2007 Woodvale Atlantic Rowing Race
The 2007 race left San Sebastián de la Gomera on Sunday 2 December 2007 with the finish in English Harbour, Antigua, on the same course as the 2005 race. 2 singles, 15 pairs and 5 fours started the race, with a six-crew boat starting slightly later. One pair "Titanic Challenge" and one Four "Move Ahead II" retired early on.
The first to finish, "Pura Vida", was a four crewed by John Cecil-Wright, Robbie Grant, Tom Harvey & Carl Theakston (all GB) finished at 14.52 UTC on 19 January 2008, taking 48 Days, 2 hours, 52 minutes.
The first pair, "Gquma Challenger" (Gquma meaning"breaking wave"), was crewed by South Africans Bill Godfrey & Peter Van Kets. They finished at 00.15 UTC on 22 January, with the second pair, "No Fear", crewed by John Csehi & Nick Histon (both GB) finishing just 5 hours and 50 minutes later, after over 50 days at sea.
The next to finish, "Unfinished Business", comprised four girls—Jo Davies (GB), Sarah Kessans (US), Emily Kohl (US) & Tara Remington (NZ)—who had all competed in the 2005 race but had failed to finish due to injury, capsizing or sinking. They finished on 23 January in a time of 51 days, 16 hours and 31 minutes, a new female-fours record for an Atlantic crossing. The girls then renamed the boat "Finished Business".
Fifth to finish, "Go Commando", was crewed by Ben Gaffney and Orlando Rogers (both GB). They finished in 54 days, 8 hours and 39 minutes. Their row, and the preparation for it, were the subject of a 1-hour TV documentary shown on ITV 4 (UK) on 7 March 2008. Go Commando made a last minute dash and pulled away from "The Reason Why" crewed by Steve Gardner & Paul Harris (both GB), who finished 3 hours 24 minutes later, the sixth to finish.
Having started much later, "Oyster Shack Ocean Challenger" came in next. This was a "six" boat, although it was eventually rowed by five. Although "Oyster Shack" accompanied the race, it was a record attempt and not a race entrant and so was not placed (see below).
The seventh to finish, "Pendovey Swift" crewed by Ian Andrews and Joss Elliott (both GB), finished in 62 days, 20 hours and 56 Minutes. Next was "Mission Atlantic", a four comprising Andy Ehrhart, Justin Ellis, Mark Hefford and Nick Young (all GB) who completed the crossing in 65 days, 0 hours and 28 minutes although they were later disqualified (See "Race Positions" below). In eighth place came "Komale" with James Burge & Niall McCann (both GB) who took the start line, but immediately returned to San Sebastian due to a medical problem. They eventually started 2 days late and had a crossing time of 63 days, 2 hours and 5 minutes, but a race time 2 days longer than this.
"Jaydubyoo", crewed by brothers Andrew and Joseph Jordon-White (both GB), came ninth in 65 days, 19 hours 43 minutes—narrowly beating "Row of Life", crewed by Angela Madsen (USA) & Franck Festor (France), who finished in 65 days, 23 hours 24 minutes. Angela, a paraplegic, and Franck, a leg amputee, had originally planned to row the Atlantic in a differently-abled four, "Differents?" in 2006 but, when this was cancelled, agreed to row as a pair in order to "inspire, motivate and effect positive changes in the lives of those who are born differently abled and those who suffer serious trauma in their lives." "Differents?" made its first Atlantic crossing in 1997 and competed in the 2005 race as "Bout de Vie".
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