2005 Woodvale Atlantic Rowing Race

The late-November start date was chosen as officially Atlantic hurricane seasons end on November 30; however, the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was extremely active and lasted for an unusually long time, having tropical storms forming after the official end date.

These forced many of the crews to stop rowing completely and to deploy a sea anchor to prevent them from drifting backward.

In early January many of the fleets ended up passing through the southern edge of Tropical Storm Zeta, which raised high seas and created more adverse wind conditions.

The third boat to finish was "Spirit of EDF Energy", crewed by double Olympic champion oarsman James Cracknell OBE and Ben Fogle, a UK TV presenter.

They were eventually placed second in the doubles division due to a time penalty, issued for using their emergency water ration.

The two crew were also former captains of First and Third Trinity Boat Club who had broken the world record for a "two-man 1,000,000-metres on a rowing machine" by about 4.5 hours only a couple of weeks before the race.

In eighth place overall, and sixth in the doubles division, was "Row4Cancer" crewed by Liz O'Keeffe and Richard Mayon-White.

Martin had rowed for Great Britain in six consecutive World Championships – at junior, under 23, and senior levels.

The final positions were adjusted from the Line Honours due to the ballast rule, which penalizes the use of emergency drinking water as it makes the boat lighter and therefore faster.