The world’s most record-breaking explorer and fastest ocean rower, Icelander Fiann Paul, has today set off on a record-breaking Antarctic row leading an international crew of six on a three-week journey from Antarctica, aiming to arrive in South Georgia on January 28th.
Fiann will be accompanied by ACTIPH Water founder and seven times Guinness World record holder, Jamie Douglas-Hamilton, who is taking on the challenge less than five months after undergoing open heart surgery.
Other members of the team include Austrian Lisa Farthofer who will be the first woman to have ever rowed in the Antarctic, American Mike Matson (first mate) and Brian Krauskopf who holds world records for rowing the Atlantic, and Bulgarian Stefan Ivanov who rowed the Atlantic and has won awards for completing endurance events.
For the next three weeks, Fiann and his crew will be rowing in 90-minute rowing shifts around the clock, with little to no sleep for 24 hours a day, enduring cold to freezing conditions.
The first to attempt to row the Scotia Sea, known as the ‘most dreaded ocean on the planet’ due to its wild nature, the Shackleton Mission voyage in honour of Harry McNish, the Glaswegian carpenter of Shackleton’s ill-fated Endurance voyage, will take the crew on a 950 mile row, unassisted and without wind power, following the route that Shackleton’s James Caird boat took from Elephant Island to South Georgia.
Named the Shackleton Mission, the voyage will follow the route sailed by the James Caird which was built by Harry McNish and which ultimately saved Shackleton and his crew after their main expedition ship, the Endurance, was sunk by pack ice in October 1915. The Scotia Sea is considered the most dangerous ocean crossing in the world, extending from Drake Passage to South Georgia.
The relationship between Shackleton and the outspoken McNish was difficult and Shackleton awarded almost all of the team the Polar Medal excluding McNish. Believing this to be a great injustice, Fiann, Jamie and the crew are calling out for the Polar Medal to be awarded to Harry McNish’s family posthumously and have even named their boat ‘Mrs Chippy’ after Harry McNish’s cat.
On completion of the row, the crew will have scooped three world firsts – first to row from the Antarctic continent, first to row the Scotia Sea and the first to row the Southern Ocean South to North.
Fiann and Jamie are yet again attempting to enter the history books after their last expedition in 2019. ‘The Impossible Row’, also led by Fiann Paul saw them row 750 miles from Cape Horn in South America to mainland Antarctica across Drake Passage. This voyage, which will take them from Antarctica to the islands of South Georgia is equally as treacherous on a stretch of water never rowed before.
Captaining Mrs Chippy, Fiann Paul, is the world’s fastest ocean rower and has led some of the world’s most challenging and record-breaking expeditions to international acclaim. He is the first person to achieve the Ocean Explorers Grand Slam – completing open water crossing on all five oceans using human-powered vessels. Fiann has broken the Guinness rowing speed record on the Atlantic, Indian, Pacific and Arctic Oceans and holds the world’s highest number of performance-based Guinness World Records ever achieved within a single athletic discipline.
Fiann said, “One goal of our mission is the recovery of Chippy’s Polar Medal. I thought naming our boat Mrs. Chippy after Chippy’s cat, who accompanied the original voyage in 1914, would be a great reminder for our team of our vision, as well as to announce to the world our intent to rewrite a historic wrong.
“The Shackleton Mission is a chance for me to practice leadership in the most challenging and unforgiving of environments. We’ve got a great team, I love them all, they are ambitious, educated, and successful. Each of them are so much more than just athletes. And together, we will not only rewrite history, but also make some history of our own.”
What might seem like an impossible feat for most, will be all the more challenging for the only British member of the crew, Jamie, who is recovering from open heart surgery which he underwent at Edinburgh’s Royal Infirmary in August 2022 after discovering a hereditary condition requiring immediate open heart surgery to replace the aortic valve in his heart. Jamie plans to raise over £100,000 for the British Heart Foundation during the expedition in honour of his experience and the care and support he received.
Jamie said, “When I was a boy I read Endurance about Shackleton’s rescue voyage when they sailed from Elephant Island to South Georgia in a small lifeboat and I couldn’t believe the hardship they went through so I’m motivated to embark on this adventure in memory of Harry McNish.
“It was a shock to me when I discovered the issue with my heart and that I needed immediate open heart surgery. I felt as if my life had been turned upside down, however, it turned out to be the biggest blessing of my life. The operation makes you feel like you have been hit by a bus and the recovery takes a long time but I have worked hard to get my fitness levels where they need to be in order to complete the row. I’m ready to take on the challenge and am incredibly honoured to be rowing on behalf of Harry McNish, who I believe ultimately saved Shackleton’s crew from disaster.”
To follow the expedition online visit www.rowlaughexplore.com/the-shackleton-mission.
