Dingers North Atlantic Row
David (Dinger) Bell is about to embark on an incredible "Challenge"! He is going to row solo the North Atlantic Ocean from west to east!! Starting from New York and rowing across to Falmouth in the United Kingdom!! this will be a total of 3,258 NM (nautical miles)! This will be some awesome feat ..... Check the route out .....
Dinger is an ex- Royal Marine with a passion for extreme adventures. (more on Dinger in a later post)!!
The aim of this row is to raise awareness and monies for two charities he values immensely:
- SBS Association (Royal Marines)
- Rock to Recovery (Inspiring the fight against stress in our armed forces, veterans and their families).
You have to imagine what he is going to face crossing a vast ocean; alone, with no immediate support other than via satellite, phones and some internet connectivity. He has to carry any or all his spares, food, drink and entertainment. The weather will have a huge part to play in his challenge!!
The boat, called "Billy No Mates" is an Ocean Rowing boat 7.6 metres in length, 1.4 metres wide and draws around 9 inches depth! Dinger will be sitting on the rowing deck which sits not much more than a foot out of the water. "Billy" is a Peter Bosgraaf design and built by Rossiters.
He is expecting anything between 72 days and possibly up to 120 (two and a half months to 4 months) alone at sea to complete this challenge!! This will draw heavily on his character, strength not only in body but in mind as well!!
The North Atlantic can be kind but also very unreasonable! Choosing to row for anything between 2 to 4 months means various kinds of weather will be thrown at Dinger and "Billy No Mates". However Dinger will experience some of the most incredible scenes; from stunning sunrises, sunsets, starlit nights with shooting stars. There will be fabulous encounters with creatures of the sea.
The sea and winds will set a true challenge for Dinger, sometimes light winds and calm seas can be frustrating, but kind! Other times they will drive strong winds from 20 to 40 knots (23 to 46 miles per hour) with the occasional storms forcing winds up to 50 and even 60 knots (57 to 69 miles and hour). With these winds the seas will become lively and very challenging seas can be around 4 to 7 metres or more, but it is the period between waves or swell that makes the difference; these can cause "Billy No Mates" to surf at some very fast speeds (some have logged 16 knots - 18 miles per hour or 29 kilometres per hour.
Dave is at present in St Lucia isolating from the dreaded Lurgy and is then flying to New York where he meets " Billy No Mates" around the 5th to 6th May in New Jersey. There Dinger will finally prepare the boat and the weather dependant is looking to start his epic adventure on or around the 15th May 2021.
Something very important to anyone doing this type of challenge, especially when rowing solo for so long, is the need for great support; whether it's just following them and sharing their adventures with others to those who are willing to support them by any means. Especially financially be it small donations or grand ..... Remember it's for some great causes looking to support our Armed Forces in any guise including veterans and families of those involved!! So if you can dig a little into your kind pockets, even for just a few shekels' .... "every bit helps!!!
Silver Fox is planning Dave's routing and will be weather routing them both across the vast expanse of water. So once we have Dinger's PR team and page are set up; Silver will be posting regular updates, as well as supporting Dinger with daily weather updates and course alterations as and when required. You can follow these on both the formal page and Silver's.
Silver will also regularly offer explanations as to why specific things are happening and anything that Dinger is doing or using to enable his passage to go as smoothly as possible!
Any donations via Team Fortitudes page, 30% is going to go to the SBSA and 70% to R2R, the reverse will apply from his Virgin page.
So please follow our social media channels for further details and updates ......