Anybody flying from Europe to the Caribbean islands, with a sharp eye out on the vast blue ocean beneath, over the last few weeks might have seen something more than a little strange.

For sure, the odd container ship or oil tanker would definitely have been over flown as well as the bright, white sails of a yacht or the splash from a pod of dolphins or pilot whales. But none of this fits into the category of strange.

The winter season is the “safe” time of year for small boats of all sorts to make the passage from East to West into the tropics from the African mainland or the Canary Islands. Nearly all of these small boats are yachts making the annual migration to sunshine and swaying palm trees, following in the wake of Columbus, who made the passage over five hundred years ago, but these days more than just yachts are plying these waters.

It has become an annual tradition for eccentrics and athletes alike, in anything from beer barrels to kayaks and rowing boats, to try their luck at crossing the Atlantic. These men and women are almost always completing the journey to break a world record or are trying to raise money for a worthy charity.

Sunset over Caribbean Sea, Barbados © PHB.cz - Fotolia.com

What make the attempts plausible are the prevailing winds that sweep down the African coast from the shores of Spain and Portugal southwards passing the Canaries and taking anything on the surface of the water towards the equator. A little further south, off the coast of Mauritania, the wind starts to curve towards the Caribbean and becomes the famous trade winds. These are usually predictable winds, blowing from anywhere from 10 to 30 knots, which drive small vessels from East to West before them. Theoretically anybody with a seaworthy craft – even a beer barrel – can therefore cross the Atlantic given time – all they have to do is drift with the wind and the waves and they will eventually get there – assuming they have enough food, water and patience.

This year has been the turn of at least two transatlantic rowing challenges. The bigger one was the Atlantic Challenge, in which 17 rowing boats of all sizes took off form La Gomera in the Canaries to race against each other to stake a claim on the 3000 nautical miles to Barbados in the Caribbean. The other was the Atlantic Odyssey – a six man team trying to beat a 30 day record to cross from the Moroccan coast to Barbados.

Neither of these challenges has been incident free.

One of the boats was rolled by an enormous wave, after floundering in heavy 10 metre swells for days. The oars were lost, but the crew kept rowing after having their oars replaced by a back up yacht. The yacht, the “Aurora”, was towing another boat that had completely lost its electrical power and was being used for spares.

Another rowing boat with four amputees on board lost the use of their desalinator. These small machines are used on the boats to convert seawater into drinking water. Without fresh water, the crew had progressively reduced their intake and had to wait for the Aurora to deliver another machine.

Another crew had lost their boat altogether after a capsize, but luckily for them they had been picked up by a nearby passing luxury cruise liner and got carried to St Maarten in the Caribbean in style and comfort.

The boats, who accept outside assistance from the “Aurora” or anybody else, are automatically disqualified form the race even if they keep going under their own steam.

More fortunate was a five woman rowing team, who completed a world record crossing in 45 days when they arrived in Barbados, a little unsteady on their feet, earlier this month.

Also successful was Andrew Robinson, a solo rower, who completed the fastest solo crossing ever, arriving in Barbados, after 39 days.

But spare a thought for the Atlantic Odyssey crew of 6 in the veteran rowing boat, the “Sara G.” They are still at sea, struggling with winds that are just a little too light. This crew of 6 athletes is trying to make the crossing from Morocco to Barbados in less than 30 days and to do that they need to keep an average speed of 3.5 knots.

As of today, they still have 500 nautical miles to go and are making slow progress. Cloudy skies and light winds have meant that their power is down and they have had to cut back on water and food as the desalinator is used to provide water for their dehydrated food rations as well.

They are still in with a chance at the record though, and with 6 days to go they are already dreaming of dry land, a shower, a good meal and a bottle or two of Barbados’ famous Mt Gay rum!