07 Dec 2011
New Zealanders “En Route” to New World Record in Transatlantic Crossing
The two-man New Zealand team, Telecom Challenge 1 (Maui), crewed by Matt Goodman and Steve Westlake are set to smash the current world rowing record of 41 days to cross the Atlantic according to present record holder, fellow Kiwi Rob Hamill.
The team is currently 947 miles from the race finish at Port St. Charles, Barbados, and if they continue making progress at their current rate, Rob Hamill – who due to injury was replaced by Goodman at the last minute, has predicted that they could be in Barbados by Saturday 10 November, which is an incredible 34 days.
Backed by favourable weather and currents, Matt and Steve have made excellent progress throughout the race, dubbed “The World’s Toughest Rowing Race” and are now comfortably ahead of their nearest challengers, Team Freedom, manned by Australian’s Paul McCarthy and Patrick Weinrauch.
The fight for lead position will continue throughout the race and both teams will have to battle to maintain their mental and physical strength. As at 1 November, 2001 there is approximately 70 miles between the two boats. Their performance relies on many factors – navigation skills, potential adverse weather conditions, possible technical problems and mother nature.
Second New Zealand crew Telecom Challenge 25, the only all women crew in the challenge, are also keeping up a steady pace and maintaining an impressive 3rd position just ahead of Win.Belgium.
But the past 25 days has seen some unfortunate turns of fate for some of the other crews in the challenge.
On October 19, Comship.com, currently in 5th position snapped a rudder cable. The cable was replaced with great difficulty and snapped again a few hours later. The boat’s wave break, which stops the waves crashing over the bow has also broken off. All this on crew member Ian Anderson’s 47th birthday!
On 22nd October, the Spirit of Worchester – whose solo oarsman Richard Wood was left to complete the challenge alone on day nine was forced to abandon.
Basque team Euskadi restarted the challenge just over a week ago, after their boat had to be taken in for repairs. They will not receive a placing, but were still eager to continue. After a slow re-start due to one of the rower’s bout of food poisoning, then the other’s exhaustion from rowing alone they are now fully back on track – with 3759 km (2336 miles) to go!
Rowers Jonathan Gornall on Star Challenger and Debra Veal in Troika Transatlantic were left to row solo after their respective partners’ withdrawal on day 14. They are still going strong, and although they will not receive a race placing, they are currently rowing away in 29th and 32nd position.
The Ward Evans Atlantic Rowing Challenge set off on 7 October from San Juan, Tenerife. 36 two-person teams have taken on the challenge of rowing the 4600 km (2900 miles) to the island of Barbados in the Caribbean.
To find out more about the race, read the reports from various boats, see photos and live tracking go to www.wearc.com.