 Right and the tradition of doing these shout-outs from close to the sea as I can get Here's to the team of the Cockleshell Atlantic Endeavour Congratulations on cracking the Atlantic Ocean Phenomenal, the true tradition of all Marines Gentlemen, how are you? Good, very well, thank you. Yeah, very well, thanks. That was nice and measured, so we didn't all talk over the top of each other You can tell these guys are professionals So friends at home, it's my absolute delight today to host my fellow bootnecks as Many of you would have seen we've had Mick Dawson on the show and we've had Lee Spencer on the show both rowing ocean rowing legends and now I've got junior Nutty, Brucey and Will who have just rowed from Canaria, Grand Canaria, too, was it was it Barbados fellas? Yeah, and Your expedition was called the Cockleshell Endeavour, have I got that right? Yeah, okay, so if we go with Will, can you just explain for our friends at home? We're why why the term Cockleshell is so Relevant to the Royal Marines Well, it's named after the Cockleshell heroes who obviously did the the daring raid in in the World War and Yeah, I guess because it was a Amphibious expedition that just seemed natural to to name to name it after the famous bootnecks Yes, so they were commandos weren't they in the second World War? Yeah, and Was it 10 or 12 went behind enemy lines in the Cockleshell kayak or canoe and Eight of them lost their lives and it was tragic like literally one of the canoes cap canap capsized Chap had to hold on to the back of another coup as long as he could and then they just turned around said fella You've got to try and swim and of course they they knew they knew these guys wouldn't make it then some were Executed by the Germans when they were caught and only Only two made it back to to the UK is am I am I roughly about right there? Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Yes And Bill Sparks I think was a Oh, Bill Bill Right old age didn't he and still still enjoyed a pint with the guys, but he was one of the the chaps that made it back Yes, what what What a bloody commitment these men were prepared to make a Yeah, when I ran the length of the country one of the women that came to meet me as a photographer and She She was called Hazel by the way. Hello Hazel her uncle was one of the chaps that died in that raid So, um one at a time we start my top left, which is junior. Do you want to give us a quick? overview of your service I'm junior John the Romerians in 2007 Shortly after passing out of training I deployed to Afghanistan on my first tour Herrick nine in 2008 Which is a yeah, it was a bit of an eye opener for me Didn't know really what to expect But Yeah, the first the first day we got ambushed pretty connected kinetic pretty busy and Yeah, it was a steep learning curve After returning after returning home from Eric nine had a bit time off deployed on Exercise of Riga to the States, which is pretty cool working over there Shortly after returning from the States, we were Get ready for her at 14 and started pre-deployment trading again Yeah, so then deployed on my second tour in 2011 with will in in J company this time My first first time was with Lima company at 4-2 second time was J company 4-2 Very was come it was completely we were doing a completely different thing to my first tour First tour we're doing strike ops and this tour we're doing like routine more routine patrols Yeah, three months into that tour Yeah, I was caught up in an explosion There's a top top cover on a massive on the GMG. We got struck by a pretty large ID Yes, it's severely injuring Every everyone really but luckily luckily no deaths we were we were Yeah, we were sort of Security for this board of army officers going around doing serial checks that day and All the army officers in the rear of the vehicle. They were quite bad quite severely injured Myself I was ejected from the vehicle Landed back on the vehicle with a with a turret system on top of me which is pretty heavy um But yeah, then that I was flown back to Bastion They were preparing me to fly back to the UK and straight away But I kicked off a bit of a fuss and said I would make a recovery in a week or so In Afghanistan stuff it kept me out in Afghanistan for two two or three weeks. I was out there While the rest of the land were flown back in the first 24 hours But um, yeah, they kept me out there and I wasn't wasn't really making a recovery or Couldn't really walk properly at the time and uh Yeah, I was flown back to flown back to England where I started my rehab at four two commander in uh, I forgot what was getting can go through I was then lucky enough to be selected to go to another Specialist rehabilitation unit called hasla company at the time where they um, where a lot of injured raw marines went Yeah, uh, and then after a few years of rehab in hasla company I was I was medically discharged Since leaving I've done a bit of security work a bit of other work as well, but uh, I was really unhappy um So I quit my security job and and then started going on expeditions on kayak and expeditions canoeing expeditions climbing expeditions um Do a lot of skiing sort of skiing two three times a year and uh and then I was offered this chance to um To row the atlantic by brucey and nutty. I just said yes too straight away I had no idea what it was going to entail even though I'm good friends with frank frank spencer lee spencer and uh, but still Still in to till I experienced it I could I was listening to his stories button till I experienced it myself um Didn't really know what I was going to feel like but yeah, um Yes, so since leaving, um, yeah, uh, I wasn't happy still always looking to find more happiness and