Inspirational champion rower from Barbados ready for his greatest challenge

Philip Als joins the British team attempting to row in Arctic conditions across the Northwest passage

CHALLENGE: Philip Als

BARBADIAN PHILIP ALS will be part of the first exhibition in history to row the Northwest passage. Throughout his career, Philip has represented Barbados in windsurfing and coached the Barbados windsurfing team for the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

In 2003, Philip rowed into the history books with Randal Valdez by becoming the first Barbadian rowing duo to successfully cross the Atlantic. The 3,000-mile row took 43 days, 14 hours, and 17 minutes.

Now, the inspirational Barbadian is set to take on his greatest challenge yet as he joins the British team attempting to row in Arctic conditions across the Northwest passage.

Philip sat down with The Voice to talk about his journey and the upcoming expedition.

MC: Your story is such a powerful one, how did it all begin?

I grew up in a humble neighbourhood in St. Michael in Barbados which was close to the ocean. When I was about four years old, I was so afraid of water, but as I grew older, I grew to understand the water, especially the ocean and its movements and currents and that’s something that was embedded in me.

The camaraderie is important. Living on board with another person, it’s like a marriage, you have to be able to talk to one another

I used to do a bit of surfing, spear fish and a lot of swimming, but rowing was always a passion of mine. Using Mother Nature to get from point A to point B was always something that fascinated me, so I followed my dream of dealing with water and rowing boats.

Talk to me about your fascinating experience in 2003

The first challenge was getting to the start line, getting sponsorship. There’s a lot of things you have to overcome when you get into a project like this, all the negativity you have to get past.

We built the boat in Barbados, and we had to ship it all the way to Canary Islands, so there was a lot of logistics. Athletes and runners, they have managers, sponsors, clothing, shoes, nutritionists, they have everything. We have to look after ourselves, we do everything ourselves. We are hands on, and we know every heartbeat of the boat.

Once we started, we had to know what tides would take us backwards and what would help us get forward, so we had to know where to be at what time and there’s a lot of preparation that goes into that.

We had problems, issues with our battery and then we had a monsoon for another week and a half, so we weren’t getting any charge from the solar panels and the batteries were kind of depleted. We persevered and, in the end, we made it.

The camaraderie, is important, living on board with another person, it’s like a marriage, you have to be able to talk to one another.

Your upcoming row, is this your toughest challenge yet?

I’m going totally out of my element. We’re dealing with severe adverse conditions. Where I am from, the coolest days are 26/27 degrees, where I’m going, it could be as cold as minus 40 degrees, so it’s a whole different element of weather conditions.

It shows people from my island that the sky’s the limit, you can get involved in other things

Then the adverse wildlife, polar bears, and stuff that you have to look out for, and different types of sea life in that neck of the woods. Global warming affects the food, and we will be on top of the food chain. So, we have to really pay attention there.

How’s the preparation been?

The preparation has been about three years, we did a lot of training. Some ocean trials, gym work and then also practice sleep deprivation. That’s one of the hardest things, you sleep for two hours and row for two hours 24 hours a day non-stop. That rotation is the hardest part.

I think the adaptability portion of the preparation, that’s very important, because you don’t know what’s going to happen. You don’t know what situation is going to present itself, Mother Nature could be pleasant, or could throw us a curveball.

What was your inspiration behind getting involved with this project?

It shows people from my island that the sky’s the limit, you can get involved in other things. You don’t have to be in one zone, your comfort zone, you have to be able to adapt in this changing world.

Also, this passage is only available because of the ice melting due to global warming, that’s why we’re trying to take on exploring this area to see if it’s possible.

We have a window of opportunity, a two and a half to three-month period, before it freezes over again.

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