Alan smashes target crossing Atlantic

“When I was a boy, I read a lot of fantasy books, and it was all about adventures and quests, it just seemed so exciting. I guess that never grew out of me and I wanted my own adventure”.

This is the opening statement for Alan’s description of why he would even consider rowing solo across the Atlantic. Now after 55 days at sea, Alan has made it across, smashing his target time of 90 days and rowing 3000 miles. Furthermore he is using his adventure to raise money for Children on the Edge.

Alan described his daily routine as “Wake up, breakfast, prepare hydration and food for the day, row/eat, hygiene, relax, sleep, repeat.” He regularly wrote about the trip from the middle of the ocean, describing the challenges he experienced. These ranged from overnight drifting, powerful waves, swells and winds, sea sickness, cravings, equipment failure, calloused hands, sleepless nights, sores and burnt lips. Overcoming all of these obstacles is described day by day in his blog, and we’d recommend it as an interesting read!

It wasn’t all bad, Alan also writes about his observations at sea. He was able so see many and various birds, fish of different shapes and colours including sharks, whales and flying fish. He describes how “Watching them [flying fish] fly into a wave was a little amusing. Magic, they just disappeared, like the train platform in Harry Potter. He also enjoyed clear skies to view the stars and continually talked about ‘next time I do this I will…’ which indicates an unbroken spirit!

We’re hugely grateful to Alan for choosing to support us through this superhuman challenge and looking forward to catching up with him when he’s fully rested. Watch this space for an interview with the man himself.

Donate on Alan’s Just Giving page

Read about the adventure on his blog