Tiny’s Amazing Atlantic Charity Challenge : James ‘Tiny’ Little Rowing the Atlantic Ocean for the Davenport Trust – Atlantic Rowing 2005 : Ocean Rowing Boats

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The cabin view on an ocean rowing boat at sea.*

Womble, Tiny's ocea rowing boat, during testing.^

The Boat

This specially prepared ocean rowing boat, re-named Womble for this voyage, is 24 feet long, 6 feet wide and 3 feet deep. Its total laden weight is around 1 ton.

Construction

The boat is made of 6mm thick marine plywood with a thin coat of epoxy resin for strength and resilience to water. If water gets between the layers of timber in plywood, it separates the layers and the wood falls apart.

This ocean rowing boat was built for a Challenge Business trans Atlantic race in 1997. She was rowed again in 2001 in another Challenge Business race and again in January 2004 in the Ocean Rowing Society (ORS) regatta. [ + ]

For her fourth Atlantic crossing she has been refitted with some new equipment and will have a new watermaker and wiring , but I have tried to re-use as much of the boat's orginal rowing gear as possible.

Eco-friendly Boat

I have re-named the boat Womble because I intend to conduct the row in the spirit of the original eco-warriors, the Wombles of Wimbledon. All of the refuse generated onboard will be bagged and taken to Antigua for proper recycling and disposal, and if I encounter any collectable refuse on the way, then that will go ashore too.

The only stuff going into the sea will be what I have eaten!

The Boat's Equipment

The electricity to supply the watermaker and electronics will be provided by solar panels above the boat's cabin. These will keep two large batteries charged whilst I am rowing, and the batteries will be partly discharged during watermaking.

I also have a Panasonic laptop computer supplied by Portal Communications from which I will be able to send email and update this web site. The site is powered by wordserver 2.0, web design software developed and supplied by Norwich's best web site design company, astutech ltd. [ + ]

For entertainment I have a Creative Nomad Jukebox portable MP3 player and a Roberts short wave radio.

Satellite Tracking System

This web site and the Ocean Rowing Society (ORS) will map the progrees of my boat across the Atlantic Ocean. The tracking system is supplied by Argos, a French company specialising in marine tracking devices. Detailed information on the boat's course will be transmitted via satellite and processed before being published on the Internet. [ + ]

A six foot long cabin provides shelter for the electronics and navigation equipment – and me.

View of the boat showingthe three solar panels.*
View of the boat showingthe three solar panels.^

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Visit Tiny's pub website: The Alexandra Tavern * © 2001 Ocean Rowing Society ^ © 2004 Ben Nagy ‡ © João Estêvão A. de Freitas † © Jason Weimer	CMS and web site donated by astutech ltd.