Most Dangerous Row — Limitless One

Would you be brave enough to travel across the Atlantic Ocean, in what is considered as the world's most dangerous row - from New York all the way to London in a rowboat to raise awareness for a cause you believe so strongly in? Meet Ian Clinton, former British Royal Marine Commando and adrenaline junkie. Ian and three of his team members traveled across the Atlantic Ocean from New York City to London on a rowboat. Listen to his amazing adventure on how he had to battle nature, body, and mind to complete the World's Most Dangerous Row. Anand and Ian also discuss how they met at om.life Wellness Modern Recovery Spa in Jersey City before his journey and instantly became friends.

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The World Most Dangerous Row

70 Days Rowing From NYC To London

Would you be brave enough to travel across the Atlantic Ocean from New York all the way to London in a rowboat to raise awareness for a cause you believe strongly in? My special guest possesses that bravery only a few souls on the planet have and has completed his 70-day journey on what the world calls The World's Most Dangerous Row.

This episode is 90 days in the making. I am super excited to make this a reality. I welcome to the show Ian Clinton. Ian is a former British Royal Marine Commando who served in the 45 Commando. Following leaving the Royal Marines, Ian worked as a Maritime Security Consultant on anti-piracy in the Somali Basin in the Indian Ocean.

He works as an offshore NDT Technician. He has returned from taking a year out to travel, which saw him taking on some incredible feats such as trekking to the Everest Base Camp, cycling 1,000 miles around South Korea, a 100-mile kayak expedition to the Philippines and bagging various mountain and volcano summits across Asia and the Himalayas.

Ian relishes the physical challenges in life, proven by taking on his first 50-mile ultra-marathon and achieving first place. He also has competed in various triathlons and marathons with his greatest achievement being the Ironman Wales finishing thirteenth in his age category. Ian is an outdoor enthusiast with other hobbies such as cycling, rowing, climbing, camping and many more.

Ian lives in the North East of England with his girlfriend, Hannah, and his beautiful little baby girl, who has introduced him to her love of the underwater through scuba diving. He has witnessed the problem of plastic pollution both under and above water and is an advocate of the Say No To Plastic cause. Ian has also finished rolling across the transatlantic. We welcome you to the show. How are you doing?

What an introduction. Honestly, when you put it like that, it makes me sound like such an incredible person. I'm still modest and I don't look at myself in that way at all. Sometimes, I struggle with it. Thank you for a great introduction. I'm well. How are you?

I'm doing great. I've been excited about this. I'll tell everyone how we met. You were living temporarily in New Jersey right on the harbor right around where my wellness center is, Om.life.

I took the wrong turn.

You came by us. I wasn't there the first day you walked in. One of my team members was there, Violet. My girlfriend was there stopping by to talk to Violet. You came in and you had this great energy. You talked about how you guys are going on a little adventure and you wanted to get floats, cryotherapy, and all this stuff for your teammates. Violet mentioned something to me about that and I was like, “I'm going to look out if he comes by again.” The next day, you came in and I was like, “This guy looks like a 6’6” Conor McGregor.”

You have such great energy. You wanted to do some recovery stuff. You told me about this journey that you were about to go on and I was amazed. Not a lot of people have the courage to do something like that but also want to live a life of a mission. You want to raise awareness for the ocean plastics and maritime life that are being affected tremendously with the way that pollution and everything are going, and the way that human beings are treating the planet. Tell us a little bit about how you made the decision to take on this journey, and also a little bit about your background on all the steps leading up to that.

To go on this journey, I'm quite an outdoor enthusiast. Fortunately, when I managed to take a year off, I underwent all these challenges. I’ve seen a few challenges that will happen at home. I reached out to one of the guys who I used to serve with named Matt Mason, the skipper of Ocean Revival, the adventure we finished. He already had the team well-established. I let him know that I was interested.

It's a lifelong dream for me to row across the Atlantic. Never mind the North Atlantic. I wanted to row in the ocean. I've always wanted that since I was a child. Someone came into our school and explained how he rowed across the Atlantic. I remember thinking what that's like going into the unknown, rowing across such a big body of water. What would that do to someone? That stuck with me all my life.

When I reached out to Matt, I sent quite a nice message to him and let him know where I was at and that I was fully supporting his idea. It was an idea all that time ago. Fortunately, at that time, a month after a guy dropped out, I got the call quite luckily. That was early on when Ocean Revival was born. We didn't quite know how we were going to get to the start line. The campaign or the adventure started from me reaching out to an old friend.

A child can look at something with no judgment and go straight in for the adventure.

What prompted you to do this? I know you're an adrenaline junkie. Some of those events you've done in the past are a day or a few days, but knowing that you're going into 70 days of the unknown, what possessed you to make that decision?

It’s the unknown of doing that expedition, which could have been even longer depending on the weather. It's going into the unknown. I've never experienced an adventure or a challenge as long as that. As you grow up, you lose that sense of the challenge. As a child, we all remember going into that cave or climbing that tree. As time goes on in life and culture, you lose that sense. There’s a lot of fear that comes into it and self-doubt. A child can look at something with no judgment, no fear and go straight in for it. That's how I've tried to live a little bit.

For me, it was a massive challenge that I wanted to do all my life. I wanted to go into the unknown. The opportunity arose at that time and I was in a good position to be prepared for it. I'd been doing a lot of challenges, which put me in a good state to be like, “That guy can do it. He will contribute to this team.” That's how I got there. I was lucky to be at the right place at the right time.

