After 112 days at sea and 3,450 nautical miles Damian Browne, 42, became the first person to row unsupported from New York to Galway, according to his team. But the former professional rugby player turned Irish adventurer, did not get the journey nor finish he had hoped for.
“I’m fine. I’m safe. It could have been a lot worse,” said Browne via Instagram video. Having made it to Galway Bay – received welcoming cheers from the passengers of passing island ferries and seen the long-dreamt-about bonfires of Aran which marked the near-conclusion of his epic transatlantic odyssey – Browne expected to hunker down for one last night “safe and secure” onboard his 20ft boat Cushlamachree before a “relaxed row” the next morning up the coast to a hero’s welcome in Galway Port. Instead, powerful southerly winds pushed Browne onto the rocks at Na Forbacha, County Galway in the early hours of the morning (around 1 am) on October 4th.
Throughout that “very tense and stressful night” he fought to ride out the storm but eventually a capsized Browne was forced to abandon ship. Although Browne was unharmed, and his 20ft craft had self-righted, one of his oars had snapped in two. Scrambling in the dark he “realised my legs didn’t work so I was crawling around in the sea water... my shoes had torn off my feet at this point”. It was a welcome relief when the lights of an emergency services crew came into view on the horizon.