Ilja Kok from Breda and three teammates want to row 4800 kilometers from Africa to Central America in forty days. They will participate in the Talisker Whiskey Atlantic Challenge on December 12, together with 42 other teams. “I saw a video about this race a few years ago and then I thought: yes I want to do this!”
For two years now, the team has been training for this extreme race from La Gomera in Africa to Antigua in Central America. Rowing takes place 24 hours a day in shifts of two. Ilja: “We work with rowing for two hours, sleeping for two hours. And that sleeping takes place in two small cabins at the front and back of the boat, in which you can lie straight ahead.”
There is also enough food. “Once on the road I will burn about 6,500 calories a day, so I need to eat and drink enough. For myself alone, I carry 75 kilos of food.” That food is in watertight barrels.
For Ilja it is certainly not just a sporting challenge: “We also do this for a good cause, because the proceeds of our race go to The Ocean Cleanup.” This is a Dutch organization that fishes waste from the oceans and rivers worldwide.
The rower has long been concerned about water pollution: “As a girl of 7 I was already a Greenpeace activist and even raised 1000 guilders to support their work. My mother recently took a diorama from the attic, which I had made as a child about waste dumping. You see oil barrels floating on cotton wool, which should represent waves.”
The Boka Nedurance team uses a special rowing boat. “It is much wider and more stable than a normal rowing boat, also to withstand the waves at sea. But the rowing itself is the same as in a normal boat,” explains Ilja.
Furthermore, a lot of special equipment is on board, such as a watermater that makes drinking water from salty seawater, means of communication and an autopilot. The electricity is generated with solar panels.
Ilya is looking forward to the race: “I want to experience what it’s like to row day and night, in the sun and under the starry sky.” It will undoubtedly be tough, she thinks. “Everyone will go through it at some point. But because this is for a good cause, it will be my drive are to continue.”
And under the motto ‘a better world starts with yourself’, no candy wrapper will be thrown into the sea during the race. Ilja: “All packaging is counted beforehand and afterwards, so nothing is allowed overboard.”
Next month, the special rowing boat will leave for the starting spot on La Gomera, where the race starts. You can donate via the team website.
The rowing team introduces itself:
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Training at sea, near IJmuiden:
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