Maxime Chaya, the first Lebanese to climb Mount Everest, looked to set two more Guinness World Records as his team of three landed in the Mauritius Islands Monday after rowing 5,801 kilometers across the Indian Ocean.
Chaya, along with team members Livar Nysted, 42, from the Faroe Islands, and Stuart Kershaw, 33, from the United Kingdom, set a new speed record for the fastest time rowing across the Indian Ocean at 57 days and 16 hours. They are also the first team of three to row across any of the world’s oceans.
Chaya, Nysted and Kershaw departed from Perth, Australia, on June 8 for a trip that lasted just under two full months on board an 8.8 meter rowboat.
The three men were on two-hour, rotating sleep cycles in order to share rowing duties. When they weren’t sleeping or rowing, they were trying to make up for their huge calorie deficits by stuffing their faces with 6,000-7,000 calories a day of dehydrated meals, chocolate, trail mix and other snacks.
The crew also encountered its fair share of obstacles; their desalinator – which made potable water from the ocean – broke down for about a week. The autopilot also gave out near the end of the trip. That and a number of other potential catastrophes caused by stormy seas were either fixed or abated.
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