Mixed amateur rowing team of four, In Our Element, will be exhibiting their ocean rowing vessel at the British Motor Yacht Show 2022, held at Premier’s Swanwick Marina, this weekend ahead of their Atlantic crossing in December.
The team, who are all close friends, yacht sailors and employees of Premier Marinas, will be taking part in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, rowing approximately 3000 miles, unassisted, from La Gomera in the Canary Islands to English Harbour in Antigua.
The crossing is estimated to take approximately six weeks and will see the team rowing consistently in two hour shifts each while facing extreme weather conditions, mental fatigue, hunger and exhaustion.
Although the team have thrown themselves into the challenge and are feeling well on their way to being prepared, none of them have ever taken on a challenge of this scale before and did not have any ocean rowing experience before team skipper, Hollie Luff, proposed the challenge in 2019.
In Our Element will be taking on the challenge as a platform to raise awareness and funds for University of Portsmouth’s Centre for Enzyme Innovation (CEI), who are undertaking ground-breaking research into a real world solution to the global plastic pollution problem. The CEI’s research is centred on the engineering of naturally occurring enzymes which can break down plastics into their original building blocks – therefore creating a circular bio recycling opportunity that could revolutionise plastic use and waste in the future.
The team are currently fundraising and have a number of exciting sponsors on board, but are actively seeking sponsorship and corporate partnerships to assist with getting them to the start line and to raise funds for their worthwhile cause.
In Our Element will be exhibiting on stand number four at the show from Friday 17th June – Sunday 19th June. The British Motor Yacht Show is free to attend with appointments required to view boats within the marina. To find out more register now at www.britishmotoryachtshow.com.
