So many practical questions about how this worked. Sleeping, food/water (cooking the fish, seasonings?, did they have stretches where they failed to catch anything), boredom - did they have a radio/podcast library, how much rowing per day, how are the bowels after five months of hardtack and fish, how does your skin handle constant saltwater exposure without showering, etc
Also - I want to see a before photo. They all look pretty slim, but I imagine anyone would after five months of rowing and eating nothing but vitamins and fish.
jonah · 19h ago
At the bottom of the article there are links to two related articles from before they started out and when they were halfway through. They answer many of your questions.
Pretty interesting stuff. I'm a bit surprised with the food choices, although to be fair they didn't elaborate too much. But just freeze dried and store-bought foods? And they were talking about eating it cold! Someone needs to show them MREs and flameless ration heaters!
esseph · 14h ago
The version of MREs before the current tan bags, the brown bags (Desert Storm era), were freeze dried meals.
They also come with a lot of stuff you don't want to eat for an extended period of time, and a lot of trash waste.
lazide · 7h ago
It appears that space was at an extreme premium - and remember, if they rowed, weight matters as well. MREs work in an environment where you have trucks (or planes) dropping off pallets of them on the regular, not where you need to bring 6 months of them along on something you are moving under your own power.
Long distance ultra light hikers and expedition type folks tend to bring freeze dried food (either way they can’t carry enough water so need to figure that out). Vitamins to avoid any weird effects from missing nutrients from ‘found food’ was also a good idea.
xarope · 13h ago
For talisker, most/all the rowers will have freeze dried food (store bought or self-made). The boats have a desalination plant (the boats have solar panels) so they do have fresh water, but only enough for drinking/eating, they would normally jump into the ocean to rinse themselves.
yes, they bring they own electronic devices, but you do have to be judicious in usage due to the aforementioned solar panels not being very big. Here's a picture (to be clear, this one used for the talisker, the ABC articles have a better image of the one specifically used by the brothers):
I saw an interview with them on the news here. Im sure I heard one of them say one of somehow managed to gain weight during it!
tonyedgecombe · 17h ago
I'll file that fact away for the next time I hear somebody here say "all you need is exercise to lose weight".
stavros · 14h ago
I have ~never heard anyone say this. All I've heard here is fighting about whether it's just a pure caloric deficit that helps you lose weight, or if it's other things as well.
speed_spread · 13h ago
Muscles weigh more than fat. Training doesn't make you lose weight, it makes you denser.
jjensen · 18h ago
Two English women are close to accomplishing the same feat.
I’ve rowed a marathon ( several, actually) on a concept 2. I’d even say I’m pretty suited to long distance rowing, since I usually don’t drink or eat while doing a marathon.
That said, the idea of going much longer than that — like an eight hour shift, or even two four hour shifts in a day, day after day… that’s insane.
And that doesn’t even begin to account for the difference between the erg and ocean rowing. Double insane.
bob1029 · 16h ago
After about 45 minutes of rowing on the C2 I don't register that I am exerting myself anymore. I could probably go all day if the boredom wasn't so intense. The danger of the open sea would help a lot with this.
gcanyon · 8h ago
Wow, and I thought I was suited to long distance :-) I definitely tend to row longer -- from 5Ks to an hour -- but I can't say I don't feel it.
Sanity-checking: what pace are you setting? Or: what distance are you covering in 45 minutes? The Concept2 has almost no floor, so it's possible you almost aren't exerting yourself.
bob1029 · 8h ago
I can do 10k in 45 minutes but I wouldn't be able to sustain this all day. If I reduce the intensity by 20~30%, I could go indefinitely.
stavros · 14h ago
Can you not listen to an audiobook? It's done wonders for my driving boredom.
bob1029 · 8h ago
I usually watch cab ride videos of European trains on youtube while I am rowing.
3eb7988a1663 · 4h ago
This is a new one to me. Is there audio of the outdoors or the cabin car? Are these urban trains or more long distance rural vistas?
When I go longer I set up a laptop beside me and watch something. It does require wireless headphones, or a long cord, since you're going back and forth through 3-5 feet.
hydrogen7800 · 20h ago
"You can take all the boys and the girls in the world
I wouldn't trade them this morning for my sweet Ocean Cloud
I've seen too much of life
So the sea is my wife and a sweet Ocean Cloud is a mistress I'm allowed"
Ocean Cloud by Marillion, written about a solo rower who crossed the Atlantic.
highwaylights · 18h ago
For a second I read "row" as in argument rather than boat/oars and my brain went straight to this:
They're Scottish, your script is missing the f word
stavros · 14h ago
"No, you first"? Now I'm imagining them being too polite to pass through a door for 139 days.
FiatLuxDave · 17h ago
OMG, they made it! My sister knows these guys! They became friends when she was working at an NGO in Madagascar. They also make whiskey.
wmichelin · 20h ago
Incredible achievement. I'd love to read a bit about their communications. I noticed their rowboat had a bunch of solar panels on it.
jemmyw · 15h ago
I get angry with my siblings too.
ares623 · 21h ago
What a disconnected piece of writing. It's like every paragraph is it's own separate topic, with topics alternating between different paragraphs.
Super cool achievement, regardless.
fernly · 20h ago
> three Scottish brothers have set a new world record by completing the first and fastest unsupported row across the Pacific Ocean...
> The previous record of 159 days had been set in 2014 by Russian rower Fedor Konyukhov.
Um, if they are the first to do it, how can there be a previous record? I guess the Konukhov trip was "supported"? Or not "full"?
Also - I want to see a before photo. They all look pretty slim, but I imagine anyone would after five months of rowing and eating nothing but vitamins and fish.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-02-22/scottish-maclean-brot...
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-08/scottish-maclean-brot...
They also come with a lot of stuff you don't want to eat for an extended period of time, and a lot of trash waste.
Long distance ultra light hikers and expedition type folks tend to bring freeze dried food (either way they can’t carry enough water so need to figure that out). Vitamins to avoid any weird effects from missing nutrients from ‘found food’ was also a good idea.
yes, they bring they own electronic devices, but you do have to be judicious in usage due to the aforementioned solar panels not being very big. Here's a picture (to be clear, this one used for the talisker, the ABC articles have a better image of the one specifically used by the brothers):
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSmNq8z...
https://www.seasthedayoceanrowing.com/
That said, the idea of going much longer than that — like an eight hour shift, or even two four hour shifts in a day, day after day… that’s insane.
And that doesn’t even begin to account for the difference between the erg and ocean rowing. Double insane.
Sanity-checking: what pace are you setting? Or: what distance are you covering in 45 minutes? The Concept2 has almost no floor, so it's possible you almost aren't exerting yourself.
Ocean Cloud by Marillion, written about a solo rower who crossed the Atlantic.
https://spookyscotland.net/benandonner/
Absolutely incredible achievement.
"No u"
"No u"
"No u"
For 139 days
With probably a lot of drinking involved
Super cool achievement, regardless.
Um, if they are the first to do it, how can there be a previous record? I guess the Konukhov trip was "supported"? Or not "full"?
https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/383779-fi...
https://konyukhov.ru/en/project/expedition/fyodor-konyuhov-n...