GREAT SCOTS A
From novices to record breakers, the incredible story of three brothers, 3,000 miles and the Atlantic Ocean Words: Paul Dargan
s ocean rowing endurance goes, you’ll struggle to surpass the requirements of the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge. From a start-point at San Sebastian in La Gomera in the Canary Islands, the rugged, undulating swirls of the planet’s second largest ocean quickly envelops
competitors. Ahead of them, 3,000 miles of terrifying sparsity – a battle of both the sea and the mind en route to the relative innocence of Nelson’s Dockyard in English Harbour, Antigua. It is a finish line so serene, so calm and so idyllic, it belies entirely the struggles that will have gone before it for all those having set off with ambitions of victory, of enlightenment, or simply just survival.
And that’s where the MacLean brothers come into it. Lachlan, the youngest at 21; Jamie, the middle brother aged 26, and Ewan just a year older. Three brothers who, while enjoying the pleasures of the outdoors in their native Edinburgh, and having always been keen to push towards new challenges and projects, had only embarked on their first ocean rowing excursion a year before the start of the 2019 Atlantic Challenge on December 12.
“In the context of us being prepared… I guess even the most experienced ocean rowers don’t know what’s about to confront them on a challenge like that,” begins Ewan. “That said, I admit 12 months doesn’t seem like a huge amount of time to prepare for a task that, as we discovered, would test every last sinew.”
And yet, wind forward 35 days. The three-man crew, named Broar, are pulling into Nelson’s Dockyard. They have endured sleep deprivation, extreme weight loss, fatigue, technological fallout, including having to row the final 20 days with no working headphones after their iPhone cables succumbed to damage caused by a combination of sun and seawater. They’ve also solved a merriment of mental challenges in the process of keeping their vessel moving forward. And yet, they arrive a full six days ahead of the previous record. They have obliterated not just a perception of human endurance, but their own expectations too.
“As far as the hard rowing goes, the first few days were torturous, but we were surprised how quickly the body just sinks into a process of accepting what’s going on,” says Jamie. “Once we were beyond that the belief levels started to rise. We never thought we would win, but the idea that we might be able to achieve something special became real to us.”
56 | SPRING / SUMMER 2020 | ONBOARD
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120