adventure um, and the ocean row was amazing and I and I think it's something every boot neck should Want to try and do at some point. I think it was amazing amazing experience Junior for someone like me, right? I I'm I love I love adventuring. I love expeditions um But I have a son now And I I have this moral sort of dilemma in my head about Like if I was to get on an Everest expedition or if I was to row the atlantic Would I be taking an unnecessary? Risk meaning what could I fucking die, you know? um How is it when you're actually I mean when lee was on the show he said he had 40 foot waves and he was He was terrified and I watched that documentary about the canoeer who tried to canoe from Was it Tasmania to New Zealand or Yeah, or some something like that Yeah, he got within 10 miles of land and all his family and kids were there waiting for him to come in He didn't come in to And he just they heard something on the radio, but they didn't know He's going on the canoeer. I'm the canoeer and they didn't know what the canoeer was but that was him Taking his last breath basically Can you just enlighten us about that and Basically tell me to go anyway Yeah, yeah, I think there's a lot of risk and a lot of things that a lot of people do um, but for some reason my head I know that the risk could be Losing your life and a lot of things we've all done in the past, but I've yeah, I've never I don't have any kids to have any wife. I've never really been Yeah, in a committed relationship whenever I've got away on operations or on expeditions And yeah, I just yeah, I don't know. I think that's the whole Frill really as well and there were moments on the road where I was absolutely terrified Yeah, the first we left on the first day got hit but it was a beautiful day flat calm A couple hours into the road Or it was just like hell on earth. It was disgusting and that lasted a good few days So I was kind of terrified at the beginning then but it built my confidence within the boat and within our capabilities Uh, and there was a couple of other moments during the road where I was terrified But that moment pass and I think I get like get a buzz I get a buzz of that But again, if I did have a family back at home I think it'd be a complete different experience for me, but I don't and um I think in the moments where I'm terrified I sort of embrace it and feel it And then when that moment pass passes, it's just I think it's just A good a good bit and um a bit of a rush as well So yeah, so maybe come on to one of the other guys Let's go to will so will if if you were capsized Right out there in the middle of the atlantic what? I mean Are you um, what's the word, you know? Hooked up to the boat Is it is it a chance of passing ships going to come and get you can you can you get the the the the boat Righted Can a helicopter get can you just fill this in on that sort of stuff? Yeah, well we were um, we always clipped on to the boat at all times whenever we were on deck So when we were changing over we'd always make sure we're like clipping on to the the safety line And so we'd obviously be wearing a life jacket or we had um We had little like climbing harness harnesses, which we took the lead loops out. We're just using the belt um And yeah, if we if we did capsized it, um Um, hopefully all being well the boat would would self-right itself. Um But you know, it's not 100 guaranteed depending on what You know what's going on and stuff If it didn't then then The two guys that are on the deck would still be clipped on so They'd be able to get to the boat stand on top and use use the the lines We had on the deck to to hopefully pull it back over With the assistance of the lads who are in the cabins if we can you know communicate with them um It would obviously have to be a bit of a team effort to get it back. Um But you know if it wasn't I guess like worst-case scenario it didn't self-right and we couldn't get it back over then You know, we had we had e-pubs, um, which We'd have to set off and then they'd get a you know, we'd have to put out a Mayday um And you know, hopefully there would have been a vessel nearby or You know, we could we could have been waiting a long time for For rescue. Um, depending on whereabouts we were and where Whereabouts other vessels were um But yeah, there are safety procedures in place for every scenario, I guess It's a big difference being in a team of being on your own as well. I'm guessing Yeah, it would have here. I mean if you that happened on your own um Then yeah, I guess it would have been a completely different experience to if you have the lads with you because You know, it just makes it a little bit easier if if you're all in it together and you'll Um, you know four brains working together is better than one, I guess. Yes And will can you tell us a bit about your service? Yeah, so I joined the core in 2009 um passed out of training 2010 in the summer and joined four two. Well, yeah got to four two commando um Pretty much immediately started pre-deployment training for um herrick 14 Um deployed on herrick 14 with j company same company as jr. Um And yeah four four months into the tour I got shot by a sniper. Um while I was on patrol Um Yeah, it was quite a bad injury snapped my ulnar bone in my left arm severed my Median nerve Pretty much. It wasn't completely severed, but it was hanging on by a thread from what I understand. Um Which which which part of the body is that mate? Um my left forearm Yeah, um Yeah, it was pretty gnarly Obviously I had to get kazovak um picked up by the american rescue team pedro taken back to bastion and wheeled into surgery immediately and put to sleep and then uh woke up and sort of realized what was going on and you know