You mentioned to me the guys that you were on the trip with, only one of them had done the row before. This was your first time. Tell us a little bit about the training involved, the strategic planning in terms of food, and all these other things that we take for granted. Living onshore, there’s a bathroom and a refrigerator. How did you guys go into this planning process?

Initially, we needed to get funding. We weren't in a position where we could all pay for it individually. We had to reach out to certain companies. We try to sell what we were doing to make it beneficial for their company. That was the first call for us. Luckily, because we got a good background, we could sell a good story. It took a long time but we got what we needed.

Thereafter, it was all the preparations. We had to make sure we were all fully qualified. We didn't want to go to the sea unprepared. We needed all these courses for survival at sea, lifeboat qualifications, and radio qualifications. We also had to raise awareness of what we were doing and why we were doing it. We went around schools and gave speeches about plastic in the oceans. To be honest, we were learning along the way but it was an incredible journey throughout the way.

It was networking. Ocean rowing is quite a niche sport. Not many people do it. A lot of British tends to do it. Worldwide, it hasn't got the traction just yet. It was networking and asking questions because we didn't know the answer. YouTube didn't provide all the answers, unfortunately. We need a watermaker. What is the best watermaker? How does it work? If it breaks, how does it break? What do we need to know about spares?

That's reaching out to someone who knows and will tell you, “You need to go to this guy Jim. He has a Schenker Watermaker. It's the best on the market. You need to go and do a day's course with them so you’ll know if it breaks.” We went through as a team. We were good before the challenge. We went through the what-if in every situation. The last thing we want is to be out in the middle of the ocean and the question arises, what if this breaks? What if he goes overboard?

We wanted to make sure we've covered that in our minds so it’ll give us the best chance of fixing it or rescuing that person or whatever. That probably stems from the military being prepared. The biggest cause of failure is rudder failure. If you lose that rudder, you can't navigate where you want to go. We took a spare rudder. We also took a spare mold so we could make a rudder with something else. It's quite hard to explain. We've got a daggerboard, which keeps you aligned. We could also make a spare rudder if two of them fail.

We wanted to make sure that if we go on the expedition, we were going to make it to London. There are 80 expeditions that have went ahead and 50 have failed. We were up against it from the get-go. As a team, we didn't want to fail. We wanted to get across successfully and everyone still be alive. We succeeded in that and everyone still made it. There were hardships along the way. We thought we signed up for a physical challenge but it's more of a mental challenge in the end.

A few things happened that brought up old thoughts, especially with Simon who had rowed before. Fortunately, he used to run an expedition. I don't think he'll mind me saying this because it's normal news. In 2016, he lost someone overboard. Because he was running the expedition, it fell on him for the blame. It's still ongoing. That guy was a 21-year-old from Zimbabwe and paid by Simon to do the row. Unfortunately, he lost his life. That was Simon's last row. To get on this row and for it to be successful for him, he didn't want to leave his last row to be something. It’s horrible and dramatic. It was a mental challenge for a lot of us. We learned a lot on the way about each other and about the ocean.

I can't wait to dig into that. For everyone to have a little bit of an idea, tell us how big the boat was and your planning process. Ideally, for 24 hours a day, you guys are rowing and you're taking shifts, so there's not a lot of breaks. You could tell us a little bit about how that's broken up. Also, on the ends of the boats, there are some sleeping quarters. Tell us a little bit about the logistics of the actual row.

The boat is a carbon mold, 29 feet long. It's comprised of two cabins on either end. One has got all the navigational equipment, whether the watermaker or the business end of the board. That's where most of the big decisions are made. The other end is more of storage. We could also fit people in as well. It was tailored for one person but we have to get two at times when the storms came in. You got the cabin on either end.

Most Dangerous Row : It was difficult as a team to come together because we didn't have a regular understanding of mental health and how it can affect people.

In the center, you've got two rowing seats. Beneath your backside, there's a gully where the water expels when you take on waves. On the other side, there's the storage. It's where your food is. It's where you put some of your kit, all your spares and stuff like that. Most of this stuff is happening on the deck. You always got someone rowing. We started with 2 and 2, 2 hours on and 2 hours off rowing. We eventually realized that you don't get enough sleep with that. It does affect you sometimes. If you don't get eight hours of sleep a day, it can affect you for a couple of days.

We wanted a good amount of time to sleep. We changed the system where we would eventually get four hours of sleep on a night each, which changed massively for everyone. It was 2 hours on and 2 hours off, 24 hours a day rowing continuously. We made sure that we were switching our drills. We wanted to keep the boat moving at all times. Breaking that inertia is energy-consuming. We’re keeping the boat moving. Someone is always rowing no matter what. People always ask, “Where do you go for the toilet?”

How do you take a shit?

It's quite an interesting time also to take a shit. It's quite rewarding as well because you can take your own five minutes and relax a little bit. You can take in the scenery. If it's at night, you can look up and you might only see stars, which I don't think I've ever had in my life. I look straight up and all I see are stars. In my peripheral vision, I see stars. It's an amazing time to take a shit. Between the gully, one person will have to stop rowing. We call it going to the business.

I do remember one time, it was probably the worst business I had to encounter. It's when there's a storm. When there's a storm, you can only hold it in for so long. We were rowing and I had to go and do the business but it was at night. It was in sketchy conditions. We were getting smashed by the side. When you've got to go, you've got to go. I remember going. I had a bit of spicy food, maybe a bit too much hot sauce in my meal the day before.

I’m sitting down to do the business and a big wave came over. Everything in the bucket emptied on the deck. The guy in front of me was rowing and he was throwing up everywhere. My stomach was killing me. It’s a really bad time. You look forward to doing it normally. It wasn't a pleasant experience for everyone because the morning after, we got to work. You couldn't wash it down because it was dark. You had to work and you’d get all these smells. You’re like, “This is awful. What am I doing here?” It wasn't pleasant. I thought I'd share that with you.

