Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge: Bondi rowers capsize, survive marlin attack, rogue waves
It’s not your normal race - being stalked by a marlin and tossed upside down by a rogue wave - but that’s what these four intrepid mates from Bondi have just been through.
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A quartet of mates have survived having their boat flipped upside down, two of them flung overboard, rogue waves, a seven-day storm and being rammed repeatedly by a giant marlin to finish one of the toughest races in the world.
The four Bondi rowers arrived in Antigua at the end of the infamous Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge battered, blistered and exhausted but with the record of the fastest Australians ever to complete the challenge.
The Rowed Less Travelled team completed the 3000 nautical mile Atlantic crossing from the Canary Islands in 34 days, 10 hours and 46 minutes to beat the previous best time set by a pairs boat by almost 18 days.
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The Australian team of Martin Fletcher, Ryan Grace, Cameron Mostyn and Nicholas Sargent experienced some of the strongest winds in the history of the race which triggered “apartment sized waves” and cause equipment damage.
The rowers, who had no formal rowing epxereince before the event, lost up to 14 kilos each during the odyssey with sleep and food deprivation causing hallucinations and 12 plus hours a day of rowing leaving them blistered and with painful gunwale bum.
I saw the wave hit Fletch and the whole boat flipped upside down. I was on the ceiling of the cabin just holding the handle because I couldn’t close it – if I had let go the cabin would have flooded and that would have been it
Even now, days after they arrived, their hands are still recovering with the four unable to make a fist or even remove tops from water bottles.
Grace, who undertook the challenge with his mates to raise money and awareness for the Black Dog Institute and works in commercial real estate, said the final week of the epic voyage was the toughest, with a storm tossing their rowing boat around “like a cork”.
This followed on from a rogue wave flipping the boat upside down with two of the rowers flung into the ocean connected to safety tethers and the other two desperately trying to keep a hatch closed to prevent the boat flooding and not righting back up.
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“The last seven days in this storm was tough. It was relentless. There was no break and we spent the last week completely drenched,” said Grace, whose eye swelled shut after he got some curried freeze dried food and ball bearing grease in it accidentally.
“The worse thing is the bum. You would sit down and clench your teeth. You are so wet and nothing heels.
“Our bodies just deteriorated in the final week. All our blisters and cuts wouldn’t heal.
“These seats are hard. Add salt water and a massive rash … it’s the most excruciating thing.
Earlier they were slammed on the side by a rogue wave in the dead of night.
“I saw the wave hit Fletch [Martin Fletcher] and the whole boat flipped upside down. I was on the ceiling of the cabin just holding the handle because I couldn’t close it – if I had let go the cabin would have flooded and that would have been it,’’ Grace said.
“None of us are equipped to handle this, but you have no choice. You just have to keep going.”
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In another incident the crew also had a bizarre encounter with a giant marlin which repeatedly rammed the boat, seemingly intent in damaging their rudder, for around 40 minutes.
“We saw a pod of six Ocre whales in the first six hours. We had pods of dolphins, - we jumped in and swam with the dolphins - we had more whales come close to the boat, “ he said.
“The only close call was when we got rammed really hard by what we though was a shark.
“It was really large and started stalking the boat and appeared to be after our orange rudder.
“We had to get an oar and fashion a spear to scare it off.’’
Now recovering from the ordeal, Grace said he was thrilled to have completed the challenge but would not do the race again.
“No. We are all glad we did it. But no, not again,’’ he said.
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