ROWING:TWO IRISHMEN, Rob Byrne and Adam Burke, became world record holders yesterday in one of the toughest disciplines there is. The experienced Wicklow oarsman and the 28-year-old Co Dublin man who took up the sport to take on this challenge, were part of the six-man crew of the Sara G which became the fastest boat in the history of ocean rowing when it docked in Port St Charles in Barbados.
The boat had left Tarfaya in Morocco on January 5th on its trip across the Atlantic and it reached Barbados after 33 days 21 hours and 46 minutes at sea.
This broke the record for speed across the ocean set less than a day before by the all-British crew of the Hallin Marine, which travelled the shorter distance from Tenerife to Barbados in 31 days and 23 hours and 31 minutes.
The Sara G had also broken the record for the most consecutive days at sea rowing 100 miles or more – setting a new mark of 12. The old record of nine was set by La Mondiale two years ago in their crossing from the Canaries to Barbados in 33 days, seven hours and 30 minutes, the fastest traversing of the Atlantic east-west by a rowing boat up until that point.
Byrne and Burke embraced the test for very different reasons. Byrne, 34, is a coastal rower with Bray RC. Along with Craughwell, he had been part of an unsuccessful attempt to break the record in 2009 on La Mondiale, when the boat lost its rudder.
“The last time we were on to a good performance and it all fell apart. To be able to bring it home this time and take the record was just fantastic. . . ” he said. “It’s a huge weight off my shoulders. I suppose I have been carrying it for two years. It was time to either commit to another crossing or forget about it. I’m just delighted I took the second option.”
Burke, from Skerries in Dublin, had never rowed before he was inspired by watching a documentary on the ocean row of Ben Cracknell and Ben Fogle in 2005.
“I was sitting in college (in the University of Limerick) a year ago doing my HDip in PE teaching and I realised I had never followed a life’s dream. I decided there and then to join the rowing club and chase this one. I chased it really, really, hard for a year.”
He feels “very lucky” he was free to embark on the adventure just as a top-class team was taking on the challenge.
“The right time; the right place and then just grit and determination. A lot of people tell you it’s never going to happen. When you tell somebody ‘I’m going to row the ocean’ they think you are an idiot. . . It’s a big achievement’.”
The lowest point of the row followed hard on the best. After the crew had set the record of rowing 100 miles for 12 consecutive days, the dagger board, the centre board on the bottom of the boat, broke. Its replacement then fractured, and only some resourceful DIY by Craughwell kept the show on the road. But it was touch and go.
“The thoughts of not continuing, or losing the record was probably the worst moment of the whole trip,” said Burke.
Seán McGowan became the first Irish-based oarsman to row solo across the Atlantic last year and Ray Carroll, Reinhardt von Hof and Peter Donaldson were part of the successful La Mondiale crew in 2008. In April, Keith Whelan intends to become the first Irishman to row the Indian Ocean, rowing from Australia to Mauritius.
