Cape to Rio – in a rowboat

Serial adventurer Peter van Kets has announced another boundary-pushing, mentally taxing ocean-crossing expedition.

Sunrise-on-Sea resident Van Kets, 49, will join forces with Capetonian extreme voyager Braam Malherbe, 54, in the 2017 Cape to Rio race – except the duo will be rowing, not yachting, their way across.

Having rowed across the Atlantic twice before – first with fellow East Londoner Bill Godfrey in 2007/8 when the pair won the Woodvale Atlantic Rowing Race, and then again two years later when he undertook the race from the Canary Islands to Antigua solo and came second.

“When I got back from the solo trip I swore ‘never again’, but there was always something niggling away at me – that no-one had ever rowed across the Atlantic from South Africa. Also, no-one had ever rowed in the Cape to Rio,” said Van Kets, who was in Port Elizabeth with Malherbe yesterday to see their rowboat for the first time. The boat, sponsored by Sun International, was used by Riaan Manser and his girlfriend Vasti Geldenhuys when the couple famously rowed from Morocco to New York last year.

Van Kets and Malherbe have teamed up before – in 2011 they represented South Africa in a freezing, unassisted, 768km race to the South Pole in which they came third.

This time they will take on the perils of the ocean in a monumental row which should take them between 60 to 80 days of relentless rowing and exposure to the elements. At 6700km, it is 1000km further than the Woodvale Atlantic race.

In comparison, yachts in the historical continent-to-continent race take between 17 to 34 days to reach Rio. “For 99.9% of the time I am completely ecstatic, but then that 0.1% of the time I get a twang of angst remembering being away from my family as well as the boils on my backside, raw hands and storms,” said Van Kets.

While Malherbe is a “total rookie” when it comes to rowing, Van Kets is 100% certain his friend will rise to the challenge.

“He will have to learn to row and will be taught by the UCT rowing club and he is doing his skippers’ ticket soon.

“But you don’t have to be a super-skilled rower to cross the Atlantic, it’s more about the mental side, which is huge.

“Braam has run the entire length of the Great Wall of China, so I know he has the right headspace.”

Beyond the personal challenge of being confined to a small boat for months and relying on muscle power to traverse an ocean, the men have broader reasons for being the only rowboat in a yacht race. “We really want to highlight the conservation of our seas and what people can do about the mass destruction of our oceans.”

The duo can leave either on December 26 2016, when slower yachts get a head start, or January 1 2017, when the super yachts set off, with their decision depending on the weather. Either way, the rowers will only be in the company of towering yachts for a short while at the start.

“Our boat is not that manoeuvrable and there will be two 14-foot oars sticking out either side so we’ll be quite a liability at the starting line, but then we will wave the yachts good-bye.”