New dad Robbie Laidlaw completes incredible row across the Atlantic

Robbie Laidlaw and his boss Chris Mitchell set off from La Gomera, west of Tenerife, 12 days before Christmas.

Together, the duo powered their way across the world, reaching Nelson’s Dockyard in Antigua on January 21 in a time of 38 days, 15 hours and three minutes.

Waiting for Robbie on dry land were his partner Kiri and son Gray, who was born just over six weeks before his dad set off on the adventure of a lifetime.

Former Gullane Primary School and North Berwick High School pupil Robbie said: “It was such a bizarre experience.

“Thirty-eight days at sea and all you see is blue, the colour blue, and white.

“There are no real smells out there and I had only seen Chris and one other person.

“Then, all of a sudden, you cross the line and there are hundreds of people.

“Everybody is shouting and screaming, and it is an assault on all the senses.

“It was a surreal experience and picking [Kiri and Gray] out of the crowd when we got hauled onto the dock was amazing.”

Their departure port, San Sebastian de la Gomera, is where Christopher Columbus set sail for the New World.

And the finish line is where Admiral Lord Nelson briefly lived in the Antigua dockyard, a UNESCO World Heritage Site which is named after him.

Boats in the World’s Toughest Row contest are still at sea but Robbie and Chris, aboard Maria, reached the Caribbean island in fifth place and first in pairs.

Speaking to the Courier from the island, Robbie told how they had overcome plenty of hurdles along the way, including capsizing on day six.

They had been experiencing waves of 10-12 metres when Robbie saw a “monster wave coming straight at us” which flipped them over.

Luckily, their boat is designed to be self-righting, but they did lose power for several days, affecting their emergency positioning system and auto-helm, which keeps the boat on course.

It meant that, instead of two hours on and two hours off, both men had to work all the time – one to row, the other to steer the boat.

Robbie, who works as a business development director, said: “Chris had gone into the cabin and I was easing into my rowing position.

“I was getting settled into my two-hour shift and just through the darkness could see this massive wave looming up towards us.”

Alongside the physical exertion, both Robbie and Chris underwent a gruelling mental challenge, suffering hallucinations, which they had been trained to expect.

Robbie, of Gullane, and Chris work for contract catering business Genuine Dining and have raised more than £150,000 for Hospitality Action.

Genuine Dining provides corporate catering services to companies across the UK, as well as events and front-of-house services.

The men took on the challenge in aid of Hospitality Action, a charity for the hospitality sector which provides financial and mental health support.

They each rowed in two-hour stints, and slept, ate and cleaned for two hours, 24 hours every day.

In total, they made about one million strokes to complete the journey.

'Fantastic, exhilarating and terrifying'

Their 7.5-metre boat only carried basic medical, navigation, communications and survival equipment, alongside enough food to sustain them for up to two months.

They converted seawater into drinking water and used buckets as toilets.

Despite the challenges, there were lighter moments on the journey, including regular visits from pods of whales and dolphins.

The whales would sometimes swim under their boat, and the dolphins would play with their oars.

They saw tuna jumping out of the water and also flying fish – including one that landed in their boat.

Robbie said: “It was a fantastic, exhilarating and terrifying experience.

“We knew it was going to be tough, but we’d prepared and trained well.

“We are also grateful for the support of our families.”

Go to justgiving.com/fundraising/spiritofhospitality to make a donation.