Realized, you know at the end of my tour um got flown back to england and then started my Recovery, I guess I was like the pretty much the remainder of my career as a marine was just in rehab and hospital I think had six or seven different um operations to try and get the the nerve fixed and the you know everything cleaned up Um I think after about a year. I got like, you know, most of the movement back in my hand and it was My injury had recovered as much as it it was going to. Um, I got upgraded went back to work and um Went on a heavy weapons course down in limestone in the middle of winter and uh doing all the all the you know going through the drills on the guns outside In the cold weather it just you know My my the nerve damage in my hand meant that it just you know, it seizes up becomes really stiff And my dexterity just goes out the window in the cold weather. So I was unable to To do the drills correctly on the guns which meant I got pulled off the course and then um You know, I got put back into rehab and sort of realized this was probably going to be um You know, it's not really going to get any better than what it is now. So I could sort of see my career was going to end. Um And then eventually got medically discharged in 2013 So it was a bit of a Short but intense career for me, I guess did you Did you fall into us or do any kind of depression when you left because it's it's a big It's one thing planning to leave the military and I I had a year and a half of planning and I still fell on my ass in spectacular style, right? Yeah, yeah, I think Three years to get you know to get back on a horse so to speak But yours was unplanned and you and and you've been seriously injured Yeah, I think yeah, I definitely struggled with with adjusting to being a CV. Um I do suffer from bouts of depression. Um I've got like a underlying low level anxiety most of the time. Um Which I'm trying to work through and stuff But yeah, it was just I think it was just a lot In such a small amount of time for you know, I was only 19 at the time when I was in Afghanistan and 21 when I left so I was still, you know barely an adult really and um trying to figure out how to handle this and how to How to find my place in the world again, it was yeah, it's been been a bit of a rocky rocky road To recovery, but you know, I'm really grateful for the fact that the lads invited me on to Onto the team to to do this crazy expedition with them because it's just been a massive Um boost for me, I guess like, you know after so long not being You know, I I'd sort of cut myself off from a lot of the guys I used to work with and was friends with just out of feelings of guilt and and not feeling worthy of you know Being a you know being a being a bootnick, I guess, um So to have this was just a massive thing for me um to be able to Do something hoofing again and and represent the core And work with with the lads and we've all got a shared bond, you know Brilliant that was going to be my next next question. What did you get out of it? It's uh, Yes Hoofing as as you say Yeah No, shall we come on to you? Can you tell us a bit about your time? Yeah, sure. Um, I joined the you're still serving. That's right. Yeah, serving a lemak company for two come on day That was that was my old company Was it yeah, we didn't we didn't have j company back then. I don't think and we know We was that a fourth company that was added for afghanistan It was originally it was um for the forklings. It was made up of, um Clarks VMs and things like that and they put them all together in this one j company And then after the forklings, I think they got rid of it and then it came back again for afghan as far as i'm aware Oh, no, iraq. Actually, it was it was around a little bit of iraq fun Yeah, i'm i'm not a 28 years old joined the war marines in 2013 And uh, did a heavy weapons anti tank course in 2015 um being at four two My whole time So i've really enjoyed it. I've had some really good laughs just being an exercise and things like that Going abroad a couple of times Um, yeah, it's been it's been good and and doing this rose You know, it's been fantastic um, what's it What's it like for you guys then because when i was in We'd all piled down union street and it was just mental It was just like Well heading this paradise and this It was a bit like that scene from star wars where you go in the bar and you got all the star Yo, you Some of us guarantee to get laid every night. I'll say some of us, you know, some of us have got it Most haven't unfortunately, but that's life um You get your kebab you'd throw up in a taxi and and and that was it that was your night, but there isn't Union streets just not happening anymore. Is it? um Probably not like you remember, what did you do get on the victory bomber from from four two and i'm going Yes, that Basically that yeah that that was it. I I lived um, I lived ashore. So I Yeah, so and I had I I'm I'm from that area. So I have mates that you know, we we Get the bus from yelverton or something like Yeah, then then get a cab cab home or um Yeah, we'll take a car Not necessarily one that belonged to us, but Yes interesting, uh My misspent youth basically But um, yeah, it's it's just funny when I go down there now. It's almost like desolate. I think you Is it jesters is still there? Oh, yeah sticky jesters Yes, so sorry I interrupt ruptured you so you you're still at four two now Yes, that's right. Yeah And did you come up um with the idea for this trip? This was this was brucey. Um, yeah, you know, he asked me to do it and I was like absolutely not a hesitation Without a shadow of a doubt, but we've done some We did the devices westminster together And previous to that we're on the same