A FRENCH man, Patrick Favre, arrived in Baltimore this morning having rowed all the way across the Atlantic Ocean in record time.
Favre arrived at approximately 10am, and spent just over 32 days on his journey from Canada to Ireland.
According to Favre, the previous record was around 37 or 38 days.
'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, was originally supposed to be rowing from Canada to France but had to change course due to weather.
'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 has never been to Baltimore before, and is spending some time in the town today after his 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.'
Favre's progress was tracked on the Ramé Ocean Facebook page, which shared having departed on July 28th, he rowed a distance of 1719 nautical miles in 32 days, 7 hours and 46 minutes at an average speed of 2.22 knots.
This shatters the world record for this route and he even rowed faster than all the double scull crews who have completed this crossing. Only 2 boats with 4 and 5 rowers have been faster than Favre on this route.
This is his 9th ocean row, as he has crossed the Atlantic eight times from east to west (solo, in double sculls, and in crewed boats), and this is his first crossing of the North Atlantic.
Favre also celebrated his 58th birthday 3 days ago on board.
He undertook this ocean crossing on behalf of the charity Le Rire Médecin, which helps hospitalized children find smiles despite their illness. You can still support them by contributing to their fundraising campaign.
Videos by Jackie Keogh.
