US man rows across Atlantic, reaches Caribbean

Three times, Victor Mooney tried to row across the Atlantic. Three times he failed. One boat sank. Another lost its freshwater system. A third sprang a leak and left him drifting on a life raft for two weeks. As he planned for a fourth attempt, his wife made it clear it would be the last.
"I'm going to give you all the support you need, but this is it. We have to close the book on this one,'" Mooney recalled her telling him.
Now the 48-year-old Brooklyn native has finally completed the roughly 3,000-mile (4,800 kilometer) journey.
Mooney was recovering today in the Dutch Caribbean island of St Maarten, a day after reaching shore and ending a 128-day ordeal during which he lost 80 pounds (36 kilograms).

The trip was fueled by his desire to bring attention to the need for HIV testing and to honor a brother who died of AIDS in 1983.
"Not everyone has to row across the Atlantic. You can wear a red ribbon. We all have a responsibility to do something," he said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

On Feb 19, Mooney left the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa in high spirits. But those faded as big waves and violent currents began to toss his 24-foot (7-meter) boat around, alarming nearby boaters who radioed him.
"It was a tanker who said, 'Do you know where you're at? Are you OK? Are you in your right mind?'" Mooney recalled. He paused, and the devout Roman Catholic, who had placed crucifixes all over his boat, reminded himself to be still.

The weather began to improve, and Mooney also received help from an oceanographer and meteorologist, among those he chatted with by radio while crossing the ocean, saying he never felt alone.
The African-American recalled that his journey took the path of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. "I asked my ancestors also for help to push me along," he said.
Mooney settled into a routine, awaking at 4 a.M., then rowing for about an hour at a time and taking 30-minute breaks until 7 p.M. But the ocean remained rough for most of the journey, often erasing his progress.
"Sometimes you can row 10 miles (16 kilometers), and then you wake up and you're 15 miles (24 kilometers) behind," Mooney said.