Two Scottish women are preparing to row 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean.
Sabrina Simpson, 43, is taking on the huge task with her friend Leanne Maiden, 40. Their team is called She Roars.
They have both signed up for the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, which sees 30 teams row from San Sebastian in La Gomera, Canary Islands, to Antigua in the Caribbean in December 2023.
Only 12 pairs of women have taken part in the challenge before, so Sabrina and Leanne hope to join an exclusive club.
Canada-born Sabrina moved to Scotland in 1999 and set up a Pilates studio in North Isla Street, Dundee seven years later.
She ran this for 10 years and now freelances at Bälans Pilates Studio Perth while living in Stirling. Sabrina is also a yoga teacher.
Leanne, an osteopath, is a resident of Bearsden in Glasgow who previously lived in Pittenweem, Fife.
‘I needed to do a new challenge’
Sabrina was in Canada in January 2021, during one of the Covid lockdowns, when she was inspired to take on the Atlantic challenge.
She was staying with her brother Bruce as he was training for an Iron Man competition, and as she was helping him plan out his challenge she realised that she was looking for a new challenge in her life too.
Sabrina said: “I’ve done lots of adventure challenges: I’ve gone to Everest base camp, I trekked the Great Wall of China.
“I’ve run with huskies from Toronto, Norway to Karuna, Sweden to the Arctic. So I just like doing this kind of challenge, something outdoors and adventurous. I needed to do a new challenge because I’ve done lots of them.”
On the spur of the moment, she told her brother “I’m going to row the Atlantic… so here I am!”
‘We have been on our rowing machines’
Sabrina and Leanne were both Pilates teachers and met through a mutual friend.
“We started putting together a team,” Sabrina added. “So we actually met online on a zoom call.”
They will raise money for Women’s Fund Scotland, The Polar Academy (this year’s expedition will include pupils from Monifieth and Arbroath high schools) and The Mabel Foundation.
The pair will take turns rowing two hours on, two hours off 24 hours a day for the approximately 50 days the challenge will take.
Sabrina said: “We have been on our rowing machines, out riding and cycling, working with personal trainers in the gym to get our upper body strength. So it’s a whole mix of kind of strengthening and cardiovascular training.”
Sabrina says her support team is “endless” but made particular mention of her father Carl Doey and mother Brenda Doey, partner Keith Falkingham and brother Bruce.
‘Our boat is like a billboard!’
She said: “My family know that it’s in my nature to want to do an adventure, so they’re all really supportive. I think my mum is a little more hesitant, but she would never let me know.”
Leanne is being supported by her husband Craig Maiden, brother Ross Miller and her parents.
The pair are also working on gaining the funding needed to buy the specialist boat they need and enter the challenge.
The boat, a 24-foot long R25, costs around £75,000 once they factor in the spare parts they need to take, so along with entry fees and other equipment they need, the total outlay is around £150,000.
Sabrina said: “Our boat is like a billboard! People can advertise on our boat, and we’ll do a crowdfunder as well.”
Sabrina says the pair’s main goal is to make it safely across the Atlantic and arrive in Antigua, but they’ll also be chasing the women’s pairs record of 45 days.
“We’re not going out there to win,” she admitted. “What we are doing is going across to make it from point A to point B, the 3,000 miles.
“And I mean, we will chase the women’s pairs world record which is 45 days. We’ll chase it but that’s not the first intended goal. This is to make it across safely and get to Antigua.
“Do people think I’m crazy? Yes, I do think people think that we’re crazy. We’re wanting to do it.”
How to support the challenge
People will be able to get in contact with Sabrina and Leanne throughout their challenge.
“So we’ll have solar panels on the boats. We’ll have a radio, we’ll have satellite phone,” Sabrina said.
“We’ll have our mobile phones connected to a satellite function. So we can technically WhatsApp people every day if we wanted to, as long as we’re picking up a signal.”
They will also be communicating to the public on their Instagram page.
You can donate to Sabrina and Leanne’s effort on GoFundMe and PayPal. Their main sponsor is Tunnock’s and they are also being supported by local firms Circle Signs (Dundee), The Art of Communication (Tayside), Splash Out Bathrooms (Forfar) and Delfield Pilates (Kirriemuir).
Sabrine and Leanne can be followed during their challenge using the Dot Watchers Facebook page.
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