1 Year ago – Nabs and Britannia III make land in Barbados

Nabs El-Busaidy and the crew of Britannia III arrived in Barbados on 15th March 2011 at 02:36 GMT. Their final journey time was 42 days, 17 hours, 54 minutes.

Back row L-R (Guy Griffiths, Jon Paine. Miek Palmer, Shaun Pedley, Roger Gould, Simon Chalk. Ben Gothard, Colin Gray) Front row L-R (Beth O’Kain, Anna Lewis, Nabs El-Busaidy, Suzanne Pinto, Jennifer Weterings)

All crew are well and have rested and refuelled with food since arriving in the luxury marina of Port St Charles, Barbados. They were welcomed in by many friends and family who had been waiting for their arrival eagerly by the beach. Flares were set off just before 10:30 local time as Britannia III took her final few strokes to make land.

This row marks Simon Chalk’s fifth Ocean Row. He now takes his place in history alongside Emmanuel Coindre who completed his fifth Ocean Row in 2005. Another Ocean Rower, Roger Gould, was on board Britannia and this marks his second successful crossing. Roger participated in the first ever official Atlantic rowing race in 1997. First-time American Ocean Rower Suzanne Pinto has become the oldest female to row an ocean – she is 58 and from Longmont, Colorado. Nabs El-Busaidy has become the first Arab to row an Ocean.

Although Britannia III set out to break the mid-Atlantic speed crossing, a record which was broken at the beginning of March by Matt Craughwell and his team on board Sara G, the crew had an enjoyable and successful crossing and skipper Simon is already planning his next record attempt.

Kate Battes

Events Director

Woodvale Ocean Ltd

Marquis House | 2, North Street | Winchcombe | Gloucestershire | GL54 5LH

01242 602939 | 07864 288609 | www.woodvale-challenge.com

Nabs and Britannia III Make Land in Barbados

16 Mar 2011

Nabs El-Busaidy and the crew of Britannia III arrived in Barbados on 15th March 2011 at 02:36 GMT. Their final journey time was 42 days, 17 hours, 54 minutes.

Back row L-R (Guy Griffiths, Jon Paine. Miek Palmer, Shaun Pedley, Roger Gould, Simon Chalk. Ben Gothard, Colin Gray) Front row L-R (Beth O’Kain, Anna Lewis, Nabs El-Busaidy, Suzanne Pinto, Jennifer Weterings)

All crew are well and have rested and refuelled with food since arriving in the luxury marina of Port St Charles, Barbados. They were welcomed in by many friends and family who had been waiting for their arrival eagerly by the beach.  Flares were set off just before 10:30 local time as Britannia III took her final few strokes to make land.

This row marks Simon Chalk’s fifth Ocean Row.  He now takes his place in history alongside Emmanuel Coindre who completed his fifth Ocean Row in 2005.  Another Ocean Rower, Roger Gould, was on board Britannia and this marks his second successful crossing.  Roger participated in the first ever official Atlantic rowing race in 1997.  First-time American Ocean Rower Suzanne Pinto has become the oldest female to row an ocean – she is 58 and from Longmont, Colorado. Nabs El-Busaidy has become the first Arab  to row an Ocean.

Although Britannia III set out to break the mid-Atlantic speed crossing, a record which was broken at the beginning of March by Matt Craughwell and his team on board Sara G, the crew had an enjoyable and successful crossing and skipper Simon is already planning his next record attempt.

Almost there…

14 Mar 2011

Nabs El Busaidy and Britannia III have almost arrived.  They are in their final stretch and are 30 nautical miles from the finish line in Barbados. The website will be updated every few hours with their progress and images will be available of his arrival as soon as possible.

Mind the Sharks

09 Mar 2011

Britannia III have seen their fifth week of being in the Ocean fly past, safe in the knowledge that the sixth week should be their final one at sea. Britannia III have averaged 66nm per day towards the finish this week and since passing the 1000nm (to go) mark have been dreaming of the white sand and sun in Barbados.

Along with a weird weather forecast from a Nigerian tanker, Britannia III and her crew have been followed by a school of Dorada, been hit in the head by Flying Fish and have celebrated yet another birthday at sea (Suzanne).