What did you guys do for food?

We had dehydrated food. It's light. Some of them are up to 1,000 calories each. They weigh about 250 grams. We had to boil the water with a gas stove and then rehydrate the food. Some of it was nice. Some of it wasn't great. The texture was pretty much the same. It’s like the consistency of baby foods. After a week or so, you found yourself craving. For a long time, I was craving the crunch of a salad or something with a bit of texture to it and a bit of crunch. It kept us alive and that's what we need.

The body adapts to whatever situation it's getting. If somebody is stranded in the desert, they're going to conserve. You're also burning many calories per shift per day that so much muscle mass was lost. How did you compensate for the beginning of the journey? I'm sure you're a lot stronger physically at least. Towards the end, it's more of a mental thing. How did you transition knowing that your body might be deteriorating in terms of atrophy of muscles and then also not getting the right amount of food or whatever? How did you manage that?

We had a lot of bad weather. We had 24 days where we were essentially stuck at the same place. We put the sea anchor out. When the weather is against you, you go forward. You've got to stay where you are. You’re getting blown back ever so slowly back to the United States. We started rushing in at that point. We took enough food. If we had this bad weather continuously, we would run out of food. We made it a little bit hard for ourselves. We started rushing in.

I don't think that we were affected definitely. It wasn't something that we all noticed until probably at the end. Your human body adapts well but so does the mind. When you're solely focused on getting home to the family, getting this row complete, and pulling hard every day. For the whole 72 days, no one was ill. Everyone was rowing strong. It's interesting you say that because for about a week or maybe five days, we started to get rashes around the wrist.

On top of the normal body, you have a lot on the backside. Your feet and hands were blistered. They were normal but then you'd start getting additional signs that your body is breaking down. For me, I subconsciously knew I was getting closer. I came up with rashes and my swells would get worse. When we got into London, I was ill for about three days. I couldn't hold any food down.

It's weird because the whole 72 days, my mind was like, “I'm strong enough for this.” I kept thinking I was getting stronger but I was getting weaker. It's not until I've got home with all these aches and pains. It's taken a long time to recover. When you’re narrow-minded and solely focused on getting to the finish line, you don't feel it until the end. That was the same for everyone.

Speaking openly is a good dynamic for the team.

Seventy days is a long time. I've talked to a lot of people about doing plant medicine journeys. We talked a little bit about my Ayahuasca. The minute you sign up for it and you say, “I'm going to do this,” that's when the medicine starts to kick in before you even drink it. When you're on that trip, you know you have to maintain your great health for you not to let the team down and also not let yourself down to see your family again. There's a special mental clarity and focus like this superpower that people get when they're in extreme situations.

I remember there was a movie made out of it, the 127 Hours. The guy was in Utah. He was hiking and his arm got stuck. He had to cut his arm off to get out of the situation and get back to safety. If you're in a normal and comfortable environment, you're not able to do that. When your life is on the line and you have to put that focus in, that's when your real strength comes out. Tell us a little bit about the times that you were tested during this journey and some of the bigger challenges that you guys endured.

One of the biggest tests was Simon. He had bad mental health because of what happened to him from his previous row. He went and tried ayahuasca himself post losing a life at sea. He had done it 2 or 3 times. His best friend died. His son was ill. He had a mental breakdown. He didn't tell us the extent of it until we got on the boat. We thought he had one mental breakdown but he had three in the span of two years. He would have to get sectioned into a mental Institute.

That's why I say it’s tough mentally because we weren't expecting Simon to come. We were looking at him as the Godfather. He's done it many times. When the weather got rough, we would always look at him. If he was ever worried, I would gauge if I was going to be worried. When he come on in, he was a shell of himself. It was hard as a team to come together because we didn't have a good understanding of mental health and how it can affect people. It was quite upsetting at times and hard to deal with because we never knew where he was at. We were sometimes afraid that he might do something stupid. It's really hard.

He didn't speak to anyone. I was sharing a cabin with him for 40 days. I looked at him and I was like, “I don't know the extent of this guy's mental health. I don't know much about it but I'll try and help him the best I could.” It was never like I would help him make his food, fill his water bottle up. I will try and have conversations with him. It was never reciprocated. He was always quiet and in his own little shell.

He also was struggling to grow because his physical condition wasn't as good as it used to be back when he was rowing all the time. He was aware as well. He'd done many rows, he knew that he was a bit of a liability. It was quite hard for us to all get around him and to try and pick him up. Also, we’re dealing with our stresses on our own day-to-day grind. That was a tough time for us.

We were always trying to come together to try and help him. It didn't always go smoothly. Sometimes we could have done things differently or whatever. He got across the North Atlantic. Hopefully, he takes it away that he's done something great. He doesn't feel like he was a liability throughout the whole thing or whatever because that's where he was at. I don't think that was a nice way for him to finish.

Another thing following that is we almost lost someone overboard, which is what happened in 2016 to Simon. We had a bit of an incident where one of the guys fell overboard and then we threw him a line. He was trying to get an oar. One of the oars snapped and it fell off. He jumped in to get it. We threw him a throw line which is 20 meters long.

As he was swimming to get the oar, he turned around to get the line. As he did, the wave picked up the boat and took the line away from him. He found himself in the middle of the sea. This oar, he had to let it go. It sounds awful because we were also doing this for Plastic Oceans UK. It was one of those events. We tried to get it back but it was well gone.

