Yorkshireman Duncan Roy attmpting to row around the UK in world record time

Instead of crossing the Pacific Ocean, they decided to try to tackle sailing around the UK instead.

But to make it interesting, they are trying to break the world record of 41 days which means they cannot touch land.

The pair, who are now off the coast of Scotland about half way round the UK, said it was proving a tough challenge.

“It doesn’t sound that difficult,” said Mr Roy, 29, a one-time British Army Royal Engineer now living in North Yorkshire.

“But people are surprised to hear it’s around 1,650 nautical miles and there are lots of challenges on the way like whirlpools, strong currents and some very rocky coastline. It’s far from easy.”

The row is completely unsupported and they cannot touch land at any stage to make it a valid circumnavigation.

However both are experienced ocean rowers and have already travelled from Ramsgate, clockwise round the UK. They navigated the Gulf of Corryvracken, home to one of the largest permanent whirlpools on planet earth, where author George Orwell almost drowned in 1947.

“We didn’t have any problem with the whirlpool but then we found ourselves stuck by the current off Mull. It means we are unlikely to break the record but we will try.”

The pair are rowing 1,200 strokes an hour, 18 hours a day and are consuming 5,000 calories a day. Last night, the pair were in the sea off Peterhead with Aberdeen in their sights.

Mr Barton, who is from London, is fundraising for Sport in Mind, after a friend’s father committed suicide in February. Mr Roy, of Ingleby Cross near Northallerton, is rowing for the NHS where his partner works as a nurse.

Mr Roy has rowed the Atlantic Ocean twice (2017-2018 and 2018-2019) and has since shared his knowledge and skill onto many ocean-rowing teams.

In 2019, the friends came together as part of Latitude 35 team to row across the Pacific Ocean, from San Francisco to Hawaii. After a year of intensive training building up to this momentous challenge.

After the tough, but inevitable, decision was made at the end of May to call-off the Pacific crossing due to coronavirus, they began exploring ways to use their physical training and mental preparation nearer to home.

In 10 days, they chartered an ocean-rowing boat; found sponsorship; sourced ration packs, plotted their route, refined their training plans, sourced all of the loose equipment needed and checked the government guidelines to ensure the challenge can go safely ahead.

They say the biggest challenges are navigating shipping lanes, sleep deprivation and salt sores. They also say that being able to see land will be psychologically more challenging than being on the wider ocean.

-----------------------------

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

Editor