Tuesday 1st March was the day in which Britannia III travelled the furthest towards the finish (76nm) and since then Britannia has been rowing harder each day and has hit the over 70nm mark again (4th Mar 71nm).

Yesterday Nabs El-Busaidy thought he saw a fin in the water.  Knowing about the dorada following the boat he wasn’t overly concerned, but after a few minutes he realised that the fin was a different shape and actually belonged to a shark.  Sharks are a pretty common sight when rowing the ocean and generally they don’t bother rowing boats. They are a bit like whales in that they are inquisitive and come quite close to the boat to see what’s going on.  Luckily this shark didn’t come that close to Nabs and the crew but it did have them on their toes for a few minutes!

The final stretch of Nabs’ mid-Atlantic row is when the boat is most likely to come across big waves and the chance of capsizing becomes higher. Capsizing refers to when a boat or ship is tipped over. The act of reversing a capsized vessel is called righting. If a capsized vessel has sufficient flotation to prevent sinking, it may recover on its own if the stability is such that it is not also stable upside-down. Vessels of this design are called self-righting. A vessel may be designated as “self-righting” if it is designed to be able to capsize then return to upright without intervention (with or without crew onboard). Britannia III is a self-righting boat.

At the time of writing, Nabs and Britannia III have 365nm to go towards the finish and we wait with baited breath to see them arrive in Port St Charles.

Nabs has Less than 1000nm to Row!

28 Feb 2011

News this week has been quite slow for Britannia.  They have had adverse winds and haven’t been able to make the progress they would like.  However the wildlife has been amazing this week – pilot whales, dolphins and of course Nabs’ whales.

It was great to start the week off with  “Britannia have reached the half-way point” and to be able to finish the week off on a positive note and say that as of 07:02 GMT this morning Nabs and the crew of Britannia III have only 968nm to row towards the finish. Exciting not only for friends and families to know that they will see their loved ones soon, but a huge motivator for the crew.

Our current ESTIMATED arrival date for Britannia is around the 11/12th March.  We have chosen these dates to ensure that families and friends can be in Barbados to see their arrival.  Although a few days before they should make land (going by their daily mileage), in our experience crews tend to speed up in the last few days of their crossing and we wouldn’t want families to be in a position where they miss the arrival of the boat and crew.

This week will see Nabs and the crew crossing the mid-Atlantic ridge, the longest mountain range in the world.

Since January 31st life has moved on.  People have gone to work every day, looked after their families, cooked 30 dinners and drank approximately 150 cups of tea each.  There has been a massive earthquake in New Zealand, people have been made redundant and found new jobs, babies have been born and shown their first real smiles.

And all this time, Nabs and thirteen other brave souls from all around the world have been rowing.  Day in, day out. Only resting if the weather is so bad they are forced to stop. They haven’t eaten a single green vegetable, drunk a single drop of beer or been able to eat their usual breakfast cereal with ice cold milk.  They haven’t seen a duvet for 30 days, or a toilet seat, let alone watched the television with their feet up on the sofa. They’ve had to prescribe their own medicines, ration their t-bags and drink water that’s come out of a machine.

Today we raise a glass to our intrepid rowers and wish them fair winds and smooth passage for the rest of their journey to Barbados.

Nabs and the Whale…

08 Feb 2011

With the thoughts of the record now out of their minds the crew of BRITANNIA III have been enjoying their rowing experience and some of the wildlife in the Atlantic Ocean.

First up were three pilot whales (not the ones in the image above).  Nabs El Busaidy from Bahrain was the first one to spot the whales and he recounted his experience to Kate Battes, Woodvale Events Director via satellite phone, “It’s amazing when you see a whale from a rowing boat – it gives you a massive appreciation of the size of some of the creatures that live in our seas.”  Naturally inquisitive, the whales approached the boat and circled it a few times.  “It was scary at first” said Nabs. “They’re huge. But it really was a spectacular experience for me and one that isn’t guaranteed when doing an ocean crossing.” He continued “I feel very privileged to be able to see these magnificent creatures and spend time on the Ocean.”

