Our People

Rower overcomes sea sickness and sharks to cross Atlantic

• Howick and Botany Times

TAKING on the challenge of crossing the Atlantic Ocean by rowboat may seem a peculiar way of overcoming seasickness.

SISTERS IN ARMS: Tara Remington, right, with fellow rowers from left, Sarah Kessans, Emily Kohl and Jo Davies celebrate finishing the race. Photos supplied.

But that’s just part of the mental and physical challenges that Tara Remington overcomes when she goes to sea, especially long voyages starting on one continent and landing on another.

Remington, an active schools facilitator for Counties Manukau Sport, has just returned to these shores after a record breaking crossing of the Atlantic by rowboat in an all-women crew. She suffers from seasickness and isn’t a fan of taking medication, as they cause unwanted heartburn.

The recently completed 2007 Atlantic Rowing Race was the second time Remington had been out on the world’s second largest body of water. She knew before setting course that the seasickness issue would again pop to the surface.

Before heading out of Tenerife in early December, Remington warned her crewmates that the first few days would be physically draining and she’d be “looking and sounding dreadful”.

“It’s like going to hell and back again,” says Remington, adding her sea legs kick-in after about five days and her health comes right. And not that it deters her from completing her rostered turns at oar.

The voyage from Tenerife off the north-west coast Africa to Antigua in the West Indies took Remington’s crew 51 days, 16 hours and 31 minutes, beating the previous effort by a four-person female team by 17 days.

The race distance is officially 2995 miles, but because of sea currents and weather, Remington’s boat rowed 3300 miles by the time it crossed the English Harbour finish line.

Keeping energy up was important.

She teamed up with Sarah Kessans and Emily Kohl from the United States and Jo Davies from Britain and says she was extremely lucky to be in a team that got on so well.

She says for most of the journey there was plenty of friendly camaraderie and “story telling and singing” onboard their purpose-built craft called Unfinished Business (UFB). It affectionately became known as Summer Camp UFB.

Teamwork and the ability to get on was all-important, especially on an adventure in such isolated waters. She tells of one men’s crew of four that had to be towed back to Tenerife after only a week at sea. There were personality clashes. Major ones.

Not that things were always rosy onboard Summer Camp UFB. She says the women were regularly in sight of Trans-Atlantic ships, including huge container vessels and tankers, and a close call incident on New Year’s Eve left the women drenched, bailing, but alive.

A giant cargo ship mistakenly misread the women’s position and passed only 600 metres away. The wake from the ship’s bow waves swamped Unfinished Business and tossed it about like a rough day for surfers at Piha.

But that pales in significance when Remington, 37, talks of her 2005 Trans-Atlantic attempt, in a two person mixed crew with Scotsman Iain Rudkin. They were 46 days into the race when their rowboat fell apart.

“The cruel hand of fate snatched our boat away,” says Remington. “Our boat started sinking and we had to go to the life raft, after a capsize and we had a shark attack. It compromised our boat but we rowed it for another month with holes in it.

“Then we had really big seas and the boat just couldn’t handle it. It took on so much water we couldn’t keep it afloat.

Out on the open sea.

“It was just gutting, when you’re that close. But then two days later, we picked up two guys who were on day 48 and they lost their boat. That puts things in perspective.

“It was 18 days into the race and we were looking pretty good, in about ninth place overall out of 26 boats.

“We were at sea anchor, because in 2005 we had five days of rowing, then three days at sea anchor, then three days of rowing. We had a tropical storm that left and came back as a hurricane. Then we had another tropical storm and another hurricane.

“We were huddled on deck having some lunch, feeling good to be out of the cabin. I looked down and said to Iain, look at the pretty fish. It got bigger and bigger. It was this massive shark. It went under the boat and we were watching it. It was awe-inspiring.

“It went away and then quickly turned around and rammed into us. It did that about 15 times. I crawled to the stern cabin and went around to close the back hatch because it was open.

“The shark knew we moved and came up and had a bite out of the rudder. I looked at it and smelt its breath just as it came up out of the water.

“It rammed us a few times in the back. We could hear the cracking, because those boats are only marine plywood. They’re made to share the load. They’re not made for impact.”

The shark eventually disappeared into the deep, but the damage inflicted on Remington’s 2005 boat was the catalyst for naming the 2007 craft Unfinished Business.

The physical education teacher was born and raised in the United States, in Orchard Park near Buffalo, New York state. She grew up close to the Great Lakes and has enjoyed water recreation since she was a nipper.

But she’s absolutely positively in love with this country and her life here. Her large fern tattoo on the back of her right calf illustrates the point. She’s lived in New Zealand for 12 years and says her heart’s here.

“It’s brilliant. It’s like a big playground. I lived at Karamea on the West Coast of the South Island for a numbers of years. On the same day you could be up a mountain, in the sea, in a river – it’s great.”

Of the tough and exposed nature of the West Coast climate and lifestyle, she says: “There’s no room for babies. You just get on with it. For me it was my first exposure to real wilderness and really having to be totally self-sufficient. Things go wrong out there and only you can get yourself out of it, really.”

She’s done one Coast to Coast race and a Taupo Ironman, which her Trans-Atlantic crewmates are intending to compete with her next year.

Remington remains keen-as for all things rowing and is looking at entering the Trans-Indian Rowing Race in three years, an event that holds its inaugural race next year.

She’s even enthusiastic and determined enough to suggest that she’d be up to the challenge of rowing around the world. She says an overseas ocean rowing bloke is deciding whether to take on the challenging adventure.

And even after 51 days at sea, where the conditions were cramped and uncomfortable, she’s not deterred.

“If you gave me a boat I’d be out there tomorrow,” says Remington.