Former Connacht star capsizes twice on bid to row across Atlantic

Galway City Tribune – Inside the cabin of Damian Browne’s traditional shaped rowing boat hull, above where he sleeps, is a poem that includes the line: “My head is bloodied but unbowed.” How very apt.

“That’s where I’m at, at the moment,” said the Renmore man, a nasty-looking bloody gash above his right eye as he recorded a video diary to document his cross-Atlantic solo rowing adventure.

Day 14 was a particularly challenging one for the former Connacht Rugby star, and began with a rude awakening.

“A crazy day. My face woke me up this morning getting smashed off the side of the cabin during a capsize. Then it was complete disorientation for a few seconds. The whole cabin was all over the shop. All over me. Thankfully it’s only superficial – a few scratches and cuts but there was quite a bit of blood,” he said.

“I can’t describe how crazy this day has been. A whale swam by. And not only did he swim by, he circled the boat four or five times, came up at one stage and made eye contact. I kid you not!

“It was one of the most insane experiences I’ve ever had. [He] then swung by the side of the boat to within touching distance of my hand. It was only a little lad, less than maybe 12 or 14 feet but . . . today has been incredibly testing, about three hours after that I was trying to sort out the steering which was doing my head in and I capsized again for the second time, while I was outside on deck.

“I saw it coming, a split-second reaction, I grabbed a handle, and all my training and visualisation came into fruition. I rowed the whole capsize, held onto the boat by one hand. To be honest with you I surprised myself how calm I was while I was under water. I had visualised stuff like that happening so it definitely came to help me a huge amount.

“It was just an insane day and since that I’ve just been on edge. In survival mode. Battling, battling, battling the elements. I nearly went over twice more. The winds have calmed down a tiny bit . . . All good and we’ll plough on!”

Plough on is exactly what Browne did and he remains upbeat during the 4,800km charity challenge from the Canaries to Antigua in the West Indies.

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