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Damian Browne still cannot swim. Rowed the Atlantic on his lonesome, keeps time with Olympians, did a 251km ultra-marathon across the Sahara and the big Galway man was geared to scale Everest when the pandemic took hold of planet Earth, his playground these past five years.

No problem. Browne simply replaced the experience of a lifetime with another. Plans are afoot to recreate Shackleton’s 800 nautical mile voyage from the Antarctic ice shelf to the South Georgia islands – with a unique twist.

But not so much as a doggy paddle.

“I don’t think you want to know how to swim in the Southern Ocean,” he laughs, “you want it over as quickly as possible.”

Browne used to be a rugby player. Sixteen seasons as a heavyweight lock for hire, leaving Connacht to join Northampton in 2004, with Leinster under Joe Schmidt sandwiched between two stints in France: come 2015 he cut the umbilical cord to his professional sport.

Since then he has covered more ground than the great explorers of the early 20th century.

Damian Browne has completed his incredible solo row across the Atlantic Ocean after 64 days and more than 4,800 kilometres at sea, describing the adventure as an unforgettable journey.

The former Connacht and Leinster lock arrived in Antigua on Thursday evening (7.40pm Irish time) after a gruelling journey that included capsizing on a number of occasions, battling high winds, blisters, head lacerations and a near miss with a cargo ship.

Last year fellow Galway man Gavan Hennigan completed the trek in an incredible 49 days and Browne set sail from the Canary Islands in December as part of the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge.

Browne came into this as a novice, preparing for the journey by rowing up and down the west coast of Ireland and has had to overcome huge hurdles on his way to completing the mammoth challenge.

One of the world’s foremost extreme adventurers, former professional rugby player Damian Browne from Renmore, along with lifelong friend Athenry’s Fergus Farrell are embarking on a journey that will take them across the Atlantic in 2022. In an unsupported row across the Atlantic, their row will see them take on 4,937 km across some of the wildest, most unforgiving ocean on the planet.The campaign entitled Project Empower was officially launched on Tuesday in Galway. The launch saw the two men rowing in a traditional Currach from Inis Óirr to Galway city to launch their 24-month studied endeavour in human empowerment. Project Empower is Learning Through Doing, Doing Through Living and Living Through Sharing. On Tuesday morning the 29th of September 29 we set off to row a traditional currach from the smallest Aran Island, Inish Oirr, 25 miles to Galway city to launch Project EMPOWER’s crowdfunding campaign.This traditional voyage symbolises what will be the last, triumphant leg of their Atlantic crossing in 2022, while promoting and respecting the seafaring heritage of Irish coastal communities.

Sixty-three days, six hours and 25 minutes. That is how long Galway man Damian Browne (37) spent alone at sea as he completed the 4800 km Talisker Whiskey Atlantic Challenge rowing race. His story from the boat perfectly encapsulates the grit and determination of extreme challenges like these. The highs, the lows, the struggles, the joy and the mental strength it takes to row across an entire ocean alone. To this day more people have summited Everest and been into space than have successfully rowed the Atlantic Ocean. And after reading this, you will understand why.

Former Irish rugby player Damian Browne proclaimed ‘never give up’ after completing his epic solo row across the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday evening.

Once a second row with Leinster and Connacht, Browne spent 64 days at sea and rowed an incredible 4,800 kilometres before he crossed the finishing line in Antigua at 7.40pm Irish time.

Damian Browne is a former rugby player with Connacht, Leinster, Northampton and French sides Oyonnax and Brive and since his retirement, he admits he lives an adventurous lifestyle.

Browne was a guest on The Hard Yards rugby podcast this week following his truly amazing solo row across the Atlantic.

It took him just 63 days to make the trek across to arrive into English Harbour (Antigua) in strong winds and on a choppy sea, to finish off his 4,800km journey which began in the Canary Islands.

“THE DAY HAD been already challenging enough.

Christmas had just passed and Damian Browne’s morning began with a bang; his head against the wall of his cabin and ‘that familiar warm trickle’ of blood he felt so often on a rugby field.

Later a curious, but unpredictable, adolescent whale would come to call, circling his craft to set nerves jangling.

Browne is out here in the middle of the Atlantic because he wanted a test. Though he could have happily waited a while more for this hurdle came to meet him.”

“Professional rugby is all about survival,” Damian Browne tells me on the eve of the Atlantic Challenge, a 4800km ocean row across the North Atlantic ocean.
“It’s like the crucible. Every day, every hour, every minute you’re just trying to survive in that environment because there’s a hell of a lot of pressures from a lot of different angles.

“I played 16 years professionally and you just adapt quite organically to that.”

Two friends will be taking on the extreme challenge of rowing across the Atlantic Ocean from New York City to Galway in an attempt to break a world record.

Damian Browne and Fergus Farrell met almost 20 years when they both played for Galwegians RFC, and now they are taking on a challenge even more dangerous than senior rugby.