Crew raises £50,000 in Atlantic rowing challenge

The Strokes4Blokes crew - Daniel Vacassin, Jack Fleckney, Mike Keith and Jean-Claude Vacassin - travelled 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean in 40 days.

Four friends have reached the finish line of a 3,000-mile rowing challenge across the Atlantic Ocean after 40 days at sea.

Jack Fleckney, from Northamptonshire, and his crew raised £54,000 for the Campaign Against Living Miserably (Calm) suicide prevention charity in the Talisker Whiskey Challenge.

Thirty teams took part in the row from the Canary Islands to the West Indies.

Mr Fleckney described the adventure as a "psychological battle".

His crew, called Strokes4Blokes, also included Mike Keith, from Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, and brothers Daniel and Jean-Claude Vacassin, who grew up in Yorkshire.

The four set off in early December.

"The difficult side was the mental side of being stuck on this tiny boat where you couldn't hide at all; you couldn't be on your own," said Mr Fleckney, who lives near Kettering.

"Day two for me was probably the hardest because I woke up in the morning, got out of the cabin after about an hour's sleep and the lads just looked so tired."

Strokes4Blokes faced many challenges from stormy weather to an unfixable leak

The crew faced stormy weather, huge waves and problems with the boat.

"The boat was tilted slightly, which is what we call trim, and that's when we found the big leak," Mr Fleckney said.

"There was no way of fixing it when we're out on the water because of where the leak was. We ended up finding three out of five compartments full of water by the end of the trip."

The team spent the rest of the journey using a hand pump to remove the water.

The four raised just over £50,000 for CALM, which they hope to double in the next month

Mr Fleckney said: "I was really proud when we finished and found out the things we've dealt with like carrying an extra 300 kilos of weight that we didn't need to in carrying water.

"We're over £50,000 now which we're chuffed with, because it's all just from individual donations rather than big corporations."

The team hopes to double the amount raised for Calm by holding more events over the next month.