Aberdyfi Rowing Club Team Atlantic 2010 - Going for the Record
The Row
In January 2010 a crew from Aberdyfi Rowing Club in Wales will set off from Gran Canaria to make the fastest ever East-West crossing of the Atlantic in an ocean rowing boat for 25 years.
The first modern crossing in 1984 saw solo British oarsman Hugh King-Fretts land in Concept Bay Barbados after an epic row that took him over 99 days to cover the 2733 miles from his start in Tenerife.
Eight years later in 1992 Gerard Seibel and his all-French crew rowed the 11-man sweep-oared La Mondiale from Santa Cruz to Martinique in a time no-one thought possible; a record of 35 days 8 hours and 30 minutes that then stood unbroken for 16 years. Despite the number of boats making the crossing – made popular by the Woodvale Atlantic Challenge races that catapulted ocean rowing onto the world stage of endurance sports – no-one else came anywhere near that record until last year.
Then in 2007 Scottish stockbroker Leven Brown, reputed to have the blood of Christopher Columbus in his veins, bought La Mondiale, refitted and lightened it and this time with an Anglo-Irish crew lowered the record to 33 days 7 hours and 30 minutes.
The challenge the Aberdyfi crew face is no mean one, highlighted by La Mondale’s dramatic failure in January this year to beat its own record. A broken rudder and ferocious storms forced Leven Brown and his crew to abandon their row in midAtlanticwhen a new record looked a certainty.
Aberdyfi skipper Dave Rice is confident. “We have a really fast boat that in 2007 crossed in 37 days; we know what to prepare for and how to prepare and we’re not leaving anything to chance. Above all we have got a tremendous team and if you talk to anyone who knows anything about ocean rowing they will tell you it’s the team and the team’s attitude that decides who wins and who doesn’t. Our team are winners”
The Team
Dave Rice
Born near Aberdyfi former Royal Marine Dave Rice has been a sailor and a rower all his life. He finished first in the Singlehanded Transatlantic Sailing Race in 1987 and in 1997 came third in the Atlantic Rowing Race with his wife in 55 days and 2 hours-still the fastest crossing by a mixed pair. An ex-captain of Aberdyfi, he now races the club’s international Yole class , and was third in the Masters' solos in the 2008 World Coastal Rowing Championships
Michael Chesworth
Younger of the two Chesworth brothers in the team Mike came to rowing after many years of rugby. He was stroke of the Aberdyfi men’s boat which in 2008 won the Welsh Sea Rowing Association championship, and in theGreatRivertook first place in the Celtic Longboat class, and second overall out of 280 finishers. When he’s not rowing Mike is a director of the family building firm and a committed coach to local youth football teams
Paul Chesworth
Another ex-rugby player who is now a sea rowing obsessive. Paul is Aberdyfi‘s Men’s Captain for 2009. Paul rowed behind his brother in the 2008 Aberdyfi boat that was the most successful in the club’s ten year history. This included third place in the Celtic Challenge, the 18 hour row across theIrish seafrom Arklow to Aberyswyth when in the worst conditions in the race’s history only six boats finished out of the twelve that had started.
Gareth Rice
Army Captain Gareth is Dave Rice’s younger son and aims to put a third family name in the Atlantic record book. A keen Nordic skier and Adventure racer he has led two expeditions upMount Kilimanjaro. In the Great Britain Dragon Boat team from 2006-2008, he won a silver medal in both the European and World Championships in 2008. He rows Celtic longboats with Aberdyfi and was in the successful 2008 Celtic Challenge crew together with his father and the two Chesworth brothers.
Jan Skopecek
Czech by birth Jan is the international member of the crew. Speaking five languages he worked all over the world before his current job with Reuters in London. He plays more sports than he speaks languages, competing at national level in swimming, skating and canoeing and is a keen mountaineer and skier. An international Dragon Boat racer with Gareth Rice Jan was a silver and double bronze medallist in the 2008 World Championships.
George Daniels
Newest member of the crew the strong and silent George is a much feared prop forward round Shrewsbury and the Welsh borders. Although relatively new to rowing he is legendary in the Aberdyfi club for piloting the support RIB for the 2008 Celtic Challenge non-stop for nearly 24 hours in horrendous conditions.
Support the row – help the charities
As well as going for the record, the team will be rowing to raise funds for two charities, Sign Health and Wales Air Ambulance.
Sign Health has been working for over 20 years to improve the health of deaf people - initially in mental health and now more generally. They work with the NHS to improve the specialist services available to the deaf and have developed leading edge software to overcome the problems deaf people have simply in getting a GP appointment or talking to their GP about their health.
Wales Air Ambulance is one of the busiest of the 18 Air Ambulance Charities in and . Operating in communities with a scattered population often very far away from A&E services their aim is to reach and transport patients with the greatest speed possible. To find out more about the work of air Ambulance go to their website www.walesairambulance.com
All funds raised in support of the team’s record attempt from now until December 2010 will be channeled through Sign Health and will go to help with the expenses of the row and to support both charities.