Take yourself back to the morning of 31st May this year – did you set out on a particularly tough training session that day or was it perhaps a day off training? Imagine then that you’ve stepped into a boat and are steadily rowing towards Brooklyn Bridge – the start line of the World’s Most Dangerous Row with nothing but the North Atlantic Ocean between you and the English Coast. Hard to imagine? That could be down to the fact that until this incredible team of four set off, only fifty-seven people in history had ever actually achieved a successful crossing of this epic, unforgiving ocean.

Why did they want to do it? The crossing has been attempted a total of 72 times (with 29 successes, 43 failures) and one which has sadly taken 6 ocean rowers lives. They faced a relentless rowing routine of two hours rowing and two hours resting for up to 60 days. Whilst battling the ferocious weather systems of the North Atlantic; huge freezing swells over the Mid Atlantic Ridge; sleep deprivation; sea sickness and the constant war against being wet, cold and hungry for its entirety; the team had one aim – to raise awareness for the Plastic Oceans and the Royal Marines Charity.

This is no ordinary row, and the causes which these men wanted to raise money and awareness for in completing this challenge, are no ordinary causes. And who are the team? What had compelled these four individuals to come together and attempt such a huge feat for these causes? Read on for a mini-bio of the team members and why they wanted to be part of team Ocean Revival Adventures. 

ROW FACTS, DETAILS, HIGHS AND LOW

• After almost 3 years of planning, multiple setbacks and 72 gruelling days at sea, team Ocean Revival became the first people in history to row from New York to London. The team were stuck on para anchor for 24 days in total (and got blown back towards New York). The longest stint was 5 consecutive days.
• One of the main lows experienced by the rowers was missing their families back in the UK.
• The team had a very close call in an incident where they almost lost a rower…after throwing both retrieval lines they managed to pull him back in but it was a daunting experience for all and really hammered home the power of the North Atlantic.
• One of the major highs for the team was the amount of wildlife they encountered. They got lucky almost everyday with dolphins/whales/sharks etc. Most notably in New York they saw two sharks in the surface moving alongside the boat in the typical jaws-like fashion (they believe now these were basking sharks but at the time this was not apparent!). The photo on page 6 is a humpback whale breaking the surface almost within touching distance – these were just a handful of the close encounters across the 72 days at sea.
• Other highs that stick out for the four would be rowing home under Tower Bridge and Boris Johnson tweeting his congratulations about the teams finish and supporting both charities.
• Throughout the row the team predominantly used 4:1 Hydro Fuel from the ALLSPORTS:ENDURA Pro range and Ian also used the Enduro Load Complete Fuel leading up to setting off. Whilst in New York they ensured they were well stacked with protein before leaving to prevent muscle wastage that usually comes with undertaking long endurance events.
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