It was day 60. He didn't appreciate how tired he was. He's an amazing swimmer. He swam the English Channel before. He's done a lot of swimming in his time but he had all his clothes on and he was fatigued, which he didn't appreciate. No one can stop him because he made his decision quickly. He was the captain of the boat. I remember I was in my cabin and I was completely naked. I remember hearing him fall and I run out and start rowing backward. When the weather is pushing you that fast, there's nothing you can do.

Most Dangerous Row : The float therapy started as a positive experience.

We've managed to turn the boat and we slowed the board down dramatically. As soon as we did, you could see him edging closer and closer. We threw him another line. Luckily, we brought two with us. We threw another one that’s full 20 meters. It took only a few minutes for him to get to that line. Thereafter, I was upset because he's got two children as well. The thought of like, “If we didn't get him back, we'd have to explain to his family and go through the whole process of what Simon had to go through.” He’s part of a team. He’s been positive. If that happened, losing him would have been devastating to the team.

How far away from the boat was he?

Probably about 50 meters at one point. The only thing is if it was a bit rougher, you wouldn't be able to turn the boat around like in normal water. If you turn the board around, you’ll be getting blown away. That's what happened before with Simon in 2016. The guy fell overboard and he couldn't swim back. They couldn't turn around. It was a life lost at sea. To have that happen on our row, I don’t know. It did change everything from there. We were strict. It's a stupid decision at that time. No one thought to stop him. Knowing we spent 60 days together at sea, you feel like that's your family. It was quite a stressful time.

That was on day 60 at that point. You only have twelve days to go.

Around day 60, we’re close enough to think that we're going to make it.

You're in the last little stretch of it.

About 800 miles to go.

After you brought him back on the boat, was there a sense where you all needed to take a break or did you continue and had to go? Is there any time to recover mentally from these situations?

Yes. When he came back to the boat, he was acting okay with what happened. He was like, “While I'm in here, I'll clean any barnacles at the bottom of the boat. I’ll make sure it's not causing any drag.” We talked to each other and thought, “Get back on the boat.” Eventually, he pulled himself back up. He took a moment in the cabin.

We were shooting a documentary for the team. Luckily, I got the camera up and recorded his reaction thereafter. He broke down because he realized the implication of what could have happened. When you think, “What if?” To the extent, it can get to you. He broke down, which was good. Everyone is human. It's good that he learned from that. We all learned from that as a team not to be complacent. Don't be afraid to tell someone or get a grip on someone when something looks trouble such as an oar. It’s a lesson learned from our end.

I know going into this, you had a couple of injuries. On your knee, shoulders and wrists, you had some blisters. When you're having to do a shift and when you're rowing, there's pain and there are blisters everywhere. I saw the pictures of your hands. How do you stay present? What was your thought process? Were you listening to music? Were you listening to a podcast? Were you focused on what was going on? How did you get yourself through every row? Those are thousands of rows every single day. How do you make it through mentally and also physically?

There were some challenging times. I had a lot of injuries. Probably the worst condition I’ve been in all of my life is I ruptured my ACL in the Marines back in 2008. It re-ruptured at work. When the surgeon has done the secondary reconstruction, when he was drilling in, the drill bit shattered leaving a few bits in there. He went to recover them and couldn't get them. He then tried to do some work on the cartilage because it was giving me problems. It kept locking out all the time.

When you spiral down mentally, get yourself out somewhere.

Another third operation, which was a month before we flew out. I was panicking at this point. I wasn’t able to bear leaving the team. I didn't want to leave such a void in the team. They wouldn't have been able to replace me. I don't know how it happened. It's a little bit investigated but they crushed a nerve in my elbow, which caused my wrist to be completely numb. I didn't know much. It’s called nerve palsy or nerve entrapment. That's the worst injury I’ve probably sustained because it's unpredictable. Sometimes they go bad. Right now, it's really bad.

For me, from a personal standpoint, I felt like I was going to be a liability. My confidence was affected. I was excited to build enough towards doing this massive role. Going through these injuries, I thought I was going to be a liability. I didn't think I was going to be an asset to the team. My confidence and self-esteem were low. Getting on the boat, I accepted the pain for what it was. That's all I could do. My elbow was worse. You can row with one leg. If my knee started to plunk, I’ll take it out with a foot strap and use the left leg. With my arm, I couldn't get away with that. That was quite painful. I had to accept it at times and then manage it with ibuprofen or paracetamol or whatever we had.

In terms of the whole team, we had a good dynamic where we would speak quite openly. It's like in the military, cheerfulness in the face of adversity. There were a lot of times where we had some pretty gruesome sores in people's hands. It might seem we’re in a bad way but it's given us a bond like in the military. It’s quite brutal at times. You get away with anything, especially when you’re on such a small board. That did help get you through the hard times.

In some of the hardest times, the weather at some point was for 2 weeks or maybe 10 days it rained nonstop. Even when it wasn't raining, it was rough. You were getting drenched. We do a routine which is called wet and dry. We have two sets of clothes, one that would always be wet and one that would always be dry. We were up quite far North near the Labrador Current, it's quite cold at night. With wind and chill, it was -10. It was freezing at times.

It's getting out with that nice warm sleeping bag in your nice cozy cabin, and then taking down your wet clothes, which were freezing at this point. You’re taking all your warm stuff off and putting that on and then going outside to face the conditions. It’s freezing cold. You look up and it's still raining on you and splashing all over. That was a big test. After a week or so, you think, “When is this going to hold up? When can we dry our clothes out?”

