La Gomera, one of Spain’s Canary Islands, is renowned for offering holidaymakers a tranquillity that’s harder to come by in neighbouring islands, but for Guy Rigby and David Murray it was the starting point for what is likely to be the toughest two months of their lives.
On Sunday afternoon the pair rowed away from the island in the Entrepreneur Ship, a 24ft ocean rowing boat, as they began their attempt to become the oldest pair to row across any ocean.
Rigby, 68, and Murray, 56, are braced to endure hazards such as 40ft waves, capsizes, sharks, seasickness and associated weight loss, sleep deprivation, blisters and a near-constant soaking from the Atlantic.
The race they have entered, the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, finishes in the West Indies and covers a distance of about 2,550 nautical miles. It is dubbed the “world’s toughest row”.
The pair’s Herculean efforts are intended to raise substantial funds for UnLtd, a charity that supports social entrepreneurship by offering cash awards, networking and mentorship for people starting businesses that tackle social issues. More than half of those supported will be women and most will be from ethnic minorities, Rigby said. They have already secured £500,000 and hope to eventually raise £1 million.
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“This will be life-changing for many aspiring entrepreneurs, as well as hugely beneficial for their communities,” Rigby said.
Rigby, an accountant who specialises in advising entrepreneurs, and Murray, a businessman, hired personal trainers and took advice on mental resilience in the run-up to Sunday’s launch but, speaking on Saturday, Rigby said the extent to which they could truly prepare themselves was limited. “How does one prepare for two months at sea on a 24ft rowing boat that is 5ft 7in wide, rowing two hours on, two hours off, 24 hours a day with over half of that time spent in darkness? We’ve never done it, so we just don’t know!”
The two-hour shifts are meant to accommodate 90-minute sleep cycles. “Both of us fear the likely onset of seasickness and it’s debilitating effects. If we are seasick, will we be able to row? Will we be able to eat and hydrate? How long will it last? Many crews suffer from hallucinations.
“Making decisions, keeping on track, watching out for local shipping, keeping on course — how will we cope when we are sick and sleep deprived? Adrenalin levels will be high as we enter our first night on the water. Thirteen hours of darkness a day will feel like a lifetime. We will just need to keep going and get through it.”
The race record is just shy of 30 days, achieved in 2017 with a four-man team, and Rigby has set a target of about 60 days but has acknowledged that getting across safely will be achievement enough. He added that he wasn’t sure whether it was harder for family members, who will follow their progress by watching a “blue dot moving slowly across a blue chart”, or the rowers.
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“This is an enormous challenge and everyone knows that the outcome is far from certain,” he said. “We are putting ourselves in harm’s way, and relying on our skills, experience, physical preparedness and, hopefully, resilience to get us through. Neither of us has ever done anything like this before. We are stepping into the unknown.”
Things got off to a good start: Rigby was able to send back an update after their first night on board saying all was going well despite some “horrible” rowing conditions overnight. “David and I are both well and excited that we are on the way,” he added.
