transatlanticforce

My last few days in Antigua were certainly becoming more settled. Quite a few of the other rowers had started to go home as they had been around for longer than I had but the few that did stay were solid drinkers so we had a fair few rum and cokes as well as enjoying the locally brewed Wadadali lager.

I was itching to get the chance to see another boat in but the next boat due to arrive were the Rowgirls but they were trying to delay their entrance until Thursday morning (similar to my predicament) as they had family and friends who weren’t going to arrive until then but the Atlantic had other ideas and gave them an almightly shove towards Antigua. Their arrival was looking as if it would be the middle of the night and as my plane flew at 9 o’clock I was gutted to miss them by a few hours. Luckily they got moving and arrived to flares, champagne, beer, smiles and cheers at 6.30 leaving me wih a dash for the nearest cab rank and a Colin McRae style delivery to the airport. Just in time!

I slept most of the flight as it was through the night but as we flew into the sunrise I glanced down out of my window seat to view the Atlantic Ocean. The vast blue monster that had taken all of my energy, determination, skill, money, motivation, courage and belief over the past 2 year to cross and there I was going the other direction at over 500mph. I allowed myself a little knowing smile and tucked into my breakfast loving every mouthfull. It is very true to say that you don’t know what you’ve got til its gone but I’d also add you don’t know how good it is until you’ve got it back.

I’ve been back on dry land now for over 2 weeks and it feels like an eternity. I’m struggling with the fast pace of non-aquatic world but as yet I am not working the things I have to do are mainly just trying to sort out where objects are rather than actually tackling life-and-death issues. The strangest thing that I’ve noticed is that the thing I need is out of arms reach for me. I’ve spent 10 weeks having everything I needed within (at worst) 20 ft of me. Now I’m finding that there are many more places for things to hide.

I have been back down to Molesey Boat Club and ended up working in the bar Saturday and Sunday. (As I’m unemployed now so I really need the cash) It was the Molesey Veteran Regatta and as well as drinking more beer than I should when being the other side of the bar Eric Scruby had made me up one of the shields usually reserved for penant winners with the engraving “Chris Martin, Atlantic, 2006″. This unexpected generosity and everyones happiness at seeing me back in one piece raises in me emotions that cannot be put into words. It is the reason I am and always will be a very proud member of the Molesey Boat Club Family, without a doubt the greatest boat club on the planet! Thank you all.

Plans for the party are coming on a pace and it looks like it’s going to be a belter of an evening. I’ve managed to pull the photos off the laptop now and there’s a great shot of the shark fin and it looks a lot bigger and meaner than I remember it. I hope you can all make it along this Saturday the 25th February, Molesey Boat Club, 7 o’clock onwards. There might even be an auction of me (in the superman pants) for a day, later on in the night.

I’ll post photos of the trip as soon as I have a chance to. Some of them are great. There will also be photos of the party and a write up as soon as I become sober afterwards.

Thank you all, it’s really great to be back.

Chris xx

By the time you read this Chris should be back in blighty and recovering from his epic crossing. Friends, family and supporters have decided that to help Chris raise the funds he still needs (and to make sure the charities get a healthy amount of money) there will be a welcome home party on Saturday 25th February. The party will be held at Molesey Boat Club and you can find directions on the clubs website.

The entry fee will be £10 with all profits going straight to Chris and the the two charities: The Prostate Cancer Charity and the Breast Cancer Campaign.

Click on the image to see a full size poster with all the details on!

Even though I’ve come in the adventure doesn’t stop. The Ocean Rowers on the island have spent the last few days getting ready to welcome in Making Waves but they had heard tales of crews getting blown too far south before their sat phone packed up and were heading too far north. The long and short of it is that the RIB went out to give them a tow in to the north side of the island. All the ocean rowers that we could find with families trek around the roads near Devil’s Bridge trying to find the jetty that the girls are due to come in on.

The roads of Antigua are bumpy and ridden with potholes at the best of times but these were not roads they were at best tracks. I had hired a 4×4 so I felt confident that I would be okay. However, there are 4×4 cars and there are the Land Rovers that I’ve been used to. This automatic cruising machine seemed to be confused when put on anything resembling rough ground. The tyres wouldn’t grip at all but we just made it to a lovely little bay that was guarded from the sea by a reef. It was to be the reef that made the evening rather longer than we all hoped.

