Northampton A&E doctor spent 51 days rowing across the Atlantic with his wife and they only had two arguments — which were both HIS fault

A Northampton doctor who spent 51 days with his wife rowing across the Atlantic says they only had two arguments — which were both his fault.

Adam Baker, 31, rowed continuously in two-hour shifts with 32-year-old Charlie Fleury for more than 3,000 miles from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean.

They had only rowed for five days previously as practice before setting off on a perilous journey lasting nearly two months.

They set off from La Gomera on December 12 and arrived in Antigua last Tuesday (February 1) aboard their boat called Persistence.

Despite the extraordinary journey and lack of sleep, the couple say they only fell out twice — both due to Adam accidentally changing direction — and credited their lack of arguments to being married and their stressful jobs at home as A&E doctors.

Adam said: "You have an 'autotiller' which is a little arm that helps set your direction so you can program your course.

"There's a little screen in the cabin that lets you control that. So one time my personal locator beacon hit the controls when I got in the cabin.

"The steering was basically turned off while Charlie was rowing, because it was dark it took us a while to figure out what had happened.

"The second time I only wanted to adjust out course by a degree. I ended up pressing plus ten instead of minus one, Charlie realised what I'd done, and then instead of pressing minus ten I pressed plus 10 again.

"In a panic I pressed it a third time, so instead of adjusting minus one degree, we went plus 30 and wildly off course.

"You get hit by the wind quite easily so that mistake for only a few seconds ended up costing us like 20 minutes".

Adam added: "We know what pushes each other's buttons and we knew each other's strengths.

"Some of the teams that go together might have frustrations build up over time. But we tended to just air stuff out straight away so we could move on.''

The couple aimed to £100,000 for frontline charities as part of their journey, and so far have raised around £20,000.

Supported by the University of Exeter where the pair both studied a Masters in 'Extreme Medicine', the pair used their own bodies as science experiments for both human psychology and biology.

They both lost over ten kilos in body mass during the journey, and around ten percent body fat.

Documenting their journey, the pair said they had seen all kinds of animals like sharks and killer whales — and even had a pair of birds hitchhike with them to the Americas.

Charlie, from Bristol, said: "This has been such a tough challenge with so many highs and lows.

"There aren’t many ultra-events that last longer than seven weeks and have such a variety of weather conditions to tackle.

"The highlight of the journey was definitely seeing a pod of orcas. Three from the pod came alongside the boat and it was truly magical.

"Every time Adam went to clean the debris off the bottom of the boat — which you have to do weekly — I'd always spot a shark, so that was quite scary."

Sleeping in a small cabin in extreme heat, the pair battled both mental and physical exhaustion after starting already fatigues from a year fighting Covid in A&E wards.

Other married couples have rowed the Atlantic before but Adam and Charlie are the first married couple to ever race in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, first organised by Atlantic Campaigns in 2013.

They are still supporting frontline medical charities who encompass saving lives by air, land and sea; Devon Air Ambulance, RNLI, Royal Devon and Exeter — where the couple work — and Mind.

You can help donate on their website HERE to help reach their fundraising target of £100,000.