HE should get the title Alton’s action man as Andy Styles, 52, who has already trekked to the North Pole and the South Pole, has taken on his toughest challenge yet.

Grandfather Andy is currently three weeks into a 3,000 nautical mile row from the Spanish island of La Gamora to the Caribbean island of Antigua, having never rowed a boat before.

Andy, who owns and runs a payroll company in Alton and is a dad of two, is rowing with team mates Andy Sacker and Andy Cameron in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, the toughest rowing race in the world, and they are all raising money for their own personal charities.

They will be the first British trio to complete the race but, sadly, they won’t be the record breakers they hoped to be as the plan was to make it in 45 days but their power steering has broken. So they are having to steer by hand which means one of them rows, one steers and one rests at two-hourly intervals and this schedule will go on 24 hours a day for the next 65 days, making it a slow and tortuous journey.

The trio have also had some incredibly horrific weather to contend with, notably a storm last week with four-metre high swells and a downpour of rain “that hits you face on with such force that you can’t open your eyes to see where the next wave is coming from, so it is very difficult to make up any kind of ground in those extreme conditions”, Andy recorded on social media.

On a positive note, the rowers have seen lots of wildlife, including a couple of whales and several pod of dolphins. Fortunately, on Christmas Day the weather was good and they enjoyed corned beef, smash and baked beans as their festive dinner.

The adventuruers set off on December 14 which meant Andy’s wife, Teejay, spent Christmas without him.

“I spent it with my mum in Northampton, which was lovely, and then I came back to Alton to see Andy’s two girls and grandson Freddy, who is five.”

She herself should get an accolade for waiting patiently at home while her husband undertakes a dangerous challenge in a boat that is seven metres long and one metre wide battling across the Atlantic.

“Well you can’t stop people doing what they want to do or they will resent you and he is fit. For his treks to the poles he worked out four hours a day, and he still plays rugby for the Alton Masters who have give us wonderful support raising money for his charities.

“Also I am in touch every other day with Andy by satellite phone, although I must say January will seem a long month.”

“Losing the power steering has been a blow to them and to any hopes they had of getting the record for the fastest crossing. So it is going to extend their row by at least 15 days. They do have provisions to last them 65 days, so I hope they make it to Antigua in time,” she added.

For the last few weeks they have been rowing in cold weather but as they near Antigua it will get “incredibly hot” but they can’t leave the cabin windows and doors open – the boat has two small cabins – because they don’t know when a huge wave will wash over the boat, according to Teejay.

She says the trio should arrive in Antigua on Valentine’s Day “and the girls and I are flying out to meet them and I will greet Andy with a big kiss!”.

Meanwhile, she waits patiently for Andy’s next phone call from what he has said will be his final epic adventure having completed the ‘Triple A’ after his North Pole and South Pole treks in 2008 and 2014. He will be only one of a handful of people to have done it.

The charities he has chosen to raise money for are close to his heart – Barnardo’s having lost his father at a young age, Bowl Cancer UK as his brother recently used their services, and the Joliba Trust, which is an African sustainability project.

To donate, visit a-adventures.co.uk/charity.