Three brothers bid to row across Pacific Ocean in record time after conquering Atlantic
Three brothers are hoping to set a record time for rowing across the Pacific Ocean - having already conquered the Atlantic.
Ewan, Jamie, and Lachlan Maclean, from Edinburgh, start their four-month, 9,000-mile adventure on Saturday when they leave from Lima in Peru at 9pm UK time.
They will attempt to row non-stop and unsupported to Sydney in Australia in their custom-built carbon fibre ocean rowing boat and in the process raise £1m to support their own clean water charity.
The trio are expected to spend more than 120 days at sea, covering the equivalent of 343 marathons on a journey requiring around four million oar strokes.
Rowing in two-hour shifts around the clock, they will likely face extreme weather, sleep deprivation, and complete isolation on the world's largest ocean.
They have already conquered the Atlantic, setting three world records in the process.
After completing the 3,000-mile trip in just 35 days, they became the first three brothers to row any ocean together, the youngest trio and the fastest trio to row the journey from the Canary Islands to Antigua.
'We feel at peace at sea'
Ewan, 33, said they got the idea to row across the Pacific while on their Atlantic voyage, where they realised "how at peace we felt at sea - and also how truly lucky we are.
"We started thinking about how we could spend more time on the water and help more people - and this daft challenge was born."
'Getting people access to clean water is what drives us'
The Rare Whisky 101 Pacific Row aims to raise more than £1m for The Maclean Foundation, a clean water charity the brothers launched with their father, Charles Maclean, following their 2020 record journey.
The charity has funded boreholes, helping more than 5,000 people in Madagascar, but the brothers hope their latest voyage will boost its impact significantly.
Ewan said their trips to Madagascar have shown them "what access to clean water can do - it helps kids get an education, helps communities thrive, and saves lives.
"That's what drives us."
The boat, which they helped design and build, is named Rose Emily in honour of their sister, who was lost during pregnancy.
Read more from Sky News:MPs to debate British SteelMenendez brothers to be resentencedHow to complain at restaurants
Their mother Sheila, a watercolour artist, hand-painted the name onto the hull.
Jamie, 31, said the journey would "honour" the sister they never met, and "she'll be with us every mile".
Their 500kg of freeze-dried food includes haggis, neeps, and tatties for Lachlan's 27th birthday in June.
They will also bring bagpipes, a small guitar, and a miniature accordion with them on the voyage to make music when they are resting from rowing.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
British couple on Air India flight named
A British couple believed to have been aboard the crashed Air India flight posted about their 'magical experience' in the country. Fiongal and Jamie Greenlaw-Meek, who run a spiritual wellness centre and yoga studio, spoke of their love of India and the 'mind-blowing' experiences they had had just hours before the flight took off. Just after leaving the airport, the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner was engulfed in a huge fireball after plummeting into a building in the suburb of Ahmedabad, the largest city in Gujarat state. The flight, with 242 people, including 53 British nationals, on board was en route to Gatwick airport. Eleven children were among the passengers. On Tuesday, the Greenlaw-Meeks had posted on their social media accounts from their boutique hotel in the city, The House of MG, about how they planned to create a vlog documenting their time in the city and were excited to tell people about the details. Credit: jamiermeek / Instagram Sitting beside his husband, Fiongal said: 'So it's our last night in India and we have had a magical experience, really – there have been some quite mind-blowing things that have happened.' Jamie said: 'We really have been on quite a journey, and then just spending the last night here in this amazing hotel, and we have just had the most delicious Tali food. It was a perfect way to round up the trip. Excited to share it all with you'. Other videos show Fiongal discussing how they were 'feeling very, very, very happy' and showing off the 'treasures' that they had bought before a final video showed them in the airport as the plane was boarding. Credit: @wellnessfoundry / Instagram The couple run The Wellness Foundry in south London and Ramsgate, Kent, which offers psychic readings, tarot, Reiki and yoga. It has collaborated with brands including Dior, Google, and Netflix, according to its website, and was due to offer readings at Ramsgate's Pride march on Saturday. In January, Fiongal appeared on ITV's This Morning to talk about people's auras and what they mean. The couple's Wellness Foundry described it on Instagram as their 'biggest gig so far', adding that it was 'very nerve-wracking' but that Fiongal was 'honoured to chat about one of his favourite topics to such a big audience'. The couple documented their professional and personal lives on social media, advertising 'psychic development' and spiritual retreats in the UK and Spain. They have been together since 2019, getting married in various ceremonies, including one in Las Vegas, in 2022. Jamie posted a series of pictures of their wedding day at Mill Farm in Gamlingay, Cambs, on Facebook, adding that they had made 'so many wonderful memories and fun to last a lifetime'. He added: 'Thank you to my wonderful husband for keeping me calm in times of stress (sunshine after the rain)... My heart is so full of love and gratitude…' Jamie has previously spoken about how he developed a passion for wellness and health when his late father was diagnosed with cancer. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Activist fund Palliser builds stake in travel retailer WH Smith
