The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
North Sea daredevils charting the same course.
Oarsman and swimmer chart course down east
A pair of North Sea endurance adventurers are locked in a remarkable race into the record books off the coast of Courier Country.
Round Britain rower Andy Hodgson is back on the oars after an unscheduled windy weather halt in Arbroath as the Surrey 36-year-old bids to be the first man to complete a solo circumnavigation of Britain in a rowing boat.
In an astonishing coincidence, he is now charting a course down the nation’s east coast in the same direction as Ross Edgley, who is swimming the clockwise route and has already powered his way into history with his astonishing feat.
Despite having never been on a boat until deciding to take on the epic endurance challenge, Andy had made excellent progress in his seven-metre offshore craft, Spirit of Ahab, on his journey of more than 2,000 miles.
A four-man crew successfully completed the circumnavigation in 2005, but since then only four boats out of 16 have made the journey – none of them solo oarsmen.
The rules of the challenge prevent Andy from coming ashore or taking on assistance, and he spent a frustrating spell at Arbroath marina having been forced to take shelter in the Angus harbour by high winds.
The stop allowed him to catch up on sleep and prepare journey charts for the homeward trip down the east coast, and at the weekend Andy was able to say goodbye to Arbroath and follow the Angus coast to a point close to East Haven, before heading across the mouth of the Tay and into Fife.
It meant a narrowing of the gap between Andy and Ross, who hasn’t set foot on land since stepping into the sea at Margate on June 1 to swim his way round Britain. The 32-year-old has covered more than 1,150 miles and exceeded the previous world record for the longest staged sea swim of 73 days, set in 1998.
He has had to use gaffer tape and two kilograms of Vaseline to combat wetsuit chafing and has grown a beard to defend himself against jellyfish stings during six-hour stints in the water. Ross received a special display by the Red Bull Matadors aerobatic team while swimming the Moray Firth to mark 100 days in the water.