Rowing a very long way for charity

Portal, 44, has teamed up with fellow British friend James Cash, 35, to take on the challenge of rowing 2500 nautical miles from La Gomera in the Canary Islands to Barbados. The race begins on 4 December 2011. The motivation behind Portal’s mission is to fundraise for the charity, Facing the World which offers surgery to children with facial disfigurements.

“I wanted to raise a lot of money (for Facing the World), so I thought, ‘what would be the most appalling thing to do?’” says Portal who is already close to raising the £230,000 that he has committed to.

Portal has been planning to do this race since 2008 when his good friend, Martin Kelly, and co-founder of Facing the World died tragically. Portal had always promised to do something to help Kelly’s charity.

“I’ve read pretty much all of the books,” Portal says, including James Cracknell and Ben Fogel’s book on rowing the Atlantic. This has helped Portal prepare both physically and mentally for the challenge. “I have learnt the one of the most important things is to get on with your rowing partner,” adds Portal.

Together with Cash, who is a personal trainer, the duo have been training regularly in their rowing boat for most of the year. But now the boat is being shipped to the start line so they have focused their training around gym workouts.

Portal has also been preparing for the endurance part of the challenge. “I did 12 hours on the rowing machine in the dark,” says Portal. “During it I thought I was seeing monsters. I started singing and going through lines of old plays, anything to get my mind out of the room.”

Portal and Cash are hoping to complete the challenge in 60 to 70 days and will take a few luxuries on board their rowing boat including audio books, lots of treats, DVDs and fishing gear. “I’ve got some work lined up for when I get back,” adds Portal, “so I might start learning my lines out there.”

The challenge has attracted 16 entries with Portal and Cash in the pairs section that has eight other entries. There is also a solo and fours section and an open section.

Entered in the open section is a six-woman crew that call themselves ‘Row for Freedom’. The crew is organised by Julia Immonen who is the founder of Sport against Trafficking, a non-profit aimed at putting an end to the crime of human trafficking.

By doing the Atlantic Rowing Race the crew hopes to raise money for Sport against Trafficking. They are also hoping to set a couple of records – one for the first six-women crew to row the Atlantic Ocean unaided and one to be the fastest female crew to row the Atlantic.Row For Freedom is hoping to complete the crossing in 35 to 40 days and, like Portal and Cash, they will be working in two-hour shifts. The crew comes from the UK, Finland, south-east Asia and the United States.

For the race website, please click here

To look at the 'Facing the Atlantic' fundraising site, click here

… and to look at 'Row for Freedom' fundraising site, click here