Childhood friends team up to row across the Pacific

A man who grew up East Woodlands is reuniting with his childhood friends as they attempt to set a new world record by rowing almost 3,000 miles unassisted from Monterey, California to Kauai in Hawaii on Monday 12th June.

Paris Norris, whose family live in Frome, will be joined by his childhood friends, Oli Amos, and Barney Lewis, as well as Oli’s brother Harry, as they take part in the Pacific Race Challenge. Not one member of the team had rowed across a river before they got their boat and started training a year ago.

The trip would usually take just under six hours in a plane, but Paris and his friends are expecting to spend 40 days on the water as they attempt to row 2,800 miles unassisted. According to the World Toughest Row website, just 82 people in 33 boats have successfully rowed to one of the Hawaiian islands from mainland USA.  The average crossing time for all crew sizes is 62 days.

The team, called Brothers N’ Oars, have set themselves this challenge to raise money for two charities: The Invictus Games – an international sporting event for wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women, both serving and veterans, and The Blue Marine Foundation which is a marine conservation charity.

Paris said, “We will be the first set of rowers to attempt this specific route and the world record will be on the table to be set. More people have gone to space than completed this challenge as around only 80 people have ever attempted it; in fact, we will be in such remote waters that for most of the time, the closest people to us will be astronauts.

“Whilst this is just the type of adventure that excites me and my team mates, we are ultimately doing this to raise funds and awareness to support conserving the oceans and marine life. On our journey we will be documenting our encounters as we follow the route of six whale migrations, dolphins galore and many species of sharks.”

Celebrity endorsement

The team had a boost in their fundraising efforts as former serviceman now singer/songwriter, James Blunt, ran a competition on their behalf on his Facebook page to name the boat – the post currently has over 800 suggestions.

Paris says his love for adventure stemmed from growing up in the nearby Longleat forest. He explained, “I was always adventurous as a child – we would go on endless camping trips and long walks, but it wasn’t until I moved to Dubai when I became interested in getting out on the water. I got my boating licence which was the first step to becoming adept at adventures on the sea, however we as a group consider ourselves novice rowers, who have learnt this from setting ourselves this challenge.”

The team are being trained by coach, Gus Barton, who has coached world record beating teams ten times, and the boat will be rowed continuously whereby two rowers do two-hour shifts and swap.

Paris Norris spent the first 20 years of his life in East Woodlands before moving to Dubai after university. Paris is an entrepreneur and in 2018, he decided his next venture would be to create a TV show, called Guy in Dubai, which covered his adventures. The TV show can be found on Amazon Prime and is also played on airlines.

To donate to the team’s cause visit https://row2raise.com

Pictured: The route the team will take.