who, true to his own inimitable style, brought a shot of humour to the final stages on dry land, telling the 27-year-old, who lost both legs and injured an arm in the bomb blast, that he should put wheels on his prosthetic limbs to move about quicker. As Christmas preparations heightened
elsewhere, the 39 men and four women kissed their loved ones goodbye as they surrendered to the prospect of a Christmas Day comprising army rations, arguments and sharks for company. But for all the efforts to cater to every
reasonable eventuality, for every ‘what-if’, crews quickly became acutely aware that the sea had no time for sentiment. Each team had its own reason for putting itself forward for the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge – from the want to push body and mind to the brink of destruction, to the need to go toe-to-toe with physical restriction, as well as an emotional pilgrimage in
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memory of a friend taken too soon. Each crew knew the chance of failing to
overcome the world’s toughest rowing race was real – and that reality was brought home within a few days of the starting pistol being fired, as Anglo-French outfit, Atlantic Splash, had to be air-lifted to safety just five days into the challenge when their fiberglass craft became mortally wounded during a ferocious storm. It summed up the very spirit of the feat that the crew would return to the ocean a month later to successfully find their abandoned boat, Missy, and pull her to sanctuary. They were to be the first of three teams who would see in Christmas on terra firma, with solo rower Christer Kjellner – the only member of Astro Sweden – having to be rescued by the Spanish coastguard after rolling and being immobilised by the twin blows of losing both an oar and the boat’s electrics. Three days later, British duo Neas Energy were picked up by a container ship after their boat also rolled. That casualty-heavy week underlined – if it were not needed – the scale of the challenge which remained.
ABOVE Solo rower Andrew Abrahams, beyond exhaustion and barely able to lift the flag in celebration at Nelson’s Dockyard, Antigua.
ROW360 // Issue 001
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