United Kingdom-based Colombian, Nicholas Carvajal Thursday night became the 79th solo rower to cross the Atlantic Ocean. 

31-year old Nicholas Carvajal docked at the rickety wooden Georgetown Ferry wharf in Guyana, South America at 7:17 PM (23:17 GMT) after being escorted into Port Georgetown by the Guyana Defence Force Coast Guard.

"I'm happy to be on land finally," he said. “I almost didn’t make it because the currents here are too strong,” he told reporters.

As he arrived closer to the wharf, claps and cheers erupted from his fiancé, mother-Pilar Uribe- and, father- Juan Carlos Carvajal. Immediately on climbing out of the boat, his emotional mother wrapped him with the flag of his native Colombia.

Carvajal said he has raised at least an estimated US$4,000 for the organisation, Cancer Research UK, to conduct research.

Guyanese authorities plan to take him for a routine medical check-up before booking him into a local hotel. He is looking forward to freshly cooked food for the first time since leaving the Canary Islands 82 days ago.

“My first priority is a nice soft bed and a nice warm meal,” he said.

While on his journey, he consumed vacuum-packed pre-cooked food which could have been eaten cold or warmed with a gas cooker. “I had a problem with running out of food because the trip took longer than I anticipated so I had to ration it out which meant that I was hungry for quite a while but things worked out OK,” he said.

He explained that he was stirred to embark on the feat not only to enhance the image of his native Colombia but to raise funds for the cause because his younger brother, who is a cancer survivor, and his grandfather who died of cancer 18 months ago. “I have seen both sides of the spectrum and so I wanted to raise some money and raise some awareness for cancer research to try and make as many people survive as opposed to succumb,” he said.

Carvajal said he should have arrived here two days ago but he was caught in a “very fast flowing” north west current that was pushing him to the Venezuelan coast that would have been risky if he had landed there.

“I had to make a decision about whether I ended up in the middle of an unpopulated area in Venezuela and had the problem of how to recover the boat, how to make myself known or ask the (Guyana) Coast Guard for assistance,” he said.

He recounted having capsized once and being separated from the vessel by 10 meters but was able to pull himself back to the vessel and continue his more than 3,000 mile journey.

The Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) plans to take him to several attractions including Kaieteur Falls.

Before returning to Britain, he would be going to Colombia to visit his relatives.

The Boat “Pito” is a custom built ocean rowing boat and has already been used for a number of journeys before. “Pito” is 24ft long and 6ft wide and is made from fibreglass and plywood with epoxy joinery, materials which are lightweight, relatively inexpensive, and easy to work with in case repairs need to be made at sea.

Solar panels on each cabin power the electrical systems on-board including a small water desalination device that turns sea water into fresh drinking water. In case this breaks 100 litres of fresh water is stored below the deck which acts as ballast. Fully laden the boat weighs almost one tonne.

Others who have finished in Guyana are Norwegian Stein Hoff who rowed from Lisbon,Portugal in 2001 and American Katie Spotz from Dakar, Senegal. She became the youngest person to row across the Atlantic.