 lads I have been following so I've not been in touch my heads on fire doing admin as I'm gash at it, but Keep going. I know it's a slog It hurts, but it will be worth it in the end. Obviously. I'm getting dm to fuck by your social manager But is is a message basically of me saying keep digging in, you know, it'll be worth it in the end Good effort lads. Give it some men. You got no fans We've got the sex Gentlemen, can I start by saying one absolute honor it is to have four of my brothers on my show All of whom have achieved something which is not just Absolutely fantastic incredible Bordering I'm sure to most people on superhuman But it's also something as Brucey will will tell you we chatted about in the pub the other night for about three hours Because I'd really love to do it. So this makes it an Extra special podcast for me I just want to say it's I Don't know how we're going to do it with for people Maybe I I just picked somebody so we're not all talking over each other So Oscar How did this? How did this well, what's your service history or a bit about yourself? So I joined I joined the core in the beginning of 2014 And and had a great career really enjoyed it, but I'm from New Zealand originally Grow up there and I want to move back So I was intending to leave the Marines what left the Marines in July last year But I'm also good friends of Brucey and nutty who you mentioned earlier Who rode last year and they when I as I was leaving they said I would put it together another team for The Atlantic this year. Do you want to jump on and I had no reason not to really so that's kind of what led me On to on to do the Atlantic Wow, which part of New Zealand are you from mate? The top of the South Island near Nelson Okay, is that near Raglan? I'm not sure. I don't think so. No, yeah They got new is a new Plymouth that way I knew yeah new permits in the in the North Island on the on the west coast of North Island Yeah, I've spent some time around those places. It's an absolutely incredible incredible country New Zealand Is that is that a big thing then coming over? Is it a big thing to come over and join the Marines? Is that an easy an easy move? It's it's possible to do yeah people from them from the Commonwealth are out to join There's lots of South Africans. I've only met a couple of other Kiwis that have done it But I've gone to your passport So I was looking at joining the military over there and was sort of looking at the options available to me and Realized I've you know, I could come out and join the join the Marines So I thought I'd give it a go and one thing led to another And what what unit have you served in? So I did couple years as a sprig up at 4 3 and then I was down and 40 commando in Taunton For about two and a half years and then spent the rest of my career at 4 2 Brilliant Yeah, 4 2 that was my unit. Do you want to introduce the other guys? Just yeah, is that going to save us a bit of time? and Your your video by the way is candy. Yeah, your video is frozen. I'm not sure That's probably a Wi-Fi signal issue, but don't mine is yeah, don't worry about it Yeah Okay, it's probably you go The further you go from the Wi-Fi the more the weaker the signal gets I guess yeah, but but go for it Yeah Okay. Yeah, so I'm Oscar stone and then we've got Connor Paterson Who's I don't know what order the screens are on your screen, but Connor's the next one down for me and then Mitch is The other lamp of the dark beer and then Jason Jason Gardner is in there is in his car there. Yes, got it and Did you all serve in the same unit together or are you all from across different places in the core? So we we actually only met through that through through this rowing team Jason Jason and I were part of the original Atlantic dagger team that we put together Since July last year But we had dramas with the other two lads in our team who were who were both serving and they couldn't get the time off from the Marines and so they had to drop out Connor and Mitch were part of a team called Atlantic Warrior who had similar drought similar team dramas where they lost to their team members So we amalgamated the two teams literally at the last minute the first time Jason I met Connor and Mitch was in Gran Canaria a week a week before we rode So none of us and Jason I haven't served together. So none of us really knew each other before this Sorry, my phone's falling over. Yeah, none of us really knew each other before we before we came on the row Have you guys have you been in the Middle East? I can't I'm not I Can't keep up with the age range in the the the time range No, so I missed out on Afghanistan. I joined too late and But but chase was in a bit before us. So he's he's served in Afghanistan But Mitch and I Mitch and I missed out on that What was that like Jace you'll have to you'll have to take yourself off mute mate Yeah, I don't um, I took part in a harrick 9 with a 42 commando K company It was a yeah, it was a good experience, you know done a wide wide variety of soldier in obviously We were doing strike ups at the time. So it wasn't you know, it was very it wasn't like we were in a fob scrapping every day We were doing you know anything from intel gathering to you know, sort of finding you D Factories to obviously, you know, battling with the insurgents as well Yeah, it's definitely a valuable experience. You know one of my highlights my core My core history, you know, yeah, you sound like you're in the West country