While rowing over the weekend Anna Lewis, a Graduate Student at Oxford University, felt a slight drag on her oar. Due to her rowing experience Anna sits in the stroke position when rowing on board Britannia and so sets the pace for the rowers behind her. They noticed she was pausing slightly when taking a stroke, asked her what was wrong, and very calmly she said “Oh nothing really, I’ve just got a squid stuck on the end of my oar”.  Needless to say a few giggles were heard around the boat and the crew jumped up to see what was going on.  It turns out that the squid (not the one in the image above) had taken umbrage to the fact that Anna was invading its space with her oar and had suckered itself to the blade.  Anna managed to stifle her laughter, shake the creature off and clean her oar and continue rowing.  Now it’s not every day in Oxford that Anna has to deal with things like that while flat water rowing!

Nabs and the crew of Britannia III are nearly at the half way mark and have their sights firmly set on reaching Barbados. Barbados is an island nation of the Lesser Antilles, 34 kilometres (21 mi) in length and 23 kilometres in width. It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic Ocean and 100 kilometres (62 mi) east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea. Barbados is outside of the principal Atlantic hurricane belt. The island has an estimated population of 275,338 people, with around 80,000 living in or around Bridgetown, the largest city and the country’s capital. In 1966, Barbados became an independent nation and Commonwealth realm, retaining Queen Elizabeth II as Head of State. Barbados is one of the Caribbean’s leading tourist destinations and is the most developed island in the region.

Britannia III should be arriving in Barbados in the middle of March 2011.

Britannia III Presses On To Be The World’s Third Fastest

14.02.2011 | 14:15 GMT

This week has been a week of getting heads down and getting on with the task in hand. Nabs and the Britannia III crew have been suffering with sore hands and bums, as all ocean rowers can sympathise with, and are rowing as hard as they can to get to Barbados.

Nabs witnessed his first container ship this week when it appeared out of nowhere and came alongside the rowing boat to say hello.  The liner tooted her horn a few times and then sped off.  It’s pretty scary seeing a 1181ft container ship that close when you’re in a 38ft rowing boat and Nabs commented: “At the time our hearts were in our mouths and we were seriously considering abortive action but when we realised the ship was just coming to see what we were up to we calmed down.”

This week Britannia III have been ruled out of the Blue Riband Trophy (the fastest crossing).  It appears, from their daily progress, that Britannia won’t be able to break Sara G’s record, set earlier this week.  They have decided to focus on trying to become the third fastest boat over the ocean.  Some of the statistics from Nab’s row so far are as follows:

Average “Distance to Finish” = 58nm per day

Average “Distance over Ground” = 61nm per day

Rowed 870nm so far (just over a third of the way)

1785nm to go

Average speed = 2.975 m/h

Ocean rowing is the sport of rowing across oceans. The sport is as much a psychological as it is a physical challenge. Rowers often have to endure long periods at sea with help often many days, if not weeks away. The challenge is especially acute for solo rowers who are held in especially high esteem within the sport. The history of ocean rowing is sometimes divided into two eras. The first 12 ocean rows are considered “Historic Ocean rows” as they were completed with very limited if any modern technology. The subsequent rows are described as “Modern Day rows.”

Despite the now regular rowing races, fewer people have rowed an ocean, than have climbed Everest or been into Space.  Nabs joins this elite group of people as the “FIRST ARAB TO ROW AN OCEAN.”

Week 1 of the Allum Cup and a New World Record

08 Feb 2011

The Atlantic Allum Cup is now a week old for Britannia III. After three weeks of delays, and a change of departure location, our support yacht Big Spirit finally counted the starting mark at 12:04 on 31st January 2011.

