Shark Bait Socials

05/09/2024

Unashamedly promoting this on my business channel!

We waved good bye to Jack at the airport 6 months ago, he was headed to the Philippines to take part in a conservation project and to learn to dive.

6 months on, with hundreds of dives under his belt he's a professional diver, and is heading off to do his instructor and Master Scuba Diver Trainer prep. Not bad for a 19 year old.

If you are thinking of doing some thing similar, or your kids are thinking of doing something similar, I cannot rate Marine Conservation Philippines highly enough. They've gone over and above in every scenario...both for Jack, and for his needy panicking parents. 🥰

The words they said about Jack in this post is so nice.

25/08/2024

Working from Silverstone over the last few days, and finding places to hide away and get some writing work done provided some interesting solutions.

Image 1: sexy perspex dome office 👍
Image 2: hiding in a rowing boat in the pouring rain 👎

A great weekend with good people, and some extraordinary cars!

22/08/2024

You know those irritating people that tell you they've never seen Game of Thrones or House of the Dragon? 😠🐉
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I can take that irritation to a whole new level, by not having seen it, but also actually being in it! 🤣
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The casting call came up for men that live in North Wales, that were stupid enough to row a hollywood rowing boat (i.e. something that floats, but not necessarily well) at sea in whatever conditions were happening on the day...to be honest it would almost feel rude if I DIDN'T get on board. 🚣‍♂️
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Incredibly this 20 second sequence took FIVE DAYS OF FILMING over a year ago, partly off Newborough Beach and partly in the Menai Straits (you can see Puffin Island behind the CGI ship. 🔱
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It was a fascinating few days working, and I still cannot believe how many people were required to make it happen, a genuine army of humans, filling a make-shift city of motorhomes, scattered amongst the welsh countryside. 🤯
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The rowlocks kept breaking and the only way to get the oars in the water was by lifting them up to face height...it's not just my terrible rowing! 🛶
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Bit of fun for a week anyway. 🎥
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In other news, I've decided I'm growing my hair and wearing exclusively hessian because the grubby long haired look suits me. 🪮
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Continuity watch: This is the finale of the final season, in the first shot I've got long hair, in the second shot I've got short hair because the conditions were horrendous with rain and wind lashing us in the straits and my hair would probably have blown away. 🔎

11/07/2024

Love these guys, what an adventure that was!

08/06/2024

10 years ago today I set out to row the Pacific from Monterey with three brilliant people. It was a life changing, life affirming, and perhaps life defining adventure.

Today 9 teams launch from the same place in their quest to get to Hawaii!

I'm working with this year and it's a BIG task. With a fundraising target of $28 million it will break all ocean rowing fundraising records. In fact it may actually be more than all fundraising done in ocean rowing combined! (Not fact checked, just a guess!)

Every donation to their cause will be triple matched by an anonymous donor. I.e.; if you donate $25, it's worth $100 to charity.

The charity is and amazingly one of the rowers, Pat, is a Parkinsons sufferer.

Follow their page today, it's going to be a wild one!

02/03/2024

This has made my day 🥰

25/02/2024

I've been working with Michael Holt (pictured) during his Atlantic ocean row, and have been telling his story on social media.
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He didn't have any way of sending back imagery, but he would call in every couple of days with an update so that I could update his growing army of supporters. He saw some amazing things out there - he had three killer whales swimming around his boat, and a large oceanic white-tip shark trying to munch on his rudder!
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Monday was my last phone call with him, he didn't sound well and had decided to head to Cape Verde instead of to Barbados. I asked him to get in touch if he needed a rescue but he explained he was alright and would make his way to land himself. Sadly that appears to have been the last call he made.
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After a week long search and rescue effort, today he was found dead in his cabin by a fishing vessel.
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I first met Michael a couple of years ago - so full of energy, so excited about his Atlantic crossing - he was the sort of person you wouldn't forget if you met him, and he just oozed passion and excitement. Getting a word in edgeways was a real challenge!
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Despite the outcome, I don't regret supporting Michael - quite the opposite. I'm immensely proud to have supported him. Just by launching his boat in the name of chasing his dreams, he did more than most people will do in a life time.
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Rest In Peace Mike.

16/02/2024

In the niche world of ocean rowing service providers, there are some really amazing people - but there are just a few absolute GIANTS of the ocean rowing world, and right here are two such incredible humans.
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Duncan Roy (Rowing Roy) and Dawn Smith (Row Aurora) - if you've managed to row an ocean in the last few years without encountering either of these two, then have you really rowed an ocean?! 😉
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They are two of the reasons I'm so happy I work full time in this industry - I get to spend time with these beautiful bastards on the regular.
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Honest, supportive, insanely knowledgeable - I hold these two at the absolute pinnacle of what a service provider, an adventurer, a professional, and a friend should be.
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Obviously don't tell them I said that, that would be embarrassing.