or you're from the West country Unfortunately, yeah, I can't shake that Is that some a set or Devon Bristol Bristol, okay Yes, and So Yeah, if you came from two different boats and amalgamated then How does how does like this idea come up is this something that comes up over a couple of beers I don't know. Shall we go to Connor? Do you want to ask answer that one? Yeah, sure. So it was actually Harry who came up with the idea of combining the two teams Due to you know, what Oscar said about his unfortunate circumstances he came up with the idea of Combining the two teams because Mitch not had a bit of experience on the boats and we already had our team put together So we were lucky enough to be given the opportunity to join Oscar and Jason in the team at Antigua Are you all are you all serving or any of you veterans? So I am actually I'm actually in the Merchant Navy. It's been kind of swept away that I'm also a Marine or X Marine But I'm unfortunate to join the teams But I'm actually a serving Navigation officer in the Merchant Navy. I've been swept up with the guys It's just been a fantastic opportunity to do due to having a lot of connections in the core And the ship I work on work on close with the core And a fantastic opportunity to see a lot of the world of those guys so But yeah, the guys are all All veterans now so Hey Merchant Navy. I was uninvincible for A year and I loved my time at sea. I was always thinking about what it must be like to be in the Merchant Navy Yeah, sure. Yeah, have you been on many many ships? No, so I've just been on the one ship throughout my career, but you know, we've been as far as Columbia and as far as the Mediterranean and Norway and the media and fantastic way to see the world And now what what kind of ship is that? So it's a worldwide support vessel, but I've been fortunate to be contracted to the mod So wherever the guys do their training. We get a chance to take their kit over and And facilitate their training. Yeah, got you got you and um Did the merchant navy is it Do they just supply the navy or is there other roles that we we don't think of So the merchant navy is uh, it's a kind of collective term an umbrella term for all commercial shipping You might be thinking of the Royal Fleet auxiliary Ah, yeah, okay. That's that's um What's in my head? Yeah, got you Yeah, sorry. No, so the rfa is you know predominantly, you know, they they support the navy and they float around and you know Give them all the supplies they need but the yeah, sorry the merchant navy is to collect sample commercial shipping But fortunately like I said My company is contracted to the mod so we get to See a bit more of the world. Got you. Did these guys give you a lot of shit then for being? Uh, not particularly actually, um, yeah, the guys are very kind and um They welcome me You've got to say that Brilliant and um Yes, so Sorry, I can't remember if we answered the question. Was it well, where does an idea like this? You know first come from so you've obviously got a nautical background Connor um So was that something? I mean, do you like reading books and stuff on the on the On the open ocean? Yeah, of course just just living it for the past eight years. Um, You know sailed across a few oceans and I just basically living in growing up in southwest Growing up on the water just have a huge passion for everything water-based. So, you know, ocean rowing was just the next thing to do You know But through my connections through having lots of friends in the core I was really lucky to be given an opportunity to join the the two rowing teams And um, here we are Yes, brilliant brilliant And um, mitch, how are you doing mate? Hi chris. Yeah, yeah, i'm grandmate. Just happy to be on dry land. Yes. I saw your little videos you came into Was it barbados wasn't it? Yeah, bought us some jars and barbados. It wasn't quite as smooth a video as we'd hoped we were hoping for flares and and dramatics but It didn't take away from the moment. It was still one of the best moments of all of our lives. I think everyone would Yeah, these things never really go to plan. Do they? No, but yeah, nothing to my first contact, but it's still it's worth every moment. Definitely Yeah, and how did you come up with the idea to do this? I always it's always similar. I only left the core in um, in end of march last year and I'd just been working private security for a couple of weeks and another veteran friend of mine I was working with just he just turned around to me and said, uh, would you how would you feel about growing rowing an ocean or any Atlantic and I just went hell. Yeah, why not? So I'd never The ocean I love the ocean, but I've never really done done much on it So it was the concept of rowing across an ocean having never Been touched a rowing boat in my life. It's quite a good Challenge and it's just kind of encapsulated everything that appeals to me about adventure and that kind of thing So, um, yeah, I said, yeah, why not? He added me to a whatsapp group Which um, the lads from last year grusy nutty Chris Martin who organized everything mission Atlantic, you know, he's um, the big boss They're all part of that team. Um, so I joined that randomly joined the whatsapp group in um in may and um, And yeah a few months a couple of months later got added to Added to a random group of the guys and leave the connor and another two guys and then obviously as I say after several months of Of short notice but hard graft