Ireland 7th in Atlantic Rowing Race
Wednesday, 21 December 2005 10:16The Irish crew of Gearoid Towey and Ciaran Lewis covered 36 miles yesterday in the Atlantic Rowing Race, where there was extra drama when a shark attacked the boat of the New Zealand crew.
They are currently lying in 7th position in the doubles class with another 2,220 miles to go to the finish in Antigua.
The Irish team have made a move south to pick up the trade winds and will make up time on the leaders over the next few days.
For one of the other crews it has been like a scene from the movies and a race they will not forget.
The rowing boat of New Zealanders Tara Remington and Iain Rudkin was attacked by a shark.
The 12ft long shark circled the boat before making its attack, butting into the boat sending it rocking.
The attack continued for 15 minutes leaving the rowers shell shocked.
Remington said: "We were really scared, it was so aggressive and persistent, for a while we wondered if it would ever stop, it just kept hitting the boat, having a go at the rudder, the sea anchor and hull. We weren't sure it wasn't biting holes in the underside."