I remember one of the lads said something simple, “My clothes are wetter on the inside than they are on the outside.” Everyone heard it and then we all looked at each other and burst out laughing because it was such a crappy time on the boat. We were struggling and everyone was thinking the same, “Fuck this. This is horrendous. Why have we done this?” Something small like that brought it all together. We’re all in this together and suffering together. It was quite a nice moment, although it was pretty grim at times.

When you were not rowing, was there a lot of bonding between the team members? How did you keep that morale going? One of the team members was struggling a little bit. With the other guys, did you actively try to lift them up? Was everyone responsible for their own energy? What was the group dynamic in that regard?

Everyone went into their own bubble at times. There are some times where you could sense that this guy was having a bad day. As you got on, you could relate. How is the best way to deal with it? Myself, for instance. Do we leave him? Do we try and talk to him? Do we have a bit of a joke with him? We all gauged each other's bad days and worked with each other.

Some of the worst times that we had were when we were on power anchor. We're not going forward. We can't row because the weather is horrendous. Sometimes we would all jump into the cabin together. We'd share a cup of hot chocolate or something like that. They're the hardest times. You sat there. You want to be going forward. You want to be getting home. You want to be at least making some progress.

The longest time we spent on power anchor was six days in a tiny cabin where it's probably 4 feet across, 8 feet long, shoulder to shoulder. You can sit up. I was catching my head, so it wasn't the most pleasurable. I called it power prison because it's called a power anchor. It was like being in prison. The only time you would go outside was the luxurious time of calling to do the business and that would be a nice time. You'd have to clip on and you have to hold on to the cabin. It would be the best time if you did.

On some days, we’d cut down the food because we were scared we'd run out. Getting in the cabin together and getting to know each other, passing around a hot chocolate, sharing stories, and sometimes coming up with pathetic games that I would never play again. It was good for the time. That certainly helped build the dynamic and make tough times a little bit easier.

It's nice that you guys turned those hardship times. It's giving you a little bit of rest so that helps. You’re utilizing that time and bonding more. You guys are going through a lot physically and emotionally, and to be able to have a little bit of a break. You would have rather finished the race earlier. At the end of the day, that rest is helpful.

Most Dangerous Row : Let the younger generation know how climate change and plastic pollution affects the environment.

I remember the sixth day, it was probably the darkest time for me. You left your own thoughts. I would share them with Simon at that point too. He wasn't the most. I remember feeling quite selfish at one point. I was leaving my daughter. I felt this big sense of guilt. It was hard for me to get over what I was doing. I was like, “This is a massively selfish thing. I could possibly die doing this.” You spiral a little bit. At the time, I would spiral. You've got to get yourself out of it somewhere. It was tough at times. That was probably my darkest moment, reflecting on my daughter.

We had a satellite and we could send a few photos. We had to compress the photos to receive and we'd get them every 3 or 4 days, a photo here and there. I’m seeing the progression of my daughter and seeing the stuff I was missing. Sometimes it was quite detrimental to my own mental health because I was thinking of what I was missing out on and stuff like that.

I was following you guys throughout the journey. I remember seeing the Father's Day videos with all the kids. The dads were sending messages. It brought tears to my eyes to see how much support you guys had. Throughout the journey, as my girlfriend and I were watching your experience, you gave us so much inspiration and so much perspective on life. When a little thing went wrong in our lives or we were going through a workout and there are 40 seconds on and 20 seconds off, we're like, “We can't stop at 38 seconds. We got through it. What would Ian do at this time?”

You're a big part of our life at that time. We were sending you guys a lot of love and good wishes, but also the inspiration that you gave us and all the people that have been following your journey. If nothing else, you touched many people's lives during this time without even knowing it. I applaud you and I thank you for what you did for me during this time.

Getting home, we didn't see the aftermath of the row. We didn't see it firsthand because we could only send things and we never received anything social media-wise. We had one phone on the boat. We'd log on to it all and we send. We'd only receive photos from our families. When we got home, we didn't know the impact on anyone. I was oblivious to it. I remember coming down to Tower Bridge, the finish line, knowing that a few friends would be there.

The whole Tower Bridge, one side of it was completely packed. You could hear the chants from a kilometer away. I was overwhelmed. I don't even know why I didn't think that many people are there. I didn't know I was crying. When I could feel my face, it was completely streaming. Seeing my family for the first time was such a magical moment. I look forward to it for days and weeks. That was a special time.

Getting off the boat was quite weird because there were four of us along the ocean and taking whatever the weather threw at us. It was a simple life but then you want to see your family. You want to go into that little room and catch up with your family. There are so many other people that have come. It's quite overwhelming and quite hard to adjust to. It’s such an amazing moment to come and bring it home. It’s one of the things we say about our football team, “We should bring it home.” Unfortunately, we never brought it home in the Euros. We constantly say, “We're going to bring it home.” Eventually, we brought it home in an amazing fashion. It's a moment I don't think I'll ever forget.

What was going through your mind as you were having those last couple of strokes knowing that you made it, knowing that you're moments away from holding you're little girl, girlfriend, your family members, and everything like that? Did you get an adrenaline rush where you didn't even feel all the crap that's going on in your body? I know you weren't able to stand up for the longest time. Standing up vertically, you can't do that on a boat. What was that like? Was it painful as you were getting off the boat?

It felt like you were intoxicated. You couldn't choose where you were going to walk to. You thought you could. You thought you'd find a point and you'd go to it. As soon as you start walking, your legs would take you to one side. It's quite a bizarre thing. I knew it was going to happen but I didn't think it'd be as profound as it was.

