Atlantic crossing: Portsmouth ex-serviceman from Royal Navy returns to UK after rowing 3,000 miles

Two Southsea men have returned home after a 44 day rowing challenge across the Atlantic ocean.

Kevin Watkins, 53, has recently returned to the UK after a gruelling yet enjoyable challenge to row around the Atlantic ocean as a team of three.

The 53-year-old spent 44 days at sea with Gemma Best, Bristol, and Adam Siggins, Southsea, as part of the Talisker Whiskey Atlantic Rowing Challenge.

The row began at La Gomera, Canary Islands, on December 12, 2022, and the trio rowed 3,000 nautical miles on their adventure.

Kevin, Southsea, had had the idea of taking part in the rowing challenge for more than ten years, after inspiration struck when he was serving in the Royal Navy in 2008. He was deployed to the Falklands on HMS Liverpool and as part of his trip he ended up in South Georgia where his captain at the time spoke about his upcoming rowing challenge.

The idea never left him and he decided that he would take part in the challenging row as a team of three.

Kevin said: ‘So it has been a bit of a rollercoaster. We have all got different reasons for doing this but for me when I was serving in the Navy, we were down in the Falklands in 2008, and that was on HMS Liverpool and we went to South Georgia, that was part of our deployment. The captain at the time came down and we were inspired by him.’

He was originally going to take part in the challenge in 2021, but due to family circumstances, he had to withdraw, and he made it his mission to takepart and finish 2022’s challenge.

Kevin already knew Gemma, who had taken part in the challenge back in 2020 in a team of four, but they were one person down, and the search for a third team member began.

Gemma has taken on the accolade of being the first woman to complete the challenge twice after she could not get enough of the adventure the first time round.

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After putting an article in Southsea Lifestyle advertising a spot on the team, the pair found Adam, who is part of the Navy and was looking for a challenge –and that was the start of the Raring to Row team.

The team also managed to raise over £34,000 for the Action Medical Research charity by taking part in the row will go towards funding life changing research.

Kevin said: ‘It is an amazing charity and they do research that the NHS can’t afford to do.’

They set off on their journey on December 12, from La Gomera and they ended up in Antigua 44 days later.

He added: ‘Gemma forgets how miserable it is pretty quickly, and she sees the sunsets and rainbows, but you are absolutely exhausted, confronted by big waves, sometimes scary seas but at the same time, you see amazing sites. We were surrounded by a pod of whales, they were in front of us, behind us and under us, and they were there for a couple of hours.

‘We had some big seas, some 50 foot seas that were all around the boat and that was scary but fun. We were smashed about a lot.’