From Intimidating Tankers to Flying Fish, here’s your Week 1 update

The Mermaid Atlantic crew departed on their epic journey from the harbour of La Gomera a little under a week ago, and boy, they don’t call this the worlds toughest row for nothing, as our tenacious trio battle through the waves and ocean traffic in the first 7 days.

On Wednesday 13th, after heartfelt goodbyes at sunrise, the team stepped onto the pontoon to wait and prepare for their 8:17am start time. And as the crews left one by one, we watched the guys gather their oars and push away from the support team to the sound of a start horn, marking the beginning of the adventure. The day continued positively, as they settled into sea life and established a routine. However, choppy conditions followed on day 2, leading to a broken dagger board, damaged by the powerful waves. The dagger board is just off the centre of the boat and provides balance and stabilisation, but this set-back didn’t break their spirits, as they ploughed on, and made the best of a bad situation. We don’t currently know whether this piece of the boat is fixable or replaceable, but we suspect it may have slowed them down as they carefully navigate the rough conditions.

Bad luck wasn’t ready to back down, however, as at 3am on Friday morning, the crew caught sight of a tanker heading straight towards them. The vessel was oblivious to their presence despite much signalling, and after failing to move out of the tankers course, Mermaid Atlantic sent up an anti-collision flare. The tanker took note and veered starboard, missing them by 75 yards and leaving the crew to continue rowing unharmed, thankful for the training they’ve had to handle such situations.

The following days have seen similar conditions, with a swell and wind combination that has thrown off the routine and made rest difficult, but all members are eating well and no one has reported any seasickness. Some personal highlights so far include dolphins jumping in the distance, surfing down waves at 11.4 knots and a fish flying into the boat (which lead to Xav showing it the way out, all while combatting waves in the dark of night with no moon to guide them!). As of today the crew has reported much calmer conditions (although still fairly wild) and the auto-helm is back in action, meaning that a new shift patten has been established as no one is required to hand steer the boat. Spirits are high, even if they’re feeling a little battered, and there’s hope that in the next few days they’ll be able to gain more ground as well as check the boat over for damage!

For daily posts from the support team on land, please check out our social media pages linked at the top and bottom of this page. And if you can donate to our charities, then it would be most appreciated if you head to our donation page. Many thanks to our sponsors and supporters, your well wishes is keeping the crew going!

Above: The team leaving La Gomera. Only 3000 miles to go! Thanks to World’s Toughest Row for the images featured.