Teamwork will fuel a successful Atlantic rowing campaign
“It’s always good to challenge yourself and step outside your comfort zone,” Jon Wilburn told our pupils in a hugely inspiring assembly.
Jon and Steve Potter are two of the four-man Lessons From a Boat team who are taking part in the World's Toughest Row across the Atlantic later this year to raise money for Diabetes UK, Final Straw Foundation and Cancer Research.
They are rowing the Atlantic in the world's most sustainable rowing boat; a boat created by their desire to drive sustainability. The aim is to make the boat from recycled materials and make it fully recyclable at the end of its useful life, whilst also ensuring the boat has a game-changing low carbon footprint from inception to end of life.
The team will row 3,000 miles across the Atlantic ocean, which is 3926m deep. During the 50 day journey, they will do 1.5 million oar strokes, eat over 500 pouches of dry food and clean barnacles off the boat while avoiding swordfish and sharks.
“Teams are really important. Whether football or chess – working together as a team gives you superpowers,” Jon Wilburn said. “Like all of you are encouraged to do here, we’re going to help each other be the best we can be.”
Jon & Steve Potter
Afterwards the children talked to the rowers about all the challenges they hope to take up in the future – winning the 100m, reading 1000 pages a week, overcoming my fear of heights, not listening to people who say you won’t be able to do it. They were also able to ask hundreds of questions about Atlantic travel as they surrounded the boat outside the music department.
