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A YOUNG Scot who claims
to be a descendant of Christopher Columbus has given up a high-flying
financial career to row across the Atlantic.
Leven Sinclair Brown, a former
stockbroker, who has sold his car, flat and thrown in his £40,000-a-year
job, will this August attempt to break the record for the longest
point-to-point crossing from Europe to the Americas.
Brown, 32 who is unmarried, said: "It is a daunting prospect but it’s
one that excites me.
"Ever since I attended the John Ridgeway School of Adventure in 1987
where I met John, I have been fascinated with ocean rowing. John and
Chay Blyth were the first men this century to cross the Atlantic in a
rowing boat."
Brown, who lives in Edinburgh, will follow the route of Christopher
Columbus’s third crossing from Cadiz in Spain to the Port of Spain in
Trinidad.
Brown said: "Believe it or not I am related to Columbus through my great
grandmother, Mary-Jane Sinclair, of the Artornish Sinclairs, who are
direct descendents of Christopher Columbus through Prince Henry."
The journey will take four months and Brown hopes to break two ocean
rowing records: the longest point-to-point Atlantic row and the longest
distance covered by a solo ocean rower in 24 hours.
So far Brown has funded more than £20,000 in expedition costs from his
own pocket. But he needs to raise £250,000 more from private and
corporate sponsors for charity.
Brown’s employer, Stocktrade, has given him a share portfolio of £10,000
to manage while at sea. Stocktrade, a division of Brewin Dolphin
Securities, has said it will donate any of the profits the rower makes
to two charities: The Sportsman’s, which helps provide sport for the
disabled, and the OneCity Trust, which helps the poor. |
