WELL-wishers gathered in Baltimore recently to greet the transatlantic rower Frenchman Patrick Favre, who broke the world record when he arrived at the pier – from Canada!
The Frenchman had originally planned to row from Canada to northern France, but inclement weather meant he had to change his course at the final stages, and head for southern Ireland instead.
Observers had been following Patrick Favre’s progress online and the markers showed him 12 miles off Cape Clear at lunchtime on Wednesday.
Patrick Favre is a world champion medallist who became a coach after competing.
Word of his journey and his unscheduled stop-off in West Cork reached the area, and people gathered at the pier to give him a proper Irish welcome.
Favre arrived at approximately 10am on Thursday, having spent just over 32 days on his journey from Canada to Ireland.
According to Favre, the previous record was around 37 or 38 days.
You can watch the moment Patrick touches the ground here.
‘I don’t know if I am tired or not,’ he told The Southern Star.
‘I was used to kind of a rhythm with the sea, and now we’ll see in the next days.’
‘I already crossed the Atlantic eight times, this is the ninth crossing and it [the previous crossings] helped me a lot to do this crossing because it has been difficult with very strong winds and difficult situations.’
Favre, from Normandy but living in Paris, had originally planned to row from Canada to his native France.
‘It’s one of the main records you can have in the ocean rowing field. You go from Canada or the States, or from Saint Pierre and Miquelon – I left from Saint Pierre and Miquelon which is a French island – and you try to arrive in Europe, in Ireland or Great Britain or in France, or even in Spain.’
Favre had never been to Baltimore before, and spent some time in the town after his unscheduled arrival.
‘I am very happy to discover Baltimore by the very nice entrance to the harbour.
‘I came to Ireland [before] for the rugby, and it’s always very special with the Irish.’
Watch the full interview with Patrick below.
Favre’s progress was tracked on the Ramé Ocean Facebook page, which shared that, having departed on July 28th, the Frenchman rowed a distance of 1719 nautical miles in 32 days, 7 hours and 46 minutes at an average speed of 2.22 knots.
He shattered the world record for this route and even rowed faster than all the double scull crews who have completed the crossing. Only two boats with four and five rowers have been faster than Favre on this route.
It was Patrick’s ninth ocean row, as he has crossed the Atlantic eight times from east to west (solo, in double sculls, and in crewed boats), but this was his first crossing of the north Atlantic.
Favre also celebrated his 58th birthday three days before arriving in West Cork.
He undertook the ocean crossing on behalf of the charity Le Rire Médecin, which helps hospitalised children find smiles despite their illness.
