Rowers 'making great progress' in bid to cross the Pacific non-stop
Two rowers who are attempting to cross the Pacific non-stop and unsupported are making good progress.
After suffering catastrophic damage to their rudder and having to re-start their mammoth undertaking, the team, comprising Miriam Payne, 25, from Market Weighton in East Yorkshire, and Jess Rowe, 28, from Hampshire, have already travelled more than 700 miles.
A spokesperson said: “Since the restart, made possible by the support of many people including the team at Southgates Boatyard, who manufactured the replacement rudders in record time, Seas The Day has done phenomenally well.
“They have covered more than 740 miles, approximately double the distance than when they had to stop their first attempt.
“This is great progress, even more so as it has not been totally ‘smooth rowing’ with significant periods of cloud cover that have limited the ability to charge their power cells.
“This has meant they’ve had to manually steer rather than use the auto-helm at times, and limit the use of their Starlink communication system provided by Exploring by the Seat of your Pants.
“Though they have other communications systems for tracking and speaking with the operations team, the Starlink system is what allows them to send back images and video.”
The rowers have thanked everyone who helped re-boot their record-breaking attempt following the rescue and mending of the rudder.
“We’re so grateful for the amount of effort everyone has put in”, said Miriam about their rescue. “It’s amazing to know how many other people care about this project as much as we do.”
They plan to row 15 hours a day – two hours on, two hours off – adjusting the pattern as they go onboard their boat Velocity – a 9metre long Rossiter Ocean 2 Rowing Boat. When they are not rowing, they will be eating (around 5,000 calories per day) or attempting to sleep. Along the way, they will navigate shipping lanes, face 30ft+ waves, battle blisters and salt sores and are likely to encounter sharks and whales. The team is aiming to raise £50,000 for the Outward Bound Trust, a UK-based charity which helps children develop lifelong skills through adventure. To support their GiveStar charitable appeal for the Outward Bound Trust visit: https://givestar.io/gs/AGS4ZMK You can follow the team’s progress at www.seasthedayoceanrowing.com/the-team