TEENAGE rower Rachel Flanders spent 75 days at sea to become the youngest person ever to row across the Atlantic. With three companions, she raced the 3,000 miles from La Gomera in the Canary Islands to Antigua in the Caribbean as part of the Woodvale Challenge.

Back home in Heaton with her mum and dad, Louise and Richard, 17-year-old Rachel recalled the arduous voyage as part of the Atlantic Angels boat squad and how thoughts of her parents and 12-year-old brother Charles kept her spirits up. Here she tells her story. . .

"I REMEMBER feeling really, really happy when I heard I'd been picked for the Atlantic Angels boat squad because I thought it would be a great experience, but I knew I would be homesick, she said.

I knew I would miss my family. Once I'd got over the initial excitement I started to feel really nervous about the enormity of the task ahead of me.

I guess it didn't really hit me what I was about to do until I actually got on the boat.

What would usually take two years to plan we managed to do in two and a half months. In some ways it was better not having long to think about it, I guess.

I remember thinking that if it all goes wrong, it will go wrong quite early on and then we'd be able to turn back and go back. But it didn't and it was amazing.

Although I had been rowing for six months that was river rowing and it's not quite the same.

I hadn't really thought it, but the worst thing for me was the sea-sickness I suffered from for the first three days. I couldn't eat or drink and I was hallucinating a bit as well. That's when I thought, this is not going to be much fun.

When you're ill you just want your mum and that's exactly how I felt.

Thankfully, after about three days, I started to feel better and I was able to eat tinned peaches. Apparently they are the best thing to eat when you are sick and the sugar in the syrup gives you energy.

The food was not great and once I could start eating again I tucked into dehydrated curry, spaghetti bolognese and pasta but they all tasted the same. I was struggling to eat as my stomach had shrunk but eventually I was able to eat. The best I can say for the meals is that they were nice-ish.

Your taste buds are affected by the sea-salt so food needs to be quite highly spiced, but it's a bit like baby food.

I longed for fresh fruit and vegetables and had a real craving for bread and cheese, pork pies and pastries.

Rowing was done in shifts and sleeping was done in shifts but I had to get used to only having a few hours sleep at a time. You couldn't sleep in the day because it was so hot. It was 40 degrees.

Another problem was going to the toilet in a bucket at the back of the boat while someone was sitting next to you.

I thought I'd never manage that and before I got on the boat I had a big problem with it, but to be honest you got used to it and you'd just have a chat with whoever was sitting next to you at the time.

It was also a chance to sit in a comfortable place for a while as your bottom gets really sore when you are rowing.

My hands and bottom were blistered and the sea-salt didn't help. But you just got used to it.

I also had bruises on my shins.

Although the days could be tough and hard going, the highlight was the nights. You could see millions of stars in the clear sky and one night we even saw a comet. It was bright blue and it shot into a million pieces and lit up the whole sky. It was spectacular.

We could see phosphorus coral on the sea bed and it was beautiful.

I remember Christmas Day being a special day even though I wasn't at home. We decided to have a break from rowing and had some hydrated food which you boiled in a bag. The only problem was it was out of date by four years and although it was safe to eat it tasted disgusting.

We had some chocolates and drank two bottles of champagne so we were off our heads. We had our music on and listened to a lot of cheesy music, doing a bit of karaoke to a Grease megamix.

One of the good things was that I could talk to mum while I was on the boat. It was lovely to talk to her because she's my best friend and I missed her. But I can remember at times thinking I'd never see my mum and dad again. I was missing my mum like mad and my dad's not-so-funny jokes. It was really weird.

When I was on the boat I'd think about what I was going to do when I got home. I thought about seeing my friends and what I wanted to do for my 18th birthday.

I wrote in my diary, just little things like what the weather was like, and I wrote some poems which weren't very good at all but it gave me something to do.

I read a very good book called The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay and that was great. I brought it home with me but it looks a bit sea-worthy now. It's quite tatty.

As we were approaching the end of the race we lost things from the deck when a big wave hit us.

The wave hit us from the side and broke on us and the boat went over 100 degrees on its side.

We'd got a bit relaxed about our possessions by then and unfortunately sunglasses, biscuits and other bits and bobs went overboard.

When we reached the end I was so excited. As we approached the headland I could see my mum. We were playing Snow Patrol's Chasing Cars on the boat and that song will always remind me of the that moment.

Flares were being let off as we came into harbour and my mum, dad and brother were there to meet me. As I got off the boat I couldn't walk and I just collapsed into my mum's arms and gave her a big hug. It was just so wonderful to see her again.