<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[OCEAN WAYS]]></title><description><![CDATA[OCEAN WAYS]]></description><link>https://www.oceanways.org/blog</link><generator>RSS for Node</generator><lastBuildDate>Mon, 28 Sep 2026 10:31:37 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://www.oceanways.org/blog-feed.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><item><title><![CDATA[Why Marc Is Doing This Again]]></title><description><![CDATA[On Christmas Day 2024, alone in the middle of the Atlantic, Marc Germiquet cried. Not from despair. From relief. Fourteen days into a solo row across one of the toughest stretches of ocean on earth, he'd spent the whole day fighting wind and current just to nudge his boat above two knots — under four kilometres an hour. "I had these crazy, stupid tears running down my face. It was a relief. I was so happy I got over two knots. That was the hardest day of the trip." Forty-three days, seven...]]></description><link>https://www.oceanways.org/post/why-marc-is-doing-this-again</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a99d350a6d208e948707d4d</guid><pubDate>Fri, 18 Sep 2026 20:24:09 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a5c5cf_9bd752fe381b4670ba1b94f4ea4181b4~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Luke Victor</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Backbone Behind the Blades: Why Euro Steel Backs South African Paddling]]></title><description><![CDATA[Scroll through any South African canoeing or surfski results page — the Dusi, the Fish River, the Freedom Paddle, a Robben Island crossing — and there's a good chance Euro Steel's name is quietly behind it. Not as an occasional logo on a start banner, but as the primary corporate sponsor and backbone supporting the country's canoeing and surfski paddling community. Who is Euro Steel? Euro Steel is a proudly South African company supplying globally. Over the last 30 years, it's grown into one...]]></description><link>https://www.oceanways.org/post/the-backbone-behind-the-blades-why-euro-steel-backs-south-african-paddling</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6aacfd6aa365c011f9cf7395</guid><pubDate>Fri, 18 Sep 2026 09:08:09 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a5c5cf_059dc5640eca4ee88af89a203ac1692d~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Luke Victor</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Flag That Crossed an Ocean]]></title><description><![CDATA[Some souvenirs end up in a drawer. This one ended up in the National Museum. When Marc  rowed into Antigua after 43 days, 7 hours and 21 minutes alone at sea, a Botswana flag had been flying on Dan-Dan the entire way — through calm days, seven-metre waves, and the stretch where he had to dive underwater to fix a broken rudder. It's a small detail that turned out to matter a great deal more than most people would guess. A first for the flag, and for the country It's the first Botswana flag...]]></description><link>https://www.oceanways.org/post/the-flag-that-crossed-an-ocean</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6aac4611d351bc6bc5158220</guid><pubDate>Thu, 17 Sep 2026 20:08:06 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a5c5cf_acf6b10fee3b4300a0e87da86474d694~mv2.jpeg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Luke Victor</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Time He Got Rescued Mid-Training]]></title><description><![CDATA[Not every story about a future Atlantic solo rower needs to be about grit and endurance. Sometimes it's about knowing exactly when to ask for help — and having a good time once it arrives. In July 2024, months before his actual crossing, Marc took Dan-Dan out for a training row from Durban, heading toward Richards Bay and back. It was meant to be a straightforward out-and-back. It didn't stay that way. Faster than planned, and further than planned Marc made better time than expected on the...]]></description><link>https://www.oceanways.org/post/the-time-he-got-rescued-mid-training</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a9e9428d22484005499ec06</guid><pubDate>Mon, 07 Sep 2026 10:43:12 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a5c5cf_5605e9e47e9e4a029bd6ab9b49e6e1ab~mv2.jpeg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_810,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Luke Victor</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[The People Behind the Row]]></title><description><![CDATA[The World's Toughest Row is an unsupported crossing — no resupply, no physical assistance, no towing. Once Marc leaves La Gomera, whatever happens out there is entirely on him. But "unsupported" only describes what happens on the water. On land, Marc's 2024/25 crossing had a small team behind it, and they mattered just as much to how it went. Bronwen Schoenfeld — the lifeline on land Marc's partner, Bronwen, tracked his position throughout the crossing via satellite Garmin messages, and kept...]]></description><link>https://www.oceanways.org/post/the-people-behind-the-row</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a9e9347fb6ec7c0e4e52bfd</guid><pubDate>Mon, 07 Sep 2026 10:37:31 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a5c5cf_747b061bddab4bed9770343f761d245f~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Luke Victor</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[18 Hours a Day: How Does He Actually Rest?]]></title><description><![CDATA[It's the question everyone asks first: if you're rowing solo, unsupported, across the Atlantic — when do you sleep? The honest answer, from Marc's 2024/25 crossing, is: not much, and never for long. The routine Marc rowed an average of 18 hours a day. That left roughly one hour off the oars for food, water, and washing — and whatever was left for sleep. Rather than one solid block of rest, he slept in short bursts of around 40 minutes at a time, drifting in and out of deep sleep between...]]