The World’s Toughest Row

Four intrepid Antiguans will put their oars in the water in La Gomera, the Canary Islands on December 12th for what is billed as “The World’s Toughest Row ” and paddle nearly 3,000 miles across the Atlantic to Nelson’s Dockyard, Antigua, in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge.

“Our plan is to complete the race in the top five teams and make the crossing in under 40 days,” says Eli Fuller, captain and owner/operator of watersports excursion company, Antigua Adventures, whose three teammates are John Watt, Scott Potter and Nico Psihoyos.

Fuller is following in the wake of his grandfather, Nick Fuller. In 2015, the senior Fuller was captain of Antigua’s Team Wadadli who completed the race and earned a Guinness World Record for being the oldest team of four to row across any ocean.

This year, Team Antigua will make a trek aboard a self-righting Rannoch 45 row boat, which measures 24′ long x 6′ wide, and has two cabins—front and stern. To track and root for Team Antigua, visit taliskerwhiskyatlanticchallenge.com or teamantiguabarbuda.com.

By Carol Bareuther Southern Boating, December 2017
Photos: Hank George and Claueren Morel

Watch Racing Action in Grenada

ENJOY A FRONT ROW SEAT and secondhand adrenaline rush by celebrating with the teams as they finish the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) Transatlantic Race this month at the Camper and Nicholsons’ Port Louis Marina in St. Georges, Grenada. Originally slated to finish at the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda (YCCS) in the B.V.I. but rerouted due to hurricane damage in the northern Caribbean, the RORC Transatlantic Race is now the longest in the Club’s offshore calendar.

Crews, veteran professionals and also first-time Corinthians depart on November 25th from Marina Lanzarote in the Canary Islands and are expected to arrive in Grenada starting around December 9th. The 20-plus yacht fleet spans from big yachts like the Finot 100 Nomad IV; Volvo 70 Monster Projects; and Whitbread 60 Challenger, to the Sun Fast 3600 Redshift Reloaded. In Grenada, the 170-slip Port Louis will be the dockage headquarters for the teams as well as the site of the regatta’s awards ceremony.

Whether you’re there to meet and greet the race teams or simply cruising the southern Caribbean, be sure to check out the Parang Festival on Grenada’s sister island of Carriacou, which starts on December 16th. It’s a wonderful way to enjoy the run-up to the holidays with music, parades, and feasting. Carriacou, 30 nautical miles north of Grenada, is a great launching-off point to the northern Caribbean, where many of the RORC Transatlantic sailors will also travel to race in the region’s spring regattas.

rorctransatlantic.rorc.org

By Carol Bareuther Southern Boating, December 2017
Photos: Hank George and Claueren Morel

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