it kind of um, wasn't looking promising But then we very really really fortunately got the opportunity last minute to um to jump to jump on with this So luckily managed to realize the dream in the end Was so did you guys go with mission at lante? Yeah, so the abyss of lantic is the company owned by chris martin who just facilitates and um owns the boat Basically, so we were really lucky really really lucky. You can see such a such a nice person and You know, so he has all the expertise and um, he's a lot of people work for him Like the person we're here with now called nick who's the great person and they just know everything about the boats what to do Everything so the support result was just brilliant. But mission Atlantic was the company. Yeah, basically overseeing everything Yeah, brucey was telling me about it sounds um almost like a sort of Cut price package to aircross the Atlantic compared to Some some It's brilliant. It's that yes great concept And they're trying to build it over the next couple of years to offer it to x servicemen It's given the opportunity to obviously do like one of the biggest kind of challenges in the world Um to open it up to everyone really because it's really, you know, it's quite expensive and it's it's normally kind of reserved for More the kind of wealthier, you know, if you have a lot of money in this this gives this gives The opportunity who wouldn't have had it otherwise to um to do it like ourselves really Yeah, it just gives us the opportunity for style grafting to uh to realize their dreams really Yes, and it gives me the opportunity. That's what i'm excited about Yeah, you're going to be Yeah, well, I want to I definitely want to row across the Atlantic. Um and I shouldn't I suppose we shouldn't minimize the danger because obviously there's all sorts of stuff, isn't there? You could hit a container you could be moaned down by a ship you could get separated from the boat You could just have an accident on board that could turn things really nasty but generally speaking It's Or should I say statistically it's fairly safe. Am I am I right in thinking that? Yeah, that's correct statistically because because um, literally, you know, you everyone on the goes from training beforehand You familiarize with the boat. You're always you're always clipped onto the boat With a harness and a kind of kind of a line So even if you were thrown off the boat in a storm you'd still be attached So as long as you're diligent as long as you're doing all the correct drills So as long as you're attached onto the boat as long as you're always keeping the hatches closed So when there's a massive wave it doesn't fill up the boat and then that means if it's filled up with water It means you can't it can't turn over if you're capsized and stuff like that. So it's yeah It's it's kind of safe. Yeah, it's just good safe But like you say there's still there's still all them issues because when you're a thousand miles from land If there's one kind of accident or safe like a bleed or anything like that Um, it is scary to think yeah by the time anyone gets to you you'll be dead So it's it's it's safe, but it's the same time you always kind of got that in the back of your mind of You know, you've got to be switched on you've got to be switched on the whole time Yeah, I mean it might be something silly like you could You know burn yourself cooking or something couldn't you? That's it and then there you are that that gets affected and all you all you've got is some a few like you know Your dressings and antibiotics and that on board and essentially you've just got to be you've got to be between you You've got to be the team medic basically and to just help each other out and um, yeah All sorts of crazy stuff off to the weather is the worst thing with the storms and that and it's the scariest one Um, but the boats are designed the design to to be completely capsized multiple times and be absolutely fine So we're all a bit a little bit worried, but um, it's all about having Confidence in your boat, you know, personally after about a week or after a few days actually just kind of realized right Okay, you know this this is she's this boat. She's going to look after us And yeah, as long as you have confidence You'll you'll you'll be fine. You'll ride it through Yes, well the wonderful mc dorson is proof of that isn't he because he's he's had a few dunkings Hello, hello mc if you're watching um is it Is it um, do you think? I'm going to say marie. I was going to say service personnel, but there's some pretty rubbish service personnel in the world Do you think being it from an elite unit that means Doing the stuff the little things like closing the hatches Making sure everyone's got this safety line on Stick into the routine. Do you think that comes Easier or more naturally? Yeah, I mean I wouldn't say like people like coloritis advantage because kind of he was amazing And he was switched on and he was basically you would have thought he was one of the marines to be honest But yeah that kind of small the little body body system, you know Little things like just every single 10 minutes making sure everyone's okay And it's more the openness as well, you know because you're because you're so used to basically being Completely upfront the guys like, you know, within the first day we were completely naked In each other's faces like, you know, we've shown the whole world everything So the fact that if there's any little