WOW! Gábor Rakonczay is set to be the first in the world to cross the Atlantic Ocean on a SUP

Gábor Rakonczay has begun his seventh transatlantic expedition from Gran Canaria, Canary Islands today. With this new record, he will be the first person in the world to paddle across the Atlantic Ocean on a self-designed and built SUP without a cabin. It is estimated that it will take 60-65 days to cover the 5,200-kilometer distance. The main sponsor of the extreme challenge is Hungarian-owned WHC Group; the athlete and the company aim to draw attention to health preservation and basic health education among young people.

The most optimal period of the east-west ocean cross-rowing season is from December to the end of March.

In the last 100 years, the transatlantic route has been accomplished less than 200 times individually.

Extreme athlete Gábor Rakonczay travelled to Gran Canaria, Canary Islands in mid-December, where he was deliberately preparing himself to set a new world record.

The final technical touches on his custom-designed Stand Up Paddle and the preparation of the equipment for the expedition also had to be taken care of. Due to unpredictable weather conditions, the departure shifted a few days from the original date, which gave Gábor enough time to brace himself for the challenge, both mentally and physically.

Ultimately, he started his 60-65-day transatlantic journey today, on 10th January. He is set to accomplish the 5,200-kilometer distance all by himself:

the first 1,000 – 1,500 kilometers heading southwest, and then changing his direction to reach Antigua. Rakonczay’s self-designed and built SUP, which is only 5 meters long and one and a half meters wide, provides only the most necessary equipment. This means, among other things, that Rakonczay spends the entire journey under the open sky.

Getting support, staying connected

Such a large-scale and unprecedented journey requires well-founded support and serious security measures.

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The timely position of the extreme athlete will be indicated by, among other devices, AIS and GPS trackers; of the latter, three have been placed in the SUP, which will send publicly detectable signals with different frequencies.

This allows anyone to follow the progress of the two-month trip.

The athlete also carries two satellite phones, one of which provides him with wifi connection, so it will be worth following his Facebook profile in the upcoming weeks. In his recent post, he has revealed that he started his 51-day doubles rowing journey between Gran Canaria and Antigua on 9 January, 14 years ago: “I’m starting my adventure from the same place, with another self-built vehicle, and again, I’m about to do something no one else has ever done before” – noted Rakonczay in his social media entry.