A Brentwood man rowed 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean to raise awareness about food insecurity in the United States.
Phillip Theodore said, “More people have been to Everest, more people have been to space, than have ever ridden across the ocean.”
To view the several pictures taken during his trip, follow this link: PHOTO GALLERY: Man Rows Across Atlantic For Hunger Awareness
Theodore has lived in Middle Tennessee for 20 years. He said after numerous marathons, he decided to take on his biggest adventure yet.
To his knowledge, only 350 people have ever rowed the Atlantic. Theodore said, “The first week was really challenging, we were hit with some really rough weather.”
Theodore said they were hit by 30 foot waves at the very beginning and cast overboard.
Theodore said, “If you can picture a three story or four story building at the back of your boat that you’re looking up at and it’s coming down on you, that’s what we were facing out there in the first week and periodically throughout the row... During a capsize you’re tethered to the boat, and you’re just hoping and praying that that tether stays intact and doesn’t break... you get dragged under the boat on the side of the boat, and you do everything you can to get back in the boat.”
He said he wasn’t scared about dying, just concerned with surviving.
Theodore said, “The thought does cross your mind of what am I doing out here? What did I get myself into?”
He made the journey with his friend from New York and it took them 45 days and 21 hours.
They are now the record holders in the United States.
Theodore said, “It is a little left to center, it’s not for everyone, but really what we’re trying to do is impress upon people that you’re capable of doing much more than you ever thought.”
He said they would eat vacuum sealed food and they brought a small burner to fry up fish. He lost about 35 pounds.
Theodore said, “When you’re rowing 12 to 14 hours a day you’re burning around 10,000 calories, and the body can take in about 4,000 to 6,000 calories a day. So we were losing weight every day.”
Theodore said they encountered a pesky shark that kept striking the rudder on their boat.
Theodore said, “There was probably a 7 to 10 foot shark attacking our rudder. So he would come up and go ‘bang bang’ and hit the rudder, so I screamed at him get the ore and hit him! Get him away from the rudder, because you have one rudder, ya lose the rudder and you’re in trouble.”
They would alternate sleeping on their stomachs in 45 minute increments.
Theodore said, “When you’re on the ocean it’s a big blue parking lot, you’re completely isolated and that does funny things to your mind.”
They departed from the Cannery Islands at Port St. Sebastian on December 20th and arrived in Antigua February 3rd.
On Monday, he said several teams he raced against are still at sea trying to complete the journey 70 days later.
Theodore said, “When you get off the boat you realize all the things you are hit with every day, that 90% of it really doesn’t matter.”
Before and during the race, they raised awareness on food issues in America.
Theodore said, “Approximately 50 million people in the US are impacted everyday with what’s referred to as food insecurity, not having enough food and then secondly it has to do with nutrition, there’s approximately 20% of the US population today is impacted with diabetes and there’s another 30% approximately that are considered pre-diabetic. A lot of that has to do with nutrition and just the lack of education.”
To learn more you can visit the website.
Theodore said, “To date we’ve been able to rescue well in excess of a million pounds of fresh produce that’s made its way into food banks up in the North East and West Coast.”
