Friends complete rowing race across the Atlantic

Two friends have reached land after rowing across the Atlantic Ocean for 70 days, 20 hours and 18 minutes as part of a race.

David Ferrier from Westnewton, Cumbria, and Garry Hoyle, from North Shields, rowed from the Canary Islands to Antigua in a specially designed rowing boat called Molly Moo.

Mr Ferrier said taking part in the World’s Toughest Row had been "quite incredible", but it was "nice" to get to land.

The pair had been raising money for the Great North Air Ambulance.

They reached land on Thursday after setting off from San Sebastian in La Gomera, Canary Islands, on 12 December.

"Seventy days at sea is a long time and you miss a lot of people, but the whole experience is quite incredible," Mr Ferrier, 62, said.

Mr Hoyle, 60, added: "It's great to be on land, but unfortunately my legs haven't actually believed it yet, so they still think they're on a boat, running in one direction and my head's going in another one."

They completed the race unsupported, eating dehydrated rations and relying on solar panels for any electronics.

The teammates faced some challenging weather conditions and Mr Ferrier was even washed overboard.

"This year has probably given the worst weather conditions ever for the race, " he said.

"The seas were monumentally massive. I have been at sea quite a lot before and have never seen seas as big in my life.

"At one point we were surfing down 30ft waves at 10 knots.

"When you look back at them, it almost looks like the wave was going to come over and swamp you."

Mr Ferrier said he had followed the race for the past 10 years and it had "always" been on his bucket list.

He originally planned to do it for his 60th birthday, but teamed up with Mr Hoyle and put it off for two years.

Mr Hoyle ended up celebrating his 60th birthday during the race and Mr Ferrier also turned 62 at sea, just three days after they had set off.

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