After 323 days adventurer nears end of epic oceans row

A former Royal Marine looks set to complete a record-breaking challenge, having rowed solo and unsupported across the Pacific and Indian Ocean.

Dave 'Dinger' Bell, from Bere Regis, Dorset, set off from the west coast of Peru on 9 November last year and has not stopped or set foot on land for 323 days.

During the journey, he has been followed by "man-eating" sharks, crossed snake and crocodile-infested waters and lost two oars in a storm which also damaged his boat.

He hopes to arrive on the Kenyan coast on Saturday. He is using the trip to raise money for Rock2Recovery, a charity helping veterans and blue light workers suffering from PTSD.

In 2021, Bell rowed across the Atlantic, from New York to Newlyn, Cornwall, and vowed never to do anything like it again, but advances in technology, such as lighter boats, improved solar panels and autopilot systems made him curious about what else he could achieve.

Speaking from his boat in the Indian Ocean, he said: "I will be the first person to ever attempt to row two full oceans, continent-to-continent. It will be a world record for distance, I'm certain of that.

"It was just about the challenge, the physical grind and the overwhelming sense of curiosity - the idea struck me it might be achievable and I couldn't let that go."

Bell set off with 350 days worth of food and equipment on board his 240kg carbon-fibre boat.

In a voicenote to BBC Radio Solent's Dorset Breakfast show, he said his biggest challenge had been to "stop rowing" for eight weeks while crossing the South Pacific to avoid arriving in the Coral Sea during cyclone season.

"I was too quick so I had to slow down," he said.

"To sit, mid-ocean, knowing you've still got seven, eight, nine months at sea but not be rowing was one of the hardest things, psychologically, that I've ever had to deal with."

Bell's journey has so far taken him more than 15,000 nautical miles across the Pacific, the Coral Sea, Great Barrier Reef, Torres Straight and the north coast of Australia before crossing the Indian Ocean.

Tidal conditions in the Torres Straight meant he had to row 16 hours a day for 10 days, leaving him just eight hours to deal with communications, servicing and repairs, and to sleep.

He has also been accompanied by sharks, including six weeks being followed by three ocean whitetips.

He said: "They became part of my day and I actually quite missed them when they left.

"It was quite unnerving to begin with - some of them were quite big, six or seven feet.

"Ocean whitetips are known to be man-eaters so it focussed me a bit."

Bell said at one point, while crossing the Indian Ocean, he felt like "everything was slipping away".

Just 1,000 nautical miles from the finish line, he faced huge swells that ripped his oar from the side of the boat and damaged the boat itself.

He said: "It was ripped off with such force it flicked up and snapped one of my spare oars which was stored above it, so in one wave I lost two oars."

With just two oars remaining but less than 300 miles to his final destination of Kilifi, near Mombasa, he is hopeful of achieving his goal.

The challenge has so far raised more than £70,000 for Rock2Recovery.