Atlantic’s kamikaze fish

East London’s Atlantic racers Bill Godfrey and Peter van Kets have staved off huge swells and a massive storm, rowing into calmer waters only to be faced with a new peril – kamikaze flying fish.

With a few days left to go, the two intrepid rowers are still leading the pairs division of the Woodvale Atlantic Rowing Challenge.

Van Kets’ wife Kate on Monday said the men were entering the final stages of the race and should be setting foot on land in Antigua within the next few days – some 5 000km away from La Gomera in the Canaries, where the race started on December 2.

“Antigua is potentially now just a few days away. The amount of nautical miles is now a three figure and not a four figure, which is a major milestone,” she writes in her updated blog on the rowers’ website.

So far, the men are holding up well, except for being pestered by flying fish which has been conducting “sorties” onto their rowing boat, the Gquma Challenger.

“The kamikaze flying fish have (now) resorted to the odd sortie rather than a continual Blitz. Though the fish plague really wasn’t as bad as some of the crews who had the equivalent of large flying mullets whereas Bill and Pete had small sardine-sized (fish),” she said.

Godfrey and Van Kets are however now battling severe fatigue and were battling to keep their eyes open as they hold their lead, but are barely 23 nautical miles (42 km) ahead of their nearest rivals, the British team of Jon Csehi and Nick Histon in No Fear.

Leading the world’s toughest sea race overall is the four-crew British team of Pura Vida.

Godfrey said however the Gquma crew was not too worried.

“We just need to keep plugging away and hopefully they will crack,” he told Kate van Kets.

Related Articles

• No Related Post