“HELLO, I'M CHARLIE PITCHER AND WELCOME TO TRANSATLANTICSOLO.COM”

This is a race 3,000 miles across the Atlantic in a rowing boat, which I am doing in memory of Shaun McLeod Jones.

Having been involved in America's Cup, Admiral's Cup, Whitbread and Olympic yachting campaigns, I now face my sternest challenge yet – taking to the oars and rowing in the 2009 Woodvale Atlantic Rowing Race solo!

Starting from La Gomera in the Canary Islands and finishing in Antigua, the race can take anything between 50 – 90 days to complete. This event is perhaps best known for the crossing of James Cracknell and Ben Fogle in the 2005 race, the documentary of which was shown on BBC1, ‘Through Hell and High Water’.

The race itself is a 2,931 mile (4,727km) journey across the Atlantic Ocean in nothing other than a small rowing boat, battling against sleep de,prevation, salt sores and the physical extremes that the row will inflict.

My training for the Woodvale Solo Atlantic Rowing Race started in January 2008 so I decidied to put to test all of my hard work, and in March 2009 I took part in the world's tougest foot race. The Marathon des Sables is 5 1/2 marathons back-to-back across the Sahara and was my toughest test so far...

To read more about my challenge of completing the MdS and my preperations for the Atlantic Rowing race please read my blog.

We hope to expand this site significantly over the coming months which will give visitors the opportunity to find out a bit more about this challenge and to interact with other like minded people. Through sections such as the diary page, you will be able to find out more and see how Charlie's training is going. Please ask any questions and leave any messages of support in Contact Us.