In Dubai, Toby Gregory and his teammates are training for their great adventure of rowing across the Atlantic. He tells us about his adventurous that also inspires young people.
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00:00 [upbeat music]
00:02 So I first became aware of ocean rowing
00:13 about 10 or 12 years ago,
00:14 and it appeared to me to be kind of like
00:16 the last great adventure on our planet.
00:19 I've done nothing like this ever before,
00:20 but at the same time I just couldn't let it go.
00:23 I met a adventurer and he said to me
00:26 that impossible dreams demand impossible work ethics.
00:29 And then I just put a line in the sand and I said,
00:31 okay, I'm going to row from off the coast of Africa
00:35 all the way across the Atlantic Ocean,
00:37 a distance of 5,000 kilometers.
00:39 Getting the right people is incredibly difficult
00:42 because it's a project with lots of pressures,
00:44 lots of fears.
00:45 You know, it's an arduous task,
00:47 not just physically, but mentally as well.
00:49 So actually from a training perspective, it's endless.
00:51 It's a full gambit of cardio, yoga, pilates,
00:54 weights, everything,
00:56 and then also from the mental side too.
00:58 We've all got families.
00:59 First day I told my mom and dad I was going to do it.
01:03 It was a stunned silence.
01:05 And particularly with my wife,
01:06 it's taken her six years to kind of accept the possibility
01:09 that I might be going in a boat the size of a car
01:12 across the Atlantic Ocean.
01:13 From the moment we set off,
01:15 we're pretty much on our own for the whole journey.
01:17 We'll have possibly no contact with any other boat
01:20 until we get to the other side.
01:22 And during that time, we'll row for two hours on,
01:25 two hours off, for 24 hours a day
01:27 for the full 50 days we think it will take us to cross.
01:30 You know, you're going to be very tired.
01:32 Mentally, you're going to be drained.
01:33 You're going to be emotional as well.
01:35 And so actually that's when the room
01:36 for error starts to creep in.
01:38 The teamwork and the cohesion is critical.
01:42 If you're in a storm and if there's a large wave
01:44 and it comes and washes you off the boat,
01:46 I'm going to have to rely
01:47 and they're going to have to rely on me 2000%.
01:50 Ultimately, we count on each other for our own lives.
01:54 So what's going to keep us going and why are we doing this?
01:57 It's now more than just my dream
01:59 to row across the Atlantic Ocean.
02:01 It's about inspiring the next generation.
02:03 It's about setting an example for my kids and for students.
02:06 Just an ordinary person taking on something
02:08 that a lot of people find quite extraordinary
02:11 and quite impossible, it's inspiring them.
02:13 You know, we've had to finance this project.
02:17 The lucky thing is I live in Dubai
02:19 and there are people here who are willing
02:21 to support this type of venture.
02:23 Aside from making it across for myself,
02:25 my family and our team, we've now got the students,
02:28 we've got the commercial partners.
02:30 You know, we carry with us the hopes
02:31 and dreams of the wider team.
02:33 So much work has gone into this project, hours and hours.
02:38 You know, it's everything we've been preparing for,
02:40 everything we've been training for,
02:42 is that moment when we set off
02:44 and I simply can't wait for it to arrive.
02:54 (upbeat music)
02:56 (upbeat music)