According to the Royal Air Force here, a 3200-mile row across the Atlantic has been completed by RAF Regiment Gunners.
3200 miles. 61 days. 19 hours. 14 minutes. That’s how long it took the Atlantic Rocks team to row from Lanzarote to Antigua in their boat, Sentinel, covering an incredible 3200 nautical miles, according to a news release.
“An already challenging endeavour was made all the more difficult by weather conditions and several obstacles the team had to adapt and overcome throughout the journey.
These started when the EFOY (fuel cell) fitted to Sentinel encountered servicing issues within the first week of the crossing, which unfortunately couldn’t be fixed remotely, this meant that the team had to hand and foot steer and navigate Sentinel during the day with minimal power systems, to conserve the solar power. This then allowed them to use the digital navigation systems during darkness hours through solar power generated during the day.
Overcoming the initial issues presented by the lack of EFOY was exacerbated by the 7 knot headwinds and low pressure, which made the conditions feel like the team were rowing through treacle. The team routinely rowed 40-50 nautical miles per day even through these conditions, with the weather router suggesting these were the most challenging conditions they’d encountered in 25 years!”
RAF Gunners rowing… sounds like the new multi-domain integration policy has got off to a rowlocking start.