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Oarsome endeavour ahead for adventurer Kevin




Businessman and his team prepare for 5,000km row across the Atlantic

ROWING across the Atlantic is not a challenge completed by many.

But for 61-year-old adventurer Kevin Gaskell, the world’s toughest rowing race is just another feat of endurance he’s taking on.

Mr Gaskell and his five-man Ocean5 team, which includes his son, Matt, will compete in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge – a 5,000km row across the Atlantic, starting from La Gomera in the Canary Islands on December 12 and finishing in English Harbour, Antigua.

It will take the team approximately 45 days of continuous rowing to complete the challenge, with the team maintaining a punishing 24-hour relay rowing cycle of two hours on, two hours off for each rower.

They will be consuming 7,000 calories a day, drinking eight litres of liquid and pushing their resilience to the very max.

The team are hoping to raise £250,000 for Plastic Soup Foundation, a charity targeting plastic pollution at source by preventing it from entering the environment and the ocean.

Mr Gaskell, who has walked to the North and South Pole as well as climbed some of the world’s highest mountains, said the challenge took on greater meaning because of the strain the world’s oceans are under from plastic.

Mr Gaskell, who lives in North Sydmonton, near Ecchinswell, said: “We chose to support Plastic Soup Foundation because I despair when I see the damage pollution is doing, so we collectively felt it was a really good cause.”

“It’s on all of us to take responsibility and adjust the way we deal with pollution.”

With just over a month until the start of the challenge, preparations stretching back two years are almost complete.

Alongside the technical training – completing courses in sea survival, navigation, first aid, radio use and weather routing – the team have been working with their specialised Rannoch 45 rowing boat to ensure they’re fully prepared for anything the Atlantic can throw at them.

This has involved rowing down the English Channel and getting used to how the boat performs in different seas.

The team have also learned how to avoid getting caught in front of cargo liners and super tankers – potentially the greatest threat they face after dangerous weather conditions.

Despite tackling some of the world’s greatest physical challenges, Mr Gaskell – who is now chairman of software company iCaaS after spells as chief executive of Porsche and then BMW – was under no illusions about the scale of the endeavour.

“It’s pretty daunting. We will be rowing in 12 to 15-foot waves and we’re in a boat that sits two feet above the water,” the businessman said.

“If you get it wrong, these waves are coming on top of you, and I can’t describe what 20 tonnes of water feels like when it lands on you.

“You can’t relax for a minute – we met a team who did this row last year and they got hit by a wave from the side.

“They didn’t see it coming in the dark, it turned the boat over and snapped the oar.

“This is the power we’re dealing with.

“At the moment I’m feeling appropriately nervous, but it’s like with anything – once you get going, you settle into it, but right now I recognise that this is going to be challenging.”

To donate, visit www.gofundme.com/the-ocean-5/donate



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