When we were getting to Tower Bridge, that first glance, I could hear all the fans or whatever. I'm going to call them fans. I've never had fans before but there were fans at this point. I was a little bit apprehensive to look back because I thought I'd get emotional. As soon as I looked back, I could see all the flags and people are screaming. I had a massive sense of adrenaline. I felt like, “We've done it. We've come here.”

There were many times where it might not have went ahead like when the team split up. There were so many things that could have gone a different way. It’s a big sense of achievement. I’m also excited to see my family and to hold them again. I was a bit scared in case they didn't recognize me because it was four months later and even COVID isolations and stuff like that. I was a bit apprehensive then. As soon as you get the first day back, it was completely fine.

Peel yourself away to see who you really are.

When I came into the Om.life Center, I did float therapy. I've seen you. I went upstairs to check out the relaxing room, which was a beautiful room. It started with a positive experience. By the end, I was petrified of the ocean. We've seen on the news that the North Atlantic is coming off with the worst storm season. We all heard that together in the room. We didn't say anything about it.

Her husband owned yachts so they’re doing a lot of sailing. She was saying, “You’ve picked a pretty tasty year to go across North Atlantic. It's the worst for hurricane season.” Little things like that stick in your mind. When I came for therapy, I remember by the end, I was thinking, “I could die here. Why am I doing this? I could be at the comfort of my home.” I was freaking out big time when I saw you. You introduced me to your friends. I don't know if you could feel it.

I remember one of the girls that were there mentioned that as you were leaving, you said, "I'm going to go and do my will now."

I was going to mail it. I had a will at home but it needed an update. I wrote letters to certain people. It was quite a surreal moment for certain people. I looked at that like, “What do I want to do?” I have to get it signed by a few people and mail it. When I left, I mailed it. That was all of the things compounding together. It made me petrified. Fortunately for me, I wasn't the only person on the team who was feeling like that. The morning after we were going, I and Swift had to sit down and we were feeling the same. It helps so much to relieve that stress.

As soon as we got out on the water, it went. The more I thought about it, at least we're prepared. We have drilled everything like man overboard drills. If this breaks or if that breaks, we were well-drilled. I didn't give the team as much credit as I should have. Maybe that's a good thing because it meant we were prepared. We went in with that mindset. It probably helped and was against us at the same time. The reason we started to row in that way is they also finished it in a similar fashion. I wasn't ready for the emotions. I don't know why but I didn't feel ready. It caught me by surprise when it shouldn't have, if that makes sense.

This human life, fear is a part of it. There are two major emotions, love and fear. Being in this environment and this world, there's a lot of confusion going on. A lot of fear for you to go on this journey of a lifetime where most people wouldn't do it. There are many elements that could get out of hand. It's perfectly natural. Also, anytime a competitor goes into an environment, there's going to be a little bit of fear that fuels them because it keeps them sharp.

If you're too relaxed going into something like that, you might take some things for granted or not be as laser-sharp and focused. Fear helps a little bit. I'm glad that you were able to get through it. Now that you have gotten through this, the hard part is over. You have had this experience for the rest of your life. You could always lean back on the challenges. Physically, you'd probably never go through another challenge as difficult as this one does.

The fear thing is an interesting topic because of what's going on in the world. People have different views on that. What was nice for us was to get away from that for a while and to get away from social media. Social media can be great. We can discuss many benefits. It also can drag you down without you knowing about it. There could be a negative thing that you can pick up on there. It could affect you for the full day.

Being away from that was quite a special time because you were never influenced by anything except people on the boat and your own thoughts. You could maybe peel away the layers of onions, peel layers of yourself, and see who you are. For me, it helped me become a more confident version because I remember going into it with the decline of my injuries and certain other things in my life at that time. I thought negatively. I was not as confident as I was.

Getting on row and coming off afterward, I felt like I could achieve what I want. The row, I've been training for it all my life. I've been doing things leading up to that because I always wanted to do it. I've always had a desire since being a little kid to cross the ocean. To do the North Atlantic, which is respected. It’s an amazing time for me.

Most Dangerous Row : Always treat people like you can learn something from them.

When I got to that, I didn't feel like I was good enough for it until I got on the boat. All of the fear left me and then I was like, “I am a confident person. I can do this. I know this.” You can become a better version of yourself because there's nothing to bring you down. You've only got yourself and your thought. If you're positive, you think positively. Every time you wake up or every time you feel a negative thought, you got to accept it for what it is and then move past it. The good times are going to come. The positivity is going to be there. That's life. That's what it is. When you're away from any outside influence, it's quite easy for you to understand yourself more.

If you had to describe yourself in a few words of who you were prior to the row and then after completing the journey, tell us a little bit about the difference between those two individuals.

I’ll put it down to injuries but it could have been other things as well. It was just a less confident version. It was in fear. COVID and the year of lockdown probably had an impact as well. I was quite low with confidence, which will be surprising considering what you said in the introduction. After, I realized, “You can do anything that you want. You don't need to live in this fear.” The adventures that you have in your mind, as long as you don't let fear rule your life, you can go and get where you want to get.

Everyone's got their own adventure. For some people, it might be to climb that small mountain. For some people, it might be to do a 5K. That's everyone's adventure for that moment in time. When you get there, build on it. I'm going to try my best to build on what I've achieved and be a more positive version of myself and try and share it with others. I did struggle when people called me an inspiration. It’s a bit like imposter syndrome. I had a bit of that after the row. I'm trying to get my head around it. I’m still processing it. I know I can build on this become a better version, and also help other people.

Now that you've had a little bit of time to reflect, was there any favorite parts of the journey or something that you miss after seeing back on it, or you're glad that it's over?

