Its surprising how quickly time flies , we’ve been back home two months now and it seems like it’s been a few days since we rowed into Nelsons Dockyard .
We had a absolutely massive turnout of well wishers on our arrival including the Prime Minister and several members of his Cabinet . We were treated to a wonderful meal with all the trappings including a custom made cake ! I think the best way to update everyone is to list what’s happened since our arrival .
– We came in at the fourteenth position out of twenty six entries , not bad considering that most of the other rowers were young enough to be our grandchildren !
– It took us fifty two days and a few hours to cross ; we were hoping to do it in forty five days or less but considering we ran into Hurricane Alex which shut us down for five days including repairs time , and then another two days for another storm three weeks later we did quite well ! Twelve boats with all younger crew came in after us , the last one taking eighty days !! This was perhaps one of the most challenging rows of all times !
– The boat (Rannoch R-45) performed very well apart from the autopilot system : the rams for the autopilot were totally unsuited for the job and just about all boats that used this systems had major issues with them . We lost both our rams by day fourteen and we had to rely on improvised manual steering for the next thirty eight days , which as you can well imagine was a challenging demanding task .
– We had major spoilage our zip locked freeze dried foods (Expedition Foods ) during the row in spite of them all being well within their expiry dates ; luckily we over ordered and never ran the risk of running out . The spoiled bags had a terrible plastic type rancid smell and turned colour .
– We so far have raised close to $200,000 US for our charity the St. John Hospice , and it’s still rising ! Perhaps even more important here the public is now much more aware of the the hospice and the good work it does , all thanks to Agnes Meeker and her crew .
– We set a world record for the oldest team to ever row the Atlantic , a somewhat amusing distinction . We all got along well as a team during the row without any conflicts or confrontations .
– We’ve been busy taking the boat around to both primary and secondary schools around the island and talking to the students about our trip , hoping to inspire and motivate them to ” think out of the box ” a bit as they go through life .
– The boat has now been put up for sale , but until that happens the plan is to put it on display in our new international airport .
– We as the crew decided to show our appreciation to all our family members and friends for their support and we individually chipped in and had a wonderful event at the Garden Grill with great food and drinks , enjoyed by all !
The question has been repeatedly asked if we would do do it again . For myself the the answer is no ; if I were in my twenties or even thirties yes I would . But the reality is to be competitive and be able to win it you’ve got to be young . Archie and JD probably would , Peter no . We’ve become somewhat local celebrities , I’m thinking this will be somewhat short lived .
I would like to here formally thank all of our sponsors and well wishers , and also thanks to our official blogger teacher extraordinaire Yohan Knight for keeping everyone up to date with our adventure . Steve Coghlan and my nephew Eli Fuller plated a significant part with weather updates and routing and for this we are grateful .