A rower from Teignmouth and his crew mate have broken through the 1000-mile mark on their quest to cross the Atlantic Ocean.

Tim Cox, a watersports instructor from Teignmouth, and friend Andy Purvis are competing in ‘The World’s Toughest Row’. They celebrated passing the 1000 miles rowed mark with flapjack, coffee and a tot of rum.

The pair, rowing as ‘Oar Mighty Mates 2C’, left La Gomera on December 11 to begin their crossing. They hope to reach Nelson’s Port in Antigua within 40-50 days.

So far, they have overcome a ‘rollover’, which sent Andy overboard, strong winds and high seas. The tough conditions make everything ten times harder than it should be, Tim said. ‘You try to eat and food on the spoon gets blown off. Luckily the spoon is attached with a string,’ he added.

A sandy haze for the first couple of weeks also prevented their solar panels from working properly, which meant the pair had to manually steer their boat and eat their food rations cold.

However, the duo remain in good spirits. They have reported seeing plenty of wildlife including a shark, dolphins and flying fish and have enjoyed incredible views of the stars in the night sky.

Tim and Andy are rowing two hours on and two hours off during the night and are swapping the oars every hour during the day to enable them to keep up their speed and get jobs done during the daylight.

Christmas Day was celebrated with a day of rowing, a tot of rum and a slice of Christmas cake made by Tim’s wife, Sue.

Tim and Andy are raising money for two charities close to their hearts: Dementia UK and child bereavement charity Abigail’s Footsteps. Donations can be made via their JustGiving page: https://www.justgiving.com/page/timothy-cox-1709986111726