heavy weapons anti tanks course in 2015 So we knew each other and then when brucey came to four two um Just started grilling in in the um and then just chatting chatting again and having a couple of boozies And yeah Did the device westminster? And it's just gone up from there so What i'm going to ask you is at what point did you go right? Yeah, I want to do or or brucey at what point did you think? Yeah, let's do this let let let's because you've got to take action right and and it's one thing i'm always saying Probably 99 point percent of people just never take they they might have the idea But they never take action on it, right? But before I ask you that brucey, um, nutty were you on deployment? I'm I mean, I'm assuming you were Uh, what to i've got nothing like that. No, I didn't I didn't do that okay I'm just trying to work out where you where you fit Where where you fit into the grand scheme of things Um How long are you going to serve for me? Are you going to do the 22 or or? I'll just take it as it comes at the moment see see how see how it is. Um Yeah, that's all I can say really about that and afford to still going up to norway I thought she hasn't gone to norway for Ages. Oh really like as a as a whole unit. Yeah Is that what is that just with four five now or something or? I think four five four five has been over there recently. Yeah That was an experience back in the day Not a necessarily an easy one when you're bloody 19 years old and carrying a House on your back. We're trying to ski downhill, but hey ho. Yes So bruce. Yes when um, um, brucey when when did you actually come up with the idea? When did you think right? Let's do this All right on the pitch from mcgawson down in um the coach house in rottendon Because I filled in for him on um someone had to drop out. So I paddled the ucon with a guy called neil marshall And then I was doing like the post event boozing off down in rottendon where mcliffe's and he's asked me how Do I feel about rowing an ocean? I thought it's an amazing idea because it never really occurred to me I didn't even know row from I was one new maker done it, but I never thought about doing it So we gathered together the idea was to mix two serving the royal with two former royal in the boat and so um Yeah, that's what happened Approach knife has been raced together and he's a demon in the kayak And fit as hell. So it's like he's the first person I would imagine asking The um the ucon Uh, is it a race or just a paddle? So, yeah, there's a few events on the ucon. We did the 4 4 4 which is the river quest 444 mile Race from white horse to Dawson. We it's a lot a bit shorter than the other events on the same river But it's a lot more intense. Are you doing it in one hit? Yeah, is that the one foxy did? Oh, I think he paddled from source to sea like he walks a bit of the I can't remember what it's called it's like the chinook trail or something And then when the river's paddle of voice he paddled the full length for the Was it the Bering Sea or something in the Beaufort sea somewhere in Alaska anyway? I'm going to enter him out in white horse as well actually Did he try and borrow money? No, he was pretty sorry So Um, let's go back to junior then. Um, how did you get the boat together? How does that work? Do you buy one? Do you have it made? Uh, well, so, um I think like you can buy them have made uh, you can buy them second hand have a made or or rent them um, but luckily, uh for like through brucey Um, uh, mcdawson and and chris martin Um, they really looked after us and really really looked after us and sorted us out with a with a Really good deal on the boat and the equipment It can be really really expensive. It is still expensive, but they really looked after us Can you give us a rough idea mate? How much the gear cost? uh I think Yeah, I think from never ruin an ocean in your life They know nothing about ocean row and having no kit equipment boat um, no training Um to get all the qualifications you need the stuff. I think you could be talking um 100 grand 250 grand Um, I don't know brucey am I right there when I say that do you think? Yeah for sure mate a lot of people recover a bit of cost afterwards by selling the boat But if you buy the boat and all the kit, yeah, you're looking well upwards of 100 grand Yeah So but as I was saying then we we just got really lucky. We had some really really good people Helping us along the way and and also brucey and nutty still been serving We managed to get some help from the actual raw marines And the braum range charity as brucey's representing right now with the t-shirt Yeah So we had some really really good support behind us and We managed to make it happen for just a fraction of the price Yes Brucey just back to you. I didn't ask you about your service. How long have you been in? Uh seven years or eight years now eight years eight years. Yeah joined in um 2013 and then Was that 17 or something did it pass as Norway? And then a few exercises but well being quite far around the globe apart from the orient Did you say you have been around the globe? We haven't I have but not on any like um Deployments of action like Afghanistan or anything just like black alligator in the states and stuff like Um Sorry, I've got to think of the question. I was just about to ask. Yes. So if we go back to will um Will was it like Pushing away from the the sides setting off Um quite strange really because we just set off from um a port in grand canaria uh pure to riko Which is just you know, like a really nice sort of marina loads of nice yachts and stuff And we were there for a little while um, obviously doing some final bits of work on the boat Um, like we stored it there Um on land for a couple