Seasoned adventurer and long term supporter of our work, Olly Hicks, is attempting to conquer one of the last frontiers of human endeavour – rowing solo around the world. To add to the challenge, he has set himself the target of raising £1 million for our work.

Olly’s adventure began on January 25 and his perilous trip will see him rowing over 15,000 miles with his journey expected to take between eighteen months and two years to complete. Unsupported during his row, Olly will have just his specially created boat, the 24 ft long Flying Carrot, and any passing sea life for company.

Olly set off from Tasmania and is planning to travel past New Zealand, across the Pacific, past Cape Horn and down into the Southern Ocean following a line of roughly 55 degrees latitude. The experienced oarsman is bracing himself for the extreme cold, hurricane force winds, 30ft waves and icebergs.

Olly designed his boat himself and it is made out of bullet proof material to be strong enough to survive the towering waves and ferocious storms he will encounter. Living off a diet of 6,000 calories of dehydrated food a day and multivitamins, Olly’s health will be key to him completing the trip and he even had his appendix taken out as a precaution.

The seasons could also be a threat to Olly’s success so he will be over-wintering in South Georgia, a British Island in the southern Atlantic Ocean, to avoid ice building up on his boat. His boat already weighs a ton and any extra weight, especially if ice starts forming, would make rowing impossible.

This isn’t the first time Olly’s broken a record though as in 2005 Olly was the youngest person ever to row across the Atlantic Ocean alone when travelled from east to west. However, this trip will be his greatest challenge yet and we wish him a speedy journey and a safe return.

To find out more visit www.virginglobalrow.com

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