As we turned up the RIB arrived and it became apparent that Becky and Steph were in the RIB. The cheers went up from the assembled masses and Mick Dawson let off one of my parachute flares deafening the crowd and adding to the natural light of a nearly full moon lighting up the scene.

It turned out that the RIB had started towing the boat towards the land but as they approached the reef the rowing boat had not been in line with the RIB and ended up on the reef. They then abandonned ship into the RIB. So being the helpful and daring ocean rowers that we are Mick Dawson, Andrew Morris and myself volunteered to join Nigel McGoughlin and the RIB crew to go and move the boat off the reef and back to dry land. Lucy from Woodvale had already tried with the RIB team but hadn’t managed to and had got a bit cut up on the reef. We were about to discover just how easy that was.

As we approached the reef the sea colour changed and we jumped out to try and walk over to the boat. I had flip flops on and most of the others were in sandals. Reefs are not like rocky outcrops. Their depth changes from 2 inches to 4 feet within a step. It’s like trying to walk on a floor full of large lego models but as it’s dark and the only light is from the few torches you cannot see what is coming next for your feet. Nigel had been lucky enough to wear walking boots as so was best suited to the challenge whereas Mick as I were in our pants trying not to slice our legs open on the jagged coral.

Eventually we made it to the boat and managed to heave it back in to the channel then came the fun part trying to get the towing line back to the RIB without getting mashed by the prop while not getting the line caught round the coral. I managed to almost come a cropper in both ways more than once by the time we were back in the boat and getting it towed back. Then it was a matter of getting the boat out of the water on a 20 year old trailer that hadn’t moved in 10 years as it had been used to hold up a guys pear tree. The boat was in alright shape but there was a lot of water pouring out of the hull from a few large puncture wounds that she had sustained while being on the reef. If it had been left til daybreak we may very well have never floated her off the reef.

Finally driving the helpers back over the island we were lucky enough to come across “Burger Queen”. As we hadn’t eaten anything all day this was ideal and although the ‘fire and brimstone’ preacher on the radio was disconserting it didn’t put us off our food one bit except when Andrew got told that they had the meat for his veggie burger but not the wheat bread bun that it was supposed to come in.

I’ve only got one more night in Antigua and I intend to enjoy it to the full. Supporters from the Rowgirls are now starting to arrive and although it sadly looks like I’m going to miss the entrance of the bright pink boat it means I get a few wingmen for drinking over the next 36 hours!!

Chris xx

The last couple of days has been spent resting and reading emails. Surprisingly it hasn’t taken that long to get through them all which is a very pleasant surprise.

However, as I found before what comes with rowing goes with rowing the lack of physical activity over the past few days has made my back problem flair up again and I’m looking forward to seeing Tim Alladyce’s face when I walk into the Sports Injury Clinic to be put back together. I think it might take a while.

Hanging around the yachts here and chatting to people is great and gives me a feeling that sailing will be playing a part in my future in some way. I’ve already been offered passage on a yacht going back across the Atlantic later in the year from here to Majorca. Although I think with the first letter from the bank complaining that money hasn’t been coming into my account the time has come to return to the UK. No matter how cold it is.

In my absence friends of mine have organised a welcome home party for me on the 25th February. Times and a format have yet to be decided but keep the date free in your diary’s and further details will be up here soon. Tickets will be done on the door so no need to prebook. Everyone is welcome even if they have no idea what they’re turning up for. Tickets are likely to be 10 quid so you don’t even have to break the bank and entry and bar profits so straight into the TransAtlantic Force Fund thanks to Molesey Boat Club’s generosity. What an awesome club I am a member of. I heard that the best a certain Pink Hippo Club could manage for their big man was porridge for 1p. Pah!

Right I’m off to sit in a bar, watch the rugby and drink lots of rum punches. Does life on land get much better? Nope didn’t think so.

Chris

How could I leave the other members of Team TransAtlantic Force in the lurch? Of course I’ll keep the blog going for as long as people are interested in what I’m up to and as long as I have something interesting to write about.

The past few days on dry land have been without a doubt the strangest of my life. Over the first day I could spend several minutes at a time just looking at myself in a mirror. It’s very strange to see how the row has changed my body. It’s certainly different to when I set out. Everything has shrunk but my arms, shoulders and back seem to have reduced in size a bit less than the legs and waistline. I’m sorry to say that the beard has been given a cutback and I am now enjoying a smooth chin with a haircut for the bouffant style mop of hair on my head planned for later on today.

