JD Hall was a fixture with Adventure Antigua for nearly a decade showing dedication and great seamanship throughout that time. Doc Fuller had seen his dedication and approached him about joining his team for the Atlantic Rowing Challenge. JD was ready for another life challenge and joined the team. Here is some wiki info about the rowing event he will be part of:
The Atlantic Rowing Race is an ocean rowing race from the Canary Islands to the West Indies, a distance of approximately 2,550 nm (2,930 statute miles or 4,700 km). The race was founded by Sir Chay Blyth and first held in 1997 with subsequent races roughly every two years since. The early races were run by Challenge Business Ltd. until the race was bought by Woodvale Events Ltd. in October 2003. Atlantic Campaigns SL, situated in La Gomera Canary Islands bought the rights to the Atlantic Rowing Race, now called The Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge” – The World’s Toughest Row in May 2012. Next race is in December 2015. After 2015 the race will be annually starting each December.
The team recently left Antigua bound for La Gomera, Canary Islands and is preparing their boat for the start which will be in just under two weeks. You can read more about the race on https://www.taliskerwhiskyatlanticchallenge.com and more about the team on http://www.antiguaatlanticrowers.com
The teams will all have tracking devices and you will be able to follow their progress from the main event webpage, but JD also has an individual tracking and communication device made by Delorme. He will be posting updates to the team’s Facebook page and twitter accounts. Follow those here: Team Wadadli on Facebook and Team Wadadli on Twitter
Here is a blog post about JD that i wrote back 9 years ago:
Thursday, November 02, 2006
say hi to JD a.k.a “J-Dog”
JD Hall is a grandson of the late Robert Hall, who is a national Hero. On independance day yestersay, JD’s grandfather was just given a posthumous award for his role in shaping the nation of Antigua and Barbuda. His family goes back in Antigua too many generations to count and the family’s reputation for honesty and integrity is infallible. Like me, JD was practically brought up on the sea. I remember seeing his dad “Kit” out on the Boston Whaler with a “school” of kids eager to get into the water for snorkeling or even more eager to “drop a line”. Fishing, boating, camping and snorkeling are more a part of JD than anything else, which is why I was sooooooo happy to get the call from him about coming to work with me one day. He had been working with another tour operator and luckily for me, things didn’t work out. I snatched him up because I knew he was more like me than most of the prospective skippers around. Another thing that ran in his veins was the love for engines and boats. What better person could I get to work with me just as I gotten a second boat? From day one his calm style and boat handling skills proved to be an asset that I was lucky to have.
JD is young and is learning about life and the world, and one of the nice things about our tours is that we meet so many interesting people. I have seen JD absorb plenty of info over the past 18 months or so and this young skipper is maturing in a way that his grandfather would be proud of. I know I am! Things to ask him about are anything to do with the sea…….things not to ask him about are his car troubles!!!! 🙂
You will meet him skippering either boat and I hope he sticks around with the company. He could very well end up running it! At his age most younger people just want to get out of Antigua, but JD enjoys his island life so much that he says he is happy to stay here for the time being. This shot of him was taken on the way in from an amazing fishing trip that just he and i did in Xtreme one afternoon. We went out with a few rods and not enough hands not planning very well, and ended up catching enough fish to supply all the restaurants in Jolly Harbour and our houses too. We were elated at the time of this pic. The euphoria doesn’t get better than that.