Final countdown: Behind the scenes in preparation for the 'world's toughest row'
It is the final countdown for this year 'world's toughest row' competitors.
Monday will see military personnel and veterans among the 43 teams taking on the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge.
A record number of entrants will battle sleep deprivation, hallucinations and hunger all with the same objective – to take on the unique experience of crossing an ocean in a rowing boat.
The extreme endurance event is an annual challenge that sees competitors row more than 3,000 miles, travelling west from San Sebastian in La Gomera, Canary Islands, to Nelson's Dockyard English Harbour, in Antigua and Barbuda.
Forces News was able to join the teams on the jetty to witness the final preparation and the ambitions of the teams.
There are more teams than ever before: 43 crews, 127 rowers from 17 countries with a huge proportion of them being from the military.
Team Atlantic Guardsmen is one of the military teams competing this year.
With a team made up of serving members of the Scots Guards, both officers and soldiers, they are "relishing the challenge of pushing themselves physically and mentally".
However, they say they also have a "much greater purpose" – raising money for charity.
"Our passion to support serving and veteran soldiers is the primary motivator for entering the race, and at the very heart of our drive and determination to raise sponsorship and awareness for our service charity – the Scots Guards Charity," they said.
Lieutenant Max Lawrence, who is part of the four-man crew, spoke to Forces News about his ambitions of winning the race and the "nice bit of competition" with the other military teams.
"So, we didn't start this aiming to win it, your goals kind of shift as you get here. The competitive nature, especially being in the Army, kicks in.
"I think our goal as a team, we'd like to try and be the fastest military team to do it. The current record is 36 days. Obviously, the HMS Oardacious boys are going to be gunning for that, as well, so a nice bit of competition there."
Every team has its own reason for wanting to do this grand adventure.
Team Emotive, a team including a Royal Navy and Royal Artillery veteran, entered the rowing challenge to raise funds for the charity Veterans At Ease which all the rowers are beneficiaries of, or have had their lives changed because of their involvement with the charity.
"We've come through a dark place of very poor mental health. We are actually rowing across the ocean with our therapist, who actually saved our lives," Royal Navy veteran Jason Watkin of Team Emotive told Forces News.
"It's an epic challenge in regards to the race, but we've all faced this epic challenge of very poor mental health, so going from suicidal thoughts, myself addiction and various other bits and pieces, this is to prove that you can do something absolutely incredible with your mind and body coming out of it.
"It will be brutal, it will be hard, there will be some incredible highs and some very incredible lows, but it will be life-changing," he added.
The final preparations in the few days before the races set off involve testing their water makers, satellite phones, solar panels, food and, one of the "biggest issues on the Atlantic", seat pads.
"One of the biggest issues we have on the Atlantic is looking after our bums, sitting on, and rowing for 12 hours a day," Lieutenant Tom Hutchinson from Team HMS Oardacious told Forces News.
He added: "What we've done is get custom-made seat pads, which are made of layers of padding... they are comfortable, however after 35 days of rowing even the most comfortable seat pad isn't that great."
US Veteran team 'Fight Oar Die' brought along a unique bit of kit, an underwater drone to examine underneath their boat, which they will take with them to hopefully assist in removing potentially race-hindering barnacles.
They are "proud" to be the first all-US Air Force team and their aim is to bring awareness to veteran suicide and veteran PTSD while inspiring others to go out and "row their own ocean".
"I'm kinda looking to get scared here, I'm worried about letting these guys down, that's about it," Former US Air Force Team Fight Oar Die member Nick Rahn said.
The number of serving and military veterans taking part in the challenge increases year after year. Even the safety team is almost all military.
Former member of the Royal Anglian Regiment, and the challenge's Head Safety Officer, Ian Couch, said: "This ticks all the boxes that the military could possibly want.
"It's leadership, it's individual development, it's overcoming adversity, all the things that you could possibly look for for someone that is serving doing a challenge of this scope."
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