TEAM MERMAID ATLANTIC COMPLETE WORLD’S TOUGHEST ROW AS THEY CROSS THE LINE IN ANTIGUA

Islanders Xavier Baker, Paul Berry and Chris Mannion – Team Mermaid – successfully crossed the finish line in English Harbour, Antigua during the early hours of this morning (Friday) after completing the ‘World’s Toughest Row’ in 43 days 17 hours and 58 minutes. Family and friends were in the Caribbean to greet the ocean-loving trio as they completed their gruelling 3,000-mile challenge that started in La Gomera, Canary Islanders back in December. They crossed the line at 22:45 local time (02:45 London). It wasn’t plain sailing for the team as within just a few days of beginning their challenge they had to set off a white flare, narrowly avoiding a collision with a big ship. Then, a broken daggerboard caused more problems for the rowers. Emotions were running high in Antigua last night with Xavier saying: “The level of support has been so overwhelming, the Isle of Wight has completely got behind us and when we were down, reading those messages just brought us back up – we cannot thank everyone enough, it’s just been amazing”. Chris added:

“Unbelievable, we have watched previous races obviously and then we were just saying this is actually us now. It’s overwhelming to see family up at the fort – just amazing”.

Xavier is the co-founder of Isle of Wight Distillery, Chris runs local business i-Surf and Paul Berry is a firefighter for Hampshire & Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service. At Paul’s home station, Ryde, his colleagues from Green Watch were watching a live stream and celebrated his – and the team’s – success last night.

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Green watches Paul Berry and his crew on @MermaidAtl have safely crossed the Atlantic in 43 day 17 hours and 58 minutes, amazing achievement, https://t.co/8don1uweB1 #worldstoughetrow #IOW #gin #firefighter pic.twitter.com/UsE2GYXWva

— Ryde Fire, Green watch IWFRS (@HIWFRSRYDE) January 26, 2024

Team Mermaid Atlantic has been raising money and awareness for 3 charities; Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, Surfers Against Sewage and The Seahorse Trust.