Although my injuries did have an effect on me every day, I enjoyed the row and I enjoyed the suffering. It's a bit weird but when things get hard, I get a lot of enjoyment out of it. When we struggle together, you're rowing partner and you, you pull through together. Some shifts were quite grim and gruesome. I find them the most thrilling for me and I loved them.

Some of the storms were quite exhilarating. When you're in a storm and you're on the edge of, “We could capsize here.” For some reason, I would be like, “This is amazing.” Being at the mercy of the ocean and the mercy of the storm, she fully decides. You've got to respect the ocean. It doesn't have to respect you. When you're amongst it, you're part of that storm. You’re part of that day every day. It's an amazing feeling to know that it's not who’s going to decide. It's taken out of your hands.

It's like the hunter-gatherer days where it used to be stressful over food or weather or something like that. We've lost that so much. If we want food, we can go to the supermarket. We've got shelter all the time. When you're in the middle of the ocean, you're relying on everything you have on board. You do have the help of merchant's vessels but they could be days away.

Some people row solo, which is something I would love to do. It’s an exhilarating feeling to know that you're at one with nature at that time. That probably goes on to why I want to protect it so much. That’s why we went into Plastic Oceans UK and teamed up with them. It’s because we wanted to change the mindset of the generations. We want the younger skills, change the mindset of the children and their generation, and let them know about climate change, plastic pollution, how they come together, and how it's affecting the environment. I do love the ocean and I learned a lot from it.

Be a more positive version of yourself and share that with others.

Another magical time, which was nice was when we were rowing. Sometimes, you get the darkest of nights. There's no light pollution. I do appreciate the world as it is. Whenever I’m out in the ocean, there are some things that I’m never going to see again unless I do another row. As we were rowing along, it was completely dark. The cloud covered us. There was no starlight and moonlight.

You have the bioluminescent plankton. As you put your oars through them, it illuminates. Sometimes, if you're lucky, dolphins would start swimming under the boat. If you take the oars out of the water and watch the dolphins for a moment and look at your surroundings, which I've done a few times, it’s amazing. It's a beautiful place to be.

If you both take your oars out of the water and you have complete silence, you don't ever hear silence like that. It has to be flat calm and you're like, “That is what silence sounds like.” I appreciate the little moments like that. I remember having them and thinking, “I'm not going to ever forget these.” There were plenty of them. I made a little journal. I will reflect on that as I go. It's magical at times but then ferocious at times. You’ll get both. You can't have one without the other. It’s the same as life. You can't have everything be positive. Not everything is going to be horrendous. I try and remain equanimous. Don't avert the bad times and don't desire the good times.

Did you see any UFOs out there?

I looked a lot of times because I'm interested in that. I could see the satellite going around because it goes around 24 times. There was nothing that I couldn't explain. I’ve seen a lot of shooting stars but nothing out of the ordinary, unfortunately. Have you got any experience with that?

Yes. This is an interesting story. This was in 2015. I was in Sedona, Arizona, which is the most beautiful place. If you haven’t been out in Arizona, you better go check it out. Granted, I did do an ayahuasca experience that night but the session is over. I'm sitting out there with two other people, one to my left and one to my right.

It's funny because one of my friends, we were at lunch earlier that day. He's like, "I feel like we're going to see a UFO tonight." Nobody has ever told me that. All of my friends and all the conversations we had, "We're going to see a UFO tonight." I kid you not, that night, we're outside of the experience, and we're looking straight out. All of a sudden, the sky is all starlit. It's almost like a vagina opens up in the middle of the sky. This bright blue luminescent ship comes out. It's completely silent. It's like it gave birth to it. It shoots across the sky.

There's a mountain in front of us. It stops. It’s there to show us that it's there and then it slowly descends behind the mountain. It was the craziest thing. All of the people that were with me saw the same thing. I don't think it was us being on ayahuasca but we had our perspective open so that we can see some things that are in different dimensions. It was a wild experience.

If you’ve all seen the same thing, it's not fabricated. It's not something manifested in your mind. If you all see and you all discuss, it's got to be real. That's amazing. That confirmed my belief from that story.

In terms of integrating what you learned over there back into your life going forward, what are the major lessons that you're going to bring forward with you into the next journey of your life?

I'm still trying to process that. I've come back home. I've had so much time off. I need to go back to work. I had so many ideas when I was away. When you get back home with all the stresses and everything, you've got to make money. I need to get some structure back in my life and then reassess from there.

Looking back on the campaign, how positive it was, and how many people we affected. You don't know until you come home and people tell you about it. They’re like, “You've inspired me.” You were saying you worked a bit harder in your workouts. Be yourself as much as you can. Always treat people like you can learn something from them. Have more respect for the whole environment. We are part of this planet and it's part of us. Treat it properly. Don't neglect it.

That was heart-based. The first time I met you, I was like, “This guy is a gentle giant.” You have so much love in your heart and you want to do so many great things. It shows in every interaction you're having with people, especially me and the people that I introduced you to at my center. They still talk about you, “That guy is amazing and inspiring.” They’re thanking me that I introduced you. I'm like, “Wow.” I'm lucky to have this wellness center to attract like-minded people like yourself and many others that come through here.

I thought about you quite a lot. I listened to a few of your podcasts and some of the amazing people that you've had on the show. I was impressed. The way that you engaged with them was nice. It sets the presence. When I met you and you told me the story of the Om.life Center, honestly, it was inspiring for me. It felt like you've figured it out. You've realized the stresses and the life that you will potentially lead-in.

