The October issue of Outdoor Fitness magazine is out now and has a nice piece on our resident ocean rower, Simon Chalk…..so grab your copy now!  It’s a good read to help you plan your next adventure – whether it’s running, cycling or ocean rowing!!

Oceanus Rowing had a busy weekend – we took the “Toby Wallace” to Wood End Primary School in Harpenden, Herts (http://www.woodend.herts.sch.uk/index.html) to show the hundreds of pupils the boat, introduce them to the skipper Simon Chalk and one of the new rowers in November, Roland Burr.  Roland has three girls at the school and did a great talk in the morning assembly before each year group was brought out to see the boat in the car park.  They asked lots of questions about the boat, the oars, the wildlife (dolphins, whales, turtles and shark questions!!) and the obvious toilet questions too!  Many thanks to all the teachers and pupils – and a special thanks to one pupil called Ethan who made this Lego model when he got home after school!

And then it was on to the Great River Race (http://www.greatriverrace.co.uk) on Saturday, where we were joined by a mix of the “Toby Wallace” and “Oystershack” crews to make up a crew of 7 onboard to row on the Thames from the Isle of Dogs to Ham House in Richmond, some 21.6 miles.  They came over the line 41st out of 338 boats that took part, and in a respectable time of 2 hours, 47 minutes! Onboard were Simon Chalk; Paul Williams; Matt Inglesby; John Farndale; Kevin Doyle; Roland Burr and Stephen Harpin.  They all had a great time and it was a nice little warm up for the mid-Atlantic row coming up in just over a month!!

Our resident ocean rower, Simon Chalk, has been recognised in the latest edition of the Guinness Book Of Records 2015 as the holder of the record of the “most oceans rows by one person” and still the “youngest male to row the Indian ocean”.  Simon has done eight ocean rows – he has rowed east to west across the Atlantic Ocean in teams of two (1997), five (2007/8), six (2013), eight (2012 and 2014) and fourteen (2011).  He also rowed the Indian Ocean solo in 2003 and as a team of eight in 2009.  With 2 more rows planned in the next year he will be into double figures soon!! Awesome job Simon!

Simon Chalk "most ocean rows by one person" in the new world record book for 2015 #GuinnessRecords #awesome pic.twitter.com/0gbiG9qr3T

— Oceanus Rowing (@OceanusRowing) September 10, 2014

Team Battleborn completed their Great Pacific Race at 2.25pm local Hawaii time on Thursday 24 July 2014 – a crossing time of 45 days, 7 hours and 24 minutes – and coming in a very respectable second place behind the race leaders United Nations.

Leaving Monterey, California on 9th June 2014, the crew of four onboard our pairs boat Patience headed out to cross to Honolulu, Hawaii.  Philip Cavanagh, Barry Hayes, Darren Taylor and Dan Kierath have had an amazing adventure and when speaking with the crew, they would have been happy to carry on rowing!!

Their blogs have been great to read and being able to follow their progress daily on the Yellowbrick race tracker – if you fancy a reminisce you can see their blogs at: http://www.pacificrow2014.com/blog/

We were pleased that their charter of Patience did them proud and got them safely to Hawaii.  Well done guys – job done!

Photo courtesy of Ellen Hoke Photography ©

A year ago today the world lost an incredible person.  Gone but not forgotten and very much in our thoughts…..Toby Wallace.

Oceanus Rowing were privileged to be able to enjoy firsthand the arrival of Fedor Konyukhov, Russia’s greatest adventurer on 31st May 2014 at 1313hrs local time.  He rowed non-stop, unassisted from Chile to Mooloolaba, Australia in 160 days mainland to mainland – a new WORLD RECORD!!  Fedor is enjoying some rest days with his family whilst he gets used to being back on dry land.  An incredible feat and an incredible man!

Simon Chalk said: “Everyday history is made – today however is a special day for Ocean Rowing. Fedor Konyukhov became the first person to row continent to continent, across the Pacific Ocean Solo. It is one of the greatest achievements in modern ocean rowing. There is a new benchmark… This remarkable new Pacific Crossing time of 160 days!!! The Worlds greatest adventurer has created a new standard to follow.”

Read more about Fedor at http://konyukhov.ru/en/index.html

Having had such a great response to the advertising for crew for the Toby Wallace in November 2014 on the mid-Atlantic, we have decided to put out TWO boats in a head-to-head!  Simon Chalk will skipper the Toby Wallace crew of 8 and Paul Williams will skipper Oystershack crew of 6 – the question of the optimum power : weight ratio will stand out best here and it will be exciting for all to watch……we have two spaces left on these crews to fill so be quick!

The crew of the Toby Wallace arrived into Port St Charles, Barbados on 15th March 2014 at 1627hrs local time to achieve an incredible crossing time of 32 days, 22 hours, 31 minutes and 25 seconds.  Photos of the arrival are now available to view in the PHOTO GALLERY – an awesome job by a great crew!

Not long to go now!!  The Toby Wallace crew are due into Barbados sometime on Saturday and all their families and friends are waiting for them excitedly!  Apart from lots of rowing, there hasn’t been much to amuse them although yet again there has been another flying fish incident…….once again involving Yaacov.  He was hit in the face again by another flying fish, this time much bigger than the last time, and Matt Mason was laughing so much he fell off his rowing seat!

They are under 200nm to go to the finish and are pleased to have closed up 44nm already halfway through today with a steady 82 nm day yesterday.  Whilst the record will elude them, it’s still a very quick crossing time and something they are all really pleased with, especially when they have battled so much adverse weather and counter-current for much of the trip.

Matt Mason will be interviewed tomorrow morning around 0850hrs UK time on BBC Lancs so if you are able to listen in you will be able to hear how they are getting on in the last few days of their epic row.

Everyone is looking forward to seeing loved ones – and there will be some surprises for some of the crew with some unexpected faces in Barbados too, so should make for a great welcome party!!

Below are photos of the crew having one of their last meetings about routing and weather before leaving port (serious faces!!) – they are going to look quite different in a few days in Barbados!!

Some excitement on the call from the Toby Wallace crew on Day 28, 10th March 2014 today.  Obviously Barbados is beckoning, and despite pulling a steady 80 nm yesterday, they also decided to take 20 minutes out and went for a swim to clean the bottom of the boat.

Everyone enjoyed the feeling and it helped with all the aches and pains of rowing for so long – despite the saltwater, it was refreshing as they are in hot sunny conditions onboard.

Back on the oars again, about four hours later…..a sharks fin was spotted close to the boat by Paul William’s watch!   Not quite a close call but a realisation that they are never really alone out there on the water.  It will make for an interesting story to be recalled in the future though – no doubt with some artistic licence!

The English supporters were glad to hear about the win against Wales in the rugby yesterday, although Gav (the Welsh supporter) was obviously not!

The crew are looking forward to arriving into Barbados likely to be sometime during the day on Saturday 15th as the weather is lighter for them in the coming days.  They are going to keep their mileages as high as they can as they know there is a small chance of breaking that record and are looking forward to seeing everyone.  Much appreciation and thanks for all the messages they have been receiving which has helped to keep their spirits up!

Photo of the crew with thanks to Ben Clayton (from l to r) – Simon Chalk; Matt Inglesby; Oliver Waite; James Prior; Paul Williams and Yaacov Mutnikas (Gav Emmerson and Matt Mason in the bow cabin!).