Virgin Global Row

At the end of July Olly reached Cape Town, South Africa after a 40 day trip from Punta Arenas in Chile via Cape Horn and the Falklands. The trip gave an excellent insight into the conditions he will face on his row through the Southern Oceans. The conditions he faced were in fact milder than expected; 'we never had much more than 50 of knots of wind and all though it was cold with regular snow, hail and ice it was not much worse than an English winter at sea.' This is reassuring knowledge for the trip! Although it does not mean he can relax completely!

The sea was often rough but we never really faced any waves of over 10 meters, which on a 74 ft expedition yacht is no worries! This would obviously look a little different from a 24 ft rowing boat! Although we were not hit by any really bad lows we could see from the weather files the deep depressions passing to the south of us - this is where I will be rowing - it will not be comfortable to say the least!

The expedition is now concentrating on securing further sponsorships to fulfill the funding programme and continually designing elements of the boat as we build it. see

http://globalboatworks.com/ice-virginglobalrow.html

for pictures of the boatbuild at its current stage. The build is progressing well the hull is complete the cabin tops are now under construction and the interior bulkheads are being installed. We have carried out destructive testing on samples of the boats material - including shooting it and hammering it, it is as hoped extremely durable for its weight.

We will post some photos of the South Atlantic research trip and the boat build here soon.