Man from Norwich to row across the Pacific to raise awareness of plastics in ocean
It’s part of a challenge to raise money for the Ocean Cleanup charity
A man from Norwich is joining a challenge to row 2,800 miles across the Pacific Ocean.
Called Hold on for Dear Life (HODL), it’s to raise awareness about the amount of plastics in the ocean, and to raise donations for the Ocean Cleanup charity.
He is completing the challenge with two other friends, and they'll set off in June.
They plan to row every day for 40 days and will sleep in cramped quarters.
Luca Feser, from Norwich, says he decided to join the challenge once he realised the fish he was eating comes from the Pacific Ocean:
“I actually grab some fish at a local fishmonger here in Norwich at the market with my grandad.. and I started realising that a lot of that fish isn’t locally sourced, in terms of, yes you might get some crabs from Cromer, but the reality is if you get a squid or a salmon it’s not going to be from around here.”
After doing some more research he realised: “A lot of this food I’m consuming has certain microplastics in them because of what the fish eat in the Pacific.”
In terms of the training regimen, Luca says he has been keeping fit for fifteen months: "It started out slow, we wanted to build up a foundation to a lot of strength work, through things like squatting and then over time we added more rowing hours and more rowing metres.”
He also says that most people don’t think about the lack of mobility on the boat: "The boat that we’re on is about eight and a half metres long and about 1.3 metres wide, so you don’t actually have much space to live on for two months and so you have to have quite mobile joints and body.”
The Ocean Cleanup is aiming to get rid of 90% of floating plastics in the ocean.
They are specifically focusing on an area in the Pacific known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which has over one hundred million kilograms of plastic.
HODL are starting their challenge in Monterey Bay in California and will finish in Nawiliwili Harbour in Hawaii.
Only 80 people before them have completed the challenge.