Rower all at sea on charity trip
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ROUND-Britain rower Andy Hodgson stopped off short of Wick harbour en route towards his epic sailing attempt for charity.
The 36-year-old from Bournemouth is rowing in a seven-metre boat around the British coast in order to raise money for the RNLI and mental health charity Mind.
However, he is doing this without setting foot on land. This means he has to eat, sleep and wash on the boat throughout the journey.
The decision to embark upon this came when the former presenter of Wheeler Dealers was made redundant by the Discovery TV channel and, having been a keen watcher of travel documentaries, he decided to take on a new challenge.
With the aid of Caithness Seacoast, the Groat sailed out to check on his progress.
He said: “I used to go to a lot of film festivals and watch travel documentaries. The idea of doing a rowing challenge myself kept coming up – even though up to a year ago I had never rowed in my life.
“I was made redundant and then three months later my nan passed away – I had been her carer. I found myself with nothing to do. I couldn’t find a job and, as with so many of my generation, I couldn’t afford to buy a home.
“So I had this redundancy money and I couldn’t do anything with it. I decided to hit the reset button on my life and do something else with it.”
While the waters were calm when he sailed around the Pentland Firth coast and headed towards Wick, Andy has had a couple of dicey moments on the sea.
He added: “Weather-wise it’s generally been good apart from a rough crossing from Wales to Ireland and up towards Scotland. That took me three days but because of the conditions I only had 90 minutes of sleep and the wind was so strong that for two days I could only row on the spot.
“But, like most things, there are ups and downs. One day you’re battling against the elements and wondering why you’re doing this and then the next day there’s a pod of dolphins swimming alongside you.”
Being on a boat for that length of time also brings its own challenges.
He continued: “The rationing of food is going all right. On days when I’m not moving I drop down to two meals a day as I’ve only enough for five more weeks and it’s going to be tight.
“As for personal sanitation, you don’t want to know. Let’s just say I’ve an on-board bucket.”
As for the charities Andy is raising money for, he said: “The RNLI is an amazing organisation that does great work and needs support. Mind is also a great organisation and fits in with what I’m doing regarding the isolation.
“One in four adults suffer with mental health issues. Without Mind, people would have to wait six months before getting professional help.”
