The Team
MEET THE TEAM
Phil and Jules are going to be one of the oldest duos to be taking on The World’s Toughest Row with over 126+ years between them this is not going to be easy!
Two tough nuts looking for their next challenge… If not now, then when!?
Jules rowed at school and finished in his early 20’s, so the World’s Toughest Row is Jules’s chance to put rowing to bed, look those ‘lost opportunities’ in the face and tackle one of the world’s toughest physical and mental challenges. Conditioning beforehand will be a challenge in itself!
Phil has never rowed, so it’s a whole new game for him. Having cycled to all 92 football league clubs in 17 days and raised thousands of pounds for charity, and trekked in Nepal and Iceland, Phil has continued to do activities to hopefully inspire his five lads to be the best version of themselves that they can be.
This challenge is to inspire anybody that anything is possible you just have to put your mind to it, regardless of how old you are!
For both, Rowing the Atlantic has been a mad idea for some time, put in to motion before it’s too late to grab life by the n*ts and prove to themselves they have what it takes!
The boat we will be rowing is a Rannoch 25 called Lucy aka The Entrepreneurship. She is a 24-foot ocean rowing boat with a beam of s· 7", purchased by UnLtd from funds raised by Guy and David in their 2021/22 row. At the request of the 2023 team the boat was named after Guy's daughter, Lucy who has Down's Syndrome.
Lucy will be our home for our challenge. She has two, very small watertight sleeping enclosures fore and aft and is designed to self-right in the event of a capsize. Being so small, she is built for safety, not comfort, and will be packed with high-tech electronics such as solar panels, navigation and satellite communications equipment. We will have a water-maker, food supplies, a life raft and a bucket. As you can imagine, the bucket will be an essential piece of equipment, as there is no lavatory on the boat!
LIFE ONBOARD
We are aiming to row individually, 2 hours on, 2 hours off, around the clock for the duration of the crossing.
The average rower loses 10-15kg, despite trying to eat 6,000 calories a day of freeze dried meal packs and high calorie snacks. We will also be taking a quantity of “wet-rations” – food which doesn't require rehydration – in case our water-making equipment fails.
The boat has two, very small watertight sleeping enclosures fore and aft. It’s not going to be 5* but with only 2 hours sleep at a time - we are sure it will be comfy!
Sharks, dolphins, whales, fish, seabirds - you name it we will see it!
We are likely to have to endure pressure and salt sores, blisters etc which can lead to real pain in our backsides.
The crossing is expected to take between 40 - 80 days. The Average is 62 days.
There will be quite a few health challenges to overcome. In the early days, these are likely to be in the form of seasickness and sleep deprivation. Both of which can be debilitating.
The boat will have a solar-powered, electronic water-maker which will be capable of converting enough saltwater into drinking water to meet our needs each day. If this breaks down, we will have a back-up water maker that is manually operated with a hand pump. Using a pump is a particularly inefficient process and, after two hours of rowing, we hope that we will be able to avoid having to pump for 30 minutes to get a few sips of fresh water!
In the case of a real emergency, where our water supply dries up and we literally have no alternative, the ballast in the bottom of the boat consists of fresh water. This can be used as emergency drinking water but, if we are forced to break the seals and use it, we will be disqualified from the race.
We expect to be wet for much of the time and to cope with atmospheric changes, including rain, storms, wind and sun.
Bucket and chuck it…
Our Video DIary
OUR YEAR AHEAD
April
2024
Training
Training, training and training some more, in the gym, on the ergo and on land
April
2025 -
Oct 2025
Lucy Arrives
Continue with training, we get the boat and train on the sea in the UK
12 Dec
2025
Launch
Xmas
Celebrate Christmas. 2 weeks out from La Gomera and a long way from Antigua