niggles, you can instantly say can you have a look at my mum? You know, or there's anything like that any little issue being um being like that being x x service We can you know, you just kind of you're used to just looking out for each other in that way And just making sure the attention to detail making sure the little things like you say um, someone's forgot to to latch on just say, you know latch on or Little things like that. Yeah, I think it makes it. Yeah, so probably it's an advantage I wouldn't say it was a necessity but It's main the main advantage is just being used to kind of being uncomfortable, you know and being Being used to being in confined spaces with with the lads Basically and just being able to just mentally push through it and just um whilst keeping a clear head really Was there anyone saying can you look at my bum when there's actually nothing nothing wrong with them? Oh several times. Yeah, Oscar was uh, yeah, he like he loved that He like he was it's on that although he did genuinely probably have the worst thumb So, um, yeah every single morning every single time the hatch opened. Um whilst having dinner I was always uh, I was always um privileged with the uh, the loving sight which I will leave to you is uh, um Shame we're on youtube youtube won't allow any of that stuff, but there you go. Oscar you could have Could have mooned the world um, so Oscar tell us obviously one of the most important things is who who were you raising money for? Uh, so we we were raising money for the raw marines charity Exclusively some some teams split split that that you know a couple of teams I've seen have raised money for you know one or two charities, but we thought Um, it would just be better to pull all that money into one place And and the raw marines is Romer's charity is something very close to all of our hearts and and you know, all of us that served in the marines Know of people who benefited from it, you know in a small way or a major way And they do a lot for for our community, uh of serving and former marines keeping everyone together So so it was it was something close to all our hearts that we thought would be An important thing to raise money for Yeah, and we should remember that Because everyone's been locked down for two years there They've suffered all these charities have suffered greatly haven't they because people haven't been haven't been out and about And there's probably more demand for their services as well with people suffering from mental health due to due to the lockdowns and everything as well, so Yes, and well, yeah, of course. Yes. That's a another whole Whole thing again. Isn't it the mental health and and lots of it domestic violence and addiction goes on And I'm looking at your fundraiser now doing really well up to 24,000 Yeah Yeah, so we we've jack our social media guy who's been back here. He's uh, he's he's been fantastic He was sort of the the key keystone of the whole operation really he was he was he was keeping us informed on on It's passing messages through through, you know up to us and and back down and And checking in with us daily if not more than that, you know He was sending messages all the time to us and and and and I've heard from loads of people That I've spoken to since we've been back that he was, you know all over the social media So he was he's really been key in helping helping drive that fundraiser whilst we've been away Oscar, who was that? Sorry. I've been a real lifesaver for us actually Who who was it sorry jack brought him. He was our social media guy A lad called jack jack brought him. He's he was our social media guy. He's a he's a former former army army guy I was injured And and he's someone that I met through through Bruce. You're nutty and they got on really well with him And he's keen to road it land at some point once once he's in a once he's in a fit state for it And and so I thought we you know, we get him on our team as our social media guy So sort of land represent a land land representative And uh, and he's he's been one of the one of the key members of the team You know since we've been away he's been a driving force behind You know the fundraising and the social media and everything Yeah, I was going to say I bet the guys are godsend because when you're doing something like that you you need a safe pair of hands in charge of your media and and and um Absolutely a lot of people will fake show feint interest and after a week they lose You know, so it sounds like you you well done jack is what we're trying to say Yeah, thank you jack. Yeah, thank you So how do you How do you get the equipment together or I'm guessing with Mission Atlantic? All the boats come With everything they need um How does that work then obviously so chris so chris martin He he he's sort of sets up this package for us if you like but um the way The way it costs less than than the taluska whiskey, for example, is that we're doing it completely unsupported. So there's no support vessels The only support we get from him once we're on the water is is weather updates and any medical Advice that we need really So we're on our own And that's that's how the price is is significantly less So we're buying the boat off them with all the equipment the desalination pump You know all the all the running kit basically and it's up to us to source foods separately And any other you know all the sort of consumables essentially So so we we chris will help chris helps