of weeks while we like packed all the food and as we were doing that we sort of Had a lot of people passing by and you know asking us questions about what we're doing and People really interested in it. So When we set off we had sort of a quite a nice crowd of Friends that we that we've made in the in the weeks leading up to setting off. Um But yeah, like junior said it was a beautiful day. Um when we set off and we were excited to to get off into some nice You know, perfect rowing conditions, which we did for the first few hours. Um But yeah, yeah, it was a bit strange because obviously, you know, we get on the boat and and and then Take our shoes off and that's the last time we're going to be stood on land until we get to The other side of the world pretty much, which is yeah, it's a strange thing to think about but um Yeah, we were just all excited to get started because you know, it'd been so long in the making um Our pacific plan had had gone out the window due to the virus. Um We had a load of obstacles to To get over so we shouldn't mention that mate, shouldn't we that you were gonna you were you were entering a race That originally was across the pacific Yeah, yeah, we're going to take take part in a great pacific race Which was due to set off in july june or july last year. I think um But yeah, obviously we've covered it. It got canned so um So yeah, we just we we Put our heads together and came up with the atlantic crossing. Um, which sort of worked out all right We worked out really well to be honest. Um Because we had a lot more time to train for it and get things organized And raised more money. So and um I'm guessing you You guys know kale, do you? Yeah, yeah Yeah, he's he's a bit of a legend in the old rowing isn't he? For former soldiers soldier for our friends at home that that we we all know kale Royce um, wasn't he gonna row or isn't he's planning to row the Uh, the pacific as it is a double double amputee Oh I haven't spoken to kale in a little while. Um, I can't remember the last I said to kale, but um, he put He's probably up to something mental Yes Kind of drag frank into it probably yes So, um, how long would it take to to row the pacific that must take months I think we were planning on rowing the hopes if it were planning on rowing from san francisco to hawaii Which I think would probably appreciate may correct me now Around a similar time period really in a similar distance So it's slightly short about um, it's harder, right? You had a cold weather coming down from past san fran that from the arctic. So it's fucking balty It's about 2400 nautical miles, but at the same time. Yeah Wow Have you guys read um Or even seen there's a film out now um the kontiki expedition No, no Is that a rowing expedition? No, it's actually a raft expedition. It was tor hayadol um, a norwegian chap basically led A team of uh former norwegian commandos, I suppose you'd say um from chili across to um Polynesia He was trying to prove an age-old theory about migration in you know in pre not prehistoric but in in ancient times and how far is that? Oh I'm sorry. I'm looking at the map now. It's it's It's a good few thousand miles put it that way two two if not two if not three if not more um But it was mental all these guys have been up there in norway in the resistance fighting germans and they they were They were full on a mental, you know Did they complete the expedition? Say again, they successfully completed it. Yeah Yeah, so one of the guys was in an op above a post office and It was something like five germans came in And he fell through the floor or saw the ceiling or something Pulled his pistol out and shot these five guys dead, right? This is this is the kind of Can I say caliber of these men, right? and um His name was I think his name was torston rabbi and when tor hayadol sent a telegram To say i'm in south america. I'm building a bolster wood raft Gonna sail the pacific um Are you in torston messes back on my way? I love that that I just love that no nonsense I'm in right so Yes, yes, um So we plan um So we plan a similar expedition ourselves right now You know, I I would love to have recreated that expedition, but his grandson actually did it um There's there's very few of those big bolster wood trees left in the world now they've already You know, you need you need sort of ancient ones that have been growing for a fair few years to get The and the the raft they made was huge. It was probably about Ah god What's that for about 50 meters long or something it was it was enormous um really good, but anybody watching it's in it's in my um Amazon shop. There's a link link below the um Contiki expedition and one of the best books i've ever ever read i've read loads of rafting books. Um But yes, anyway back to the rowing Um, how long was it before someone flashed? If our junior was flashing before even say Now yeah, I'm one for I do like a good flash every five minutes or so I'm actually drew another one now actually Yeah My flashes are harmless. They may not sound harmless to an outsider But I I flash a lot. We'll we'll probably no longer see and he knows I like a good flash But you know everyone knows I love them I do like a good flash every now and then So i'm just gonna chuck some questions out fellas and just add let's just do these um just just Off the top of your head sort of thing. So can everyone give me their High point and High point and low point start with junior uh High point Like so, yeah That's probably that's probably an easy one. Isn't it it's getting a show I On the actual row itself. I had quite a few high points um Yeah, in the first couple weeks, I know it's a few weeks in but for the first few weeks we could see Hundreds and