A BASINGSTOKE man is getting ready for a 4,500km unsupported rowing challenge through the Pacific Ocean in memory of his cousin who lost his life to a violent act by a drunk teenager.

Andy Warner, 55, who works as a truck driver, is rowing with three others in the inaugural race of the TWAC Pacific Challenge 2023.

The team has named their boat Voyager in memory of Andy’s cousin Matt Coley, who was killed in New Zealand in 2016. Andy said Matt had a surfboard business named Voyager and the boat has been named in his memory.

The other members of Andy’s team are Alison Wannell (skipper) from Chagford, Devon, Elaine Theaker from Abergavenny, Wales, and Neil Blackaby from Camelford, Cornwall.

Their group is named Team Flyin’ Fish.

Andy said his background in the sport started with a Concept2 indoor rowing machine.

He competed in the 2014 Crazy Bear challenge on Concept2. The global challenge consisted of completing 30 half marathons in 44 days.

“I was the first past the post as I completed the challenge that year in 21 days,” Andy said.

“This was done around my shift work. I first met my rowing partner Sean McGuigan at that event.

“I was aware that he was planning to row across the Atlantic in an event I had never heard of. Shortly after our meeting, Sean’s partner dropped out of the Atlantic row and I joined him six months before the start of the race. That was very late to contemplate doing something on this scale since so much was yet to be done.”

However, after a frantic few months, Andy and Sean found themselves at the start of the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge.

Unfortunately, Andy got bitten on the leg by an insect and the wound turned septic, which left him in hospital for three days and IV antibiotics.

His misfortune did not stop there.

Andy had an allergic reaction to the antibiotics, while they also had a delayed start to the race due to the weather.

Yet, with perseverance, Andy and Seat set underway for the race. The brutal and unsupported crossing lasted 72 days.

“When I arrived in Antigua, I vowed never to do that again,” Andy said.

“Shortly after I arrived back in the UK, I had a call from one of my cousins in New Zealand to say that Matt had been killed in a violent act by a high, drunk teenager.

“This seemed to typify the extreme highs and lows over the last few months at that point. So I decided to put together another ocean crossing team.

“Since 2016 we have gone through a few guises in terms of crews and routes, but finally have settled into the inaugural race of the TWAC Pacific Challenge 2023.

“Although the race is of this magnitude, we are the most experienced crew in the race with all four of us having crossed the Atlantic. We have the finest and most proven boat on the fleet. It seems a good way to put a few ghosts to rest for the crew after their crossings.

The race will leave Monterey, California, and will finish in Nawiliwili harbour, Kauai, The Hawaiian Islands, after rowing some 4,500kms completely unsupported.

Only 80 people have ever previously rowed from the US mainland to the Hawaiian islands over the deepest, most hostile ocean notorious for huge seas.

The team is also raising funds for the Air Ambulance UK.

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