Friends complete seven-week row across Atlantic

Karl Austen and Ed Shaw said they were "thrilled" to have arrived in Antigua

Two friends have completed the "world's toughest row" across the Atlantic Ocean, from La Gomera in the Canary Islands to English Harbour in Antigua.

Karl Austen, from Ascot, and Ed Shaw, from Bracknell, have been good friends for more than a decade and are members of the Maidenhead Rowing Club.

The rowing duo completed the 3,000-mile journey in 52 days, 3 hours and 30 minutes to raise money for Prostate Cancer UK and Dementia UK.

Mr Austen said: "Nobody's ever really going to know what we faced except us."

He said they were both "thrilled" to have arrived in Antigua, albeit feeling "tired and weary".

"With the sleep deprivation we faced, we are exhausted," he said.

"It was very tiring, we still have wobbly legs and we're still trying to find our land legs."

Karl Austen and Ed Shaw said they have been preparing for the journey for three years

Mr Austen said his highlight of the whole journey was the "wildlife spotting".

"We had an orca, a killer whale, come out of the water, breach and smash down about 80-yards from the boat and just 10 minutes into a shift.

"It was just an amazing moment, one of those things you can not experience anywhere else except in the middle of the Atlantic."

Mr Shaw explained that they encountered some boat problems, including with a piece of navigation equipment called an auto-tiller.

He said: "We had four of them blow up in one day and Karl had to go in the cabin with four auto-tiller which were broken and a punch of screwdrivers.

"All while we are bobbing about in the middle of the Atlantic, about 1,000 miles from Antigua, in 40 degrees heat and he created 'Franken-tiller' - one new tiller out of four old broken ones.

"For me, when he came out of that cabin for the fifth time and said 'it works' that was probably the best feeling."

The pair said their friendship had been tested but they got through it together

The duo said that spending that much time together working as a team "hasn't been without its tests".

Mr Austen said: "We were prepared for the row, for the lack of sleep, but there were a lot of things we weren't prepared for I mean how can you?

"We did get on very well, we've been friends for 15 years beforehand but we still had our testing moments."

Mr Shaw said: "And we expected them but more importantly we got through them.

"Everything we faced, we faced together and we really did manage to get through a lot of things which is a real test of resilience and character for both of us."

The rowing pair said it was quite an effort to cross the Atlantic

Mr Austen said: "The arrival into English Harbour in Antigua was unbelievable, there were lots of flares going, hundreds of people on the jetty to see us in.

"It was quite unbelievable and overwhelming for us at the time."

The arrival was filmed live on youtube by Atlantic Campaigns.

"I watched it again and it's a very emotional moment," he added.

Karl Austen and Ed Shaw said they were looking forward to having a few days off in the sun