WORLD'S TOUGHEST ROW

From Atlantic Campaigns:

“Elaine Hopley, our amazing Scottish solo adventurer crossed the finish line in English Harbour during the night of the 12th of February after 59 days, 19 hours and 14 minutes at sea. She now holds the race record for the fastest female solo crossing!
Battling tropical storms and jellyfish stings Elaine said on arrival: “It was totally epic. It was unlike anything I could have ever imagined. There were some terrifying thunder storms where lightning bolts were incredibly close to the boat, but I pulled on through. It was definitely hard being away from my family over Christmas and New Year and seeing them all here today is just fantastic.”

The race organisers Atlantic Campaigns reported that Elaine burnt around 8,000 calories a day and lost approximately 20% of her body weight over the duration of the race. She endured sleep deprivation, sweltering heat and the psychological stresses of living and working in such an unpredictable environment, but she pulled through in true style. Indeed, Duty Officer Ian Couch recently commented: “After a really tough time early on, frustrating conditions and a battle to make miles Elaine has shown real grit and a great sense of humour!”.
 
Elaine was rowing in memory of her mother, who she cared for and nursed following the onset of Alzheimer’s and was raising money for Alzheimer’s Scotland." Read the blog here.

Photo via Atlantic Campaigns

There are still two more teams on the water - here is the latest update from Atlantic Campaigns:

"Race update from Duty Officer Ian Couch 17 Feb. A significant day for our two remaining crews as Row 32 North cross the 500nm barrier and Daryl, Rowers Ark crosses the 1000nm mark. After early power issues the ever calm and resourceful brothers of 32 North are back with a charged battery and are making steady progress west. A heavily caveated prediction brings them into Antigua around 4-5 March.

Daryl, without a rudder, is holding a steady course and making decent speed. Despite the highs and lows and understandable frustrations Daryl is capable of making a successful, unsupported crossing. The Support Yacht remains on standby and we are communicating daily. With lack of fine directional control we have advised him of various options which seem to be working to hold a course but it still may be difficult to steer across the finish line. Daryl does not have to finish the race to still be recognised as having made a crossing but we are working together to give him every chance of that too.

For Daryl in particular wind and wave direction are crucial and you will see his slightly undulating course reflecting the changing conditions. We expect to see wind speeds from 12-20knots fluctuating E, ENE and ESE until Tuesday when they become SE for nearly three days before turning ENE again so that means Daryl will continue making west but gets a push north before coming back south again repeating the undulating course we have seen before.
Despite the frustrations there are some amazing highlights too with Daryl reporting 11 whales in one day which is an incredibly lucky sighting.

It is great to be getting so many good luck messages from the crews that have finished and such camaraderie is awesome - the shared experience of rowing ocean - it is a cliche but until you do it you can't really understand!"

Track the teams and get updates on the Atlantic Campaigns Facebook page.