Published: June 29, 2023 | Updated: 18th September 2023
For many of us, the idea of rowing 3000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean wouldn’t cross our minds.
But that’s exactly the feat of endurance Christchurch resident Julie Eddicott, Director and Financial Planner at Ebb and Flow Wealth, is planning.
“Most people think I’m absolutely bonkers but in truth I think you have to be just a little bit off the scale to do something like this,” she told us.
Julie and her team, named Ebb & Flow Atlantic, will launch from the Canary Islands and row across the ocean to Antigua.
“We’re doing it with an organisation called Atlantic Campaigns, and somewhere in the region of 1,100 people have done it with them so far.
“The world record to complete it is 29 days, and it can take up to 100, but as a team of four if we can do it in 50 days that would be considered respectable.
“While it is a physical challenge, it’s even more of a mental one.
“You can train for a physical endurance event – physically you should be as fit as you can be when you start – but I don’t think there’s anything that can prepare you for the mental challenges.
“You’ll be deprived of sleep, eating military style rations, you may pick up some injuries, you might come across 50 foot high waves. But there’s also the losing sight of shore for a long period of time.
“There’s not that many people in terms of a percentage of the population that have actually lost sight of shore for any serious length of time.
“You also have to get out of the boat to clean it, otherwise the boat slows down, then throw some sea sickness on top of it and there’s a lot of challenges to get through mentally.
“I love my rowing, so that side of things is really less of a challenge for me – albeit I’ve never rowed long distance – I think the mental challenge is going to be the big thing for me.”
Julie will be joined by Martin Stewart, owner of Stewarts Garden Centres, and Charlotte Whitman, who is coming over from Switzerland to meet Julie and Martin.
The team are also searching for a fourth member, who they are hoping will be based on the south coast to make it easier to plan everything.
“The people you’re with on the boat are really important. When you’re going through an endurance challenge like this it’s really important you all get along.
They are also on the search for corporate sponsors to fund the trip, with various sponsorship opportunities on offer.
“So far we’ve probably raised a tenth of the total we need to, but we’ve had some really positive engagement with local businesses.
“We’re keen to keep everything as local as possible. We’ve also had a number of companies come forward with products and services including a local sun cream company, iced coffee and hydration products.
“It’s building momentum but we need a lot more.”
Ebb and Flow Atlantic are also raising money for charity as part of the trip, with each of the teammates on the boat having their own chosen charity.
“Mine is the St. James’ Place Foundation, partly because I’m a partner at St. James’ Place and partly because they’ll match any money I raise.
Julie and her team are also keen to engage with local students.
“We want to bring on students to use this as a project, as the row covers all the key STEM subjects.
“We’re also hoping to get schoolchildren involved. It would be an amazing thing for students to do. The inner cabins get filmed a lot during the row, so we’ve decided that if local children raise a set amount of money they can have their name on the boat.
“We’d love to have a whole series of children’s names on the boat.”
