Trio survive sea perils to claim world record
Many have tried and failed, but two weeks ago action junkies Maxime Chaya, Livar Nysted and Stuart Kershaw arrived in Mauritius after rowing 6000km from Geraldton.
The journey in the 8.8m rowboat took the trio 57 days, 23 hours and 49 minutes, breaking the existing world record by 24 hours.
They are only the second crew in history to complete the feat.
British thrillseeker Kershaw, 33, from Longfield in Formby, told the Formby Times in the United Kingdom that the trip was not without its troubles.
“The boat was found to have holes in it after a month and we were forced to pump this out daily,” he said.
“Our navigation equipment was damaged in foul weather, pushing us in the wrong direction for five days.
“We nearly got knocked down by an illegal Chinese vessel which didn’t have anyone at the helm and, at one point, we almost had to abandon ship. It was so incredibly demanding.”
The three-man team, dubbed RIO (Rowing the Indian Ocean), told The Geraldton Guardian on their departure that they hoped to reach Mauritius in 90 days.
During their time at sea, each member lost about 1.5kg every three days and consumed 8000 calories a day.
Completing astonishing feats is not new to Chaya, a national sporting icon in Lebanon, who has conquered the world’s seven summits.
Nysted has also conquered the near impossible.
He is a native of the Faroe Islands, a Danish island group halfway between Norway and Iceland.
He broke a 114-year old record with three other rowers when they crossed the North Atlantic in 2010.
