Andrew Halsey: You should try to fulfill your dreams

Briton Andrew Halsey is the first man in the world who, while suffering from epilepsy, in 1997 crossed the Atlantic Ocean from Tenerife to St. Lucia in West-Indies on his own.

 The rower without the support team surmounted 4800 kilometres by 116 days.

Before that he took only one two-hour rowing lesson and made several training heats on the River Mersey.

When in 1982 he was diagnosed with epilepsy and realized that he would not be able to continue his normal way of life and work, he looked upon it not as the trouble, but as an opportunity: “Perhaps, people think that I am crazy. But for me craziness is to sit before TV and dream about things you could have done”. Before the illness Andrew worked as a builder, was selling seafood.

In 1999 he made an attempt to cross the Pacific Ocean from California to Australia, which by then any fully healthy person hasn’t risked doing (and Andrew suffered from the difficult tonoclonic spasms). But because of the difficult weather conditions and shortage of food, after spending 267 days at sea and losing 30 kg, he admitted that he would not manage to continue the heat.

“Hurricane Halsey”

The meeting with Andrew Halsey was held in the British Embassy. The invalid rower was invited to Belarus by his friends.

When explaining why he made up his mind on such a risky gamble as crossing the ocean in a rowing boat, Andrew told that story:

- When I was nine, I saw two travellers-journalists on the TV, who were crossing Atlantics in a boat. I followed the reports about this sailing with an interest, and then those men of courage were lost in the ocean and were never found. Then I decided that I will repeat this heat.

During the attempt to cross the Pacific Ocean Andrew got into the hurricane four times and twice he found himself in its centre. It was then that the British press called the rower “a hurricane Halsey”.

His first travelling Andrew financed by himself, his friends helped him a little; several churches supplied him with food for the voyage. The second race was sponsored more widely.

- Yes, it is risky – to go to the sea on your own, when you have epilepsy. But there are a lot of ways to overcome the disease, the disability. You should try to fulfil your dreams, - Andrew is certain.

How to survive in an ocean

The people come to the “hurricane Halsey” to ask for a piece of advice on how to survive in the open ocean, even the British military consulted him about these questions.

The biggest difficulties in sailing are connected with food and sleep, says Andrew.

There is little space in the boat for sleep, not more than a writing table, and in such space it is impossible to stretch, so you have to sleep in the embryo pose. What is more, the boat is hit with the splashes and it swings.

As a rule, he started rowing early in the morning and in the evening from 12 to 16 p.m., while during the hottest hours he tried not to row. But it is impossible to fall asleep during this heat as well, and there is perspiration in the boat as well. And the sounds disturb you as well – either the clothes in the boat are rolling over, or the turtles struck their shells against the floor of the boat.

According to Andrew the appropriate food should be nutritious, full of complex carbohydrates and easy to cook. For instance, soya and beans that can be steeped in salty water and cooked in fresh water. The rower was catching fish that was hiding in the shadow of the boat, so that to catch it didn’t make any difficulty. By the way, the biggest importance is the colour of the boat. The first Andrew’s boat was of a white colour. Fish mistook it for a tide and sometimes jumped into it. However, the weak point of the white boat lies in it invisibility: if you are lost, it will be hard to find you.

To his first voyage Halsey took huge supply of fresh water, and to the second – filters of reverse osmosis. Though the equipment was not electrical, but manual, that’s why one had to work for 40-50 minutes and really sweat so that to provide oneself with a daily supply of water. Andrew gathered rain water as well.

- It is obligatory to know your body – how it reacts to the heat, to the long absence of sleep. Because these factors can seriously influence your mentality. I was writing notes during the sailing so that to understand in which mental state my mind and consciousness are, - shares Andrew.

Life in a boat

The rower happened to have attacks in the ocean.

- When I was leaving the bay of St. Diego I had an attack, - tells Andrew. – My spasms are tonoclonic, they can get rather intense, they are hard to bear physically, and I can lose my memory and not remember the latest hour. When in St. Diego a patrol approached me, I was starting to come to consciousness. The patrols recognized me (the information about me was in the newspapers), started to wish me good luck. And I couldn’t even realize who those people were and what was going on.

With the help of the elastic rope strap Andrew was constantly bound to the boat and still could move. In case of an attack special equipment that shut the boat in got activated.

And after more nine months of sailing – that is of sitting – one has to learn how to walk anew. Usually it took 2-3 days for Andrew to do it: “It is not like that – to stand up and immediately go to the bar with your friends”.

Psychological preparation

Andrew Halsey says that loneliness in the voyage was not a problem for him:

- It was comfortable being alone for me; this is generally what I am. I’m sure that to spend some time all alone with yourself is useful for everyone. When there is no TV, no radio, no Internet, you start thinking about other things. I travelled over memories from my childhood and even recollected what I ate for breakfast in my first working day. You open yourself anew and you start being more creative. During the voyage I wrote notes and they were published as a book “Hurricane Halsey”.

I think that a man suffering from epilepsy should not think that someone will always be near him. He shouldn’t shut and look for help, but should be more self-confident and live the life he wants to.

Now Andrew Halsey is involved in charity so that to show people with disabilities that in spite of the disease one can reflect his potential and find occupation in life. He works with the charity organizations in Canada and Great Britain that find sport equipment for the disabled. Andrew wants to develop this business in Belarus, so that our people with disabilities could lead more active ways of life as well as go in for sports.