The eight remaining teams in the Ward Evans Atlantic Rowing Challenge will be celebrating Christmas at sea. A total of 36 teams set off from San Juan, Tenerife, on 7 October to row the 2,900 nautical miles to Port St Charles in Barbados.

With the average row taking around 60 days, the rowers may be forgiven for having thought that they would be at home on Christmas day tucking into turkey and mince pies. However, the 15 intrepid adventurers are on a personal voyage of discovery, challenging their bodies and minds to the limit in the ‘world’s toughest rowing race.’

• Team 43 43 West manned by Damian West from Grindleford, Derbyshire and Alex Hinton from London are due to arrive today (Christmas Eve)

• Team 63The George Geary manned by Michael Ryan from Surrey and Graham Walters from Leicester are due to arrive on 27 December

• Team 15 This Way Up with Ian Charter from Suffolk and Tony Day from Southampton are due to arrive on 30 December

• Team 32 Uppsala.com the Swedish team manned by Niclas Mardfelt and Rune Larsson are due to arrive 4 January 2002

• Team 5 Domani 2 the Dutch team manned Rik Knoop and Michael Tuijn are due to arrive on the 25 January 2002

• Team 29 Kaos the only Scottish team in the race are due to arrive on 19 January 2002. The team are Malcolm Atkinson and Ben Martel from Aberdeen

• Team 22 Troika Transatlantic is due to arrive late January. Debra Veal is the only solo rower trying to complete the challenge. Her team mate, husband Andrew, left the boat in late October. If she completes the challenge she will be the 11th woman to have rowed across the Atlantic Ocean