SOUTHAMPTON FREIGHT SERVICES LTD

The Ocean 5

5 guys rowing the Atlantic to save the oceans … yes … ROWING !

Its a current topic that we’re all too familiar with; Plastics in our oceans. According to ‘The Ocean 5’, by 2050, it is predicted that plastic in the oceans will outweigh fish. That’s a billion tons of plastic and 895 million tons of fish. Plastic use has increased 20-fold in the last 50 years, and it continues to rise.

To raise awareness and funds to fight this threat to the natural world, they are taking on the world’s toughest row – crossing 3000 miles of the Atlantic Ocean in a open 8 metre rowing boat, competing in the Taliska Whisky Atlantic Challenge 2019, a race from La Gomera to Antigua . Working with the Plastic Soup Foundation they aim to make the changes needed to protect the ocean for our children, by raising £250,000.

Our Managing Director, Ross Negus, met Will Hollingshead at the Seawork Int’l Exhibition in Southampton in June, 2019, and was impressed with the challenge they were undertaking, and committed funds for the cause.

The team consist of Will Hollingshead, Chris Hodgson, Sam Coxon, plus Kevin and Matt Gaskill, one of only seven father and son teams to have walked the North and South Poles! Now they’re aiming to add rowing the Atlantic Ocean to their impressive collection of extreme challenges! You can read more about the whole team here

With time pressing on to the big race, at the end of September we received an update on their epic training progress;

Due to your generosity we are well on our way to achieving our target for the support of The Plastic Soup Foundation and their fight against plastic pollution in our oceans. We have spoken at schools, colleges, businesses and networking events up and down the UK and have been grateful for the positive reception that we have received. We have lots more to do and we will continue to promote the charity and the excellent work that PSF are doing well into next year.”

“We are now 73 days away from beginning one of the biggest challenges any of us in the crew can imagine. Rowing our beautiful Rannoch 45 across the Atlantic Ocean will be fun, terrifying, amazing, incredible, dreadful, inspiring, shattering, wonderful, extraordinary and everything in between. We have now spent almost 18 months putting the project together. As a crew we have trained as we have never trained before (except Sam who is a professional trainer!). To date we have, rowed 3,120 kilometres, lifted 1,120,338 kilogrammes, run 2,555 kilometres and cycled 7,170 kilometres – and we continue to train hard. We have studied and qualified in ocean survival, first aid, ocean navigation, VHF radio usage and ocean rowing. Hopefully the first two qualifications won’t be tested! Kind regards, Chris, Kevin, Matt, Sam, Will”

We’re sure you’ll agree this is some undertaking, and we feel proud to be part of their journey, especially for such a good cause. We’ll update via our social media pages, especially on the final build up to the race, and update you along the way!