Atlantic crossing in 21-foot boat had scary moments

Ralph Brown and his brother Robert were in the last legs of a nearly 7,000-mile crossing of the Atlantic Ocean, trying to keep what they say is the first flats boat and smallest powerboat ever to make the voyage from breaking up.

They had most of the North Atlantic behind them and were seeking harbor at the Faroe Islands, a Danish province roughly halfway between Iceland and Scotland.

The brothers attempted to follow two fishing trawlers, but lost sight of them. Sea fog became thick. Visibility was nothing. They were between two islands, and a storm was bearing down.

Their 21-foot open flats boat, designed to operate in as little as 4 inches of depth, was getting bashed by waves and Ralph, a former Marine who lives in Spring Hill, knew there must be dangerous rocks lurking.

"I kept repeating out loud four things," Brown wrote Saturday in an e-mail to the St. Petersburg Times, "one 'help us Lord,' two, 'the boat can't sink, it can't sink, it can't sink,' (Understand it was completely under water for moments at a time), three, 'trust your equipment,' and four, 'Don't Panic.' "

Brown responded to questions from London, where Friday the brothers — Ralph, 50, and Robert, 52, of Merritt Island — completed the record-setting voyage they began in Tampa on June 27.

It's the second time the pair has set a record. They took a similar boat on a 1,400-mile trip from Atlantic Beach, N.C., to Bermuda to New York Harbor in 2007.

The most recent trip was made to honor three of Ralph Brown's Marine comrades, John Harvey, George Holmes and Dewey Johnson, who died in 1980 while attempting to rescue American hostages in Iran.

The men hope to raise several million dollars for "wounded hero" charities, according to a news release that announced their arrival in Europe.

Ralph Brown said he never thought of turning back, but was scared almost every day and apologized to his brother for getting him involved when they were low on gas and had 200 miles to go in a leg to Greenland.

They refused an offer of rescue from the Canadian Coast Guard and switched to a less powerful but more fuel-efficient engine.

"The wind was out of the north and we were not far out of the Arctic Circle," Brown wrote. "It was freezing cold. The two-day crossing took six days.

"Did I tell you we were cold?"

Staff writer Eileen Schulte contributed to this report. Will Van Sant can be reached at vansant@sptimes.com or (727) 445-4166.