ROWING record breaker Simon Chalk is pressing full steam ahead with a new boat building project. This time, he hopes to build a six-man rowing boat that he will use to break the longest-standing ocean rowing record across the Atlantic. Mr Chalk was in the doldrums last year when his Spirit of Teignmouth trimaran project ran aground amid financial difficulties. He had to abandon his dream of sailing the world the wrong way round when the controversial plan on The Den failed to attract a major sponsor. But with support from his former rowing events company – now Woodvale Challenge and owned by his friend and former colleague at the Spirit of Teignmouth project, Amanda Claridge – he hopes to lead a team of rowers 2,961 miles from La Gomera, Canary Islands to Antigua, in the Caribbean, on December 2. The fastest row on record between the islands was set in 1992 by French team La Mondiale. Mr Chalk is looking to attract five rowers with grit and determination for the gruelling challenge. This time, Mr Chalk said the project had secured a major South West sponsor, though details have not been released. The boat will be built at Woodvale Challenge, based in Ashburton. Experienced boatbuilders will use the latest technology to create the 'formula one of rowing boats,' say organisers. Mr Chalk, who became the youngest person to row solo across the Indian Ocean in 2003 and, aged 24, the youngest to sail around Cape Horn, will head the six-man team and will pick and train the five other rowers. He wants members 'with the grit, determination and sense of adventure that this record attempt will demand,' he said. Crew members will be required to raise funding towards the cost of the project. He said: 'I am delighted to have secured a south west sponsor for this high-profile record attempt. 'It is an exciting prospect to be going back to sea with a view to taking the highest valued prize in the world of ocean rowing.'