Image courtesy of Jonathan Briggs

• Simon Chalk (38) Ocean Rower from Totnes – this is his fifth Ocean row
• Guy Griffiths (52) a Business Owner from Cardiff
• Ben Gothard (32) an Accountant from London
• Mike Palmer (45) a Firefighter at Manchester Airport
• Jon Paine (39) an Adventurer from Antigua
• Colin Gray (30) an Events Organiser from London
• Dan Munier (39) an Engineer from Boulder, USA
• Anna Lewis (26) a Graduate Student from Oxford
• Beth Kilbane (40) a writer from Lakewood, USA
• Jennifer Weterings (42) a Health Services Manager from Vancouver, Canada
• Suzanne Pinto (57) a Psychologist from Boulder, USA – the oldest woman ever to row an Ocean
• Roger Gould (55) a Consultant from Twickenham – rowed in the 1997 Atlantic rowing race
• Nabs El-Busaidy (40) a self-employed Adventurer from Oman – the first Arab to row an Ocean
• Shaun Pedley (18) a Boat Builder from Devon – the youngest man ever to row an Ocean

Britannia III and her crew left Puerto de Mogan and the crowds of tourists and supporters behind and made a b-line for the open Ocean. Conditions for Britannia III remained good throughout the week and despite bad sea-sickness Britannia III continued pulling the oars and making good headway.

The conditions across the Atlantic determine that the quickest route when rowing would be to travel south from the Canary Islands. From a lower latitude crews should then pick up stronger trade winds to help push them to the finish. This adds nautical miles to the official distance but, with stronger prevailing conditions crews will make this extra distance up with increased speed.

Britannia III clocked up their fastest “surf” this week at 9.6 knots. The crew, while initially scared, enjoyed the adrenalin rush of surfing down the face of the wave and are wishing for more of these conditions so they can lift their oars from the water and have a break from rowing.

The evening of Day 3 saw Britannia III and the raft An-Tiki coming closer together. Unfortunately our crew didn’t “meet up” for a coffee and some of David’s fresh bread but none-the-less enjoyed travelling at close proximity for a while.

During the last few days of their first week the crew realised that Britannia III wasn’t moving as quickly as they would like through the water. They unpacked and repacked the food (again) in the hope that the boat would stop behaving sluggishly. This had a positive effect as expected and Britannia III averaged 66.4 nautical miles per day for the first week.

Aware that they need to step up the game in order to be in with a chance of breaking the record Britannia III now has a harder job to do as the World Record has just been broken.

Team Hallin, skippered by Charterhouse Rowing Coach David Hosking, broke Leven Brown’s 2007 La Mondiale record by just under a day. The 6-person team arrived in Port St Charles, Barbados yesterday with a new world record time of 31 days, 23 hours and 31 minutes.

Meanwhile, Amigo started on 2nd February 2011 and has been enjoying some good weather. Ole and Serge clocked 2.8 knots on their first day and had a flying start.

Image Courtesy of Ash Chalmers-Stevens

• Ole Elmer (63) a retired Business Owner from Vancouver, Canada – this is his second Ocean Row

• Serge Roetheli (52) a Mountain Guide from Chamonix, Switzerland

Food has been the main topic of conversation for Team Amigo. Ole and Serge took some particular treats in their snack packs and have been looking forward to them each day. In their beautiful boat Amigo, the lightest boat we have ever made and complete with hydraulic steering, the crew have faced heavy seas between La Gomera and El Hierro and as usual there has been some sea-sickness on board. Serge suffered for the first few days but made a speedy recovery and now is back on a full “Serge diet”.

Both Britannia III and Amigo have suffered from the dreaded sore bottoms and blisters on their hands. The first week of these ultra-endurance events is often the hardest. This is when the body hurts most, after these punishing opening days your mind really does take over and dominate the outcome. While the crews are undoubtedly tired, it is the mind that tells you to carry on and blocks out the physical pain. While every time a rower sits down it may hurt, or the first few minutes holding the oar may send pulses through the hands and wrists, the brain ultimately cuts these feelings out and accepts that this is the way it will be. The body truly is a remarkable machine.

The Atlantic Row Update from Britannia III

07 Feb 2011 07:40 GMT

Nabs El-Busaidy and the crew of Britannia III Ocean Rowing boat have made good progress over the weekend.  However, with 32 nautical miles covered in 12 hours Britannia III are aware they need to step up their game in order to break the mid-Atlantic speed record.

