The race
The C-Map Atlantic Dash runs from Lanzarote in the Canary Islands to Jolly Harbour in Antigua: about 3,200 miles of open ocean, rowed unassisted. The 2024 crews left Lanzarote on 3 January.
Rod skippered one crew. Phil skippered another, with Gary on board.
Rod's crew
The Brightsides
- Boat
- Mrs Nelson
- Crew
- Rod Adlington (skipper), Guy Minshull, Alex Perry, Anna Williams
- Time at sea
- 52 days, 18 hours, 53 minutes
- Landed
- Sunday 25 February 2024
Phil and Gary's crew
Atlantic Rocks
- Boat
- Sentinel
- Crew
- Phil Angus (skipper), Gary Binns, Dan Martin, Justin Wallace
- Time at sea
- 61 days, 19 hours, 13 minutes
- Landed
- 5 March 2024
The Brightsides
Rod's crew took their name from Barney's favourite song, Mr Brightside by The Killers. With him were Guy Minshull, an arable farmer from Kenilworth, serving paratrooper Alex Perry and Lancashire vet Anna Williams.
They rowed non-stop in more than 660 two-hour shifts and stopped the boat only five times: once for Rod's birthday and four times to scrape the hull. They rode out storms with waves of up to 30 feet. At times the wind stopped them altogether and they had to row backwards to find a better one. They worried about food running low.
They reached Jolly Harbour after 52 days, 18 hours and 53 minutes. They were the first crew home, the fastest crew to complete the Atlantic Dash and its first mixed crew. Anna became the first woman to finish it. Together they raised more than £150,000 for Meningitis Now and Get A-Head.
Atlantic Rocks
Phil skippered an RAF Regiment crew of four on the boat Sentinel, with Gary, Dan Martin and Justin Wallace. Gary was the lead organiser. The crew spent two years planning and training.
The crossing went wrong early. On day four the boat flooded and ruined a quarter of their rations. They lost satellite contact on day 12, their backup generator on day 15 and all power on day 17. For the next 33 days they navigated by map and compass and steered with their feet, through gales, high seas and vast fields of sargassum seaweed.
They reached Antigua on 5 March after 61 days, 19 hours and 13 minutes. They rowed for five charities: The Centurion Fund, The Veterans Charity, Mental Health Research UK, Tough Enough to Care and SSAFA.
Then the Indian Ocean
Phil and Gary stayed in touch with Rod after Antigua. Rod still never misses a chance to remind them his crew was faster.
For Rod the sea felt like unfinished business. When the chance came to row the Indian Ocean together it was an easy decision. Barney's Boys was formed in Barney's memory, rowing again for Meningitis Now and Get A-Head and for The Veterans Charity, whose backing meant so much to Atlantic Rocks.
In May 2028 we set off from Geraldton in Western Australia for Grand Baie in Mauritius: 3,700 miles, 65 to 80 days and no support boat. This time we're all in the same boat.