us with the shipping out to to grand canary the shipping back from barbados Getting the boat to the start line in a good good state And then once we set off it's that's on us until we get to barbados and then he'll help ship it back So oh what um when I asked brucey's team this question And they all started laughing And I'll explain why but what what what did you eat? So we we were on military Arctic rations so dehydrated dehydrated rations so Quite nutritious, but very boring after a while You know if we are having a couple of meals a day dehydrated meals We've just poured boiling water in and a load of snacks the old biscuit browns all quite dry food But nutritious calorific but a bit boring after a while Yeah, I bet you want to supplement that with a few tins of I don't know I was going to say fish, but I suppose there's Fish coming in the boat all the time From what I've heard Yeah, towards the end anyway, we had we had we were having you know tens tens of fish jumping on the boat a day And the last week or so we were getting flying fish all over couple of us caught flying fish in the face and all of that stuff It's a delicacy in Barbados is certainly a Yeah, I've seen that yeah In terms of supplementing the rations we we didn't supplement it much But you know, I would I would say if the space on the boat throw in some tins of tins of fruit because we had one of them for halfway market it was it was It was heaven really have really good on the halfway mark cracking a tin of pineapple And some salami from what I've been reading Yeah, yeah, we also had some salami It does get a little bit moldy, but you just cut the moldy bits off and it's drive eight It was good to go. None of us had any issues with it. So Yes, it's probably better than what they had 400 years ago at sea Exactly. Yeah, yeah So, um, let's come back to to to connor Did did you have to teach all the guys how to navigate or did you take all that responsibility? also So we we tried to Every maybe seven days rotate the cabin. So all of the navigation equipment is in the back of the boat So everyone got a chance to have a go at the nav So the person In the bow seat was the sort of the effect of the navigator because he had his foot on the pedal So he's looking at the compass Throughout the duration We had a little Clip over peter which was going to give us our sort of track and bearing But unfortunately that broke a few hours before we set off We weren't able to replace it. So, um, the guys diligently kept us from the bearing That's why it might have looked a bit squiggly as we were coming down But it was it was relatively straightforward. We were given charts But it was just going between the waypoints and just trying to follow the bearings and keeping on track as much as we could Hmm and I'm guessing what do they say the trade winds are in your favor? Exactly. Yeah, we were incredibly fortunate Throughout our row, you know, the trade winds were fairly consistent. We had Really fantastic weather. We did come against some Come up against some currents, which are very frustrating. There's nothing much we can do about that Um, which could have knocked off a couple of knots of our speed, but um, yeah, we incredibly fortunate The weather was behind us. We I think it was weak Going into week two or three. We had some pretty hairy weather Um, I think the guys we could all agree. It was maybe three to four meter swells. Um, got pretty hairy But luckily it was all behind us. We were just surfing most of the time, which was really quite fun How frightening is it when the waves are A building I think we all spoke about that the other night actually It wasn't it there were times it was quite frightening, but when when it's behind you it was actually quite fun because If you can just get a bit of a grip of the situation It's it doesn't it's not actually that scary. It can be actually quite fun Oscar was telling me one of his highlights was When he was rowing with Jay they got really locked in and they were really Surfing and keeping it on course I remember laughing because I was in the in the bow seats navigating a mitch was in the in the stern seats and Unfortunately because the way the boat was trimmed at the time we were quite stern heavy So when we were surfing the waves were basically just crashing into the boat and Mitch was getting soaked Remember to start from that head off because he just seemed to be working constantly So it was never I would say it was never that scary At night it was probably quite scary because you couldn't really see the waves coming Um, it was I think it was more fun than than scary because we were fortunate it was above all behind us Did you have to put a a drogue anchor in at all? So there was a time where it was getting quite windy and I thought it might be a good idea to put our drogue out But um, the wind wasn't as you know, we need um 30 to 40 knots to really get the benefits of the drogue So when we put it out didn't really work. It was a good little test to see what it was like And um, was anyone seasick? No, actually we're all um, I was I get I'm you know, I'm in the middle of but I get seasick. Um I think we're all expecting to get seasick because um, The boat is so low to the water. There's not so much of the pivot point. So, you know, you're as low as you can get So um, fortunately, no, I think we're all got away with it. Yeah brilliant Um, Mitch what was I going to ask you? Um, yeah, can you tell us what? I