Update From The Ocean: Dinger's Big Row Wk18
Dinger was chatting to his girlfriend recently and mentioned that he has had to ease off the gas a little for the last couple of weeks a to avoid bumping into cyclonic storms ahead of him. She corrected him and reminded him he has been doing that for the last 7 weeks!
We caught up with Dinger earlier this week, on day 126. Think about that for a moment, he has spent the last 4 months (since November 9th 2025) on his own rowing every day. Living on a tiny boat literally in the middle of the vast Pacific. By his own reckoning that time is over one third of his total estimated time on the water if he manages to complete the Pacific and Indian oceans longest row. He has seen no aeroplanes, no boats since leaving Peru and until the last few days not much in thew way of wildlife.
For the last few weeks the weather and current has been kind to his progress forcing the decision to ease off the gas and slow to roughly 40miles per day, but it does have some upsides. He has managed to put on some weight, stating his harness is getting tight and whilst feeling relatively unstressed and happy, he has been chomping his way through rations of Spaghetti Bolognese which he let slip had been bought thinking of economy and close to its sell by date! He figures that while his spirits are good, he should eat his least favourite meals which he has now done to the point where the Spag Bol is inducing a gag reflex when he eats it. At least it’s full of calories (about 1000 per portion). There were 130 of these onboard when he began the row, so he has been rooting through the food lockers seeking them out to eat a disproportionate amount, thinking that when conditions and times get much tougher (As they certainly will), the remaining food, especially the steak and kidney puddings will help morale.
Another upside of the gentler pace is that the boat and it’s components aren’t being stressed as much so mechanical components are being kept in good order with much less wear and tear but also can be maintained to a greater degree.
If he times everything right, he will have put himself in a good position, right behind the storm season as it dies down approaching Australia with progress as far advanced as it is possible to be at this point. It will hopefully mean he’s in great shape, ready to begin the next phase along the northern coast of Australia and that thought, is an uplifting one.
We can tell in his voice and expressions that he’s thriving despite the odd feelings of having to slow down when every sinue wants to crack on and get it done. When the conditions are smooth and he can row for a good few hours, he’s in good spirits but there are other days when frustration creeps into the time onboard. The daily routine of maintaining the boat and his personal admin are good and essential distractions.
Early on in the row, wildlife was scarce and has generally remained so, but in the last few days he spotted a large flock of seabirds feeding, followed by tuna jumping, then a couple of decent-sized white-tipped sharks surfing along next to and behind the boat, which, whilst beautiful, must also be quite daunting. A pilot whale followed for a few hours and the odd pod of dolphins had passed by too.
At the moment, the current is running with him at about 1 knot, so when on the oars he’s into a pace of about 3 knots which is plenty and he’s making really good progress overall.
Dinger put himself into great debt to make this journey a reality and his primary hope is that he will be able to raise a significant amount of money for the Military and Blue Light charity, Rock2Recovery, who make it their mission to be able to intervene immediately when needed. We have met many first-hand who have reached out to R2R with nothing but immense praise for what they provide, the outcomes and how they operate.
It's a truly worthy cause and one we're proud to support.
If you can spare a little cash to help them and support Dinger, please do jump onto the donation page here.
