By STEPHEN RAFFERTYFIVE PORTOBELLO pals will find out how
strong their friendship is when they embark
on a 3,000 mile trip across the Atlantic in a
rowing boat.
The quintet set off from La Gomera in the
Canary Islands on 12 December and hope to
make landfall in Antigua in the Caribbean
about 40 days later, and will raise funds for
two charities.
Atlantic Body & Soul is the only Scottish
team taking part in this year’s Talisker Whisky
Atlantic Challenge, and Sean Watters, Matt
Callis, Ed van der Ven, Alec Martin and Cal
MacAninch are all members of Eastern
Amateur Coastal Rowing Club in Portobello.
The crew expect to face physical extremes,
sleep deprivation, hallucinations, and hunger as
they row two hours on, two hours off for up to
six weeks, during which time they will
complete an estimated three million strokes.
All experienced and resilient rowers, the
crew includes a house builder, joiner, site
manager, impact investor and well-known
actor Cal who has appeared in DCI Banks,
Downton Abbey, Mr Selfridge, Trigger Point,and will soon star in new Scottish drama
Mayflies, alongside Martin Compston, Ashley
Jenson and Tony Curran.
Their Rannoch 45 boat draws inspiration
from lifeboats of the 1960s and the self-righting
vessel combines shelter with storage space for
equipment and supplies.
The charities benefiting from the rowing
challenge are Body & Soul, a frontline charity
that provides practical and therapeutic support
for people of all ages who have experienced
grave trauma in childhood, and The Junction, a
safe, friendly, confidential centre offering
services and support for young people in
Edinburgh aged 12-21.
Cal MacAninch said: “We row for Eastern
Coastal Rowing Club in Portobello, so we're
used to rowing at sea. But the races that we
train for all year are short ones. Coastal rowing
is one of the fastest growing sports in the
country, in the world even. We do short races
of maybe 12 minutes, 15 minutes at the most.
“We had to do 120 hours compulsory
training on our ocean rowing boat, so we took
the boat up north, rowed out of Loch Carron
and then headed north, up across the Minch to
Ullapool and then back down again."The first three days we were pretty much in
headwinds the whole way with rain, and it was
pretty uncomfortable, but the last day was
rowing from the Gairloch to Portree in
beautiful sunshine.”
He laughed as he said: “What we learned
was that the boat's really stable, the boat's really
safe - it's almost impossible to sink - and our
goal is to row across the Atlantic, finish it stay
alive, come back friends and raise lots of
money for charities.”
“You can't really prepare for the Atlantic
swell in the waves you might be seeing in
Scotland,” said Alec Martin.
“It's a kind of once in a lifetime opportunity
to test yourself to be somewhere really wild.
The world is increasingly small and help is
increasingly at hand the whole time, so to be
literally days and days and days away from the
nearest assistance or something, is quite a
unique feeling.
“We will do two hours on and two hours off,
roughly, but it'll be a bit weather dependent and
a bit depends on how we're all feeling. But
that's the rough pattern, which is linked in to
your body sleep cycle, it is really reckoned that
you can do that, eat and get an hour or so of
sleep and that sort of works for your normal
sleep pattern.”
Suzanne Campbell, Service Manager at The
Junction, said: “We are inspired and in awe of
the team taking on such a huge task, not only
to challenge themselves but to support the
health and well being of young people in Leith
and NE Edinburgh.”
Cal’s wife, BAFTA winner Shauna
Macdonald, will track the crew’s progress on
the Atlantic Body & Soul Facebook page.3
STEPHEN SMALL is CEO of St Andrew’s
Children’s Society which has been
celebrating its 100 year anniversary this
year. The adoption and foster care
organisation has its base at John’s Place in
Leith, with another in Aberdeen, and was
founded in 1922 by the Catholic Bishop
Graham. The group was intended to deal
with social problems such as the care of
unmarried girls who became pregnant
and the agency also found homes for their
babies. The tie with the Catholic Church
ended in 2009 when the rules allowed
same sex couples to adopt. The church
could not agree, but the adoption work
was considered too important to stop and
the agency broke their links.PERSONALISED SUPPORT
Stephen said that he began as an
inexperienced social worker, but he now
runs the wraparound adoption service
agency. He said: “Adopters tell us that the
support from a voluntary agency such as
this is more personalised and St Andrews
knows who everyone is. People are not
just a number which makes a difference.
We offer whole of childhood support and
also adult adoptee counselling for those
in their 30s or 50s for example who were
placed as relinquished babies.
“We will end our celebratory year in
January with two events - a ceilidh for
any supporters, and a parliamentary
reception at Holyrood.”
Former Chair, Maureen McEvoy, is a
mother of five children who were all
adopted through St Andrew’s, and she is
now grandmother to nine. She and her
late husband Jim received the good news
about their first daughter on 25 June
1968 which was Jim’s birthday. Maureen
said: “Jim always said she was his best
birthday present ever. Just a week later
after a hectic whirl of activity collecting a
pram and loads of baby paraphernalia,
three-month-old Jenny arrived. There
was no paternal leave in those days so
after a cup of tea at home, Jim had to go
back to work. We enjoyed her so much
that we kept on adopting another child,
and another, and eventually we had five.
“We were told that adoption was like^
a closed door and a completely new
start for the child. Changes in adoption
practice come later - from a greater
understanding of the effects of early life
on children.”An ocean to cross
Five rowers are set to embark on a
gruelling 3,000 mile Atlantic journey
The whole team: Matt Callis, Sean Watters, Ed Van Der Ven, Cal MacAninch and Alec MartinShauna MacDonald
waves off husband Cal
on the epic Atlantic
challengeStephen Small (right) welcomes
The Rt Hon Lord Provost Robert
Aldridge to St Andrew’sSt Andrew’s
Children’s Society
100 years old
Vicki Watson
Vicki Watson