Achi news desk-
One hundred and twenty-eight years ago, George Harbo and Frank Samuelsen, two Norwegian immigrants, set off from New York for England. Their mode of transport: boat. The fuel for their vessel: their muscles and their willpower.
Harbo and Samuelsen rowed across the Atlantic Ocean in 1896, becoming the first people to do so and also setting a time record that would not be broken for more than a century.
Sir Chay Blyth and John Ridgway followed in the wake of the Norwegian pioneers, rowing from Cape Cod to Ireland in 92 days in 1966. It was that journey that inspired the first official Atlantic Race in 1997, a competition now known as the World’s Toughest Row and attracted two rowers from the Maritimes.
Meryn Avery, from Nova Scotia, and Brianne Savage, from Prince Edward Island, are competing in the rowing race in 2025, trying to challenge themselves and raise money for the Marine Animal Response Society by conquering 3,000 miles (4,800 kilometers) of fine waters.
“This sounds like a crazy, amazing thing to do,” Avery said. “It’s a crazy adventure. I really want to push my own personal boundaries. I like the aspect of getting to the edge of something, that’s a big draw for me.
“I know I’ll be a different person at the end.”
Savage, who has been rowing since she was 12 years old, took up coastal rowing when she moved to PEI in 2018. She was drawn to the idea of ​​traveling across the ocean and knew she had to give it a try.
“It feels like this is a natural progression to go into ocean rowing,” Savage said. “I couldn’t get it out of my mind. I was going to do it solo, but I wanted to tell someone that I didn’t think he would try to talk me out of it.
“Within 5 minutes (of talking to Avery), we knew she was going to do it with me.”
Pictured are Meryn Avery and Brianne Savage. (Source: Free from the Harbour)Their team, called Rhydd o’r Harbwr, is the only Canadian group registered for the pairs division of the race so far. According to the World’s Toughest Row website, the annual race usually starts in early December in San Sebastián de la Gomera in the Canary Islands and ends in Antigua in the Caribbean region.
“Teams battle sleep deprivation, salt sores, and physical extremes caused by the race,” the website reads. “Oarsmen are left with their own thoughts, the vastness of the ocean and the task of getting the boat safely to the other side.”
Savage said they had to follow training courses and meet certain requirements to compete in the race, noting that they would be rowing for 12 hours a day.
“We have to learn how to take our boat apart and rebuild it,” he said. “We’ve got to be able to fix it while we’re out there.”
Avery said the mental aspect of the trip can be just as important as the physical side.
“Communication is one of those difficult things,” he said. “It takes a lot of openness. How do you communicate when you’re going through something so hard? I’m not particularly nervous, but your toolkit has to be so big for the mental health aspect.”
To pay for the race, Savage and Avery are focusing on fundraising and securing sponsors. Their next big fundraiser is on July 20 when they row through the Northumberland Strait from New Brunswick to PEI
A race across the Atlantic Ocean is the World’s Toughest Race. (Source: Facebook/World’s Toughest Row)Avery said that “intense curiosity” drives them to complete this trip and both are interested in seeing what they learn about themselves in the blue expanse of the Atlantic Ocean.
“Everyone who does the feud has something else that’s a big challenge for them, I’m curious to see what that is for me,” Savage said. “After we get out we’ll figure it out. We don’t give the answers to a lot of things and we won’t know until we’re in the thick of it.
“We’re going to have to solve one problem at a time and keep that fear under control.”
Contributions can be made to the Free Harbor tour on their website.
