In December 2019 I led a team of elite athletes, pioneering ​a world first expedition to become the first to successfully row a boat, completely human-powered across Drake Passage.

This project was conceived in April 2017 and in September 2017 I recruited the first team member. It required a lot of faith from me as I needed to irreversibly prepay substantial sum of money 1,5 year ahead of the expedition to secure the assisting vessel which is a requirement of the Antarctic Treaty in order to receive a departure permit. At that time it was all I had. The team recruitment was completed when in April 2019 Colin joined our team. My vision worked and manifested all the circumstances and turned the project into something actually bigger than expected.

From Cape Horn, Chile to Charles Point, mainland Antarctic peninsula.

My Team

What's new:

major technological upgrades, lessons learned from every weak link of the Polar Row:

• Assisting vessel: Maritime law requires that small human-powered boats and primitive sailboats be accompanied by an assisting vessel during open-water journeys. This increases our safety approximately tenfold and allows filming of the row. As they are an assisting vessel, rather than a support vessel, they witness and record, but they do not provide support.

• Custom and tailor-made hybrid performance/safety suits: Safety suits impair movement, making you feel like a snowman, and often only serving as pillows in a cabin. Thus, with the assistance of world class manufacturers I designed custom-made hybrid performance/safety suits, specifically designed and cut for rowing movement. These suits are tailor-made for each team member, following 25 different measurements. Being custom-designed, these suits are not available on the market.  

• Highest-end energy solution: No, this is not the fuel cell; no comments regarding the hopelessness of the fuel cells. Though I won't say how, we were able to take it to a higher level.

• Insulated boat: Insulated walls keep the boat at a comfortable temperature.   

• Many video chats prior to the row: The team members can get to know one another.

• Test row: The team can meet, and experience the boat, the ocean, and the teamwork.  

• Experience filter: 5 of the team members have rowing experience, 3 have ocean-rowing experience, 1 has Polar open-waters rowing experience, 3 have experience with freezing temperatures, 2 have ice-swimming experience, and all of us are above a strict fitness threshold.