| It will be the adventure of a lifetime. I`m attempting to row alone and unsupported across the Atlantic Ocean. The expedition will start at La Gomera in the Canaries and end in Antigua: a distance of over 3000 nautical miles. No help, no sails, no motor, no re-supplies: Just whatever I can stow on the boat and the energy I can put into the oars to get me across. |
| The Route | The boat is heavy and has a large surface area for the wind to take hold of. It's therefore all but impossible to row it against prevailing wind and currents. The chosen route hopes to take advantage of the wind and currents and use them to my advantage. The systems on the boat are powered by solar panels so the equatorial route should provide sufficient solar energy to keep them running. You can`t beat nature over a 3000 mile course so you might as well try to work with her!
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| The Currents | | The Canaries current heads South from the Canaries towards the Cape Verde Islands and runs south-westerly along the Northwest African Coast. The current direction is still south-westerly through the Cape Verde archipelago, but beyond this area it turns west and northwest and then becomes the Northern Equatorial Current. | 
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| The Wind | | More important than the current are the winds. By setting off in January, the elusive Trade Winds will hopefully have set in by the time I reach the latitude of the Cape Verde Islands. The Trades blow in an easterly or south easterly direction and should speed along the last half to third of the journey with some consistency. That said, when a group of boats crossed in 2005, the Trades hardly made their presence felt. |
| Daily Routine | Routine will be vital. Without seeing progress, morale will drop and hope will fade. I need to set realistic mini targets and break those down into a daily routine of time on the oars and time to rest and do the 101 daily jobs needed to stay alive and functioning properly.
I developed a real appreciation for the psychology of long distance journeys when I cycled 2,500 miles from St Malo to Gibraltar, traversing the Pyrenees along the way. You can`t rush it. You have to keep yourself in good condition, go as far as you can each day then leave yourself enough time to maintain your health and sanity before setting off again. If you don't, you deteriorate and that could be fatal when you're 1000 miles away from help.
I`ll have to row for 12 – 13 hours per day to make decent progress and reach the other side before my food runs out. I`ve yet to decide whether to row all day and sleep all night or do a shift pattern with smaller sleeps. Rowing in the dark is hard and our bodies are designed for a good sleep but long periods with nobody on watch are dangerous. Once I`ve selected my shift pattern, however, I`ll stick to it. |
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