26 days 21 hours 14 minutes - New World Record

Latest News About GB Challenge Press Articles Launch Day The Route The Team The Boat Training HMS Illustrious Schedule Charities Donate Friends of the Challenge Sponsors Contact	Round Britain rowers off East Anglian coast 2 July 2005 FOUR intrepid rowers who are attempting to set a world record by becoming the first people ever to row non-stop around mainland Britain are off the coast of East Anglia. The crew, which includes 25-year-old Ben Jesty from Butley, near Woodbridge, Suffolk, passed Great Yarmouth early this morning. They are on course to finish their amazing 2,000-mile journey in London on Monday. When they reach Tower Bridge on Monday, the GB Row Challnege crew will have taken just 26 days to travel around Britain in their tiny 23-feet-long boat. Despite being hit by force eight winds and fifty foot seas in the Irish Sea and then almost being capsized by a freak wave off Scarborough earlier this week, they have managed to average over 70 miles DAY. Yesterday (Friday) they rowed in heavy seas and strong winds across the Wash to Cromer and then followed the Norfolk Coast. They were off Aldeburgh, Suffolk, this morning (Sat). They will carry on down the Essex coast tomorrow (Sunday) before entering the Thames in the early hours of Monday morning. The team is made up if three Grenadier Guards, Lt Ben Jesty, Lt Will de Laszlo and Sgt James Bastin. Amazingly, Sgt Bastin had never rowed before he joined the expedition for training in April. The fourth member of the team is company director Will Turnage, 25, from Hampshire. Non-stop circumnavigation of Great Britain in a rowing boat has never been attempted before. Because of Britain's treacherous tides and crowded shipping lanes, this is one of the most dangerous journeys ever to be made in a rowing boat. According to the Ocean Rowing Society, rowing round Britain is harder than crossing the Atlantic. It is also as far. As well as setting a new world record, the crew hope to raise £1million for charity. They are supporting The Outward Bound Trust and the Bud Flanagan Fund for leukaemia research. You can follow the crew’s position on their website, click here so anyone wanting to follow them can see there they are. If you have a boat off the East Anglia coast, why not go out and cheer them on. You can also make a donation to their two chosen charities, The Outward Bound Trust and the Bud Flanagan Fund for leukaemia research by clicking here, or call 01732 520 111 If the crew manage to complete the 2,110-mile non-stop unassisted journey they will earn a Guinness World Record. They crew are living off Army rations and took over one ton of food with them. They are only drinking cold water, provided by a desalination unit, which turns sea water into drinking water. The desalination unit is powered by solar panels. But for nearly a fortnight after passing Land’s End the skies were overcast which meant the solar units were not able to provide enough power so the crew were rationed to just one litre of water each a day. Support GB Row Challenge and help them raise £1Million for charity Every penny counts ! Click here to Donate