Josh Stone arrived in Antigua after 42 days of rowing across the Atlantic with more than just an epic adventure under his belt, but a new perspective. “A lot of things clicked into place when I got off that boat. I certainly feel more at home now, in my thinking and where I am in my life. It’s a very funny thing to verbalise but it’s definitely there,” said Stone, who was born and grew up in Hong Kong and is now returning to the city to live and work. “Before I got on the boat, I had a lot of time to think about things, go over a few things. It was quite a transitional moment in my life, then I get off the boat having had even more time to think, and I have a more enriched view of life.” Stone, 32, and his team “For A Fitter Planet” were competing in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, a 5,000km race from La Gomera to Antigua. They rowed in shifts – two hours on, two hours off – from the moment they left the Canary island. They carried all their food and made water with a solar-powered desalinator. View this post on Instagram A post shared by For a Fitter Planet - TWAC 20 (@4afitterplanet) “I now look at things and think why not, what’s next? I don’t think I had that view before. But anything is possible. If you go through something like that, you begin to think if you put in the hard work, anything is achievable,” Stone said. “It’s the beauty of doing something like this, from the very start to the end of the process. It gives you a lot of perspective, but it also gives you a lot of self esteem to go on and do bigger and better things that you didn’t think you could do before.” Marlin attack and mid-Atlantic engagement for ocean rowers His main take away is empathy. Four people stuck on a “floating caravan” is stressful. “You’ve got to be kind. Some people are not having a great day either. It’s about having that intelligence and know-how to understand what people need. You pull together as a team, be kind, and it repays in truckloads in one way or another.” It was less scary than Stone expected, but there were tough moments. At one point, the boat turned broadside to the waves, which began to break over the side. With a headwind, it was near impossible to straighten the boat. Incredibly, just 300m away was another Atlantic rowing boat – The Duchesses of the Sea. They could clearly see three of the four women rowing, as the other came out their cabin, having spotted For A Fitter Planet on their GPS. To come that close to another boat in the middle of the ocean is very unlikely. “We had to get on the VHF and say, we’re very sorry we came so close, we weren’t trying to ram you, our boat had just pitched,” Stone said. “We saw them three times in the race when we overtook each other. The race within a race, going head-to-head with these four amazing women. The duchesses really pushed us, they got the best out of us.” Before arriving in La Gomera , they harboured hopes of finishing on the podium. But, with Covid-19 restrictions, they spent less time on the boat than they hoped. So, during the first week they were unable to push and take advantage of the favourable winds. “We were kind of kicking ourselves when we realised the race was won and lost in the first seven days, and we weren’t able to put our best foot forward,” he said. But their goals of getting across and of remaining friends were met. It was as tough as Stone expected, but for different reasons. “You get used to the physical things – waking up for the 2am to 4am shift, to rowing for two hours, to the pain in your hands, to pooing in a bucket under the Milky Way. But, what’s tough, when you get to week three or four, you’re so disconnected, you don’t think about what life is like on land any more,” Stone said. “It’s weird. I thought I’d be forever rowing that boat. It was the mental aspect of keeping your head in the game, trying to stay positive, that was tough. “It’s almost like the finish line gets further and further away, then suddenly you’re 500m away.” Stone said he has learned the importance of having difficult conversations, leadership, being kind, not jumping to conclusions, dealing with issues when they come up and nipping them in the bud and communicating. But there is still a lot left to be learned. “It changes every time I think about. It’s a lesson that’s constantly evolving. There’s so many aspects of the row, so many dynamics to look at,” he added. “People ask, did I enjoy it? I don’t think you enjoy something like that. I don’t think enjoying it is the right word for me, but I took so much out of it, and those lessons are still coming to the forefront.”