Former professional rugby player and Galway adventurer Damian Browne and his lifelong friend and fellow rugby player Fergus Farrell are attempting to set a new Guinness world record in an unsupported row across the Atlantic in two years’ time.

It won’t be a currach, but it will be in a craft which they have to steer themselves. Browne has done this before, having rowed solo across the Atlantic and has also climbed five of the world’s seven highest summits. Farrell has had his own tough taste of endurance, having learned to walk again - and then walking across the country - after a serious workplace accident two years ago.

As regular Afloat readers will recall, the two men rowed a currach from the Aran island of Inis Oírr to Galway city in September to highlight their bid to cross the Atlantic in 2022.

Lorna Siggins spoke to them both for Wavelengths, the podcast of news and views from the Irish coast for Afloat below.

#ROWING: Battleborn, skippered by Irishman Philip Cavanagh, has landed in Hawaii, completing the Great Pacific Race from Monterey in California in 45 days, seven hours and 24 minutes. The crew of Cavanagh, Britons Barry Hayes and Darren Taylor and Australian Dan Kierath were the second home in the race. Their boat, Patience, flew the Irish flag. They arrived in the early hours of the morning, Irish time. Among those waiting on shore were Philip’s parents, Carmel and Michael Cavanagh.

#OCEAN ROWING: Battleborn, the crew skippered by Irishman Philip Cavanagh and carrying the Irish flag, has been disputing the lead in the Great Pacific rowing race. The crew lay second this morning to Uniting Nations in the race from Monterey in California to Hawaii which is in its seventh day. Battleborn has covered more miles than Uniting Nations but has been heading south of the direct line. According to the organziers Battleborn reported that they may look like they’re going off course “but there will be a strategy … avoiding the rough stuff and catching the handy trade winds.”

Cavanagh’s crew is completed by a Welshman, Barry Hayes, an Englishman, Darren Taylor, and an Australian, Dan Kierath.

#ROWING – The crew of the Sara G, including Irishman Aodhan Kelly, have been picked up at sea after a capsize. The shore-based team said the six-man crew were safe and well on board the cargo ship Nord Taipei. The crew had been attempting to break the world record for rowing the Atlantic Ocean.

The Daily Edge reports on an Irishman who has announced plans to be the youngest man to row across the Indian Ocean - naked.

Keith Whelan, 30, intends to row the 6,000km route from Australia to Mauritius completely naked in an effort to raise money for anti-Aids charity Keep A Child Alive.

The event management consultant is taking the task completely seriously, having already trained for 18 months in preparation for the arduous task.

Whelan will be rowing in a 23-foot boat fitted with a radio, GPS, a satellite phone and computer equipment that will let him blog and tweet from the middle of the ocean.

If he completes the journey, Whelan would be the first Irishman to complete the Indian Ocean route solo - let alone in the nude.

The Daily Edge has more on the story HERE.

The Sara G, with Irishmen Rob Byrne and Adam Burke making up a third of the crew, set a new world record today by becoming the fastest boat in the history of ocean rowing.

They rowed the long route across the Atlantic from Morocco to Barbados in 33 days 21 hours and 46 minutes, setting the fastest average speed for the crossing. Less than a day before, Hallin Marine had set a record for rowing the Atlantic east-west of 31 days 23 hours and 31 minutes, but they had crossed from the Canaries to Barbados, a shorter journey.

The Ocean Rowing Society, which is the record keeper for ocean rowing, is set to grant the Sara G the Ocean Rowing Blue Riband trophy for their row.

The crew was Matt Craughwell and Dr Graham Carlin from England, Byrne and Burke from Ireland, Thomas Cremona of Malta and Fiann Paul from
Iceland.

Listen in to a podcast from Barbados with Rob Byrne and Irish Times Rowing Correspondent Liam Gorman.

The Sara G and her crew are less than 1,000 miles from Barbados in their attempt to break the world record for the fastest Alantic crossing by an ocean rowing boat.

As previously reported by Afloat.ie, the six-man crew - featuring Irishmen Adam Langton Burke and Rob Byrne - set out from Morocco on 5 January.

And there is already some cause for celebration, as perfect conditions along the route so far have helped the team break another record - that of 10 consecutive days of more than 100 rowed each day.

Click HERE to track the crew's live progress across the Altantic.