New Record for Oldest Rowing Team to Cross Atlantic
Four men, who call themselves the "Ancient Mariners," say they have broken a record for the oldest team of four to row across the Atlantic Ocean. Aged between 61 and 67, with a combined age of 257 years and 10 days, it took them 49 days to row their boat about 3,000 miles across the Atlantic.
The men, all from the UK, are Guy Munnoch, 67, Mike Winn, 64, John Moorhouse, 63, and Steve Hughes, 61. They left La Gomera in the Canary Islands on 12 December 2019, and arrived in English Harbor, Antigua on 30 January, 2020.
Each member of the team would row their boat, The Grey Escape Vessel, for two hours, then rest for two hours. The team said they thought it took about 1.5 million strokes to get them across the Atlantic. There was no toilet on board.
They used the journey to raise over $26,000 for two charities: Blind Veterans UK, and Open Arms Malawi. Munnoch and Hughes are both army veterans, while Moorhouse and Winn have spent more than 40 years in Malawi between them.
The new record has not yet been confirmed by Guinness World Records. The record they were trying to break is held by Rowan Bailey, JD Hall, Peter Smith and Nick Fuller in 2016. They had a combined age of 223 years and 211 days when they crossed the Atlantic, which took them 52 days. They also travelled from the Canary Islands to Antigua.
Munnoch said that the journey was very difficult, but was a "life-changing" experience. He also said it was a great feeling to have finished the journey in less than 50 days.
