Wick’s round-Britain rowers ‘extremely deflated’ as weather warnings are issued
Intrepid rowers Allan Lipp and Mhairi Ross have hinted that they may be thwarted by the weather on their unprecedented round-Britain challenge.
The Wick couple have reached Tobermory Bay, on the eastern side of the Isle of Mull, but have acknowledged that they need to be realistic about their prospects of completing the journey with rough conditions expected in the coming days.
The after-effects of Hurricane Ernesto have led to a yellow weather warning for rain across most of western Scotland from 9am on Wednesday until 3pm on Thursday, with strong winds forecast.
Allan and Mhairi are aiming to become the first mixed pair to complete an unsupported circumnavigation of the British mainland by rowing boat.
On Monday, in a message to their followers on social media, the pair wrote: “At this moment, we are safely anchored in the beautiful Tobermory Bay, carefully assessing our options.
“We are well sheltered from the winds – but not the rain! Once again, being on a boat is the safest place to be.
“The long-range forecast is not good, and we need a clear window of opportunity to safely get round Ardnamurchan and up the Sound of Sleat. Looking at the various forecasts, we cannot see such a safe window for the foreseeable, so, for now, we will wait until tomorrow and reassess where we go from here.
“It is bleak looking out of the hatch right now, much the same as it is looking at the forecasts, and we both feel extremely deflated at the looming prospect that the weather may beat us. To be clear, we have not given up just yet – we’re just being realistic with the look ahead.”
A BBC weather report said: “By midweek we are expecting the remnants of Hurricane Ernesto to be influencing our weather… Rain is only part of the story as we are expecting unseasonably windy weather too, gusts to 60 mph, which is a concern for campers and people out on boats.”
Allan and Mhairi set off from Wick on June 1 on a voyage of approximately 2000 nautical miles, called Stormy and Steth: The Long Row Home. Initially they hoped it would take them about 60 days but they are now three weeks beyond that target.
In an update in late July they spoke of the “rollercoaster of emotions” they had gone through. They said they’d had to take shelter and drop anchor, and sit out the weather, for more time than they ever imagined but had been boosted by the “phenomenal support” from the public.
Allan (45) and Mhairi (47) have more than 35 years of RNLI seagoing service between them. Allan is a full-time coxswain on Wick lifeboat and Mhairi, a paramedic with the Scottish Ambulance Service, also volunteers as a navigator with the RNLI.
By Tuesday morning they had raised almost £42,000 through their JustGiving page, to be divided between the RNLI and Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance.
During the challenge, the couple are not allowed to touch land or accept any provisions. Their seven-metre carbon-fibre vessel Boudicea is stocked with dehydrated food and a desalination unit for drinking water.
In a recent Q&A with the John O’Groat Journal and Caithness Courier, Allan and Mhairi said: “On a good day there is nowhere better to be than out on the sea.
“But when times get tough it is actually the thought of everyone that is supporting us that keeps both of us going, as we don’t want to let anyone down.”
