Bill Godfrey and Peter van Kets: Rowing the Gquma Challenger across the Atlantic Ocean the fastest

On 2nd December 2007 South African rowers Bill Godfrey and Peter van Kets left the Canary Islands with their compass bearings set on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. Fifty-one days later, they rowed their 7.1 metre boat, the Gquma Challenger (a Xhosa word meaning ‘roar of the ocean’) into Antigua Bay in the Caribbean, having completed a journey of just on 5 350km’s. The feat won them the pairs division of the Atlantic Rowing Race 2007 – the toughest endurance rowing race in the world. First held in 1997, the biannual Atlantic Rowing Race sees teams of four, pairs and solo rowers brave the tumultuous and unpredictable waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Teams have to propel themselves across the ocean, and are required to be self sufficient, carrying all their own food and supplies. According to the team’s website, Godfrey’s reason for taking on this challenge is much like the reason mountaineers tackle Mount Everest, ‘it’s there and it has to be done’. Indeed it did!