The Mirror

GALE HITS ROW PAIR

08/01/2001

TWO Royal Marine Commandos hope to become the first to row unassisted across the Pacific - backed by The Mirror. Corporals Tim Welford, 32, and Dominic Mee, 30, plan to make the 120-day, 5,000-mile voyage in a 24ft boat with no emergency sail or engine and no support craft in the shark-infested ocean where storms can generate winds well over 75mph. Their boat, fittingly named Crackers, went on show outside the Boat Show in Earl's Court, London, yesterday. The Mirror is Pacific Odyssey expedition's exclusive media sponsor, giving pounds 5,000 to complete the pounds 100,000 they needed. Tim, of Poole, Dorset, who finished the first double-handed Atlantic rowing race in 1997, said: "People say we are mad and I can understand that. "It's the roughest sea on the planet and it will be very tough physically and mentally. But we have studied it in meticulous detail and we think we stand a good chance." Dom, of Exmouth, Devon, married to Angela, said: "My biggest fear is sharks - we will have to dive under the boat every couple of days to clean off barnacles and weed." The men will set off from Japan in May and hope to reach San Francisco by September. Tim will marry Clare Kellaway in April and honeymoon in California when they arrive. The men hope it will help the Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen's Families Association charity. A handful have tried the journey but no one has succeeded. Briton Peter Bird, 49, died in 1996 on his fifth attempt. Fellow Briton Andrew Halsey, 42, had to give up after 250 days last April when bad weather blew him 4,000 miles off course.