Rowers’ arduous journey across Atlantic
BRAAM Malherbe and his rowing partner Wayne Robertson’s voyage to Rio has put the two men through quite an arduous time.
The two have been on the open sea for 36 days and recently completed 3 343km of their 6 700km trip.
On day 33, Malherbe explained that the experience so far had definitely been an uncomfortable one. “As a result of 33 days of cloudy weather, rain squalls and humidity, we have nothing clean or dry to wear.
“So we are limited to wearing baggies only, and bathing is restricted to half a litre each and two wet wipes.
“We have to hand-pump the manual desalinator each day because our solar panels don’t receive enough sun to keep the batteries above 60%.
“It takes 45 minutes to pump 2 litres.”
The pair ran into a dangerous situation when they encountered a vessel, roughly 600-feet long and 105-feet wide, that almost didn’t see them. “After relatively close calls with almost a ship a night in the first 12 days, we saw nothing for two weeks except one vessel a few nights back, and then near disaster.
“Just after midnight, our automatic identification system (AIS) went off. We have set it at maximum distance of 5 nautical miles for an alarm to sound if on a possible collision course.”
The two men tried to get in contact with the ship, but heard nothing.
Malherbe said there had been silence for 30 seconds before they were told to repeat their message.
“We are a non-propelled two-man row boat, a non-propelled two-man row boat”, Robertson repeated. “Un-propelled vessel, you are small,” a person aboard the ship replied.
Malherbe explained there was a plan in place in case they needed it. Robertson would cut the life raft tethers, get their grab bag, prepacked with three to four days’ rations, water, light and other essential equipment. “We would throw a life raft overboard and deploy her.
“Wayne gets on board, I pass gear, including flare kits. We wait last few minutes before deciding safer option, based on ship bearing. If life raft opens, I climb on fast, let tether length out and cut when decided.”
After the close call, the rowers needed a tot of the whisky Robertson’s dad gave him as a parting gift.
The two men are aiming to be the first to row across the Atlantic Ocean and are doing so to raise funds for the Do One Thing (DOT) challenge, a movement and app that aims to connect like-minded individuals who want to make the planet healthy, green and sustainable.