CAIRNS: Three Scottish brothers stepped ashore in northern Australia on Saturday after completing a record-breaking 139-day row across the Pacific Ocean, unsupported and non-stop, from Peru to Cairns.
Ewan, Jamie, and Lachlan MacLean set off from Lima in April in a carbon-fibre dinghy, covering roughly 14,500 km while enduring violent storms, seasickness, exhaustion, and the constant fear of running out of food. At one point, Ewan was swept overboard before being pulled back to safety.
“This has been the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and I couldn’t have contemplated it without my brothers,” said Ewan after the landing. Middle brother Jamie added: “Things got tough towards the end—we seriously thought we might run out of food. Despite how exhausted we were, we had to step up a gear.”
The trio, from Edinburgh, were met by family, friends, and the sound of bagpipes after their ordeal, which had drawn support from celebrities including Mark Wahlberg and Ewan McGregor. They described their feat as “the fastest human-powered crossing of the full Pacific Ocean, non-stop and unsupported.”
Unlike the mid-Pacific route from California to Hawaii, relatively few rowers have attempted the full crossing from South America to Australia. Lithuanian solo rower Aurimas Mockus abandoned his attempt earlier this year due to Tropical Cyclone Alfred.
In the final stretch, the brothers battled fierce winds and currents while navigating through the Great Barrier Reef and shipping lanes. “We’re over the moon to be back on land with our friends and family,” they wrote on social media.
The expedition also raised funds for clean water projects in Madagascar. The MacLeans are no strangers to endurance challenges: in 2020, they broke three world records by rowing the Atlantic from the Canary Islands to Antigua in just 35 days—despite having no professional rowing background.