Although well ahead of the current record holder La Mondiale, Britannia covered approximately 50nm less than their competition in the 12 hours overnight last night. Ideally Britannia III need to be covering between 80 and 100nm per 24 hours.

There are four ocean rowing boats competing for the record.  Britannia III is one of three SWEEP rowing boats currently in the Atlantic and there is one SCULLING boat.

Sculling generally refers to a method of using oars to propel watercraft in which the oar or oars touch the water on both the port and starboard sides of the craft, or over the stern. By extension, the oars themselves are also often referred to as sculls when used in this manner, and the boat itself may be referred to as a scull.

Sweep or sweep-oar rowing is a type of rowing when a rower has one oar, usually held with both hands. As each rower has only one oar, the rowers have to be paired so that there is an oar are on each side of the boat. This is in contrast to sculling when a rower has two oars, one in each hand. In the UK the term is less used as the term rowing generally refers to sweep oar.

While sculling is a fully symmetrical movement (with exception of the handle overlap), sweep oar rowing is slightly asymmetrical and many rowers strongly prefer one side to the other. The average speed of a boat increases with the crew size and sculling boats are significantly faster than the equivalent sweep boats.

Nabs suffered from sea sickness at the start of his ocean row but is now recovered and settling into his routine.  He wishes everyone well, especially Maria and his family, and is enjoying reading all the messages on the website.

Woodvale Challange – The Atlantic Row

02 Feb 2011 10:09 GMT

Nabs and the crew of Britannia III were watched off the line on Monday 31st January by the official Woodvale support boat and many friends and well-wishers in Puerto de Mogan. They finally left the dock at 12:04 GMT. After the first 24 hours at sea Britannia III and her crew are making steady progress towards the finish. Top speed during the day was around 4.3 knots.

The knot is a unit of speed equal to one nautical mile per hour, which is equal to exactly 1.852 km/h and approximately 1.151 mph. The knot is used in meteorology, and in maritime and air navigation—for example, a vessel travelling at 1 knot along a meridian travels one minute of geographic latitude in one hour. The term comes from counting the number of knots which came off the reel of a chip log in a specific time.

Britannia III is capable of doing around 4 knots solely with oars, and depending on the sea, can go over 10 knots. Britannia III will also be rowing 2,602 nautical miles from the Canaries to the Caribbean.

The nautical mile (symbol M, NM, Nm or nmi) is a unit of length corresponding approximately to one minute of arc of latitude along any meridian. By international agreement it is exactly 1,852 metres (approximately 6,076 feet). It is used especially by navigators in the shipping and aviation industries, and also in polar exploration.

The nautical mile remains in use by navigators worldwide because of its convenience when working with charts. Most nautical charts are constructed on the Mercator projection whose scale varies by approximately a factor of six from the equator to 80° north or south. It is, therefore, impossible to show a single linear scale for use on charts on scales smaller than about 1/80,000. Since a nautical mile is, for practical navigation, the same as a minute of latitude, it is easy to measure a distance on a chart with dividers, using the latitude scale on the side of the chart directly to the east or west of the distance being measured.

The Ocean Rowing Society (the official adjudicator of Ocean Rowing Records for Guinness World Records) has now set up a comparitive chart showing the positions of Britannia III, Hallin Marine and Sara G (Britannia IIIs competition) against the current world record holders La Mondiale. It is interesting to watch the progress on this site to see how Nabs and his team are comparing to the current world record holders.

In the first 24 hours Britannia III covered 74.67 nautical miles and had a VMG of 2.71 knots.

To explain the figures on our progress page…the VMG is “velocity made good” and refers to the velocity (speed) made good towards the finish line. The DMG is “distance made good” which is the distance travelled by the boat towards the finish line based on the shortest route (i.e. as the crow flies). A crew will always row a greater distance than the DMG, simply because they will not be able to row a shorter distance than that of the ‘crow’.

The DTF is the distance to the finish and quite simply is the distance between a crews last known position and the finish line. It is important to bear in mind that Britannia III is travelling south-west at this stage, so do not read too much into the speeds (VMG) and distances (DMG), and as such are not travelling directly for the finish line.

Nabs is in good spirits and is settling into his rowing, eating and sleeping routine.