Columbus
Columbus left for the new world in 1492 from La Gomera, the very spot where the Womble will leave (but Columbus wasn’t to know). He made it to the Bahamas in five weeks, and after a few months exploration of the Caribbean headed home again.He made three more trips across the Atlantic before he died in 1506. Read more on Columbus at http://www1.minn.net/~keithp/

Magellan
Magellan set out in 1519 on his round the world trip and began by crossing the Atlantic to Brazil. He had an eventful time, not least when he was murdered in 1521 in the Philippines, his crew having to finish the journey alone. Read more on his journey at http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/
1519magellan.html

The First Ocean Rowers
Ocean rowing is one of the worlds last great adventures and dangers. The first known rowing expedition to complete an ocean crossing was by George Harbo and Frank Samuelson, both Norwegian immigrants to the United States. Between June 6 and August 1, 1896, these two hardy men left Battery Park in Manhattan, New York in an open boat and rowed in 55 days across the Atlantic Ocean to the Isles of Scilly in south western corner of England. Not content with this they set out again the following day to row to Coverack Cove. They then took a tow from a steamer to their intended destination Le Havre. Their journey was incredible and a comprehensive daily log tells the full story on the Ocean Rowing Society (ORS) website. The book Daring the Sea is a recount of their experience.

The next successful row to be completed across an ocean did not occur until 1966 when John Ridgeway and Sir Chay Blyth rowed from Cape Cod to Ireland in 92 days. Both Army men they inspired many more people to have a go, again a full account of their epic voyage can be found on the Ocean Rowing Society website.

Chay Blyth went on to begin the Challenge Business and enabled many more people to take up the oars when he inaugurated the races for which Womble was built. He was knighted in 1997. John Ridgeway runs an outward bound school in the North West of Scotland.

To date, there have been 56 unsuccessful attempts to row the Atlantic with 8 ending in fatalities.


Historic crossings
1896. Frank Samuelson and George Harbo, two Norwegian immigrants and fishermen, rowed with a eighteen foot skiff ‘The Fox” in 55 days from New York to the Scilly Islands. The ocean rowing pioneers ended their trip in Le Havre. They believed cash in on the lucrative lecture tour circuit and make their fortunes. But they ended up with two medals and had to return to fishing. George Harbo died in 1908 and Frank Samuelson in 1946. Their record of 55 days has yet to be broken for that particular route.

1966. The next successful crossing in a rowing boat was by Sir Chay Blyth and John Ridgeway in English Rose III, a 20 ft Yorkshire Dory, with a 5ft 4inch wide beam. They set off from Cape Cod, in New England in competition with another boat, The Puffin. The Puffin never completed the journey - and sadly, her crew were lost at sea. English Rose III made landfall after 92 days at sea.

1969. The first solo crossing of any ocean was completed by John Fairfax of Britain on 19 July 1969. He rowed from Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands to Hollywood beach Florida in 180 days. In the same year Tom McClean, also of Britain rowed from Newfoundland, Canada arriving in Blacksod Bay, Ireland on 27 July 1969. Despite having left almost 4 months after Fairfax he came within 8 days of beating Fairfax to the title of first solo rower of any ocean. On 3 December 1999 Tori Munden of the USA became the first woman to row any Ocean solo when she arrived in Guadeloupe having set off from Tenerife in the Canary Islands 81 days earlier.
    

1982-83. The first person to row the Pacific solo was Peter Bird of Britain. Bird set off from San Francisco, California and arrived at the Great Barrier Reef Australia 294 days later on June 14, 1983. Bird would later die attempting the west to east journey across the Pacific.

Gerard d'Aboville rowed the Pacific Ocean from Japan to the United States of America. It took him 134 days. 'I have chosen the ocean as my field of confrontation, my field of battle because the ocean is reality at its toughest, its most demanding. "As my weapons against this awesome power, I have human values: intelligence, experience, and the stubborn will to win. I did not conquer the Pacific. It let me go across" Gerard d'Aboville.

1992. The current Atlantic rowing record is held by Le Mondial, which was rowed by 11 Frenchmen. They rowed East to West, from the Canary Islands to Martinique in just 35 days.