ADVENTURE OF A LIFETIME
When three brothers from Edinburgh decided to row across the Atlantic, their fundraising drive saw them pillaging West Coast distilleries for whisky, finds Rosie Morton
Three Scottish brothers set off to row the Atlantic
For onlookers, row, row, rowing your boat gently down the stream sounds like it might be an entirely relaxing experience. But this needs set straight. While hearing the trickle of bubbles down the hull is an incomparable feeling for rowers, add in the slightest streak of competitiveness and you have an altogether different story. For brothers Ewan, Jamie and Lachlan MacLean, an adventurous trio from Edinburgh, the sport is far from a serene diversion from the daily grind.
Au fait with the feeling of fiery blisters, burning lungs, slide bites and a numb posterior, these three brothers have decided to embark upon one of the most gruelling physical challenges out there – the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge. Taking 40-60 days depending on the weather, it hasn’t been dubbed the world’s toughest rowing race for nothing. The simple fact that more people have jetted off into space or climbed up Mount Everest is surely enough to dissuade most people from willingly undertaking such a long-lasting and treacherous ordeal.
An incredible 3,000 miles long – 2,500 times the length of a traditional Olympic rowing race – this terrific trio will row across the Atlantic, launching from the shores of La Gomera in the Canary Islands in the hope of seeing the outline of Antigua on the other side. And while they are accomplished rugby players, competent sailors and all-round sports aficionados, rowing the Atlantic had yet to be ticked off their bucket list.
Following in the wake of such greats as Olympic rowing legend James Cracknell, former Royal Marines Commando sniper Aldo Kane and former Special Forces adrenaline junkie Jason Fox, their adventure of a lifetime is set to begin on 12 December.
‘I mentioned this Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge to Jamie and Ewan, and they were both dead keen,’ says Lachlan, assuring me there was method in the madness. ‘Next thing we knew, Jamie had signed us up to the race. It’s like when your brother signs you up for a half marathon, except this was a little more extreme.’ They have chosen to fundraise for two charities – Children 1st, Scotland’s national children’s
charity, and Argyll-based Feedback Madagascar, which funds environmental health and education projects in the African island nation, as well as the creation of boreholes that provide locals with access to clean water.
At just 21 years old, Lachlan is the youngest of the crew and is taking a sabbatical from his philosophy studies at the University of Glasgow; while Jamie, 25, is following suit, pressing pause on his architectural studies at the Glasgow School of Art. Ewan, meanwhile, at 27 years old, is managing to juggle a full-time role at Dyson as a design engineer with intense training – a fact that continues to baffle his siblings. ‘We’re not really sure how he’s still got a job to be honest,’ jests Lachlan. ‘But he seems to be multi-tasking quite well.’
Of course, their parents’ initial response to the news of all three sons paddling into the sunset in a 28ft boat was mixed. ‘The first reaction from my wife and I was dismay,’ says their father Charles MacLean, the acclaimed whisky writer and connoisseur who appeared in the hit Ken Loach film, The Angels’ Share. ‘All the eggs in one basket, as it were. But the effort they’ve put into it fills me with confidence now. I’m very, very proud of them. They’ve created a considerable stir.’
In preparation for race day, the brothers did a dry run in August, rowing up the west coast from Arran to Skye, a journey of around 300 nautical miles. Not only was this tactically invaluable, giving them a taste of the immense sleep deprivation and fatigue they would face – rowing two hours on, one hour off – it also proved a remarkably successful fundraising drive. Pillaging the distilleries all the way up the coast for bottles of whisky, they collected over 400 bottles in just 10 days to help meet their fundraising target.
‘I wrote to all the owners of the west coast distilleries,’ explains Charles, and thanks to his connections in the industry, this proved fruitful. Rowing from Lochranza on Arran to Talisker on Skye, the brothers received an average of 24 bottles per distillery.
The donated whisky, now in the safe and knowledgeable hands of Charles, will be blended and auctioned off to raise money for Feedback Madagascar, essentially transforming the water of life into fresh, clean drinking water for those in Africa, a campaign they’ve called ‘Whisky to Water’.
This limited edition ‘BROAR Blend’ is likely to have three expressions – one for each of the brothers: a lightly peated,
“The brothers did a dry run in August, rowing up the west coast
a medium peated and a heavily peated expression will be sold from Royal Mile Whiskies in Edinburgh.
With little over a month to go, Ewan, Jamie and Lachlan count themselves lucky to be bound by blood, salt and spirit, and hope that their brotherly bond will keep them going through the inevitable trials and tribulations.
‘When you’re stuck on a raft with these people, you have to get on,’ says Lachlan. Not content with overcoming the toughest rowing race in the world, they also hope
to compose a piece of music from the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Ordinarily Ewan plays guitar, Jamie plays the pipes, and Lachlan is a dab hand at the accordion. But scaling down their instruments on board with a harmonica, a whistle and a shaker, their shared interest in music is another of their strengths.
These musical endeavours will undoubtedly keep the spirits up when they’re burning 12,000 calories a day and living on dried food sachets. Certainly, Christmas dinner is sure to bear no resemblance to the traditional roast turkey.
‘We’ll probably have an extra delicious freeze-dried food meal for Christmas,’ says Lachlan. ‘Instead of opening our stockings, we’ll probably treat ourselves to 20 minutes of fishing. We’re going to take a line and use it as a reward system because we’re all keen fishermen. Hopefully we’ll catch some fresh tuna.’
The MacLean brothers have reached around 80% of their sponsorship target, with just another two sponsors to find, and are around halfway to reaching their fundraising target of £250,000 – that’s before they’ve even left the shoreline. Should they finish the race, they will not only become the first three brothers to have completed it, they’ll also return home as the youngest trio to have ever rowed across an ocean.
Rowing over 40ft waves in the name of charity, enduring back-breaking pain and blisters that cover every inch of your hands is not something everyone can do, but there is little doubt that through every one of their 1.5 million strokes across the Atlantic, these three brothers will keep on smiling.
www.broar.co.uk, @broaratlantic
“Through every one of their strokes, these brothers will keep on smiling