hundreds of shooting stars every every hour. It was insane just so many Uh, but there was this one night where there was a uh four moon The stars were out the moon was shining across a flat sea um The bioluminescence as we were rowing through it was lighting up green about for either side of the boat We had a pot of dolphins following us that night Um tuna fish following us that night and we had a whale following us for three days And that whale was following us on the same night as well just circling around just popping its head up Yeah, uh, that was That was one Yeah, that was one of my high points at night was just magical all the stars the shooting stars the dolphins the tuna fish the whale The bioluminescence it was amazing Uh, one of my low points was Um, we had pretty much the same through the whole way across. We had one set menu using dehydrated dehydrated rations instead fries tree freeze dry rations And there was one meal in there and particularly one one meal which was chicken noodles where take back in 45 minutes for the um The water to soak into the noodles it's like chewing on it's like chewing on concrete and uh We tried to mix up mix up to make sure everyone would get like the chicken curry a chicken teacup And we had the we had chicken with every meal main meal and there was one day Will there was one day will give me chicken noodles three days on the fucking bounce And I wanted to rip his head off Um and I was like Will you give me fucking chicken noodles again? He's like I thought I thought you liked it mate the other day And I said I asked for it because I didn't I thought I hadn't had it in a few days I asked for it so everyone else could have a nice meal And he gave me it three days on the bounce and I was fucking fuming I was fuming even lost half I've lost half a tooth at the back there as well from chewing on them fucking noodles But yeah, that was that was a real low point What um, what brands? Were the were the rations did you get like a pusses brand or were they a shot? A shot one they're part their pusses, uh, brucey and that he managed to sort the food out through pusser I don't know how much we can um I don't know how much we can say about this Yeah, yeah If I mean, I had um, it will the formers and we've got all the formers, but by this point It was fuck all we could do we frantically trying to raise money. All right, right. Let's get some food So we played an order for um Weird how long would it take let's get three months each so we had a year's worth of norway rations Like repot boxes. There's like four grams worth of scram And it wasn't officially given to us. So I don't know if I can I You're not a true Royal Marine if you don't prof stuff, that's just That's just the way it is Will over to you high point low point or most scared point. What however you want to put it Um, yeah high point. I guess We've talked about that that night that junior just mentioned quite a lot. Um, but I Guess like just just rowing at night when it was nice when it was like calm weather and um all the stars were out We had a bluetooth speakers on the boat For the first couple of weeks before our Spotify accounts wrapped their tits in But yeah, I'm into my like sort of psychedelic spacey electronic ambient music. Um Which I wish the other lads weren't too too keen on but I enjoyed it Well, like I put it on at night Absolutely just I thought I was like looking into my nose Yeah, so I put that on when I when me and junior rode it like because junior enjoyed it a little bit. Um And yeah, it was just it was just crazy like rowing through Through you know in the middle of the ocean you got all the stars reflecting off the sea the moonlight You know lighting up the path we're going down And you know just looking at the stars, I guess and just thinking what you know, what the hell are we doing? We're in the middle of nowhere and um, yeah, it's just quite a surreal experience, um And having that music just made it better for me. Anyway Was it good just getting back to nature and having all the clutter and modern life out the way and and just experiencing that That yeah Yeah, 100% it was a yeah a beautiful experience, I guess. Um Yeah, just like you know your head's way, you know way clearer because you've got The only thing you've got to worry about is what's going on in the boat and what your your mission is, I guess, um, you don't have to worry about You know anything going on back home your usual worries of life just go Yeah, they get left to For sure, so That's why I love going away is the second you get on the road or you get on the plane or what or on your bike whatever it is Like life all the worries They're behind you. You know, it's just brilliant. It's probably why I traveled so much Yes Yeah, everything's just it's just life simple, isn't it like yes it is this what what this is now Whatever this clusterfuck is this for young people watching this ain't life. I'm sorry to Say it the way it is It's a fucking shit show or the whole lot of it You know taking I just spent six weeks When I've got one of the biggest Podcasts in the uk six weeks trying to set up an email Server right in six weeks every day The that that To me that ain't life that ain't living it's it's it's just getting worse as as we go on and um Yeah, I don't think it's the population at the the population in general the benefits of all this crap, but Brucey over to you mate. What um high and low point High and low point Yeah, what's that we will Uh, I agree. I agree with what will says about a day. Someone else nicest is thoroughly enjoyable, right? Yes, there's just serene experience and uh, like it's amazing Then the low point probably come within the first few days When we were