3rd February

In a day where it feels like we’ve used the word ‘wow’ a lot – this video that Atlantic Campaigns have put together, is making us use it all over again.

Because that is the word that comes to mind, when we see the contrast between the chaps leaving La Gomera….fresh faced, but full of trepidation…and when you see them when they cross the finish line.

And it’s hard to describe how they do look when they get to the finish line…a sort of mix between exhaustion, shell shock, and absolute euphoria!

What a video. What a race. What a team!!!

Wow! What an emotional finish that was!

If you are made of sterner stuff than the social media team and are not currently fighting back the tears from that wonderful landing – here is a great shot of the boys immediately after leaving the live stream.

Sitting on pillows to comfort their sore backsides, on seats that don’t move with the waves, these two incredible men are enjoying a burger and chips with fresh salad and a cold beer!

This moment has been in their minds for a very long time. They’ve dreamt about it throughout this crossing!

THEY HAVE DONE IT!!!!!!!!

53 DAYS 3 HOURS and 42 MINUTES!

Guy Rigby and David Murray are the oldest pair on planet earth to row any ocean!!!!!!

AN ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE ACHIEVMENT!!!!!

If you have followed this amazing voyage, if you are impressed at what these two heroes have just done – PLEASE donate to their chosen charity UnLtd TODAY, and your donation will be DOUBLED at the following link: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/the-entrepreneur-ship

LAND HO!!!

THERE IT IS!!!! ANTIGUA!

What an incredible sight for very tired eyes!

An island already so wonderful to it’s average visitor, is elevated to Paradise-level for these two hardy men that have been rowing for almost 53 days at this stage!

3000 miles, 1.5 million oar strokes, half a million calories consumed…it’s all finally approaching the big finale.

Just 10.6 Nautical Miles to go!!!!

Overnight a little bird flew over to the team, it circled a while and then tried to land on Guy’s head!

After David nicknamed Guy ‘Cliff’ for this () the bird then landed on the roof of the cabin.

And then it’s little mate flew in and landed also!

If ever there was a sign that these two men are part of the natural environment, and the natural environment is part of them…this is it!

INCOMING!!!

Now with just 13.2 Nautical Miles remaining the boys are SO close!

Whilst the sun won’t officially rise for over an hour – astronomical twilight begins around about now. This is the period where the sun isn’t up, but the sky just very faintly starts to lighten from pitch dark. They’ve experienced it every day for 52 days now, but this one will be quite different. This time it will slowly but surely create the striking silhouette of Antigua on the horizon!

This moment – seeing land for the first time…it cannot be underestimated!

This isn’t something they have just dreamt about for the last 52 days…this is something they’ve dreamt about since the project began!

All that work, all that pain, all those shifts…..they’re about to come to an end.

Here we go!! The boys are incoming!!

2nd February

Remember those letters from the Year 5 students at Millfield Prep School? David and Guy have been doing their best to send back replies to their questions.

Then this morning David sent back this video. Intended for the students, but a very interesting listen for us dot watchers as well.

Listening to David in this video it seems, sadly, that the boys have seen quite a lot of pollution whilst at sea. This is something that most rowers come back and say – a thousand miles from land and seeing plastic rubbish floating by. It’s a very very sad thing to see and it can often affect rowers quite deeply.

There is that realisation of how toxic our comforts and habits are to this planet. And often it’s something as simple as making a few changes to our routine that can drastically reduce the amount of pollution we are sending out to sea.

For the boys though, their minds will now be in overdrive. The promise of land, the promise of cold drinks and real food, the promise of loved ones…it’s almost here. Just one more night on the water and they’ll be in!

At this stage many people ask “Can they see land yet?”

And the answer, perhaps surprisingly, is no, not really.

At sea you can see a surprisingly short distance. If Guy or David stood up so that they were about 2 metres above sea level, then that ‘endless horizon’ they look out at, is actually only about 2.7 nautical miles away – and this is because of the curvature of the earth.

