Two Irishmen to row across the Atlantic Part 6

in #prlast year (edited)

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The Story so far

I know that some of you will have read my other five posts about the lads and of course some of won't have read them and that's no problem. I'll include the links to them below just in case anybody wants to read them first, but I know how precious people's time is and this post is just one of many that you will be trying to read within a likely short window, so with that in mind, I'll quickly paraphrase what happened in the lead up to week 5 and continue from there afterwards. I am going to close it out with this post too, so by the end of this you will know if Cushlamachree made it to Galway.

This series brings tales of exploration and woe from two Irishmen who embarked on one of the hardest challenges imaginable. Damien Browne and Fergus Farrell who are fellow Galwaymen set out to row across the Atlantic ocean from New York to Galway on Ireland's West coast unsupported, which means that there is no safety boat alongside them for emergencies, it's just them their oars and the roaring waves.

The lads set out to make history and aim to be the first crew to successfully row from New York to Galway, unsupported. Following some last-minute scrambling to locate a Sat phone, and loading up some last provisions, including jelly babies and chocolate bars (seriously) they final set sail, well now, as there are no sails! They set off from New York on June 13th on their 6.2 metre rowing boat called Cushlamachree, next stop Galway and the "Bonfires of Aran" as Damian often says.

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The two guys know each other from playing rugby in Galway and both represented Ireland at Junior level and have remained friends ever since. Damien had a very successful rugby career, having played for Connacht, Northampton Saints and Leinster over the years. When his career ended, Damian had to find new challenges to fill his days and find them he did. Everest basecamp and other mountaineering expeditions, ultra marathons, oh and he rowed an ocean! Yep, this is going to be his second ocean rowed if he gets over the line.

Fergus then had a near death experience a few years ago, which left him over 95% certain to be paralysed and unable to walk again, and after making a miraculous recovery, he too craved challenge and when the lifelong friends met up a few years ago, project Empower and rowing an ocean together while raising money for charities was born. Those charities are Ability West, the Galway Simon Community, Madra animal rescue and the National Rehabilitation Hospital (NRH) foundation, all very worthy recipients.

In the most recent post I talked about Gussy having to get rescued after 13 days on the Ocean, and how he was rescued and why he was rescued. I delved into how Damian had to adjust and reset following Gussy's departure. I talked about the different types of wildlife the lads encountered along the way from whales to dolphins, turtles to porpoises, and not forgetting the little blackbird Lass, who was Damian's unexpected guest and pet for a few days.

I covered the ups and downs of the first sixty days or so in these posts in case you want to catch up, otherwise let's crack on and finish this thing off. I'm tired writing about it, so I can only imagine what it was like for Damian!

https://hive.blog/hive-101690/@ablaze/two-irishmen-to-row-across-the-atlantic-part-1

https://hive.blog/hive-101690/@ablaze/two-irishmen-to-row-across-the-atlantic-part-2

https://hive.blog/hive-101690/@ablaze/two-irishmen-to-row-across-the-atlantic-part-3

https://hive.blog/hive-101690/@ablaze/two-irishmen-to-row-across-the-atlantic-part-4

https://hive.blog/hive-101690/@ablaze/two-irishmen-to-row-across-the-atlantic-part-5

Powering on

We got as far as day 43 and the half way mark in the last post, and one would hope that this would mean that the endevour would be done and dusted by day 86, but rarely are things as straight forward as that, it would be ten days more, 2o days more, would it be 30 days more? Read on to find out. Let's rejoin Damian after he passes the halfway point of this Herculean adventure.

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It is worth calling out Galway Bay Brewing Company who were one of the sponsors for this event and have sponsored €2 per mile rowed on this expedition which is an extremely generous thing to have done.

It's only a flesh wound!

Want to know more?

Join me again next week for part 6, as Damian and Cushlamachree edge ever closer to Galway and a reunion with his wife, daughter and family.

Also, if you can't wait for that, follow the big man at any of these places. I have been listening to his pod casts the whole way along which have been brilliant and very motivational. I would highly recommend them to you all.

https://www.facebook.com/gulliverstravels17
https://damianbrowne.com/
~~~ embed:embed-podcast/show/5F8VlGPSU5mBEJszmMR0rj spotify ~~~

These are not original photos - source: https://www.facebook.com/gulliverstravels17

Thanks as always for stopping by everyone.

Peace Out

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