First People From The Midlands Ever To Cross The Indian Ocean Posted on Sabtu, 05 Februari 2011 |

Two amateur rower's are gearing up to become the first people from the Midlands ever to cross the Indian Ocean in a seven meter rowing boat.

David Lynes, from Redditch and Steven Redgewell from Evesham, otherwise known as Team DevOcean, look set to cross 3,500 miles of inhospitable sea when they compete in the first ever race across the Indian Ocean.

The race, part of the series of three races organized by Woodvale which saw James Cracknell and Ben Fogle's Atlantic cross in 2005, takes place in April 2009 and will see the pair row from West Coast Australia to Mauritius.

Team DevOcean will have to battle shark invested seas in temperatures of around 30 degrees, rowing one hour on, one hour rest, all day every day – for up to 80 days.

Website consultant David, 27, said it was his friend Steven, a web developer and seasoned amateur rower, who first had the idea of entering the race.

"I became suspicious that Steve was up to something when he kept quizzing me about my fitness. I finally prized it out of him that he wanted me to enter a rowing race and then he dropped it in later that it was across the Indian Ocean. I immediately said yes as I love a challenge and as I haven't actually ever rowed in a race before its certainly going to be a big one!

"This will probably be the biggest thing we ever do in our lives. We don't just plan on taking part in the race, we aim to win it and raise £300,000 for NCH the children's charity and Baraq Ministries, while we do it."

The next year and a half is going to be a campaign of extensive training and fund raising. To kick start their efforts, Team DevOcean are holding a launch party at Brindleyplace in Birmingham where visitors will get to see a life size replica of the boat and learn more about their huge challenge.