looking at multiple different weather models Consulting a lot of experience like much more than I was experienced ocean rowers And then we're walking down the jade as fisherman was coming off his boat. It's like 70 years old Live the life at sea like what a fuck zeno, right? And it's like, oh, you're leaving tomorrow. I'm like, yeah, yeah I wouldn't do that if I was you. Well, I have fucking all what do you know? No, we're gonna hear about it's my one of the biggest songs we experienced still within the site of land, right? I was just looking at night on the ship like Of course we all used to the routine to change over is getting scrum on and say like that It's just carnage for about three days, mate And then um, yeah, but like junior says earlier It's better to have a storm sooner rather than later because he gives us confidence in the boat And that sells yes good rather than have the first storm halfway across Where it's a little bit more remote Nassi over to you mate. What high point low point? High point was um Having a cold crisp pipe in the boat, right? That high point was um See in the way I'll go underneath the boat Uh when it was it was so close, you know, it's about six to eight feet away um And it just it just went underneath the boat and it was spectacular. You could see it in the moonlight that was truly amazing and then low point probably was um When we hit a storm sort of like no, it wasn't really a storm. It was just like a bad patch of weather The current was going in the wrong direction The wind was going in the wrong direction and the waves are going in the wrong direction And it was heartbreaking to just be like not moving anyone Yeah, I thought I wasn't very happy with that I bet because it took you what what was it 49 days? 49 days 90 hours and 45 minutes. Is that any kind of? Oh, so you're a bit shit then really Did you did you swim a lot did you hop over the side or did you think about sharks all the time? At one point it was flat, it was like a milpons for a week And then we were swimming off the boat and that was like Not Even that close to the boat, but it was no real safety concerns because it it was flat as hell, you know Good good good. Yeah, we had to get off the boat to clean it every every week or so Oh the barnacles and stuff. Yeah Yeah, did you get any fish following you in and did you sort of develop an ecosystem? Yeah, yeah, definitely. I think I'm pretty sure the tuna fish follow this the whole way to Barbados pretty much Did you stupid question time, but did you do any fishing? We didn't need to They jumped off the boat Well, yeah, we were chucking flying fish off by the hundreds every night and in the morning. Yeah But we didn't eat and he would just feed in the tuna fish and feeding the seagulls and There was there was one flying fish that makes me laugh like so much I was running along and It hurtled into Bruce's back and ricocheted into the water and it was so funny. I was just like Ah So, um, I got two final questions Um, so the second to last question is when you hit, uh, Barbados did you go to Nelson street? Oh I don't uh, where's that? Sorry It's like the roughest street in Barbados. It's when you go there a ship's company. I was on in on Invincery year It's like the first place everybody goes because it's it's um Yeah, let's just say one night in um Nelson street makes a hard men tumble Yeah I thought when fortunately when we got there they had a strict curfew and then a lockdown kicked in What we're in a few days, Bruce, you know, is it? Yeah about that. No We was really fortunate because there's a guy that I think you found out about us about a week before we hit land called Tony Truland There's a he's a um army commandos legend from five nine top guy And he sees me right over there like doing security on um rich people's pads And he puts in his contracts when they're not there he can use them for his own ends So we're standing in these mansions and that was just really nice looking the train And we'll over to you just for my final um question, mate What's it like when you spot land and and you know that's it you've done it Um, yeah, it's obviously a great feeling. Um Don't really realize what it's like to To not be around any sort of life Um and land for that amount of time. So when when we spotted it it was It was good to know that we Were within striking distance of it. Um, especially because the weeks the couple of weeks leading up to it was like nutty said we You know, the the elements were just against us pretty much the whole way. So Well for the for the last little leg of it anyway, um Um, so yeah, it was good to see it and and know that it was it was soon going to be over especially for me just because I was in so much pain from my um My bum injury. Um, I had all these craters like little holes That started off as boils and then they burst and then just My ass was just peppered with with with holes. So it was just agony to sit down. So For me, I was like, oh, yes, soon. I'm not going to have to sit on this seat for 12 hours a day. So That was a good feeling. Yeah, did you take sort of a serious med kit with you? Yeah, we did we had a Yeah, we had all the stuff we could we could need I guess. Um So yeah, I was taking I did take a course of antibiotics which cleared it up. Um, and During the the period in the middle where it was nice weather and we weren't getting Getting smashed by the by the waves and getting wet all the time it sort of cleared up a little bit but then you know as we got closer to the Caribbean, um We were getting wet a lot more um a lot more waves coming over the boat So it just sort of flared up again and then just became almost unbearable awful right to finish off, um We got a lot of