At the age of 42, professional surfer Chris Bertish from South Africa became the first man to cross the Atlantic in stand-up paddle without assistance. He left Agadir, Morocco on 6 December 2016 and arrived in Antigua, Caribbean on 9 March 2017 at 8:32 am (local time) before being towed to English Harbour. In total, it will have taken 93 days to cover 6,518 kilometres!
He also set a record for the distance travelled in one day by paddling 116 kilometres. On average, he paddled about 70 km per day.
The last few days were very intense as Chris Bertish covered nearly 200 km in three days. "It's so nice to be on dry land and not have to worry about all the billions of things that could go wrong." he explained when he arrived.
Indeed, the surfer had to face the elements during his journey. For the first five days, he held out against strong winds so as not to be pushed back towards Moroccan soil. The last 72 hours were not exactly restful either, as the weather was stormy. Off the Canary Islands, a storm damaged his hatch and the sailor ran out of water. In fact, he thought he was sinking at the time.
"You can feel really helpless on the open sea. When that happens, you have to try to stay calm and synchronise with what's around you and follow the currents. It's the only thing that's going to help you survive out there for a while. Having said that, there were definitely times when I was hanging on by a thread when I was just trying to stay upright."
He also had to work up the courage to avoid being caught by the sharks, which were prowling near his boat.
For this world premiere, the adventurous surfer was not on a traditional paddle, but rather on a kind of small, arm-powered boat worth $120,000. This 6 m long paddle is equipped with solar panels and a small cabin, allowing the surfer to rest during his crossing and to protect his navigation and communication tools. The architect who worked on the "boat", Phil Morrison, had also installed an anti-capsizing system.
Thanks to this record and with the participation of his sponsors, Chris Bertish raised the sum of 412,000 dollars (about 385,000 euros). These funds will be used to finance schools in South Africa.
Last year, Frenchman Nicolas Jarossay tried the experiment and had to give up after capsizing.
