To Boldly Row

The World's Toughest Rowing Race

“Imagine being in the back of a van going around Silverstone racetrack – with roller skates on."

Andrew Delaney is attempting to describe to WideWorld what it feels like to be holed up in a cabin of an ocean rowing boat during a storm. He should know. In August, Andrew and his school friend Guy Watts became the first pair to row unassisted, land-to-land across the Indian Ocean. They spent 102 days and 13 hours at sea, rowing over 3200 nautical miles from Geraldton in Western Australia to Mauritius as part of the inaugural Woodvale Indian Ocean Rowing Race 2009.

The competition is billed as ‘the world’s toughest rowing race’. It’s considered harder than the more familiar Atlantic crossing – famously completed by Ben Fogel and James Cracknell – due to the unpredictable weather, searing temperatures and potential for huge 10-metre high waves and hurricane-force winds. As well as challenging weather, the low levels of pollution mean there’s more wildlife; Andrew and Guy were told to expect sharks and whales. Before this year, there had only been one successful rowing attempt (by the race founder, Simon Chalk in 2002). “The fact that it was the inaugural crossing pulled us towards the Indian rather than the Atlantic. We wanted to do something a bit different,” Guy told WideWorld. “At the beginning I was more worried about the sharks than the rowing.”

“It was about the mental challenge”

Although Andrew had previously rowed for Great Britain and prestigious rowing club, Leander, Guy had no previous experience prior to signing up for the race in October 2007. He claims he wasn’t worried, despite capsizing continuously on his first practice on a local reservoir. “It didn’t really faze me. In my opinion, it wasn’t about the rowing, it was about the mental challenge of being on a boat for three months. I knew the rowing would improve with time.”

Just to compete, the boys had to raise £76,000 to pay for the race entry, the building of their specially designed 23-foot ocean-rowing boat, ‘Flying Ferkins’ and all the equipment required to make the crossing. They also committed to making £25,000 for Orchid, a charity dedicated to fighting male cancers. “There’s so much to do pre-race, it’s much more about raising the money and getting the project off the ground. You don’t focus so much on the actual row,” Andrew said.

“The first few days were about survival”

When they eventually set off on 19 April, the ocean immediately lived up to its reputation. “The first few days were about survival,” says Andrew. “We could see this big front coming in as we rowed out. It hit us on the second day, and we sat on the para anchor  [a device used to keep the boat end-on to the waves, reducing a chance of capsize] for about ten days, with huge rolling swells. It was a shock to the system, but I think it stood us in good stead for the rest of the race.”

In the first two weeks at sea, four out of the ten crews retired due to technical problems and injuries. Andrew and Guy suffered too. Both their automatic steering system and the instrument that measured wind and temperature stopped working within the first week, but they refused to be deterred. “We had given up our lives for this. We didn’t want to let people down who had put money and time into us.” Instead, they steered the boat by fixing the rudder in position with ropes. They showed the same attitude later in the race when their electric desalination pump stopped working, leaving them pumping by hand and taking up to 40 minutes just to make one litre of drinkable water.

“Knowledge and experience helped us win”

The boys partly attribute their resilience to the help they received from their “amazing and invaluable” support crew – Jem and Tim, two experienced sailors who they met yacht racing, and who gave daily navigation help and advice. “Whenever we had a problem, we’d talk it through with the guys. It was their knowledge and experience that helped us win the race” Guy says.

When the conditions got too bad for rowing, they would retire to the cabin and watch films on their solar-powered iPod – Jerry Maguire was the boat favourite. Or they’d attempt to catch up on sleep missed due to their two-hours-on, two-hours-off rowing schedule. At just over six feet long, the cabin was a tight squeeze for two men who are both 6”4. “It was a bit snug, but we were always so exhausted we could have slept anywhere.” Guy also claims that the lack of privacy on the boat, helped them come to terms with some of the less orthodox practices of ocean rowing. “We lost all inhibitions,” he recalls, admitting that they did find it easier to row naked. “You put some fresh clothes on, but as soon as you go outside you’re soaking wet. It’s a waste of time wearing them.”

As for toilet breaks, they used what’s known in ocean rowing circles as the ‘bucket and chuck it’ technique, and they almost had to make do without that. “You take three buckets, one for washing clothes, one washing food stuff and one for the loo,” Guy explains. “One day I was in the cabin and I heard Andy shout, after doing his business, he’d accidentally let go of the bucket! A few days later I split the second bucket into to six different parts. After that the third was very well looked after.”

High-energy diets

During the row, they survived on a diet of freeze-dried meals and high-energy snacks, eating 5800 calories a day. For lunch and dinner it was the likes of Moroccan lamb and chicken tikka masala. “It was all very exotic,” says Andy. “At the beginning I found them hard to eat, but soon I got cravings for them.” They had to make do without alcohol – race rules stipulate that all boats must be dry. “The only alcohol on board was in our hand wash, and we weren’t that desperate,” says Guy.

The boys were expecting to suffer physically, but they maintain that their worst injuries were painful blisters. Instead it was tiredness that almost cost them the race. On one memorable occasion, they found themselves less than 100 metres away from a huge freight ship. “If we’d been any closer we would have been swept towards it and been killed. It was scary that we hadn’t seen it, but it was actually quite funny because those ships are monsters. They totally overshadow you, but we were both so tired we had just completely missed it.”

As for those shark warnings, they only encountered one: a bronze whaler. “It didn’t seem very interested in us,” says Guy. More exciting was their blue whale encounter. “It was incredible, as big as a double-decker bus! But it wasn’t scary. Its presence was actually quite calming,” Guy recalls.

“Too much beer”

After more than three months at sea, Andrew and Guy finally made it to Mauritius on the 30 July. As well as becoming the first pair to make the crossing, they took the race record for covering the most distance in a seven-day period, hitting 449 nautical miles and beating even the eight-man crew. How did they celebrate their success? “Beer, says Guy, “too much beer.”

They are now back in the UK, in debt and three stone lighter – but already planning their next adventure. They realise their achievements on the Indian Ocean will be hard to match. “Getting that first crossing is so special, because no one can ever take the world record away from Flying Ferkins.”

Fancy rowing an ocean? For more information about the 2009 Atlantic Rowing Race and the 2011 Indian Ocean crossing, see: www.woodvale-challenge.com

Interested in buying 'Flying Ferkins'? contact: [email protected]