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by Mick the Ram
A 54-year-old man from Wales has tragically been found dead on board his boat near the Cape Verde islands.
Michael Holt was undertaking a solo rowing challenge taking him from Gran Canaria to Barbados, on a journey of just short of 3,000 miles, to raise money for two different charities.
He had set off on 27 January, but 700 miles into the trip he told friends who were in contact with him that he felt ill, blaming it on sea sickness and was postponing the Barbados part of the trip and was instead heading 300 nautical miles to the south, aiming for Cape Verde.
Mr Holt suffered from Type 1 diabetes, but was an experienced rower and was very well prepared with plenty of medical supplies, according to his heartbroken family.
Contact was lost and a fishing boat in the area was asked to go and check on his health, but sadly they discovered him dead in his cabin.
The UK government, through the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, is liaising with the family and offering them every support.
Trained hard for the task
Mr Holt, who was originally from Porthmadog, but had moved to the Wirral, Merseyside. He had undergone double reconstructed shoulder surgery back in 2015, which involved putting some 20 titanium rods into his body.
Despite that he was undeterred and committed to his rowing and had trained for over two years to take on the adventure. He rowed solo across the Irish Sea last year from Porthmodog Harbour to Wicklow and back again, to raising money for his local football club.
Barbados bound
Having set off for Barbados on 27 January with 2,942 mile ahead of him, he anticipated that the journey would take anywhere between 50 and 110 days, explaining his intention was to row for around 16 hours a day and survive on just four hours sleep.
He already fundraised £2,500 for the mental health charity, Mind – choosing them because a friend committed suicide last year, and a further £3,500 for Liverpool Charity and Voluntary Services.
Sharks, whales and waves strike no fear
Mr Holt had no helicopter or boat helping him, but he was in contact with a company that was tracking his progress. He was also posting updates throughout and on 15 February he revealed a dramatic encounter with a 10ft white tip shark, which had attacked his rudder, but the fearless traveller took it all in his stride.
He had told how three killer whales also accompanied him for a time, constantly swimming around his boat. Just days before tragedy struck he reported losing an oar and cutting his hand when he was nearly knocked overboard by a strong wave.
He announced he had been taken ill, which he thought might have been associated with taking antibiotics and had made the decision to get to dry land, as soon as possible, so was heading to Cape Verde.
Fishing boat alerted to assist
His family became concerned when contact was lost and alerted local rescue services. The fishing vessel “Noruego” was tasked with heading to Mr Holt’s position, as was the “Omnicron Atlas”, a tanker on route to Venice and that actually arrived at the scene first.
Unfortunately, due to its sheer size, it was virtually impossible to get down to a small rowing boat, but it stayed around until the fishing vessel showed up.
Terrible news relayed but pride in the family
Michael’s brother, David, confirmed that when the crew entered the boat they sadly discovered him dead, the cause at present still unknown.
He said how proud he was of his sibling’s achievements and took comfort from knowing he had died doing something he absolutely wanted to do and
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