After setting world record, rowers prepare for leg back to Fernandina Beach

Fernandina Beach rower Paul Lore and his partner Dawn Smith have set a world record, becoming the fastest mixed pair ever to row across the Atlantic Ocean after completing a 3,000-mile crossing in just over 42 days.

Lore and Smith completed the transatlantic row on Jan. 25, arriving at Nelson’s Dockyard in Antigua and Barbuda after departing Dec. 14 from San Sebastián de La Gomera in Spain’s Canary Islands. According to Ocean Rowing Stats, the pair finished the crossing in 42 days, four hours and 19 minutes, earning official recognition as the fastest mixed duo to complete the route.

The achievement marked the end of the first leg of their charitable expedition known as the Hometown Row, but not the end of the journey.

As they paddled into Antigua, Lore and Smith celebrated with an embrace and flare guns while supporters in Fernandina Beach gathered at the Hammerhead Beach Bar to watch the finish via live stream.

“Wow. Just … wow,” Christine McKenna Hiebel wrote in a Facebook post reacting to the milestone. “This wasn’t just a physical feat. This was grit. Commitment. Trust. Choosing each other every single day in the middle of the ocean — through exhaustion, uncertainty, storms, and moments most of us will never experience.”

Lore said preparations are now underway for the second leg of the journey — rowing from Antigua back to Fernandina Beach — though the exact departure date will depend on weather conditions.

“We are focusing on one evolution at a time,” Lore said. “So now, it is preparing the vessel.”

Once they reach Fernandina Beach, the pair plans to continue the expedition with an even more ambitious crossing, rowing from Newfoundland, Canada, to Smith’s hometown of Burnham-on-Crouch, England — a route that few ocean rowers have ever attempted.

The Hometown Row is also a fundraising effort, with Lore saying the expedition aims to raise money for K9s for Warriors, a nonprofit that provides trained service dogs to veterans and first responders.

“You didn’t just cross an ocean,” Hiebel wrote. “You showed what’s possible when purpose, partnership and perseverance come together.”