We are now three weeks into the Talisker Whiskey Atlantic Challenge and the Friendship continue to do amazingly well! Excitingly, this week saw them pass the halfway milestone meaning at the time of writing they have rowed 1,728 NM in the 21 days since they set off. Reaching the halfway mark gave a huge boost to morale, as Antigua feels even more in sight.

The strong winds and big waves which picked up after Christmas carried on into the beginning of this week, continuing to make rowing and resting conditions difficult for the boys. The most dramatic moment being a wave catching Eppy side on, tipping her to 90 degrees, and knocking Jack and Hamish out of their seats. Luckily, they did not capsize but it definitely made for an interesting night of rowing!

 Since then, the weather has calmed down - to the slight disappointment of the team! The calmer weather has brought with it smoother seas and some rain. The latter proving very welcome as it is the closest thing they have had to a proper shower in quite some time.

As well as passing the halfway point, this week also brought another great milestone, New Year’s Eve. They celebrated the new year at sunset, each sharing their highlights and lowlights of 2022, deciding on their new year’s resolutions, and raising a toast of homemade sloe gin to mark the occasion. None of the resolutions seemed to include another ocean row yet, but there were murmurings of a team Iron Man at some point in the future!

Other highlights of the week included two sightings of humans, the first the boys have seen in over two weeks! The first being a US Coastguard vessel which decided to pay them a visit, ‘just popping by to say hello’, and the second was a 120m long container ship passing them at 1am. Eppy’s alarm went off to alert the team that the ship was in their vicinity and they radioed the Captain to make sure he had seen them. He quickly replied to say that he would now change his course and wished them a great onward journey. 

After another exciting week onboard, spirits are still high, and this is helped hugely by your continued support. The team want to say a huge thank you again for all of the donations, which have now reached an amazing £78,890! Please continue to donate via the link below.

Wishing you all a very happy 2023.  

Lots of love,

Jack, Hamish, Arthur and Euan

Feature image credit: Atlantic Campaigns Penny Bird