No GPS, No Autopilot: Don McIntyre Launches 2028 Transatlantic Rowing Race to Antigua
Don McIntyre's Real Ocean Row bans GPS and autopilot for a 3,200-mile 2028 crossing from the Canary Islands to Antigua, echoing a 1966 voyage.
No GPS. No Starlink. No autopilot. In December 2028, ocean rowers bound for the Caribbean will cross the Atlantic using little more than sextants, paper charts, compasses, and instinct. Australian adventurer Don McIntyre has launched the Real Ocean Row (ROR), a 3,200-mile race from Lanzarote in the Canary Islands to Antigua & Barbuda that bans modern navigation and communication technology in favor of 1960s-era seamanship. The race pays tribute to the 1966 crossing by Sergeant Chay Blyth and Captain John Ridgway, who rowed the English Rose III across the North Atlantic with basic tools and limited supplies.
“Everything Will Be Slower, Heavier, More Human”
“I really enjoy adventures with an historic connection that relates to those who did it first!” says McIntyre, who will be 73 at the time and plans to compete himself. “Talking with so many rowers over the years, I knew if I did it, it would be in the footsteps of Blyth and Ridgeway. I read their book in the early 70’s, and it was truly scary. My boat, safety gear, and training will be a bit better, and Tradewinds of the Atlantic will be kinder than their hurricanes, but I don’t underestimate how challenging this ROR may be. Everything will be slower, heavier, more work, and more human than current modern ocean rowers.”
A Race Stripped of Modern Tools
The event is believed to be the first Atlantic rowing race in more than 30 years to prohibit GPS, satellite phones, computers, electric watermakers, autopilots, and shoreside weather routing. Instead, competitors will rely on radios, barometers, wind-up watches, and traditional navigation methods — not unlike the tools that brought a solo rower to a Barbados landfall and others across the Gulf Stream in past crossings covered here. The race finishes at the National Sailing Academy in Antigua & Barbuda. realoceanrow.com
Carol Bareuther has written for ALL AT SEA since 2004.
Fantastic – I am from the same era as Don and sailed from Plymouth to Antigua via the Canaries in the 70’s – sextant and compass with RDF in Biscay area – much more of an adventure than using GPS!