An 87-year-old Matua man is feeling happy after completing a chilly 33.3km Saturday row from Tauranga Harbour to Bowentown Boating and Sport Fishing Club one hour ahead of schedule.

“The wind was a little bit against us most of the way,” rower David Stubbs said. “I started wearing five layers and finished with four but never felt warm.”

The retired civil engineer and lifelong sailor launched from Pilot Bay at 7am on August 2, planning to honour the adventurous spirit of his late son Phil Stubbs, who once set a world record crossing the Atlantic.

David Stubbs with his five-metre Finnish-made dinghy. Photo / Brydie Thompson.

David was joined by his second son Steve Stubbs, who flew in from Sydney to take part in the commemorative row, while third son, Michael, accompanied them by land, driving the boat trailer.

The journey paid tribute to Phil, a former police officer and transatlantic rower.

Phil made headlines in 1997 when he and teammate Rob Hamill won the inaugural Atlantic Rowing Race, covering the 4700km journey from the Canary Islands to Barbados in just 41 days – nearly eight days ahead of the nearest competitors. The pair earned a place in the ‘Guinness Book of Records’ for their feat.

Rob Hamill and Phil Stubbs, somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. Together they won the inaugural trans-Atlantic Challenge in 1997. Photo / Supplied.

Tragically, Phil died one year later in a light plane crash on a West Auckland beach.

“What Steve and I did was loosely commemorative of Phil and his exploits,” David said. “He was a good multi-sport athlete. What he and Rob did was extraordinary.”

Rowing a five-metre Finnish-made Terhi dinghy with sliding seats for sculling, David said it would have been better if they’d left Mount Maunganui an hour later.

“We had a light head wind for the first mile and then good conditions until three miles north of Ōmokoroa. We were so much ahead of schedule at this point that we ran out of water and had to get out and drag the boat for several hundred metres.

“After that we had a difficult six mile stretch when we were slowed right down by a nasty little chop and slight head winds.”

David Stubbs, 87, has rowed 33.3km with his son Steve from Pilot Bay to Bowentown in his five-metre Finnish-made dinghy. Photo / Brydie Thompson.

After hugging Matakana Island for much of the way due to wind, and walking through the shallows, they reached Kauri Point and were able to rocket on.

“We had a strong tail wind for the last two miles on the final run down to the boat club. We were yawing so much we had to use an oar as a rudder.”

The pair were met by trans-Atlantic rower Steve Westlake, who rowed 15km to meet them.

“He was a close mate of Phil’s,” said David, who is no stranger to adventure himself.

At 75 he completed a solo sail from the Caribbean to NZ aboard a 36-foot yacht.

The overall time for the Tauranga harbour row was eight hours with an average speed of 4.7km/hr recorded on Steve’s Garmin watch.

“This allowed for some downtime when we were changing positions and stopped for the tide.”

The rowers took turns each hour, rowing for a total of four hours each.

“A dottery old man doing something out of his comfort zone,” was how David described himself, feeling content but very tired.

“We couldn’t get home to the warm fast enough. There wasn’t that much life left in us,” said David.

“Remarkably no damage to our bodies except fatigue. We were both in bed by 8.30pm.”