Rowing the Atlantic - there and back

Frenchman, Hedrich is a self-professed adventurer. Rowing the Atlantic is just one of the many adventures that he has completed. It was 2007 and Hedrich set a speed record on completion. This time Hedrich says he is not going for speed. “My goal this time is to be the first to go both ways". Hedrich set out from Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon (on the south coast of Newfoundland) on 9 July 2012 and on his 67th day at sea he spoke to World Rowing from the Atlantic, about 400 miles from the Canary Islands.

After heading east across the Atlantic, Hedrich will travel down the coast of Europe and go via the Canary Islands before heading west, back across the Atlantic to finish in the Caribbean. “At the Canary Islands I will not stop,” says Hedrich, “The goal is to put one Island on my right.” But Hedrich will be met at sea by family, sponsors and journalists before heading back out to the Atlantic Ocean.

Unlike many ocean rowers Hedrich does not follow a daily routine, relying on the weather conditions to dictate what he does. “I have no routine at all because sometimes it’s impossible to row when the wind is too strong, when there’s more than 25 knots and the sea is too bad for rowing. Then I use a para-anchor (sea anchor) and I wait,” says Hedrich. “The second situation is when it’s not very useful to row – when the weather is absolutely perfect, like 18 knots from the back pushing you along. When there is no wind and no current it’s absolutely vital to row and sometimes I will row 15 to 16 hours per day”.

Hedrich started out with 180 days worth of food, “So I can live on my own for six months,” he says. At present he is slightly faster than predicted, expecting to be at the Canary Islands about 10 days faster than planned.

After a month and a half at sea Hedrich says his hands are standing up very well to the lifestyle, but his bottom is “another kettle of fish.” As Hedrich is rowing in a two-person boat it means that he can swap from one seat to another. “Each seat is in a different position which helps”.

So far on this trip Hedrich has seen a lot of dolphins and some whales and had one close encounter with the big ship. This happened while Hedrich was sleeping and he came outside to see the boat moving slowly beside him. Hedrich called the boat on his phone. “It turned out the boat had come to me because they thought I was in distress”.

Hedrich has been doing adventures for the last 10 years including Paris to Dakar on a motorbike, round the world non-stop solo sailing, climbing Mt Everest as well as Arctic and Antarctic crossings.

On this current trip Hedrich says the hardest day so far has been when his boat was turned up-side-down in 45 knot conditions. The boat then righted itself and Hedrich says the whole experience was relatively quick. “I didn’t lose anything except a front light,” he says.

Once on an adventure Hedrich says he doesn’t really miss anything from regular life. “Once I make a decision about a new adventure, I concentrate on the target 100 per cent,” says Hedrich. “The only thing important to me is to put everything on the table to complete the adventure".
 
As for luxuries on board Hedrich has books on a tablet (but admits he doesn’t have much time to read) and music. “At the last moment I got the phone from my oldest son, so it’s not my music, it’s his music. Let’s see …. ACDC, Aerosmith, Animals, Beach Boys, Bach, Beethoven, Bob Marley…”