Gearing Up For An Ocean Row
‘Heat is going to be our biggest problem’
By Timothy Small
 Timothy Small
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(09/20/2007) In 1992, a French crew rowed La Mondiale across the Atlantic Ocean, from Santa Cruz de la Palma in the Canary Islands to Martinique in the West Indies. Setting off on March 25, La Mondiale arrived in Martinique 35 days, 8 hours, and 30 minutes later, the fastest-ever crossing by an ocean rowboat.
Fifteen years and 24 attempts later, the record stands. On Dec. 15, La Mondiale will once again race across the Atlantic, this time manned by a 14-person British, Scottish, and Irish crew, in the 2007 Transatlantic World Record Rowing Race.
In what is being described as a “David and Goliath battle of muscle and spirit against innovation and enterprise,” La Mondiale will go head-to-head with Atlantic ORCA, the world’s first multihulled ocean crossing rowboat.
ORCA, which stands for Ocean Rowing Challenges America, came to life on Shelter Island, where Roy Finlay, a 45-year-old, ex-Royal Navy diver from Bridge of Weir, Scotland, has spent over a year conceiving, discussing, building, and perfecting her.
Finlay and his wife, Colleen, moved to Shelter Island two years ago. They were part of a crew that made an attempt to row across the North Atlantic — Finlay’s second attempt and the second time he and his crew failed to complete the expedition. Rowing in a “more stabilized multihull, but not a true multihull,” the crew ran into a tropical storm, forcing them to abort the voyage.
In Finlay’s first effort, “equipment problems and crew issues” impelled the skipper to cut the journey short. “There were certain personality conflicts — I decided to pull the boat into Cape Verde,” he said.
This year, his crew will consist of just four rowers. He will be joined by Denis Richardson, a 32-year-old Shelter Island resident who was born in Thailand, and Chris Cuddihy, 53, of Riverhead. Finlay is still searching for a fourth member.
Richardson assisted Finlay with the construction of ORCA. Travel and adventure have always been a part of Richardson’s life. In addition to sailing around the Great Barrier Reef, surfing in Hawaii, cage diving with great white sharks in Mexico, and snowboarding in the Rocky Mountains, he worked for years on a 90-foot schooner.
Cuddihy is a network and systems analyst and a former film editor. In addition to being an ocean kayaking enthusiast, he was a lobster boat crew member, a heavy equipment operator in England, a roughneck in Wyoming oil fields, and a coast-to-coast big rig driver.
The selection of the fourth member is critical to the expedition’s success, not only because the crew expects to be at sea together for over a month, but also because of it will have so few members. “We can’t afford to lose anybody,” Finlay said.
It’s a risk he is willing to take because he believes it will give ORCA a strategic advantage. “It’s power-to-weight ratio,” he explained. “How much weight one man is pulling.” He hopes each man will have to pull less weight than on a bigger boat with a larger crew.
Even so, Finlay said, “the oars will not stop” throughout the venture.
ORCA was unveiled at the Haps Ironworks Gallery on Shelter Island on Sunday and Finlay and his crew took her out in the water on Monday. “She performed beyond our expectations,” he said. Based on that, he believes she can maintain a significantly faster pace than what it would take to break the world record. A constant pace of three and a half knots would do the trick.
While the record is important, Finlay said, the experience is what “we’ll remember five years from now.” Being at sea is familiar, he said. “I’ve been out there all my life.”
With no chase boat, the objective is to ride the trade winds, which he said will certainly be blowing. “Heat is going to be our biggest problem.” The crew will depend on two water-makers to stay hydrated and will try to stay away from heavy things to eat, although “none of us are enamored with the idea of dehydrated food.”
A late start to the hurricane season may end up affecting the voyage, as that usually means a late ending to the season, and the boat is not expected to leave until mid-December.
Meanwhile, perfecting the boat and finding a title sponsor as well as the fourth member are short-term goals for Finlay and his crew.