 . Strong
Biceps and Smart Suits
I remember two transatlantic rowers at the Dockyard. A Briton, Mr. Syd
Genders, arrived at English Harbour in 1970 after rowing a 20 ft. open boat
over the Atlantic. Syd rowed only by night and usually slept in the heat of the day. He
was bound for Florida but had encountered bad weather north of Antigua, so decided to put
into English Harbour. He later rowed on to Florida to marry. He returned by air, to settle
at Mercer's Creek in Antigua.
The first American couple to row across the Atlantic stepped ashore at the
Dockyard after 84 days at sea in 1981. Curtis and Kathy Saville, of Providence R.I., had
rowed their 25ft. boat, EXCALIBER, from Casablanca. Some 15 to 20 yachts that had sailed
out, greeted them. Yachts at anchor loudly blew their horns in welcome.
Talking about stepping ashore at the Dockyard, I will never forget Patrick Ellam and Colin
Mudie arriving in their 20 ft. SOPRANINO dressed to the nines in their dinner jackets. She
was the first of the small vessels to visit, and this was in the early 1950's.
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