BHS graduate Greg Spooner plans to row the Atlantic.

When the average islander looks across Puget Sound toward Seattle, they would feel daunted at the thought of rowing to the other side.

Greg Spooner sees the row as a tiny fraction of 1 percent of a much more ambitious excursion.He and fellow 1997 Bainbridge High School graduate Garrett Madison are two of five members of Ocean Adventure Racing Northwest, a quintet with a single goal: to row across the Atlantic Ocean.

They’re entered in the New York to Falmouth, England race in June 2006, an event organized by United Kingdom-based Woodvale Events, Ltd. OAR Northwest will be one of 15 crews facing 3,000 miles of open ocean in high-tech 29-foot rowboats.

Foremost is the sheer adventure: four young men pitting their strength and their intelligence against the forces of nature.

Spooner, who now lives in Seattle and is studying for a career in physical therapy or sports medicine, cites the educational aspects.

“It’s a psychological test,” he says. “We’ll have four guys in an enclosed space under stress. And it’s a nutritional learning experience.”

Other team members are Jordan Hanssen, Dylan LeValley and Brad Vickers; all bring extensive backgrounds in crew, Madison at Western Washington University and the other four at the University of Puget Sound.

Because the competing crew is limited to four rowers, Madison is currently the alternate.

Organizers believe the feat has been accomplished only 10 times: twice by two-man crews and eight solos. The record of 55 days was established in 1987 by Tom McLean, who rowed alone.

While many would consider weeks of almost unremitting hard work, extremely close quarters, rudimentary hygiene, serious sleep deprivation, potential encounters with icebergs and container ships, the likelihood of high winds and stormy seas – and the ever-present risk of death – as an exercise in self-flagellation, Spooner exudes optimism and excitement.

There’s also a bit of immortality involved.

“We’ll be the first Americans to row across the Atlantic Ocean,” he predicts.

While one other boat from this country has signed up, Spooner believes his group is far ahead in preparation and in the depth of their rowing experience.

As a member of the Lake Washington Rowing Club, Spooner gets up at 5 a.m. five or six times each week for 90 minutes of practice.

Getting ready

Mother Nature will provide some assistance. The route incorporates the Gulf Stream, which curves out into the Atlantic before dissipating about halfway across.

But just getting under way will be a very expensive undertaking. Just paying for the bare boat and getting it to Seattle carries a price tag exceeding $30,000, which the men covered with a series of personal loans.

Equipping it will take far more money. The team needs to purchase a great deal of equipment, nearly all of it inconceivable to the doughty duo of Norwegian clam diggers who made the first crossing in 1896 in an open dory.

Satellite phone. Computer. Wind and solar generators. Water desalinizer. Small cookstove. Spare carbon-fiber oars. And food. Lots of freeze-dried food – Spooner estimates that he and his shipmates will burn about 8,500 calories each day.

OAR Northwest is seeking corporate sponsorships and individual donations – both cash and in-kind – to defray the estimated $250,000 cost.

Accordingly, they’re selling naming rights for both the boat and their organization. They plan on making as many public appearances as possible – one or more excursions to Bainbridge are a certainty – to acquaint people with their boat and their undertaking.

“The boat is a 29-foot billboard,” Spooner says. “We want to keep it as Northwest-based as possible.”

They even hope to attract sponsors for each day’s food, and promise to take pictures of the bag with the sponsor’s logo.

Spooner and crew are also using the trip to raise funds for the American Lung Association. The money they generate will be used to fund asthma research and prevention.

The boat in which they’ll attempt the crossing is 29 feet long, with a six-foot beam amidships. It has a foam core with a reinforced bow, which makes it unsinkable – “at least in theory,” Spooner says.

The vessel draws about a foot of water, with a slender four-foot daggerboard supplementing the computer-directed rudder.

The boat itself weighs 800 pounds, the four men average about 200 pounds apiece, and there will also be between half a ton and full ton of supplies and equipment.

The weight will force one major adjustment from their crew-racing days – the stroke rate.

“We’re used to 34 strokes a minute with a light load,” Spooner says. “Here we’ll be doing 16 to 18.”

Things will head into high gear when their boat arrives, probably sometime next month.

They’ve already planned some of their training. One of the first excursions will be a journey from Vancouver, B. C. back to Seattle.

A more rigorous test will involve rowing out of Neah Bay and heading due west for about a week to become accustomed to true open-water conditions.

The men will likely go over the side in protective immersion suits for extended periods of time, to acclimate themselves to that experience.

A third plan is to head for the middle of the Strait of Juan de Fuca on a stormy day to continually flip the boat over, then right it and clamber back in.

One hundred-fifty gallons of fresh water in sealed containers – which also double as emergency drinking rations – aid in the vessel’s buoyancy and stability.

Crew members will wear synthetic materials, chosen for their ability to dry quickly. Water in the open cockpit will be a constant, even with four scuppers on each side.

On their own

Spooner and crew know they will quickly be on their own. While Woodvale provides several support ships, rowboats scattered across hundreds of thousands of square miles of open water means help could take several days.

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Ocean bound

For more information about OAR Northwest or to make a contribution, see www.oarnorthwest.com. For race details, see www.woodvale-events.com.

The moment that they accept assistance ends their race, though they are allowed to continue on to Falmouth.

Should they need to abandon their boat, it must be sunk on the spot so it doesn’t become a hazard for navigation.

One of the primary challenges is fitting enough food, equipment and safety gear into two tiny spaces at the bow and stern.

Complicating matters is that in the event of severe storms, all four men will crowd into the cramped aft compartment – which Spooner terms “almost comfortable” for two – and stream a sea anchor.

This compartment is about seven feet long, five feet wide tapering down to two feet at the stern, and just over three feet high.

As if those quarters aren’t tight enough, they would also share this tiny space with their emergency gear, such as the life raft and their immersion suits.

It’s likely that they’ll work out some sort of staggered shifts to avoid rowing the entire distance with a single partner. Standard shifts will be two hours, which means part of their training will be learning how to be effective on minimal sleep.

Their brief respites from rowing will be spent sleeping, listening to iPods, reading or taking in the scenery. To prevent complete burnout, each man will be allowed to sleep for eight hours every fourth night.

Personal hygiene? That consists of bathing in the ocean, which Spooner insists is actually warmer than Puget Sound. For more intimate body functions, the motto is “bucket and chuck it” – a practice frowned on in Puget Sound, millennia-old in the open sea.

“We probably won’t shave every day,” Spooner says.

OAR Northwest plans to return to Seattle with the boat after they complete the race.

“We think the local community will want to view it, get their hands on it, or take a ride in it,” Spooner says. “Also, unless it ends up being retired for viewing somewhere – which I doubt – it will be used again by our team for a 2008 Indian Ocean crossing or we will sell or loan it to the next adventurer.”

In the meantime, there are countless details to take care of.

“There’s a lot of planning that goes into it – gear, food, training, advertising, media,” Spooner says. “All it took was the right team.

“We realized that this is real, this is doable. We made the decision to go for it.”

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Ocean bound

For more information about OAR Northwest or to make a contribution, see www.oarnorthwest.com. For race details, see www.woodvale-events.com.