don't I was going to say I got the feeling if you were to have done this trip say 50 years ago You'd have seen an abundance of ocean life um I get the feeling it's all kind of been eaten now because of the big industrial Fishing ships that take up all the krill and the bigger fish, etc. etc. etc um That you don't see so much going across as you might might have done but can you tell us Is that is that the case and and did you see a lot of wildlife? Oh nice Chris. We were very fortunate. I think really Probably yeah, if you go back 50 years, it probably would have been, you know, every Multiple times a day you saw things but we were yeah, we were very lucky. We seem to be attracted to wildlife so by day two we um, we had a whole pod of dolphins alongside us following us and Probably that mean kind of well most of us one of our highlights was like after a few days was when it was completely flat as a pancake and Pitch black and all you could see was like bolts of lightning under the water and dolphins swimming through swimming through the glowing bioluminescence So you had like had like four dolphins around the five dolphins around us the whole time for about an hour um Swimming in like pairs or in freeze under the boat. It was just a stream of glowing green um algae basically following them and it was just like magical It was something out of a dream and yeah, periodically we had several like Dorados and jumping, you know, five ten feet out in the air We had fish big big fish swimming along side us every other day um About four or five times we had big fairly large whales just just surface very close to us about halfway through the other the only times that we cleared the boat Connor was scrapping along the um Scraping along the side of the boat and I thought I heard his snorkel and I looked to my right and 20 yards to our right Connor was on the left when I saw rice. There was a big whale just breaching just coming out of the water there and then Probably one of the craziest days we had was we were getting smashed in the face by the flying fish And then being kind of had a small tuner just leave out the water and it kind of absolutely Cats his pants I recall small tuna jump out of the water And we were like what the hell it slid along the boat and then slid back into the water And then he got up and then proceeded to fall over on top of me um in shock and he said shark shark and Some of the best moments all stood up and what we thought was a shark It must have been at least an eight nine ten foot shadow at the back of the boat It was actually a giant six seven hundred pound blue marlin um, that was that was literally Five yards from from the back of our boat and it followed us for half an hour And um, you'll see if you keep an eye on the um, I'm actually got the video I've got all the videos of the wildlife. I've got um pods of dolphins I've got a video of that blue marlin. So if you keep an eye on it or the um, or the footage of the wildlife will come Yes, we were very fortunate and about a week before But in the middle of the day, we had a pod of about 40 50 pilot whales for about an hour and a half that followed us the whole way Um, literally like we had like seven at a time within Uh within all's reach they were you know nearly touching the alls with us the entire way So, yeah, I mean probably it would have been crazy 50 years ago But I think we were we can all agree we were mega mega fortunate and um, yeah, it wasn't too fun with flying fish getting smacked in the face Yeah, but that was all part of the parcel really I had a I had a flying fish fish fly through the three inch gap of the Hatch whilst I was sleeping landed on my belly and and bits and I shot up Scared as hell with a fish on me. Um, so we had we had some good encounters I think overall wasn't great encounters with um with the wildlife and the birds as well Quite a lot of birds to be surprised even to be in a thousand miles out to see see sea starlings and stuff Birds pretty much every single day at least every single day at least one point you saw a bird which was pretty incredible Um thinking how far out they were so um, maybe they probably will probably followed you from union street Yeah, 100 that was it definitely Yeah, I didn't see any pigeons. They weren't they weren't too lost, but um, it was we were all very privileged We're all very humbled to um to get that opportunity really Yeah, no sharks unfortunately, but um, probably a good thing But yeah, overall overall it was um, yeah very good Did you have to get under the boat and clean the the algae in the barnacles off? We had to do quite a lot, but we we only had done it once kind of done it Kind of done it just a one time after after that period of bad weather we were talking about after about three weeks Um, we finally calmed down he we got we got in basically That kind of got in sorry and um, yeah Just just didn't take long We had to clean it off because if you keep it on there it builds up and it causes a little bit of drag and things like that But uh, yeah Miraculously, um, it didn't build up for too much a lot of people do it weekly, but we done it once So um, yeah, it was quite it's not a hard job, but it was yeah, you'll be doing it another once Yeah, got you Oscar, can you tell us what was your routine like and what's it like sticking to a to a routine Oh, Oscar don't know if you can hear me Yeah, I can hear you again now. I lost I lost you. I missed that question. Am I