What made you set yourselves this huge rowing task and who does your team comprise of?

We are four friends who have undertaken the challenge of our lifetimes (so far!). We have a mutual passion for fitness and pushing ourselves, so when Matthieu suggested the Talisker Atlantic Challenge race we agreed to it there & then! As I recall the next day we submitted our application and from there the rest is history.

We see the event as a fantastic platform to fundraise for charity, and all mutually decided that owing to the nature of the disease and how the lives of people close to us have been affected by it, Cancer Research is a fantastic cause to support across our venture.

What does each member of the team bring in terms on mental and physical skills?

I couldn’t ask to be doing this with a better team- between us we have the perfect group of people and skillsets for such a challenge.

Matthieu works as an NHS doctor having studied medicine- needless to say having a doctor on board has helped reassure friends and family about the risks involved in what we’re doing! He’s also helping us with nutrition and training. Every ship needs a doctor!

Nick was at one point a semi professional powerlifter so his strength is an obvious benefit, although he previously served in the royal navy so his knowledge of navigation and seamanship is invaluable to the team! Also, as he works in the city, he has been a huge help in connecting us with corporate sponsors and tailoring our approach to this very important aspect of campaigning.

Paul is our engine. At 6″4 he’s a Dutch powerhouse, but on top of that he is a nautical engineer by trade so his knowledge of boats and systems will be crucial across our campaign. That twinned with his degree in mechanical engineering make him the man in case we run into any technical trouble in the build up to (or god forbid) during the race itself.

Lastly I come from a marketing/ communications background which has come in very useful for our campaign management, branding, PR and generally bringing everyone together. I maintain that the rest of the team carry a much more useful skillset, but I like to think that I’m holding up my end as much as possible!

How hard are you training currently and is it difficult to find time to get together and work on your fitness as a team?

Fortunately we’re all very into our fitness so we all make the time for fitness/ training in our regular schedule anyway. Saying that, nothing could have prepared us for the amount of time and effort required for this event. We knew it wouldn’t be easy, but it is a big strain balancing work (we all work full time) with training, campaign management and in some cases girlfriends (and in one case fiancees!!) too haha

We are very fortunate to have been loaned WaterRowers to use at home which is a huge help for a quick morning row before work and longer sessions at the weekend- also all having the same machine allows us to compare stats very easily. As you can imagine, it gets quite competitive!!

We get together as often as we can, but it’s not easy living so far apart (Nick & I are in London, Matt in Bristol and Paul in Amsterdam). Skype is helpful and our WhatsApp group is LIT haha

What are you most looking forward to when the challenge actually begins?

Obviously the big finish is going to be on all of our minds, but it’s important that we enjoy the experience. From photos and speaking to other teams I know that the sunrises and sunsets are something to greatly look forward to, along with the serenity of the ocean (at times). That said the raw power of the ocean is to be respected and not underestimated!!

We’re all going to learn a lot about ourselves and what we’re made off during the expedition, and I strongly believe it will develop us as people whilst bringing us closer together as friends and as a team.

What are your biggest worries and concerns?

From our conversations with previous teams, they’ve said that if we can make it to the start line fully equipped, trained and prepared, the hardest part is out of the way. I don’t think its a pressing issue but there’s always that voice in the back of your head that says what if… In the meantime that can be silenced by a lot of hours reaching out to companies to seek sponsorship and support, whilst putting in the hours of training to ensure we’re ready to hit the ground running/ ocean rowing come December.

What are you ambitions in terms of the place you will finish when it comes to the end of the race?

We’re a competitive group of Buoys- there’s no doubt we’re in it to win it. At the beginning there was talk of going for the world record, although this year proved that it relies heavily on conditions/ weather (6 days were taken off the world record in the 2017/18 race!). If the weather is in our favour then who knows… we might be able to test our ambition to it’s limits.

Which charities are you raising money for and how can our readers get behind and support you?

Cancer continues to be one of the most prevalent healthcare issues of our time, which made it an obvious cause to shortlist for our fundraising e orts across our team’s Atlantic campaign. We all have relatives who’ve been diagnosed with cancer. Some have managed to overcome the disease, whilst others have unfortunately not been as lucky. When it came time to choose our charity, Cancer Research UK was the obvious choice.

We recently set up our JustGiving page where people can donate to our fundraising efforts with the help of Gift Aid to make your donations go further. Any donations would be greatly appreciated and incredibly well received.

For those that are interested in helping us reach the start line, we are still seeking corporate sponsorship on all levels for our expedition, and are also inviting individuals to help us through the purchase of one of our meals, one of the miles that we’re rowing, or alternatively by joining our ‘Nauti 250’, where for £250 people can have their name printed on our boat during our crossing. Lastly we’re also selling the oars we’ll be using across our campaign in case anyone’s feeling particularly supportive/ generous!

All links are available on our website www.thenautibuoys.com