OPINION | This article contains commentary that reflects the author's opinion.
An Irish man named Damian Browne, 42, was the first person in the world to row from New York City to Galway, Ireland.
Browne rowed 3,450 nautical miles voyage across the Atlantic Ocean.
He is a former rugby player who rowed his craft Cushlamachree for 2,686 hours.
Browne said, “Constantly hit with adverse currents, so it was incredibly stressful because you would work so hard and put so much into getting one mile or two miles, and then you could come off the oars for 15 minutes, and you could have half of that mile wiped out, and you’d have to put the head down again to regain it.”
Browne continued, “I think the biggest effect it has is on your hands because you’re gripping a serious degree of force with the oars because they can be popped out of your hands very easily if you’re not careful.”
Browne did not break the world record by crossing the pond in 56 days because his companion, Damo, on the trip had to be removed for health reasons.
Browne said once, seeing Damo, “I am just relieved that Damo is home as I had left him alone out in the middle of the ocean.”
Browne said he was happy with the “special moment” of reaching his destination and reuniting with his partner Rozelle and baby daughter Elodie. Still, he admitted he didn’t mind the solitude.
In the end, Browne said, “I accomplished what I wanted to, and I’m safe, and I’m uninjured, and I have had an incredible reception,” he said.
More on this story via New York Post:
“The solitude wasn’t actually something that I found very testing because I’m that type of person, I do take energy from being in my own company, it’s more the difficulties I faced with the conditions,” he told the local outlet.
But Browne said the arrival wasn’t quite the finish he had envisioned.
“Unfortunately I ended up on some rocks in Furbo on the north shore of Galway bay at around 1 a.m. — it was a very tense and stressful night,” he told the Examiner.
“The boat was hit with the wash from a heavy wave, it turned itself and the wave flipped me over and broke one of my oars.”
Browne managed to crawl onto a large rock and got in touch with a friend to ask for assistance from emergency services.