A prominent activist investment firm has begun building a stake in WH Smith, the travel retailer, weeks after it sold off its historic high street arm. Sky News has learnt that Palliser Capital has acquired close to 5% of the London-listed company in recent weeks - worth about £65m at the current share price. Sources said the stake was expected to be disclosed publicly at an industry conference on Thursday afternoon. Money latest: Palliser, which recently led an effort to force Rio Tinto, the global mining group, to abandon its London listing in favour of Australia, is said to hold WH Smith's management team - led by chief executive Carl Cowling - in high regard. The investment fund believes, however, that returns to WH Smith shareholders could be bolstered through a series of self-help measures. These included reviewing the travel retailer's leverage targets and capital allocation policy to ensure better use of its balance sheet, according to one source. Improving investor communication and disclosure, and overhauling its executive incentive structure to align it more closely with the interests of shareholders are also on Palliser's wishlist, the source added. Shares in WH Smith are still trading at levels comparable to their lows during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the global travel industry faced near-total shutdown for long periods. The company's depressed share price is not unique to WH Smith, with SSP, the transport catering group, also drawing interest from activists in recent months. WH Smith trades from more than 1,200 travel stores in over 30 countries. "The group operates in structurally advantaged growth markets," it said in April. "Passenger numbers are forecast to grow in air travel by 2.5 times between 2024 and 2050, driven by both population and economic growth. "Investment in airport infrastructure is also increasing across the globe creating more opportunities for airport retailing." Palliser is understood to have identified WH Smith's high growth potential in the US as particularly attractive, and is said to believe that there is scope for its shares to nearly double in value in the next three years. WH Smith's decision to offload its town centre business, which dates back to 1792, was revealed by Sky News in January, and was viewed as a fresg symbol of the British high street's decline. Comprising about 480 stores and roughly 5,000 staff, the unit was sold to Modella Capital, an increasingly prolific investor in retail businesses. The stores are being rebranded under the new name TG Jones. Read more from Sky News:Thousands of Poundland jobs at risk as brand soldBillionaire Blavatnik courted to take Telegraph stakeSpending review's key points at a glance On Thursday afternoon, shares in WH Smith were trading at around £10.60 - down more than 10% over the last year, and giving the company a market capitalisation of £1.36bn. A spokesman for Palliser, which led a successful campaign against the board of London-listed Capricorn Energy, declined to comment. WH Smith has been contacted for comment.
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Yahoo
Serving coffee in America, under fear of death from the Taliban in Afghanistan
At a coffee shop in northern Virginia, you'll find a taste of the Middle East. But President Trump's travel ban has turned the stomachs of the owner and her staff. Layla Atik is from Yemen, her employees are from Afghanistan and Eritrea, three of the 12 countries on the restricted list. "I see firsthand the struggles that my own colleagues go through, and they're very hard-working people," Layla told me. "So, coming here, they're adding value to this economy. They're not coming here and causing trouble or anything," she added. Atefeh Aslami, who works in the cafe, fled from Afghanistan but now fears she won't be granted asylum in America. "If I go back to Afghanistan, the Taliban will kill us," she said. "My children don't want to go back to Afghanistan, especially my girl, who will not be allowed to go to school. "It's a matter of life for me, for my husband, for my children, for all of us." Pouring from a cezve, a Turkish coffee pot, her Afghan colleague Zahir Moradi said: "If someone is trying to come here… it's because they need help, because they want to live a better life, that's it." A wall, emblazoned in gold with the words "life begins", forms the backdrop to a vast array of Middle Eastern coffee and pastries. Read more on Sky News: But this 2025 version of Trump's 2017 'Muslim ban' turns the so-called American dream into a nightmare for millions around the globe. President Trump claimed last weekend's firebomb attack in Boulder, Colorado, justified new travel restrictions. But a Vietnam veteran, drinking coffee with his family at the cafe in Virginia, didn't believe the latest ban would make America safer. He said: "I'm a firm believer in allowing immigration, and I think it's terrible that we're deporting people that really have never done anything wrong. "They just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, they get picked up by ICE (Immigration Compliance and Enforcement), and off they go." Trump's travel ban: His nephew, seated beside him, told me those who think the travel ban is about security were "misguided". "I think you fear what you don't understand," he said. When I asked what the administration doesn't understand, he replied: "Other cultures."