15/02/2024

I couldn't be prouder of these four humans. 🦚
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World records for fastest crossings are incredible feats of human strength and spirit - but these four got the world record for something that I find even more inspiring. 🙌
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On the 9th of Feb, these four mums from Jersey, became the oldest female team to row any ocean when they completed the .toughest.row . 💪
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And they didn't just scrape this world record, they obliterated it - the previous world record was set by the amazing Yorkshire Rows team, and they had a combined age of 188. These four, incredibly, had a combined age of 231 when they left La Gomera, and after Rosemary had her birthday mid-race, they became 232 - hence their team name - They beat the world record by over 43 years! 🤷‍♂️
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I know right? Surely their combined age cannot be over 84?!
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Why is this record so important? By doing this, they help to redefine the very fabric of the possible. There may be other mum's out there who are in their 50s who considered something like this, but having seen that the upper limit was 188, decided that it was perhaps beyond them. Alison, Rosemary, Helene and Julie have literally added almost 11 years each on to what people can consider as doable...and they were absolutely wonderful to work with throughout. 💙
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232 years of life experience rowed into English Harbour on the 9th Feb...and it broadened the boundaries of the possible for everyone watching. 💖
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Absolute bloody heroes!! 🦸‍♀️🦸‍♀️🦸‍♀️🦸‍♀️
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232

09/02/2024

Well.....that's a bloody big pointy fish. Wouldn't want that nose hitting me at almost 70mph with 700kg of sushi behind it.

02/02/2024

had a chat with about their socials, a few days before launching in the .toughest.row 🌊🚣‍♂️

They won the race. Coincidence? Almost certainly not. 😲

Do you want to win the Worlds Toughest Row? Get in touch for your chat in a Spanish café today. (Other venues are available)

Disclaimer: No guarantees are made about your finish position, but you will have an epic social media campaign 🥰

26/01/2024

If you live in Ireland, and have the internet, you will have been hard pressed not to have seen these two men in the last couple of days. Lad Bible, Sport Bible, TodayFM, RTE, just about everyone has celebrated their incredible story. 📰
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Andrew and Eamon Breen, two brothers who rowed across the Atlantic in a boat named after their late brother, Rory. 🚣‍♂️
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Being given the privilege of telling their story online was something I'm so proud to have had a part in. 🦚
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Absolutely incredible job lads. Ireland has itself two new legends! 🇮🇪
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24/01/2024

Bobbie, Katherine and Hatty - team - a phenomenal trio - and as of Monday, world record holders! 💪
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Taking part in the Worlds Toughest Row 2023 (Atlantic) - they capsized early doors and were knocked right back to the latter half of the fleet! But they powered their way back through the fleet to gain their rightful place as the fastest female trio to row the Atlantic. 🏆
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Couldn't be prouder to have had the opportunity to help tell your story - you bloody legends! 👑
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ENORMOUS congratulations. Enjoy every moment of Antigua! (and Happy Birthday for tomorrow Hatty!) 💖
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25/12/2023

Of course.

Merry Christmas to you all, hope you get to spend it with loved ones, and that the Christmas Shark brings you everything you want xx 🎅🦈

04/12/2023

chairman - complete with flat hat - making the final adjustments to his boat before rowing 3000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean! He is doing it solo and unsupported in the .toughest.row from La Gomera in the Canary Islands to Antigua...and at the age of 73 he will be the oldest person on the planet to row any ocean. 🤯

Football banter aside Frank is aiming to raise huge funds for which is massively important to so many people, so if you can afford it, donate at https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/frankrothwell - the Iceland Foods Charitable Foundation are doubling the first £100,000 too 💪

A real character, but happy to put on his Oldham shirt for a photo with me when I told him I had my shirt in my bag - and he wished Wrexham, and all the best (mostly so we don't have to play each other again!)

I pushed it a bit far when suggesting he should row into Antigua in a costume...his response? "What's a dead poo?" 😂 Couldn't have wished for a better answer!

Good luck Frank, fair winds, and safe seas. We'll be following you on the live YB Tracking app.

03/12/2023

David Ferrier and Garry Hoyle the two incredible human beings that make up the Atlantic ocean rowing pairs team of Seas the Moments - also two of the nicest people on the planet. 🌍

I've been working with this team for a little while and I was really really excited to see them launch next week and take on their ocean challenge. 🌊🚣‍♂️

My excitement was magnified enormously when I discovered that they had decided to add my branding to their amazing Rannoch R25 boat. 😍

Thank you David and Garry, you've made an ocean rowing nerd very happy indeed. 🥰

Follow this team closely, both members of the team are 60 years old plus, but both of them are roughly 40 times fitter and stronger than I have ever been in my life! Bloody legends the pair of them! 🙌

