A BBC Gaelic radio producer is to attempt to become the first man to row solo from New York to Stornoway – according to a report in yesterday's Herald newspaper.
Says the paper, Niall Iain Macdonald will begin his three-month Atlantic odyssey from New York in May, and hopes to make landfall in Scotland before the end of the summer. He will cover 3400 miles and spend 12 hours a day at the oars.
Adds The Herald, 36 year-old Macdonald will be fully self-sufficient, surviving off freeze-dried ration packs and purified sea-water. Daily contact with base camp on Stornoway will come via satellite phone, and a small laptop will allow him to update his blog and watch films.
It continues: his vessel is a 7.2-metre kevlar ocean rowing boat that he plans to name The Fox, after the wooden boat that took the first transatlantic rowers from New York to the Scilly Isles in 1896.
It is understood that Macdonald hopes to raise at least £100,000 for the Scottish Association for Mental Health.
Macdonald’s father is Martin Macdonald, the Skye-born, Inverness-based former BBC Scotland TV and radio broadcaster, now freelancing on Gaelic issues.
