Former soldier looks to the stars and a sextant for solo row across Atlantic
Kidnap victim will try to cross the ocean ‘the wrong way’, against winds and tides, using sky to navigate
A FORMER SAS soldier will row the Atlantic solo using only the stars to guide him after being inspired by his escape from kidnap in Syria.
Ian Rivers will attempt the 3,000 nautical mile voyage “the wrong way”, west to east against prevailing wind and tides, without GPS for navigation.
It will be the first time a solo unsupported rower has ever crossed the Atlantic using the Northern Route.
Speaking to The Sunday Telegraph Mr Rivers said: “True adventure is when you don’t actually know the outcome. You go into it as best prepared as you can be, but you honestly don’t really know what the ultimate outcome is. It’s you against the elements.”
Mr Rivers, 55, from Hereford, will use only the stars and a sextant in Sentinel, a 27ft rowing boat. He is raising money for the SAS Regimental Association’s Sentinels programme, a mental health initiative, and St Michael’s Hospice in Herefordshire. Due to leave New York in mid-May, Mr Rivers expects to arrive in the Isles of Scilly around 90 days later.
The start date will be driven by a fiveday weather window of favourable offshore wind – westerly winds coming from America – to allow time to get into deep water around 160 miles offshore, away from the shallow continental shelf which can produce big waves.
“In deep water it just turns into massive great swells” he said, “which is scary enough, but they don’t break, they’re just big walls of water that mess around with you”.
In December 2012, while working for an American news network, Mr Rivers was kidnapped in Syria. He escaped and found his way to safety using only natural indicators.
Although he won’t have access to GPS there is a GPS tracker on board so supporters will be able to see where he is. He will also send estimated coordinates through daily so his support team will be able to map where he is and where he thinks he is.
Mr Rivers thinks the hardest part will be getting into a routine of rowing.
“The first four weeks is going to be tough,” he said, “especially the confidence to shut the door at night and go to sleep letting the boat drift with the currents and the wind. The psychological side is probably the hardest part, just trying to relax and sleep and recover from a hard day’s row.
“I’m not particularly fond of my own company. That’s going to be a challenge in itself.”
Mr Rivers will not have the support of the trade winds used for Atlantic crossings “the correct way” and expects a tropical storm every two weeks. The original North Atlantic route, known as the classic, was first crossed by Frank Samuelson and George Harbo in 1896. For 114 years they held the record – 55 days and 7 hours.
The “wrong way” solo record is held by Tom McClean, a fellow SAS soldier.
In 1969 he took 71 days to cross from Newfoundland to Ireland, “800 miles shorter,” Mr Rivers notes with a smile. Mr McClean built his boat in the Regiment’s gymnasium in Hereford and, like Mr Rivers, only had a sextant.
Fiann Paul of the Ocean Rowing Society, the sport’s governing body, said the ocean “forces you to face your limits and get to know yourself. You have to face things that humans normally never have to go through.
“It’s the last frontier of human-powered explorations.”
The SAS Regimental Association said: “Over the last couple of years the Sentinels Initiative has provided peer-driven mental health support to its members with a range of support geared to meet the needs of the individual.
“Ian, himself a Sentinel, highlights our Regimental ethos to the core: the unrelenting pursuit of excellence, the highest levels of self-discipline, equality, humility and bags of humour! He will need it.”