27/11/2023

Shark Bait is heading to La Gomera ✈️
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Weirdly, for someone who has spent over ten years in the ocean rowing world, I've never been to La Gomera. For the uninitiated, it is perhaps the ocean rowing Mecca! 🙇
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It's my busiest time and I need to be firmly planted in front of my computer frantically tapping away on my keyboard when everyone is launching, so it's never been something I've been able to do. 😲
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This year, I'm going. I will be back home a week before the teams launch, so sadly won't see the race start, but I'm looking forward to meeting all the teams, and seeing all the things I've spent countless hours writing about, in the flesh! 👀
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Leaving (oonnn a jet plane) tomorrow, returning on the 5th December. If you're in La Gomera early doors, and you see a beardy man with a Shark Bait cap - come and say hello! 🙋‍♂️
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Photo courtesy of World's Toughest Row
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15/09/2023

Always lovely to head down south to see Dawn at Aurora Sea School in Burnham on Crouch 🥰
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Talking to people that are about to take on ocean rows is always very humbling. It wouldn't matter if I'd rowed 100 oceans, their row will be different to any of mine, it is unpredictable and scary, but absolutely rich in whatever experiences the ocean decides to throw at them.
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Massive congratulations to Neil Glover and Jason Black Deb and Fiona from Ocean Empower Atlantic Row and all the lads from Atlantic Rocks for completing their mandatory training for their various events. You are going to bloody smash it!

04/09/2023

Back to work today. 💪 Saw a red squirrel in the woods before I came home. No reason to post it here, other than...mega cute. 😍🥰

01/09/2023

😂

Barry Hayes captured the incident on camera after seeing it as he drove through Llangefni

01/09/2023

Odd thing to see spinning through the air at lunch time on a rainy day in Anglesey. Not quite a scene from Twister, but it stopped traffic none the less! 😂

28/08/2023

Boards and out of office on, 6 days holiday commences now, go go gooooo!!!! 🤩😍🥰

07/08/2023

All fun and games until someone loses an eye! 👁️
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I think we were deploying para-anchor at the time, but a wave hit the boat which made me slip, resulting in my face enjoying a loving embrace with one of the oar gates. 💥
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They always talk about the stars that you see out there....stars were seen that day! I think that if I'd actually lost my eye the trip would have been marred a little. Thankfully our first aid kit was more of a first aid suitcase so we had everything on hand to make things better! (no spare eyes to be fair though)🤕
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05/08/2023

August. Antarctica is finally starting come out of it's long winter, and although the sun still isn't rising at the South Pole yet, it is now providing nautical twilight...a glimmer of light at the end of a 24/7 dark winter. 🌑
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Antarctic expeditions generally don't launch until November/December, but there has been an astonishing development over winter that we should all be taking note of. 🤔
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Every summer, sea ice melts, and every winter, it freezes back again. But this year, the amount that was frozen is at a record low. 📉
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But not just by a little bit (we're used to that with climate change) - Antarctica has lost a phenomenal portion of it's sea ice; 2.4 million square km less than average! That is an area TWICE the size of South Africa. Bigger than the entirety of Greenland. 🤯
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Scientists can't agree what is causing this extreme decrease, and it is a complex subject affected by temperature, winds, and ocean salinity, amongst other things...but there is a strong bet that climate change is involved. The impact of losing so much sea ice is a big deal. Whilst melting sea ice doesn't raise sea levels (because it's already in the sea) it leaves the ice shelves much more exposed to the harsh southern ocean, and when the ice sheets slip off the land, that will raise sea levels globally. 😔
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04/08/2023

After being expelled from Scouts for opening fire with a revolver on the Scout hut with the other boys inside, a young John Fairfax moved to Argentina with his Mum. At the grand old age of 13, he left home to live in the jungle 'like Tarzan', surviving by hunting and bartering skins with the locals. 💰
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At 20, after a love affair gone wrong, he decided to attempt su***de. His method of choice was su***de-by Jaguar (of course!), and he headed out to where the jaguars lived to prepare himself. As the jaguar pounced, John came to his senses (a jaguar will do that to you) and he shot the jaguar, selling the pelt to make some money. 🐆
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Later, John flew to New York, then drove across the entire width of the US to San Francisco where he eventually ran out of money and attempted to return to Argentina by bike. He got as far as Guatemala before hitch hiking to Panama. After a brief spell as a sailor on a Columbian boat, he returned to Panama where he fell in with pirates. After a short while he became the captain of one of the pirate vessels and spent three years smuggling guns, whiskey and ci******es. 🏴‍☠️🦜
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After a dramatic escape from the pirates and the authorities, he returned to Argentina on horseback. 🐎
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Eventually, in 1969, he became the first person to row the Atlantic solo (during which his boat was 'attacked' by a hammerhead shark which he subsequently lassoed, and killed.) He then became the first person to successfully row the Pacific (with the incredible Sylvia Cook) and that story is even more mad (although during that one a shark got revenge and bit him!) 🦈
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And it is for this reason, that I love the world of ocean rowing - it's full of absolutely nutcases - but perhaps none so nuts as John!!! 🤪🙌
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