Rowing the Atlantic gives Hongkonger new perspective as ‘lessons change every time I think about it’
- Josh Stone rows 5,000km from La Gomera to Antigua and gets off the boat with a new-found confidence that anything is possible
- The four-person team spend 42 days at sea and, for a while, it feels like they will be on that boat forever
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.
“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.