Charlie first launched the idea for Pacific 2012 after an inspiring meeting with a charity he has been involved with for many years. Give Them A Sporting Chance enables those with disabilities – of all ages – to complete their sporting ambitions. Martell is also a core crew member of another charity, Toe in the Water, which offers competitive sailing for servicemen and women who have often suffered traumatic injuries. Bringing these two charities together was Charlie’s mission and he was the powerhouse behind the Pacific 2012 challenge – aiming to raise much needed funds for both organisations.

“My goal was to set a new world record for the fastest solo ocean-row crossing the Pacific Ocean in May 2012. I knew the journey across this “Everest of The Oceans” could take me more than six months to complete, but to take the world record I would have to do it in just four months whilst battling through the typhoon season, the Pacific Ring of Fire and dodging migrating whales!

“Two (French) ocean rowers have completed a solo row on this treacherous west-to-east crossing, but neither has made the crossing unsupported, land-to-land. I intended to become the first person to make that crossing alone and unsupported – I took all my food and provisions with me, and would take nothing else on board after I departed Japan.”

You can see the original website for the Pacific 2012 campaign.

The outcome

I had about five days notice that Typhoon Mawar was tracking towards me, from the South West heading North East. I carried on rowing for a few days noticing the conditions getting gradually worse. I’m a normal guy who has fears like anyone else, but ignorance is bliss. I had no idea what a typhoon would be like on the ocean, but I did know it would not be an easy ride. I thought Blossom and I would survive the typhoon unscathed, but Mother Nature had other ideas.

We survived for a while, the first few capsizes were ‘ok’. The first capsize was over so quickly it was almost a disappointment. As the conditions worsened, and night time came, it became difficult to sleep. It seemed that every time I closed my eyes, we (Blossom and I) got smashed by the huge waves, whipped up by the howling wind.

The pitch-pole capsize caused some damage to both Blossom and myself and it was after this that life onboard became rather more unpleasant. Every capsize, water was coming in to my cabin, my safe haven, my home on the high seas had been breached. The water was cold and as you would expect, it got everywhere. From activating my emergency beacon (EPIRB), the Japan coastguard estimated it would be 41 hours until I would be picked up (I was in fact picked up by a passing ship (MV Last Tycoon) 37 hours after emergency beacon activation).