repeating that? Yeah, I was going to say what what what was your routines And and how was it sticking to them like, you know getting out of your sleeping bag to Have to go and row again Yeah, so our routine um, we'd heard from other teams, particularly Bruce and usy that uh, that it gets Extremely hot during the day in the cabins So we we were planning on a three hour on three hour off routine But just before we left we decided that between 9 a.m. In the morning and and three o'clock in the afternoon during that six hour hot window We changed it to one and a half hours So there's less time in the heat the cabins And that worked extremely well for us So we had shorter shorter sessions during the day and then during the cooler hours. It was really warm And and that that was a Really, we were all pretty chuffed that we kept to that because that worked really well In terms of getting up for the shift it's like getting up for century You know, it's never particularly nice But once you're out and you're on the on the oars you say you sort of wake up You get back used to it again, but the actual waking up's always pretty grim, I think Do you get like your favorite person that you want to roll with am I going to cause trouble now? No, we we we rode in pairs that we sticks and stuck to those pairs me and jacks were rowing together And Connor and Mitch were rowing in person It didn't it didn't really we didn't change throughout So no, uh, no divorces then Uh, no divorce. Thankfully. Yeah Um, so one thing that puts me off going in a team Is I I would be like the best rower I I'd be just like the strongest guy on the boat and That might put the other lads or ladies noses out a joint, but um Was there anyone that was particularly like by internet's playing up again? It's probably just as good because we're just talking a load of nonsense, but Is it is was there anybody that was like a super rower or really loved it or Said look, I'll do your shift for you or this kind of stuff Uh, I don't think anyone was Noticably stronger than anyone else to be honest. We were all pretty pretty equal If if any of us have had dramas I've got no doubt that any of us would have jumped in on a shift for another of them We were all pretty pretty open for that We were quite lucky and no one had any Really injuries or niggles or anything like that. So there was the requirement to to jump on for each other, but I'm pretty confident. We you know, we've all jumped on for each other if that was the case shared the load Yeah, good job. And thankfully there was a requirement for it Were you worried about shipping apparently you've got an alarm of you or some sort of alert device Yeah, so part of the gps suite on there is uh, um, a unit called the ais automatic system And that basically broadcasts your position on the gps to other vessels And and part of that is it will it will predict, um, you know With the course that you're on the course and other ships on whether or not you're likely to collide or or get Dangerously close, uh, and and you can set the parameters for that and it will set off an alarm within the cabin Um, so so we did have that go off a couple of times But it was as simple as just radioing the vessel and saying look, you know What your attention's we're quite we're quite unmaneuverable Do you want us to go firm and let you go past or or are you happy to change course and stay a mile away from us? sort of thing and And we didn't really have any drums of that thankfully we were quite vigilant and looking out for vessels if there were close Did you have any close calls thankfully? Did you speak to a lot of other? vessels or skippers Yeah, so whenever there was a boat that was Sort of within a mile or two of us. We had that a couple of times particularly towards the end There was some sailing yachts that were crossing the Atlantic and sort of sailed within a mile or two of us We'd hail them on the radio and say hi and Try and just hear someone else's voice really and and uh, and they were they were always quite interested in what we were doing Uh, we just have a bit of a gang gang and then and then they'd go on their way It was a bit of morale for us as well They didn't come over and give you a bottle of champagne and a roast meal or anything then No, we were I was hoping they would personally but but we they never got around to it We didn't we didn't manage to persuade them And connor what what did you listen to music as you went across? yes, so um We all had our own different music um playlists Get to know a bit more about each other what sort of music we're into um And unfortunately after 30 days all the Spotify accounts crashed Um, and that was when we turned to the audiobooks and actually really worked in our favor That that's what brucey said. He said that when you got offshore they found out that Spotify doesn't Doesn't work. I would have thought um he'd have passed that tip on to you Oh, yeah, we did we did expect that we were able to put there's a little you can you can set it for 30 days so we got 30 days worth of music and Luckily oscar and jay were able to save some of their music But yeah, most of the playlists we reduced to just a couple of a couple of playlists are in the same songs about 30 or 40 times over And did you say listen to audiobooks? Yeah, exactly. Yeah, so um that actually really helped the last that that's a part of the row You would kind of look forward to Each individual shift because you'd pick in a different