Most Dangerous Row : Go after the adventure and believe in yourself that you can do it.

You've opened this center and I was thankful that I stumbled with you that day. I only went in out of interest. I wasn't actively looking. When I came in, it was such a nice environment. You're trying to help people that were in need of help physically. I got a lot of mental strength from you guys as well. It was nice. It was therapeutic in many ways. I remember being on the row thinking about the time in the float. It was nice to be bump into you. To get into Om.life and to see that you've supported it was an amazing feeling for me. I want to thank you.

Thank you. The feeling is mutual. You said something that sparked this in my mind. The greatest gifts that we get to share with other people stem from the biggest pain or the biggest hurt that we've had in life. For me, to grow up in a certain way and to understand the trials and tribulations of life and try to figure shit out, by no means, have I figured everything out.

I’m figuring things out and what my fulfillment means and then to be able to open up this wellness center, Om.life, and to be able to share that with other people so that they can trigger their next evolution in life. This is what it's all about. It’s the better version we become of ourselves. It will only inspire, shine and spark other people to start moving in their best direction. If enough of us do that, we're putting that light into others. That's how we make this world a better place. What is living a limitless life mean to you?

It’s living a little bit more like a child in the child's mindset. They're not held back by fear. If they see a painting on the wall, they see colors and don't judge it. It's a nice way to conduct yourself. You won't be held back by any fears. You manifest fears yourself and some of the stresses that you put on yourself. We put it on ourselves. You avert them if you choose not to. Be a bit more childlike and go after that adventure, whatever it is. Believe in yourself. Believe that you can do it. Go down that path, cross that ocean, climb that mountain or whatever it is. Nothing will hold you back if you have that mindset.

Kids do not have fear. They live life to the fullest. Everything that they believe in is a reality.

Watching my daughter growing up, she has no fear whatsoever. She cares about what I fear of her. If she climbs that thing, she's checking if I'm fearful for her. She's going for it. Nothing's held her back. It's a nice concept to sometimes think of when you want to challenge yourself.

Ian, why did you come here to Earth as Ian Clinton? What did you want to experience?

I'm still figuring that out. I don't think I've got the answer. I'm still quite far away but I think I'm on the right path. As long as I remember my values, what I enjoy and who I am as a person, I'll get there. I'm not quite sure yet.

What is God or spirituality mean to you? What role does it play in your life?

God or spirituality is probably more than nature. It's life itself. I haven't got a definitive answer. God is whatever we're striving towards as humans or wherever the human race is going. The way that Elon Musk is going, he’s accelerating in such a way. That's quite a scary concept. Wherever the world is going, it's getting more complex or whatever. It's going in a certain direction. That's what God is to me, wherever the world is going. The more time goes on, the more complex the world is getting. Wherever that ultimate complexity is, that's where I believe God is.

It's the universe unfolding in the direction it needs to in order to give us the lessons and the experience that the collective conscious wants to create. Ian, I want to thank you so much for coming to the show. You inspire me so much. I have so much love in my heart for you. How can we learn more about you? Tell us a little bit about the websites and socials so that we can go and support the Ocean Revival Adventures charities.

The website is part of the row, which we're going to build on. We're letting this process and we're going to build on it from there because it was such an amazing experience. It’s called OceanRevivalAdventures.com. You can follow the journey from years ago. We do various events. We raised £63,000 for charity. That was doing events with families and friends. It's quite a good foundation to keep us all connected in the small group.

We've had some other ideas that we're going to build on. That’s our platform at the minute, Ocean Revival Adventures. I'll be concentrating on being a father first because I've got it in a healthy way, but not the same. It wasn’t in a bad way. I loved it. I'm going to start building Ocean Revival in the meantime and then on myself for the rest of my life.

Thank you so much. You're inspiring so many people every single day with your presence. Forget about all the accomplishments but who you are as a human being. It adds a lot of happiness to people's lives. Thank you for joining me. I'm sure our audience is going to love this episode.

I’ve had such a rush getting here. I would have known, prepared and wrote more down. I’m starting this new job. I come to this hotel. I'm set up in a hall because the hotel room is not ready. I've had a COVID test outside. It was quite a fastball getting there. I wanted to come here. I was excited. I'm all for you. You're a great individual. You restored faith in humanity big time for me. Walking in that penthouse, I was welcomed so much. You put down a nice little package for me. You listened to what I was saying to you and you’re like, “I'll help you with this. This will be good for you.” It was amazing. You set me up mentally for a great expedition. You stayed in my thoughts throughout the whole row and even now. Thank you. You're a legend.

Thank you. You, too.

Important links

About Ian Clinton

Ian is a former Royal Marine Commando who served in 45 commando alongside Matt, Joel and Dom. Following leaving the Royal Marines, Ian worked as a maritime security consultant on anti-piracy in the Somali Basin and the Indian Ocean. He now works as an offshore NDT technician.

He has just returned from taking a year out to travel which saw him taking on some incredible feats such as trekking to Everest Base Camp, Cycling 1000 miles around South Korea, a 100 mile kayak expedition in the Philippines and bagging various mountain/volcano summits across Asia and the Indian Himalayas.

Ian relishes in the physical challenges in life; proven by taking on his first 50-mile ultra marathon last year and achieving 1st place. He has also competed in various triathlons and marathons with his greatest achievement being Ironman Wales, finishing 13th in his age category. An outdoor enthusiast with other hobbies such as cycling, rowing, climbing, camping and many more.

Ian lives in the North East of England with his girlfriend Hannah, who has recently introduced him to her love of the underwater world through scuba diving. He has witness

Episode 42: The World Most Dangerous Row