It’s been a long campaign – but after three years of planning, preparation, logistics and fundraising, the last ten days are in sight. On June 10th, Team Hesco's crew of Royal Engineers - Major Pete Rowlands, Captain Mark Waterson, 2 Lt Charlie Martell and Staff Sgt Ben Fouracre – will depart New York in Mount Spirit for the second of Commando Joe’s three epic challenges: rowing the Atlantic.

Team Hesco’s objectives
No campaign is complete without a strong set of objectives. You probably know what they are…but allow me to remind you.

1) To complete the 3,118 nautical mile crossing of the North Atlantic Ocean, by oar power alone, unsupported;
2) To set a new record for the time taken to row the Atlantic, unbroken for 110 years at 55 days;
3) To become the first crew to row unsupported from the US mainland to the UK mainland; and
4) To raise at least £100,000 for the Meningitis Trust.

Of these, it’s the fourth where we’ve found ourselves rather overtaken by events. Our original fundraising target was £20,000; staggered by people’s generosity when we exceeded that figure, we revised it upwards…and upwards again, hence the £100,000 figure you see today.

Carry on Fundraising!
With your continued help and support, we can reach and even exceed that figure. Our latest count shows that we’ve raised more than £55,000 and people are continuing to donate – thank you. To give you a measure of our success, the Team Hesco donations page on Justgiving is currently the top fundraiser for the Meningitis Trust, by a factor of ten!

And don’t forget the reason why we’re raising money for the Trust. Three years ago, in May 2003, Major Pete Rowlands lost his 16-year-old son Gareth to the disease. The money we raise will help with raising awareness of the disease, counselling for victims and their families, and ongoing research into finding a vaccine for the disease.

o £20 buys 3000 symptoms cards, one of which could save someone’s life
o £50 pays for two hours of a nurse’s time on one of the Trust’s dedicated 24 hour helpline
o £200 funds a day’s research

Thank you!
Of course, it’s because of you – our ever-growing body of dedicated supporters – that we’ve got this far. If you’re reading this, it’s because you’ve sponsored us, given us equipment, made a donation, bought Monty’s Miles, visited us when we’ve been on the road around the country or simply browsed our website and been interested enough to register.

We hope you’ll continue to follow the progress of the team as they prepare themselves for this gruelling challenge over the next ten days, and then stick with them and offer them your support as they attempt to meet all four of those objectives.

What now?
Pete, Mark, Charlie, reserve crew member Steve Clewley and campaign manager Adrian Bell are already in New York, courtesy of all-business class airline MAXjet. The boat arrived last week, thanks to K-Line and the commendable efforts of Chris White at Chambers & Cook. We’re now at Liberty Landing Marina working through the list of outstanding items requiring attention on the boat and maximising media coverage for the team on both sides of the Atlantic. Ben joins us on Sunday, when the boat will go back in the water for the final week of practice and testing before the start of the race.

Updates will start on the web within 24 hours of the race start and, with assistance from RISK, the team HQ will be in daily contact with the crew to assess progress, provide weather advice and a voice from the outside world.