Chichester sailors gear up for World’s Toughest Row – and admit: We should know better

They are following the progress of the 38 contestants in the World's Toughest Row - an annual 3,000-mile challenge on a route from the Canary Islands to Antigua.

In a year's time, the next set of competitors in the intimidating event will include the four-man crew of Lessons From a Boat - and foremost among the supporters cheering them on will be members of Dell Quay Sailing Club.

Jon Wilburn, Steve Potter and Jason Howard all sail from the club, and they share a particular delight in the timing of their entry.

When the trio, plus fourth rower and long-term friend Dan Dicker, reach their destination early in 2025 they will celebrate DQSC's centenary.

They describe themselves as ‘four middle-aged men who should know better’.

The idea to take part originated, they say, as many of these things do – as a bit of a chat down the pub six or seven years ago.

“Now we have thrown our hats over the wall, paid the deposit and are fully committed to the whole challenge.”

Their light-hearted attitude hides a huge commitment. The race demands massive investment, of time, effort and cash, with the organisers ensuring that competitors are fit and equipped for a minimum four weeks of non-stop rowing.

That's the target for the fastest of the teams, which range from a single rower to five, men or women or mixed.

On current progress in the 2023 race, the slowest of the 38 teams, which represent at least a dozen nations, could take more than three months to reach the finish line.

The scale of what is involved was brought home to Dell Quay SC members when the local rowers showed off both boat and essential equipment - from the heavy-duty batteries, essential for navigation and to maintain communication, to more than a million calories of food, mostly dehydrated.

There are watermakers and first aid kits, iPads wiped clean of all but one weather app and the owners' music choices, medical-grade mattresses, all-weather clothing, 2,000 Hobnob biscuits and so much more, in all enough necessary kit to double the weight of Saltie, their 28-foot self-righting ocean rowing boat.

One unique aspect of the team's effort is summed up in the name of the project. Steve and Jon, both teachers, plan to stream live lessons from the boat, to schools locally and globally.

They want to bring alive environmental issues and science, linking in design and technology, geography, oceanography, weather, navigation, marine biology and the relationship between outdoor activity and mental health, as well as showing how children can help save the oceans.

It's an plan local youngsters have welcomed with enthusiasm. James, 11, thinks the lessons are a "brilliant idea" adding: "It will be amazing to see all that incredible wildlife."

For many young people today, saving the planet is a big concern, so he is keen to learn more about the team's monitoring of marine plastics, a study with Plymouth University to provide real-time date on ocean pollution.

"That will be really useful. Plastic takes lots of time to degrade."

The team acknowledges the challenge has dangers, major and minor - even flying fish may cause serious injury hazard if they slam into a rower's head.

Seasickness can incapacitate even the best-prepared crews. The first week is likely to be the worst, with a rhythm and enjoyment setting in after that.

There are no mod cons - only a bucket, though there is toilet paper, some 800 sheets per rower - and the discomfort can be extreme, not simply from the physical effort but also in the claustrophobic oven-hot atmosphere of the tiny closed cabins at either end of Saltie.

The months ahead before departure date, December 12, will be packed with gym sessions to increase fitness, ocean safety/survival and navigation courses and time with a professional rowing coach, plus completing the 120 hours of rowing required before Lessons From a Boat can cross the starting line.

Once the challenge is under way the organisers provide a support yacht, but it can't closely shadow nearly 40 rowing boats.

Instead, in dire necessity, merchant ships are unlikely to be far away, given that the course follows a well-used cross-Atlantic route.

And the start time is deliberately chosen, after the end of the hurricane season and with hopefully favourable winds and currents for at least some of the crossing.

It will, says Jon, be a routine of rowing - two hours on, two off - eating and sleeping, appreciating the wildlife, sunsets, solitude and beauty of the ocean.

The rewards should be special, he adds. "It will be stepping out of the ordinary, taking on something extraordinary and testing ourselves."

Sponsorship is essential to the team's success, and to their aim to raise £300,000 for their three chosen charities, Diabetes UK, Cancer Research and the Final Straw Foundation.

"This event is a massive opportunity for all, its reach is global with huge TV, radio and online coverage," they say, anticipating a 10.5 billion online readership and a 49 million TV audience.

For more information and to donate, go to https://lessonsfromaboat.com – and you can follow the 2023 race progress at https://www.worldstoughestrow.com