The Atlantic Ocean has long been the main focus of attention for ocean-rowing enthusiasts. The North Atlantic in particular is seen as a real challenge, with choppy seas, unpredictable weather conditions, and several busy shipping passages that must be crossed in order to complete the route.  Perhaps the fact that the United States and Canada border the North Atlantic on one side and the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe border the other is one of the main reasons that the ocean-rowing challenges that take place in this region continually make headline news.  Another popular passage across the Atlantic is the Canary Islands (off the coast of Spain) to West Indies (Caribbean) route; this is the path that the Atlantic Rowing Race takes on an almost yearly basis.

In recent years the Atlantic crossings of ocean-rowers have been split into two key areas of focus.  One of the two key aims is speed - rowers attempt to shave minutes, hours and days of previous records held.  Record crossings are also divided into solo and group, women and men, and even vessel definitions.  The second of the two key focusses for Atlantic ocean-rowers is to raise awareness and funds for worthy causes.  Generally these types of crossings are undertaken by amateur rowing groups or sponsored teams.