The feeling that the ground is trying to throw me off it has finished and the sores on my bum have healed up rather nicely so I can sit down without too much pain. I still seem to be hungry most of the time and have been really enjoying the food here.

Yesterday I went to one of the tourist beaches on the north side of the island. I felt very uncomfortable sitting on a beach and going for a swim in the sea. The only thing that I could do was sleep. It isn’t that the row has given me itchy feet more that I am still readjusting to ‘normal’ life and I’m not sure how much it satisfies me any more. After every high there must be a low but I feel this is a more permanent change to how I view people, work, places and ambitions. For the first time since I got back I had the feeling that it wasn’t enough. I had been part of something more incredible, fun, exciting and dangerous than I had ever experienced and when you let that genie out of the bottle it doesn’t want to go back in. I had the feeling that I wanted to go on.

Last night they had a presentation to the crews that had arrived over the past week. We were given baskets of local produce and a book entitled “A little bit of paradise”. It was nice to have something a little more official as I was a bit smelly at the arrival party! Afterwards we all slunk off to the bar to tell our own stories of our journeys. After chatting with Mick Dawson for an hour or so it came out that at sea we had both decided to learn how to play the piano. The next challenge for me is to learn to play “Somewhere beyond the sea” as quickly as possible. The winner gets his choice of drink bought for him by the loser at the Savoy.

Antigua is a beautiful island. The people are friendly, food is great, and weather is superb. However, I have missed and continue to miss the Molesey Boat Club family and I’m looking forwards to going home. I’m going to sort my flight out now and hopefully be back on British soil on the 15th February. From there, who knows? I can stay with my parents for a bit but don’t want to intrude for too long and without a car it’ll be difficult to get to Molesey. So if you have a room, flat, house, spare bed or just space in your bed then send get in touch and I’m sure we can work something out.

I’m off to organise flights back to the UK and by the sounds of it you lot need to start working again.

Take care

Chris x

Oh my god! Wow wow wow. I am in Antigua!

As yesterday progressed it became clear that a monday arrival was on the cards. Preferring to forgo food in lieu of rowing I gunned it as hard and as fast as I could for the whole day. As night time fell around the boat I could just make out the outline of Antigua coated in the blanket of a beautiful pink and purple sunset. (Unfortunately the camera has broken so that’s an image and a moment that I get to keep for myself)

The countdown clock was showing 15nm as I phoned up the support crew to let them know I should be over the line at 23.00 local time. The miles seemed to creep past as night took hold although the lights of the island were becomming more noticable and I saw a jet taking off from the airport in the north.

As I neared the line the RIB came out to meet me. Dad, Mike and Jo were all aboard. As I’m the only one who can see my GPS, only I knew when I’d crossed the finish line. 61 degrees 44.8 minutes west. I was getting close. The display is a bit too far away from the rowing position so I have to stop every now and again at frontstops and squint to see the figures click over. 44.635….44.702…44.756…44.788…44.803!

With a cry of elation that must have left some in the nearby towns wondering what all the noise was about I collapsed backwards letting go of the oars and lying flat on my back all the time screaming “YES!” A huge feeling of satisfaction and achievement welled up inside me. A feeling you cannot beat.

The RIB then offered me a tow to the harbour entrance which I politely declined. There was no way I would accept a tow to shore after this long. Anyway I didn’t really think I had crossed the Atlantic until my feet touch land by my own power. There was quite a stiff headwind so it was about an hour until I could battle my way into port. Coming in at midnight I was certain that the celebrations would be left until another day. How wrong I was.

In seconds cheers and shouts filled my ears. Unsure of where to go I looked round to see several flares bursting into flame, parachute flares illuminating the sky and lighting up people, so many people! Manouvering into land was a bit of a cock up but as soon as I could jumped off (still attached my my ankle strap) as someone emptied a champagne bottle onto me. My eyes stinging, body aching and mind confused by lights, smells, sounds and feeling I had long forgotten, I stood on land for the first time in nearly 10 weeks. I staggered and fell into Jo’s arms. We hugged for a while before wrapping my arms round my brother and Dad. Shaking people’s hands, hugging people and trying to talk I wobbled all over the place; the widest grin I have ever worn on my face. This is the most incredible moment of my life and one that I will not be forgetting for a long time.

