Maritime News

Submariners Conquer The Atlantic

A five man team of Royal Navy submariners from HMS Oardacious has just won the 2023 World’s Toughest Row race.  Crossing the Atlantic from La Gomera in the Canary Islands to Nelson’s Dockyard, Antigua in 35 days 4 hours and 30 minutes, they departed on December 13^th and arrived at 0845 local time on January 17^th .  In total they rowed in excess of 3000 nautical miles.

French Adventurer Dies Rowing The Atlantic

Jean-Jacques Savin, a 75-year-old Frenchman was found dead at sea inside his vessel.  Savin was trying to row across the Atlantic Ocean and had triggered his distress beacon.  His overturned boat was found in January 2022 off the Azores by Portuguese maritime officials.

Links to both of these stories are in Further Reading.

Boat Chat Focus - Rowing The Atlantic

The HMS Oardacious team of Commander Matt Main (skipper), Commander Dan Seager, Commander Mike Forrester, Lieutenant Rob Clarke and Petty Officer Ian Allen crossed the finish line in Nelson’s Dockyard, Antigua. After 35 gruelling days at sea, the team made landfall with a huge crowd waiting for them at Nelson’s Dockyard, Antigua including their family and friends and set a new military team record for rowing across the Atlantic. 

Skipper Matt said it was “An amazing experience, we had challenging conditions with headwinds and big waves but that worked well for us as a five man team and low times were overshadowed by rowing in the moonlight and clear skies. I can’t believe it’s over - it seemed like it would never end”!

The team rowed ‘Captain Jim’ their Rannoch RX45 Ocean Rowing Boat named in memory of Captain James ‘Jim’ Simpson, a Marine Engineer Submariner who tragically took his own life in 2020.  HMS Oardacious is the Royal Navy’s ocean rowing team which has entered the race each year it has run since 2019.  The team aims to raise funds for the RNRMC (Royal Navy Royal Marines Charity) which supports serving personnel, veterans and their families and the Submariner Memorial Appeal.  For this team there is a personal drive to raise funds that will go towards mental health and wellbeing support for submariners and their families.

As one of 37 teams taking part in the 2023 World’s Toughest Row, HMS Oardacious was the only five man crew in this year’s race. Their schedule was a relentless cycle of approximately 2.5hrs rowing and 1.5hrs of rest, although this rest time included eating and carrying out all administrative tasks, leaving less than an hour for actual sleep. With two rowers resting at any one time, there were consistently three of the team on the oars day and night.

Andrew Jameson, Chief Executive of RNRMC, sent this message to the team:

“Congratulations to the HMS Oardacious Team for their fantastic effort in getting to Nelson’s Dockyard in Antigua, not only first but in record time for a military team! We have been thinking of you throughout your voyage, it’s a massive achievement and thank you so much for all the support that you are giving to the RNRMC.”

Ocean rowing races are a relatively recent phenomenon but human history has plenty of tales of brave adventurers who have tried to cross oceans in all manner of craft.  Still, more people have climbed Mount Everest than have rowed an ocean.  Although given the queues and rubbish on Everest these days I think most of us would prefer to be out at sea!  Ocean rowers typically consume about 5000 calories of food and 10 litres of water every day and still lose up to 12 kgs of body mass during the Atlantic race.  The solo crews can take between 2 and 3 months to make the crossing.

As with any serious offshore adventure, preparation of the crew, vessel and equipment are the keys to survival.  It is testament to the organisers of the race, the training of the crews and the quality of the boats that no-one has been lost at sea during a Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge / World’s Toughest Row race since they started in 2013.  Outside of these well organised events, ocean rowing has claimed the lives of several people.

By way of example Frenchman Jean-Jacques Savin, a former military paratrooper, set off from Sagres in southern Portugal on New Year’s day 2022 with the aim of rowing across the Atlantic Ocean to Barbados solo and unaccompanied.  He had described the feat as a way to "laugh at old age" and he celebrated his 75th birthday at sea with foie gras and champagne!   On responding to an activated distress beacon, rescue services found his upturned vessel and when checked by a diver; Savin was dead inside the cabin.

Jean-Jacques Savin was born with adventure in his blood.  In 2019 he successfully crossed the Atlantic in a barrel-shaped orange capsule, using the sea currents alone to propel it across the water for 4,500km (2,800 miles) - a journey of 122 days.

Surveyor’s Top Tips

Rannoch Adventure Ltd in Essex, UK are one of the main producers of ocean rowing boats and have been building them since 2011.  All Rannoch boats are CE certified and every ocean race category has been won by a Rannoch boat.  Available in a variety of sizes to suit single, dual, three, four and five man crews.  The hulls are well laid up with a CAD designed composite structure built around two sealable compartments at bow and stern.  The five man RX45 is a sleeker, lighter vessel built predominantly from carbon fibre and suitable for three tall rowers rowing simultaneously.

I surveyed ‘Lady Jayne’, a 2019 Rannoch R45 ahead of the 2021 Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, the forerunner to the World’s Toughest Row.  There are two main elements to surveying ocean rowing boats; the hull survey with its fixed fittings and all of the ancillary equipment.  All boats must be independently surveyed before travelling to the start line and race scrutineers then ensure that all of the additional safety equipment and provisions are adequate prior to race start.

Previous Boat Chat sponsors Lee ‘Mac’ McCarthy and Dean Frost were part of Team Elijah’s Star, a 4 man team that successfully crossed the Atlantic in ‘Lady Jayne’ with a fantastic time of 41 days 2 hours and 44 minutes.  The team raised funds in support of Action Medical Research to shine a spotlight on the impact premature birth has on babies and their families and to help fund more research that can save lives.  The team took their name from baby Elijah, a premature but much-loved son and brother, who sadly lived for just 37 days.  You can read their Talisker Atlantic story on their Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/elijahsstar/

Valentine’s Day Is Coming…

If you’re struggling to find inspiration on what to get to spoil the lovable boaty if your life, check out the range of great kit ideas on our page at Kit.Co

Boaty Terminology

Bubblehead - Submariners are ‘affectionately’ known as bubbleheads by anyone not qualified to wear dolphins (the badge worn by qualified submariners)

Bubbleheads are also called sun dodgers on account of the time they spend underwater in a fancy pressurised cigar tube.

Links To Further Reading

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