audiobook for each shift, you know, so um Which know listening to lord of the rings during the later parts of the evening and with different adventure books, you know with with al-dhocaine and lily-bar We found it really helpful just getting into their adventures as well as ours Yeah, brilliant brilliant And um, of course the thing everyone's dying to know what what's it like when you sight land It was um, it was unusual it was um We agreed that the first person to spot land would get a tot of rum that was oscar's um oscar's call was an old neighbor tradition get a tot of rum um, but it was it was bizarre it really um I don't really have any words for it. I don't know whether any of the team members have any words for it But um, it was obviously fantastic But it really, you know, you sent it home. The journey was almost over. I guess it was quite sad actually in a way um Yeah, I'm sure you'll experience it when you crack yours Yes, yes, I'm looking forward Well gentlemen, is there anybody you'd like to thank before we um Before we cast anchor or whatever nautical term we're supposed to say drop anchor start with uh We'll stick with connor Okay, um, I'd like to if I can hand that back over to um to jay and oscar or either to um He's they've they've had this is from the very beginning. So they've got a lot of people to thank. I think He would he would say it better than I would if I say with you Yeah, okay oscar you you go for it then Okay, yeah, so for us, I think the big ones that the main names that we like to thank is uh Uh, obviously jack who I've mentioned earlier jack broad and he's like he's our our sort of main guy back here in the uk Key critical man in the team You know, he couldn't be on the water unfortunately with us But he was he was just just as just as involved in the team as as as the rest of us and a key member of it So thanks to him. Thanks for everything he's done. He's been a key member of the team for that for those reasons We'd also like to thank chris martin for for helping out and digging out and getting everything sorted getting us on the water Nick as well who's who's who's been our sort of mentor He's a help of one of chris martin's chris wet martin's friend who came out and helped us Mentoring us in gran canaria. He's met us here in barbaedos, and he's he's sorted everything out for us here in barbaedos as well um And and or everyone who supported us who's donated or just followed our progress And and sent you know We were getting loads and loads of messages from people was sent through jack or sent to us individually Whilst we were on the water and that that was huge motivation for us to to get through and push through the tough days and everything so and It was a real lifesaver also Harry twells was a key member of of helping organize Our side of the team jason eyes side the elante daggers side. He unfortunately he got pulled off At the last minute as I said But he was a real driving force behind the fundraising and behind behind our team Before he got pulled off and and since then he's been he's been still pretty heavily involved with the team and a critical planning member of the team so Yeah Thanks to all of those guys and and everyone else And mitch have you got any anything to to to add mate? No, just echo in what will echo Echo echo in what oscar said there a big thanks to chris and nick and harry and for again opportunity And everyone friends and family at home Everyone they made it possible really just just the little messages which came through and obviously everyone had their own like Companies and sponsorships like my own company black onyx. They helped a lot and loads of other companies that made it possible And yeah, so basically just what oscar and the lads were saying Yeah, he's pretty much. I think he's thanks everyone for us But their friends and family and support really which got you through the hard times. That was one of the biggest ones for us Which which companies were generous then with their sponsorship? We should give them a mention Probably had that back to oscar In a year for the main ones because I say we weren't involved in the beginning Um, I hand that back to him Okay, oscar Yeah, so so we had quite a few of quite a few people helped donate us We had we had uh, we had companies such as as uh jaces jace Made very generous donation from his his his own company blur tattoo. He's a tattoo artist We had we had companies. Um, we had even personal donations from from the Scout troops up in chester. Um, we had um quite people If I can give you a list chris, we'll put them in the in the description maybe as as thanks if that works Yes, why not? Let's do it. Let's do it. Yeah cool All right gentlemen, thanks to all those. Yeah, yeah, that just remains for me to thank you all very much again um, just really You've done yourselves proud You've done the nautical community proud and and and the and the marines and the merchant navy And you've done the podcast proud guys by coming on and sharing your story Um to anybody our friends at home. Thanks chris and thanks for having us as well Yeah, absolutely my pleasure. Absolutely. We'll put a link for the um Go fun me page as well under the video so friends at home if you can Reach in your pocket and maybe pull out a fiver for what these guys have done and you'll be helping to support the smuggling raw marines um, that would be much appreciated. So Just stay on the line guys, but um, yes massive. Thank you again