Photos, handshakes and hugs continued for a while then I put Pete to bed for the last time and collected a few items before getting a lift back to the cottage Jo had organised for us.

Looking at myself in the mirror is the most strange experience. I have lost a lot more weight than I thought I had. The beard is more unkempt than I had thought and my eyes now have a little extra sparkle that I could have sworn wasn’t there before. I had a hot shower with an ice cold can of coke all the time wondering why my legs had started to disobey orders from my brain. They seemed determined to throw me through the shower curtain. I came out the shower to a smell I had longed for ages - A full English fry up. After a good feed and obligatory treatment of the bottom sores came the best bit. A soft bed…that didn’t try to throw me out of it. Within moments I was asleep.

In the morning my legs are still very wobbly and I keep threatening to fall over. I’ve been through customs and have had a few breakfasts. Hmm 11am almost time for brunch! Our cottage is on the hill with a clear view out over Falmouth Harbour and onward into the Atlantic. I have already caught myself gazing out at it and smiling a knowing smile to myself. I’ve just crossed that, in a rowing boat, on my own.

I will contine to keep blogging on a regular basis as I clear the boat out ready for shipping, relax, see Antigua and hear news about what’s going on but for now I’ll sign off by saying a huge thank you.

Thank you for reading the blog, thank you for being interested in what I’ve done and what I’m doing. Thank you for your support, encouragement, donations, belief in me, sponsorship, backing, humour, patience and love during this most incredible part of my life. I will of course do a proper thank you list soon but a huge thank you first to all the sponsors, especially to Stappard Howes: to Julian Wiggins, Peter Bridgeman and Harvey Bradnam. Without Stappard Howes’s support from 15 months ago this project would never have been able to happen.

Signing off for now in Antigua a very tired, hairy, hungry, satisfied, content and happy man.

All my love

Chris xxx

Just a quick update from webmaster Steve- Chris called at 1630 GMT to say he was gunning to get into harbour tonight so had no time to e-mail his usual blog! The following is transcribed from the phone call…

Its pretty difficult to judge timings out here what with the wind and waves having such a large effect on mileage. The upshot is, all through last week it looked on for a Monday finish, but getting caught in the eddy I mentioned a couple of days ago meant Tuesday morning looked likely. Well, last night and today, strong winds in my favour mean I’m going to try and get in tonight, sometime before midnight. (ed-I think he said 0400 GMT)

I had feared getting into harbour at night but learnt that when close enough a RIB will be sent out to guide me in. So I’m going for it!

Sorry if I’ve come across as being down these last few days, I suppose its just being a bit scared of what lies ahead!

Chris

Having written yesterday about taking it easy and not pushing myself too much the thought of a monday evening arrival was too much and I spent the whole day and a good portion of the night gunning it as hard and as fast as I could. But by this morning it was clear that this effort hadc not been enough and if I was to land on monday it would be in the dark. So now it is hopefully going to be sometime on tuesday morning.

Nothing else has broken but things on Pete are starting to show signs of wear and tear. The first being the computer which has now decided not to put the letter c where I want it but at almost every other opportunity. This makes log writing rather tedious. The second is my bum which has started being really painfull again escpecially after the wearing through of one of the remaining seat pads last night and the thinning in the bottom area of several of my pants. I actually feel sick every time I sit down with the pain. Not too long now though.

I can’t wait to get to land now and 48 hours seems like an eternity. Hopefully I’ll be able to see it soon and that will make a massive difference to me. Like all places anyone ever wants to get to Antigua is on a fold of a chart so it makes it seem a lot further than really it is.

Mr P.Arrot has returned to active duty and is steering the boat on a perfect course.

Right I’m getting back to the rowing, this ccrudcdyc c button is doing my head in. Anytime I type something with it in like abbagescccccccccccccccc it doesn’t ome up then a bit laterc it’ll go crazcy. I think the sceac may hacve finaclly killed the omputer.

CLovce to you allc. I’ll bec wcith you scoon.

hris

You can download Chris’ Radio 5 Live interview here (right click and save):

Chris on Radio 5 Live (3MB mp3 file)