William de Laszlo

Four Begin Round Britain Record Rowing Bid

By Jane Kirby, PA

Four men will embark on a world record attempt today to row non-stop around the British coastline.

The group are hoping to raise £1 million for The Outward Bound Trust and their favourite hospital in the GB Row Challenge.

They will set off from Tower Bridge, London, at 2pm and row more than 2,000 miles around the outline of Great Britain.

The challenge, which they say has never been attempted before, could take eight weeks to complete.

The oarsmen plan to row about 50 miles a day and will head clockwise if the wind is favourable and anti-clockwise if the wind blows from the south east.

Lieutenant William de Laszlo, from Wandsworth, south London, Lieutenant Ben Jesty, from London, and Sergeant James Bastin, from Dursley, Gloucestershire, are all members of Windsor’s Grenadier Guards. They will be joined by Hampshire company director and friend, Will Turnage.

Their 23ft long boat – called Outward Bound – will have more than a ton of food on board.

Rowing in pairs, three hours on, three off, the men will each consume 6,000 calories a day.
art from stopping for an hour a day to eat their dinner, the group only plan to drop anchor if the tides and winds prove too strong.

Lt de Laszlo came up with the idea as an alternative to crossing the Atlantic.

He said: “Crossing the Atlantic has been done so many times that it just didn’t appeal to me.

“I wanted a challenge that had never been done before.

“Anyone who knows anything about ocean rowing will tell you that, compared to this, transatlantic rowing is easy because the tide often helps you.

“It will be the hardest thing any of us have ever endured but I’m confident it can be done.

“We’re under no illusions about how difficult this journey will be. It will be absolutely arduous the whole way round.

“That’s possibly the reason why it has never been done non-stop before.”

Perils that the group expect to encounter include a 12-miles-an-hour current around Pentland Firth in Scotland, and whirlpools off the Isle of Mull.

Lt de Laszlo said Outward Bound patron Prince Philip had wished them well, adding: “He told us we were all bloody mad”.

Steve Howe, director of fundraising at the Trust, welcomed the group’s plan to raise money for the charity and the Bud Flanagan Leukaemia Fund at the Royal Marsden Hospital in Surrey.

He said: “Row GB will help raise the funds to pay for hundreds more young people to take the Outward Bound challenge, and show in the most dramatic way how good teamwork and determination leads to success.”