Trinity College student, Pedro Salgard Cunha, will be attempting to row across the Atlantic Ocean, unsupported, as part of an international crew of six in January 2010.
Trinity College student, Pedro Salgard Cunha, will be attempting to row across the Atlantic Ocean, unsupported, as part of an international crew of six in January 2010.
The mixed crew will set off from Agadir, Morocco, and expect to take around 45 days to complete the crossing, which is the first of its kind.
Each rower will alternate two hours on the oars and two hours sleeping in small cabins at either end of the 11 metre wooden boat. Following this shift pattern rigidly, the boat will never stop moving as they make the 3000 mile journey to Barbados.
Pedro’s aim is to raise a pound for every mile travelled for the local charity East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices through donations on his website, where supporters can track the live progress of the crew.
If successful, Pedro will be the first Portuguese man to row any ocean. Pedro said about his challenge: “With less than a month to go until our departure I am starting to realise how big this challenge is. However, I’m not really nervous about the physical aspects of the expedition, if anything I think the toughest part will be the mental challenge of being away from friends and family.
Pedro first learned to row here at Cambridge in 2005. As an undergraduate he was inspired by the example of two Trinity rowers who completed the transatlantic crossing in 2005.
Following in their footsteps, he became men's captain of Trinity College First & Third Boat Club the following year. He also competed in the Cambridge Cross-Channel Race, which was to be his first experience of coastal rather than flat water rowing.
Further information may be viewed online via the One Million Strokes website, linked above right.
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