A five-member rowing team will leave Bahrain for the United Kingdom next month on its latest training mission before attempting to row unsupported across the Atlantic Ocean.
The epic two-month-long potentially treacherous adventure dubbed ‘Bahrain Mission Atlantic’ covering more than 4,800km is scheduled to be launched in early December. Only four of the five rowers will be chosen to participate.
The crew will aim to create history by becoming the first team representing the kingdom to have rowed across the Atlantic.
The rowers in training, consisting of three Bahrainis and two Brits, have already been training hard in the kingdom since June. The eight-week UK phase will take place in Dartmouth before they leave for Spain’s Gran Canaria island, from where they will depart on the trek to Barbados, their final destination.
“It’s going to be a big challenge, there’s no doubt about it,” Warren Rowe, one of the two Brits who will be part of the final four-man team, told the GDN.
“Apart from being unsupported – which means, there will be no rescue boat trailing after us – our routine will consist of two hours rowing followed by two hours of rest. This will be on repeat for the entire two months. All the time. No full night’s rest for any one of us during the journey.”
Rowe, 30, came to Bahrain in 2020, after having served for eight years as a captain in the UK’s Royal Marines, and is now a member of the Bahrain Defence Force’s (BDF) Marine Battalion. He will be accompanied on the quest by colleague Robert Driscoll, who earlier served as a sergeant in the Royal Marines for 17 years.
Bahrainis Mohammed bin Khalid Shaheen, Sharida Abdulla Al Doseri and Saad bin Abdulla Yousef, serving in the BDF Marine Battalion, are also determined to be prepared and ready for action.
The challenge is being supported by Shaikh Mohammed bin Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the son of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince and Prime Minister.
“It gives me great pleasure to inaugurate Bahrain Mission Atlantic,” he said in a statement. “The people of the Kingdom of Bahrain have always been known to relish challenges driven by a passion for achievement across wide-ranging sectors, and this mission will build on this.
“Rowing unsupported across the Atlantic Ocean is a genuine challenge that deserves recognition. If successful, they will be the first Bahraini team to complete the endeavour and will usher in another Bahraini success.”
The final four rowers have yet to be decided.
“I think we’ll be able to decide that closer to the beginning of the mission in December,” added Rowe. “All are super-fit and they’ve been training hard.”
It is necessary to have all five men up to speed and raring to go, should injury or illness hamper any of them during training.
The fitness of the final four-member team will be truly tested by the many challenges they will face.
According to data collated from previous expeditions, rowers tend to lose 8,000 calories per day and, by the end of the journey, they are estimated to have lost an average of 12kg during the entire endeavour.
Allied to that are the challenges the ocean will throw at them. Rowers can expect to face 20ft waves at times with the monotony of the two-hour rowing, two-hour resting routine for the entire journey also posing mental health challenges.
“The monotony can be a bit of a challenge as well,” Rowe admitted. “But the rest, even for such a short spell at a time, is always welcome. There’s a small cabin at either end of the boat where the two crew members not rowing can get some shut-eye.
“I’m pretty sure we’ll be able to complete it. This is our chance to create history for Bahrain. We intend to give it our best!”
Out of the 750 people who have so far managed to complete the crossing before, only three have been Arabs.