The Catalan team is made up of fishermen and sailors who love the sea. “We’ve been practicing rowing for many years, in Catalan rowing competitions. In 2010 we discovered that there were people crossing the Atlantic. We were captivated by the idea. In 2017 my club, the Santa Cristina Rowing Club of Lloret de Mar, organized a crossing from Lloret to Menorca in Catalan. It was 26.5 hours rowing, a huge challenge. Martí Ramírez, who was in the same boat, called me a few months later and asked me if I was encouraged to cross the Atlantic. And look where we are now”, Quim explained to ARA. “We looked for two more people, thinking that the ideal formula was four rowers. You have to think that in this regatta teams of one person, of two, three, four and five participate. Four is the queen category. And it’s a number optimal for managing a project like this. So we added Sergi and Juanba to the team. We had to buy a boat with which we went on crossings, since there was no boat of this type in Spain at the time. It was necessary to make an effort”, he recalled.
Overcoming problems
The vessel with which they have achieved this feat is special. It is 8.5 meters long, with solar panels to be connected, a desalination plant to have water and freeze-dried food that gives the rowers 4,500 calories a day. On a safety level, they have taken survival courses on the high seas. “If the ship capsizes, the two cabins are hermetically sealed, bow and stern. The design of the boat means that if it turns, it will right itself again”, explained Quim. These two small cabins, which fit two people, they are also the refuge where they can rest. “To row, we take turns of two. Two sleep in the cabins and two row, and the change is made every two hours. For 35 or 40 days we do not sleep more than two hours in a row “. Staying connected at all times has been key, as their battery stopped working halfway through the course. While the two rowed, Martí spoke on the radio with technicians to fix it. The Catalan team, which had started in first position, he fell to third. And when it seemed that the wind was again in his favor, the lower part of the bear, a sort of fixed rudder on the lower part of the boat, broke off. This made it difficult control the direction, but they got away, and regained the lead by having a better strategy.