If something is on the ocean that sticks up above sea level, they’ll see that much sooner. For example when a ship approaches them, they see the upper most masts of the ship first as it rounds the earth.

The highest point of Antigua is ‘Boggy Peak’ which is 402 metres high. Because of this they’ll see the upper most part of Antigua well before 2.7 NM, in fact mathematically they’ll be 38.1 NM when they could spy it! As this ‘definitely not to scale’ diagram shows.

Having said this, the team are likely to spy very clear signs of land even further away; things like clouds forming over the island, or the glow of the lights going much higher up into the sky at night.

One thing is for sure – it’s getting very very exciting and these boys will SOON be taking their first steps on land in many, many weeks!!

What a great photo!!

With a rainbow in the background, Guy pulling hard on the oars, sea water splashed on the camera lense, this image tells a great story!

Because barring any unexpected hold ups, this is their last full day on the water!

Later today we’ll update with their expected landing time, but for now, tell everyone you know to tune in, because tomorrow is going to be very very exciting!!!!!!

This morning as the boys dropped into the sub-100 miles left category – and they sent over this imagery to prove it!

At this stage the beaches of Antigua are tantalisingly close, and we’re now expecting them to make land on Thursday 3rd February.

It’s getting so close!

David looks genuinely at home on this vessel they’ve called a home for so long. And it’s SO good to see!

He seems relaxed and happy. And so he should! He’s a couple of days away from a achieving a dream of rowing an ocean. He and Guy have taken everything the Atlantic decided to throw at them this year, and they’ve worked their way through it.

Yesterday, as a final bid for a little extra speed, David jumped overboard to look at the barnacle situation on the hull – and there was a LOT! A quick scrub down later and the boat was once again clean, giving them the best chance of a final boost of speed into their finish line.

The boys finish time is looming ever closer – get ready to start jumping up and down in excitement, either from Antigua, or from your homes wherever you may live – this is going to be a very exciting landing!!

A spot of hand cream may be in order for the team when they make land!!

This image really shows how tough and leathery their hands have become out here on the water.

It’s hard to see where the callouses begin and the normal skin ends, it’s just all one big calloused lump of meat at the end of each of their arms!!

Another thing the team will be experiencing is ‘claw hand’. This is where you wake up from your rest period and your hands have curled into little hooks or claws! It can be quite painful and the guys will have to prise their hands open to get them around the oars.

After the first few strokes of the shift, the pain will quickly fade away and they’ll forget about it until the next shift.

Often rowers report that claw hand follows them home and they still wake up with those hooked hands for a long time after the row – but in general, it’s nothing a few soaks in a bath and some relaxation in Antigua won’t help sort out!

After a tough couple of days dealing with challenging local conditions the boys have finally extracted themselves from the treacly spot of zero wind and counter currents, and are back up to something closer to their faster speeds!

Tonight they’ll dip UNDER the 200 nautical miles to go mark which will become another major psychological boost.

Meanwhile they’ve had this very large bird circling them. Described as much larger than anything they’ve seen out there, the chaps were keen to identify it.

With that big beak and those wings it looks and flies like a species of Booby – but we’re not sure if that ring round the neck aligns with any of the booby or gannet species.

28th January

Guy sent us back this image today, with the message “Confusing?!!” and at first glance, when all the numbers are the same, we agree! 😵‍💫

Top left of the readout is SOG – this is Speed Over Ground, i.e. the real time speed of the boat in relation to the earth – that’s at 1.4 knots in this image.

Bottom left is COG – this is Course Over Ground. That’s the direction that the boat is travelling in degrees on a compass. In this case 275 degrees, or very slightly north of west.

Top right is BTW – this is Bearing To Waypoint. That’s the direction in a straight line to the waypoint (in this case English Harbour). That’s at 273 degrees.

And then bottom right is DTW – this is Distance To Waypoint…which fairly clearly is how far they have left to row…which just happens to be 273 NM!

One thing is for sure though – when the BTW is the same as the DTW, it is means there isn’t far to go at all!!