THE brave Maclean brothers have revealed it’s not man-eating sharks they will fear the most on their record attempt to row the Pacific – but Marlin poking a hole in their £100,000 boat.
Next month Edinburgh-born Ewan, Jamie and Lachlan will set off on an epic journey from Peru to Australia.
The siblings are aiming to become the fastest to row the 9,000 mile route completely unsupported.
However their main concern as they cross the world’s largest ocean are Black Marlin fish – which can grow up to 15ft long and weigh 750kgs – piercing their hull at 80mph with their razor sharp swords.
Speaking from their South American base, eldest brother Ewan, 33, says: “There’s been a recent trend for ocean rowing boats being attacked by marlins.
“It’s believed they’re hunting for smaller fish that track along the underside of the boat but have been known to spear the hull, right through to the sleeping cabin in some cases – which really would be a rude awakening.”
The youngest of the trio Lachlan, 26, adds: “Everyone thinks sharks would be the biggest problem.
“In the early 1970s there was a rower called John Fairfax who went for a swim off his boat and was bitten by a Great White shark, and couldn’t row for about a month.
“But as we don’t plan on entering the water so our main concern really would be sinking due to a Marlin attack.”
In 2020 the Macleans became the first three brothers to row across the Atlantic in just 35 days.
But they now want to “scratch the itch” by tackling the Pacific even though they’ll have to smash through the pain barrier as they row between 12-14 hours a day each on the estimated 150 day crossing.
Lachlan says: “It’s the lack of sleep I’m not looking forward to as we’re probably not going to be able to get more than three hours at a time for 150 days.
“So we are going to be really sleep deprived which was the hardest part for me on our Atlantic crossing.”
Ewan adds: “I suffered from bad salt burn sores on my hands and my feet last time. So you really need to be aware of things like blisters as things can go off a cliff quite quickly.
“But we have lots of Sudacream with us – literally tubs and tubs of the stuff.”
The brothers will also need to consume up to 10,000 calories a day by downing the freeze dried meals prepared by chef Jamie.
And they’ll be packing 100 kilos of porridge oats for the journey too as they aim to rake in £1million in donations for their own foundation to deliver clean water projects in Madagascar.
Ewan says: “It’s a place that we visited multiple times and really saw the effects of not having access to clean water.
“So to put that into context, we’re hoping to give 40,000 people clean water in an entire district of Madagascar which includes 77 villages, 27 schools and its three health centers.”
But the brothers – who were raised by whisky expert Charlie and their mum Shelia – are also rowing in memory of the sister they never knew.
Jamie, 31, explains: “Our vessel is called Rose Emily which is very personal to our family.
“Between Lachlan and I, our mum and dad were expecting a baby girl but very sadly they lost the baby about six months in.
“It was a very traumatic and terrible experience for them as they had decided that she was going to be called Rose Emily.”
And with all of the Maclean siblings now literally in the same boat, they had to stress to their worried mum that safety was paramount.
Jamie continues: “We definitely have our mum’s blessing for this even though we know how stressful it will be for her.
“But I think having seen us do the last trip and how seriously we took the safety side of things, that has reassured her a lot.”
But no matter how well the three siblings get along, they are still going to be cooped up on a 30ft long boat for up to five months – so aren’t they worried they’ll be rows as well as rowing?
Jamie says: “Being at sea from between three to five months will test any relationship.
“The unfortunate reality is you don’t get any time to yourself as there’s only two little sleeping pods at either end.
“But when you’re not rowing we will each take the time to try and chill out and eat something.”
As for having the privacy to use the loo, they have come up with a solution for that too.
Ewan says: “We have a bucket as the toilet as you can’t just perch over the end as that could tip over the vessel.
“So whoever needs to use the bucket will go to the bow as then we’ll have their back to them to give them some privacy.”
Before they reach Australia they’ll also have to try and dodge Pacific storms, but believe at some point it will be “inevitable” they will capsize during the journey.
Ewan says: “The boat is incredibly safe as it’s essentially built like a lifeboat and will self-right.
“So if we are hit by a storm we will have to batten down the hatches and deploy a thing called a power anchor, which is essentially a parachute that opens up underwater to stop us being blown back the way we’ve come.”
And Ewan reveals one of other important safety feature they have added to their custom-built craft.
He says: “The Atlantic crossing was on a fibreglass hull but this one is made of carbon because of the risk of Marlin attack.
“We’ve also added a 10 centimetre gap just to give us some space if its sword does pierce the underside – although I guess we really won’t know if it works until a marlin decides to test it.”
*For more information visit themacleanbrothers.com
