Securities & Investment Institute sponsors solo Atlantic rower

Securities & Investment Institute member Leven Brown grew up in the countryside on the Borders of Scotland: “It was the sort of environment that inspired adventure. Our parents never held this spirit back and we were taught self-reliance from an early age.”



He is about to stretch that self-reliance to the extreme and undertake a feat that would make most regular individuals, let alone most stockbrokers (Leven’s day-job) quake in their shoes: he will row 5,000 miles across the Atlantic, solo and unsupported, from Cadiz in Spain to Port of Spain, Trinidad.

This precise route has never before been rowed single handedly. He aims to raise £100,000 and has chosen two charities with a Scottish focus. The One City Trust, which helps alleviate poverty and advance education and social welfare in Edinburgh and The Sportsman’s Charity which supports young people, families and disabled sport in Scotland.

Leven will undertake this monumental row on 14th August 2005 “by coincidence my 33rd birthday and also peak time for the bottom of the neap tides in Cadiz which is a good time to be rowing” and he is prepared for 5 months at sea but is hoping to be in Trinidad within 4 months if the weather holds out.

What inspired him to do the row? “I have always loved adventure but I was truly inspired when I attended John Ridgeway’s Adventure School when I was 15 and heard about John Ridgeway and Chay Blyth rowing the Atlantic – from that moment I was hooked. I completed The State Street Caledonian Challenge endurance event (54 mile non-stop walk in the Highlands and Leven has been on the winning team for the past 5 years). As I crossed the finish line in the 2004 Challenge I knew 2005 was going to be the year for the Atlantic row…..”

On the subject of inspiration, it would be remiss not to mention one important and unusual connection which Leven has: he is related to Christopher Columbus through his great grandmother, Mary-Jane Sinclair, of the Atornish Sinclairs, who are direct descendents of Christopher Columbus through Prince Henry.

In terms of experience, Leven has been rowing “since I was a young lad, whether it has been putting about in a Zodiac with an ill fitting pair of oars or battling a force 9 off Mull!”. Aged 14 he won the Borders (under 14) kayaking championship two years in a row. He won a number of races and decided to focus on bushcraft and learn how to survive in various environments. (Ray Mears, of the tv series Extreme Survival is an inspiration.) Part of this included the study of shoreline and sea survival.

Leven says rowing an ocean has little to do with rowing per se. Sailing on a flat, calm river or canal has not a lot in common with rowing in an ocean that can boast 80ft breaking swells and winds of 150mph. The competition oarsman’s strength and technique is important for this type of undertaking but, says Leven, a challenge of this nature is primarily one for the mind: “Keeping you and your boat together for 120 days alone at sea requires a different sort of approach than that required to win the Oxford\Cambridge boat race.”

Thankfully, Leven will attempt his row in a boat rather more sophisticated than your classic ‘messing about on the river’ wooden vessel of Wind in the Willows fame. His boat has been specifically built by J. Leach & Sons in Plymouth for ocean rowing. Currently named “Atlantic Wholff” (this may change depending on sponsorship deals) the boat is 23ft long and 6ft wide. Made of carbon fibre and plywood the boat will be equipped with solar panels, a wind turbine, a watermaker to make fresh water from salt water, a satellite phone, EPIRB Beacon for Emergencies\Abandon Ship and an ARGOS Beacon for tracking, safety and record keeping.

A self-righting, ocean going row boat, it has been well tested for the trip as Leven has been in intensive training for the last 7 months. Twice British sailing champion (3\4 tom class) Charles Pelling is overseeing Leven’s training for this expedition. Pelling, who has won the ‘Round the Island race’ also spent 20 years in the army so, as Leven puts it “he knows his stuff”.

The route Leven will be taking on the expedition has been chosen for distance ie the longest Atlantic crossing. “The weather is usually alright on this route, seldom going above force 9. However, it is more or less exactly the same path as Hurricane Ivan took last year at about the same time I am planning to row!” He explains that this sort of extreme occurrence is the exception rather than the rule.

In addition to the main record attempt Leven is also hoping to “have a good crack at the longest distance covered in 24 hours in an ocean rowing boat” and for that he needs good weather.

What type of challenges is he likely to face during the trip? His main aim will be to “simply try and keep the body going”. Rowing for 12-18 hours a day will take its toll in terms of sleep deprivation and general body condition. He will be snatching sleep in 1-2 hourly intervals, during which time he will use a sea anchor to ensure he doesn’t drift too far off course. His biggest concern will be the threat of capsizing and he says the main danger in this respect will be whales, as they have a habit of banging into small craft , which can be very serious. If the boat is broken in half in an accident like this it has been designed that each part will float independently.

What happens if he does run into trouble? “The ARGOS beacon will track me and send positions back to the website (www.columbusrun.com) for people to follow. If anything happens to the boat or to me I can activate the EPIRB beach which sends my position back to Falmouth Coastguard who then ask the nearest ship to divert to my position.”

Leven has been a stockbroker at Stocktrade, a division of Brewin Dolphin Securities, in Edinburgh for the last 6 years and they have given him a sabbatical to complete the expedition. He plans to return to Stocktrade in January 2006.

His current sponsors include Stocktrade, Brewin Dolphin, Ward MacKenzie and Stuart Crawford Associates and the Securities & Investment Institute. A video diary is in production and Leven has been approached regarding the production of a tv documentary programme.

To fund the expedition, Leven has sold his car and his flat. Interestingly, Stocktrade have given him a share portfolio of £10,000 to manage at sea on a laptop and Stocktrade will donate any of the profits that Leven makes to his two chosen charities.

Although clearly a highly motivated and courageous individual, Leven is also light-hearted about his attempt: his website contains an amusing page. Entitled ‘Spot the difference!’ it features a picture of Leven with the strapline ‘Ocean-going fruitcake’ and a picture of the traditional home baked variety, crumbs and all, entitled ‘Leven S. Brown’.

What about his family, how do they feel about his Atlantic challenge? He has one brother, Ronan, a jockey and his mother, now retired, was always keenly interested in horses. She was originally a bit nervous about the project but is now supporting him “100%”. His father, a retired surveyor, is an accomplished yachtsman. Leven’s great-grandfather, known as Captain McPhee, was navigator aboard the ships Endeavour and Endeavour II on their Atlantic crossings for the 1937 American’s Cup.

His family have been very supportive and extremely generous in their donations.

Does he have any other expeditions in the pipeline? “I’ll get this one out of the way first and we’ll see. There are more records to be had in ocean rowing boats and the Poles… but my main focus at the moment is to raise money for the charities, deliver value for money for the sponsors and have a good Atlantic expedition!”.