></description><link>https://www.oceanways.org/post/18-hours-a-day-how-does-he-actually-rest</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a9e92d308d59f138f9edb9f</guid><pubDate>Mon, 07 Sep 2026 10:34:37 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a5c5cf_f9bc4260ea3b415ea32205270a1177df~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Luke Victor</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Fueling the Row: What 98kg of Food Actually Looks Like]]></title><description><![CDATA[Rowing roughly 18 hours a day for six weeks burns through calories at a rate most people never experience. Marc's 2024/25 crossing needed serious fuel behind it — and getting that right, before he ever left shore, was as important as any training row. The numbers Marc carried 98kg of food for the crossing and burned between 6,000 and 8,000 calories a day. Even eating at that level, he still lost 6kg over the 43 days at sea — the physical demand simply outpaced what he could take in. The...]]></description><link>https://www.oceanways.org/post/fueling-the-row-what-98kg-of-food-actually-looks-like</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a9e90cd456d471f0df9e178</guid><pubDate>Mon, 07 Sep 2026 10:32:12 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a5c5cf_4f16187cf9b64323b54e24b5fc46e138~mv2.jpeg/v1/fit/w_907,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Luke Victor</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[From Botswana to the Atlantic: Why This Row Exists]]></title><description><![CDATA[Botswana is landlocked. There's no coastline, no ocean-rowing tradition, no obvious reason someone from there would end up alone in the Atlantic in a 7-metre carbon-and-solar-powered rowing boat. And yet that's exactly where Marc Germiquet — founder of Bush Ways Safaris and the Bush Ways Foundation — found himself in December 2024, and where he's headed again in December 2027. Why an ocean row, for a Botswana cause? The connection isn't really about geography. It's about what Marc believes...]]></description><link>https://www.oceanways.org/post/from-botswana-to-the-atlantic-why-this-row-exists</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a9e9060456d471f0df9e08a</guid><pubDate>Mon, 07 Sep 2026 10:24:06 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a5c5cf_baaf58125dcd4c519a7937be7582a35f~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Luke Victor</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[What Could Go Wrong? An Honest Look]]></title><description><![CDATA[It's tempting to talk about an Atlantic crossing purely in terms of achievement — the record, the finish line, the fundraising total. But Marc's first crossing in 2024/25 is a much more honest story than that, and it's worth telling straight: this is genuinely dangerous, physically brutal, and unpredictable, even for someone who's done it before. Here's what actually happened last time — not hypotheticals, but real incidents from a row Marc has already completed once. Capsizes and near-misses...]]></description><link>https://www.oceanways.org/post/what-could-go-wrong-an-honest-look</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a9e8f41456d471f0df9de1a</guid><pubDate>Mon, 07 Sep 2026 10:19:09 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a5c5cf_30207697b2d54cd7a2bc9ea89c203d7a~mv2.jpeg/v1/fit/w_810,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Luke Victor</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Four Days From the Finish, Something Broke]]></title><description><![CDATA[By the time Marc was four days from finishing his 2024/25 crossing, he'd already spent 39 days at sea. Rowing roughly 18 hours a day. Sleeping in 40-minute bursts. His body was worn down, his skin salt-damaged, and the finish line in Antigua was finally, genuinely close. That's when the rudder started acting up. "I felt like I didn't have proper control, like something had taken a bite out of my rudder." For a solo rower, unsupported and alone in open ocean, a compromised rudder isn't a minor...]]></description><link>https://www.oceanways.org/post/four-days-from-the-finish-something-broke</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a9e8e30fb6ec7c0e4e52085</guid><pubDate>Mon, 07 Sep 2026 10:17:26 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a5c5cf_ee566db1d23d40fc9651c1bb2e3e3bfe~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_810,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Luke Victor</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Meet Dan-Dan: The Boat ]]></title><description><![CDATA[Before Marc rows a single stroke of his 2027 crossing, there's a boat to introduce — and it's not just equipment. It's named after his father. Dan-Dan is named in memory of Dan Germiquet, a Swiss geologist who introduced a young Marc to the wild on field trips long before Bush Ways or Bush Ways Foundation existed. It's the same boat Marc rowed to a first-place solo finish in 2024/25, and the one he'll take back out to sea in December 2027. What she's built from Dan-Dan was built in Holland by...]]></description><link>https://www.oceanways.org/post/meet-dan-dan-the-boat-that-ll-carry-marc-across-the-atlantic</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6a9e6ce6d224840054999632</guid><pubDate>Mon, 07 Sep 2026 08:24:09 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a5c5cf_243692ba461b4a2ab635bb5c6a325f23~mv2.jpeg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_810,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Luke Victor</dc:creator></item></channel></rss>