people out there not just our brothers and sisters in the military, but I think after this Current situation a lot of people going to be struggling with their mental health um Or to just young people in general that are like Chris. I want to fucking get out and smash life. What what? You know, what how do I start? Can can we all give? One tip Something we may be doing our Lives or the way we approach an adventure just if we can all give one Um tip each I'll start Don't listen to the naysayers because you'll get a lot of them Everyone will try and talk you out your dreams except the people that genuinely like care about you and want the best of you and believe in you um If I listen to the naysays, I'll Probably wouldn't have done fuck all in my life and I've I've had to listen to them so much now over uh traveling through 85 countries um That it it doesn't bother me now because I just know it's probably I know anytime you announce you're going to do something a bit mad They're all going to come out of woodwork. So that would be my tip. Don't listen to the naysayers Will got something for us um, yeah, I guess Everyone sort of knows like Has a Sort of idea about stuff they could be doing but if they did do it would make their life better. Um So something that's helped me is like, you know, try and like, you know, maybe like write down everything That you can think of that would make your life better that you're not doing um And also write down the things that you are doing that aren't serving you Um, and then just work away at that that list and try and bring in like new new habits and like good Ways of thinking and and you know attack it slowly because if you try and do it all at once, you know, you're just bound to fail. So just get like Get some good new habits like ingrained in and and discard the ones that aren't serving you And fit and like like like you said about the the naysayers just like feed off it Um, you know, if someone tells me I can't do something that makes me more More hungry to want to do it Legendary thanks will Brucey sat there going fucking out. I can't think of anything Have you got something for us, Brucey? Yeah, there's there's very little Actually between you and what you want to do A lot of restraints are self-imposed They've just got to go out and start doing it Spot on take take action Nae Yeah, take every opportunity that arises and um go at it classic junior The last words were you? Yes, we've got another rower, have we? I like to visualize things and manifest things So as soon as as soon as Brucey approached me with the opportunity I had a clear I had a clear I could visualize it clearly I could visualize myself in Barbados having a pint on the beach And I didn't really think about the stuff in between too much So I could visualize myself there. I felt like it had already happened in my mind But also how have the just have the bigger picture in mind all the time a clear vision of what you want But um, just chip away at it. Just take small steps to get there And that's exactly what we did as a team Every day we were doing something different working towards our working towards our goal And before we knew it We were on the start line. So have your clear Clear visualization in your head of what you want to achieve And then just chip away at the small things and before you know it you'll be there and it will all be over Yeah, brilliant I found when I when I ran the length of the country Uh I'm stood on the start line at John O Grotes I've got a 15 kilo backpack on And I've got to run an ultra marathon every day I didn't know how many I'd have to run but it ended up being 36 And I thought I'm gonna see my little boy That's all I thought I thought about Arriving at land's end and there's my little boy and we're gonna We're gonna run the last 100 meters together And That was it. That's what I did I And the beauty of that making that decision there and then was I didn't have to worry about fuck all then I never had a single negative thought even when I got badly injured. I've still Just focused on Hang on a sec. Hello mom Yeah Yeah, I'm eating well Yeah Yeah, I'm washing behind my ears Love you two hugs Sorry about that Yeah, no, just people listen It's called begin with the end in mind, right? You're getting to the end. You've visualized it like junior says Fuck all is going to stop you or put you off Least not the naysayers and the great thing about that is you just shed all the worry then and you can get into the experience and Just enjoy each and every moment Fellas massive massive. Thank you Very proud of you all. I'm sure that that that well, I know the whole of the core is I'm gonna put a link below. Is your fundraiser still open? Yeah I was gonna ask you to take this opportunity right in If everyone likes what I've heard just go on google and find the our own charity and just chuck them a fiver or something Because I do a lot of good stuff out there at the moment, especially Yes, so friends at home. I'll put a link below the video even if you can spare a fiver In fact when I do my challenges I only ask people to give a fiver because everyone giving a fiver is better than just a few people giving a lot. So please try and do that Fellas if you just stay on the line so I can thank you properly But I'm going to thank you now on behalf of the the camera so massive. Thank you all and congratulations Um To our friends at home if you could like and subscribe then we're going to get more of this These brilliant podcasts to you life changing podcasts, I would say because I don't think anyone tells the truth as much as as we do and Yes, that's a rare thing in in this day and age. So that's it massive. Love to you all take care Cheers Chris