After 39 days, four hours and 28 minutes, pain and exhaustion turned to elation for four rowers who reached Hawaii and joined an elite group of endurance athletes to cross the Pacific Ocean.
The Brothers ’n Oars Pacific 2023 team, a group of friends from the UK, who are based in Dubai for their training, landed in Hanalei Bay, Kauai on Friday, July 21 after leaving Monterey, California on June 12.
After setting off in unusually cool temperatures of just 8°C, the team that included Paris Norriss – presenter of the adventure TV series Guy In Dubai – landed in Hawaii in scorching 40°C heat in the wake of Tropical Storm Calvin.
It was the first tropical cyclone to land in Hawaii this year, and the timing could not have been worse for Norriss and teammates Barney Lewis, and Oliver and Harry Amos who had to contend with difficult conditions just four days out from the finish line.
The storm brought with it 13cm of rain in just a few hours, as well as large waves and 200kph winds.
“The Pacific did everything it could to make it difficult for us, throwing storms, bitter cold and rogue waves at us,” Mr Norriss said in a social media post.
“Our undamaged and resolute teamwork was rooted in our long friendships with each other.
“We started as good friends. We ended as four brothers.
“As adults now with wives and children our responsibility to get home safely meant any bravado or ego among us was smashed to zero on day one when the seriousness of the situation became very real.
“The realisation that we needed each other and that our lives depended on each other overrode everything and we instantly switched into an incredibly supportive team.”
Despite the challenges they faced, the Brothers 'n Oar team recorded one of the fastest days of all the boats that entered the event, covering 91 nautical miles – around 168km – in just 24 hours.
The average time for crossing in a rowing boat is 62 days.
Elite group
On completing their 4,500km challenge, the four men became part of a small group of people to have finished the crossing by rowing boat.
Until this year, just 82 people in 33 boats had rowed from mainland USA to the Hawaiian Islands, considerably fewer than the number of people to have entered space or climbed Mount Everest.
The team rowed in 12-hour shifts during the crossing that saw each rower consume around 6,5000 calories a day in specially prepared micro meals, energy bars and power gels.
On Friday, the team were welcomed home by family and friends, as well as other teams that completed the crossing.
Mr Norriss said his team of rowers – who trained for three years in preparation – got on well during their 39 days at sea, with only the occasional minor disagreement.
“We were each thinking about our crewman’s next move and getting something ready for them,” he said.
“We are proud to say we crossed the Pacific Ocean in a rowing boat, something only 82 people in history had done before we started.
“We are prouder to call ourselves friends.
“It’s been an incredible experience and a story we look forward to telling.”
