In an astonishing display of grit and brotherhood, the Maclean brothers from Edinburgh—Ewan, Jamie, and Lachlan—have etched their names into the record books by completing the fastest unsupported, non-stop row of the entire Pacific. Battling the elements for 139 days straight, the trio journeyed more than 9,000 miles from Peru to Australia in their DIY wooden boat, simply named. Driven by their vow to raise £1 million for global clean water projects, the Scottish brothers have shown what true resolve and brotherly love can accomplish.
The Record-Breaking Journey
The Scottish brothers pushed off from Lima, Peru, on April 12, 2025, their original finish line set for Sydney, Australia, but storms forced an early detour to Cairns. After weeks of stormy seas, blistering sun, and sleepless nights, they glided into Cairns Marlin Marina on August 31, 2025, welcomed by more than 50 smiling family members and fans—including their proud mum, Sheila. Pipes rang out as the Scottish brothers sailed through a bright tunnel of waving Scottish, Australian, and Union Jack flags.
Their epic feat broke the 160-day record set in 2014 by Russian solo oarsman Fedor Konyukhov, crowning them the first duo to row the entire, 8,500-mile stretch from South America to Australia. The Scottish brothers’ boat, Rose Emily—named in memory of a sister lost at birth—was built for both blistering speed and triple-length endurance, the design masterminded with guidance from ocean-rowing pioneer Mark Slats.
Facing Every Fear
No day went according to plan. Storms erupted, rations dwindled, and a near-fatal moment nearly turned a dream into disaster. On a sleepless midnight shift, a rogue wave hurled Lachlan into the black ocean. “I had maybe two heartbeats to think. The next thing I knew, I was upside down, tangled in the safety lines,” he recalled. Ewan, spotting the white-water explosion, dove to the rescue, calling on muscles fuelled by adrenaline alone to yank his brother back to safety within seconds.
Extreme tiredness and blurring thoughts really tested their courage. Scottish brothers lived on skinned fish they caught and meals that needed just hot water. Near the trip’s end, Jamie said that they honestly panicked about their food—“running out” felt real. Their bodies took the strain, but they leaned on each other. “We’ve always been able to cut to the chase. Our open chats keep this boat moving,” Jamie pointed out.
Driven by More Than Fame
Chasing the clock is not the only reason the Scottish brothers paddled this route. They want their family’s Maclean Foundation to shine, hoping to gather £1 million for clean water in Madagascar. They’ve already pulled in £850,859, that’s $1.15 million. The dream is to give safe water to 40,000 folks in the Ambohimanarina centre, the place right now where just 14 out of every 100 people can sip safely.
The Scottish brothers’ mission to fix global water crises kicked off in 2020. After they smashed three world records on an Atlantic crossing, they figured, why not tackle Earth’s biggest water body next? Rowing the entire Pacific would shine an even brighter spotlight on the cause. No surprise, famous friends like Ewan McGregor, Mark Wahlberg, and Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers jumped in to back them, along with a few Scottish whisky distilleries who helped with the flags and the fuel.
The Joyful But Shaky Landing
When they finally stepped ashore, the brothers looked both triumphant and painfully wobbly, those “sea legs” making them sway like teenagers on their first date. Their very first radio call to the marina made the entire dock break into laughter: “Do you possibly have pizza and beer? I repeat, do you have pizza and beer? Over”. They swapped salt spray for shower spray and tucked into fresh margherita pies like champions who’d just won the right to dry socks.
Ewan, purely from the crew’s perspective, said the trip was “the hardest thing” he’d ever tried. “We’ve shed tears of joy and hurt from happy laughter. At other points, fear threw tears into the mix, but the cheers and texts from home always stoked our spirits back to life,” he said.
The Power of Brotherhood
From the very start the Scottish brothers stressed one simple truth: family came first. They believed that keeping the door to honest conversations wide open and standing shoulder to shoulder through the wildest storms helped them shine through even the blackest nights. This living, breathing bond turned a group of athletes into a living family and then into a page of living history before the adventure even finished.
Their past crossing of the Atlantic sure helped, sure, yet the Pacific beckoned with a scale nobody had untangled before. What these Scottish brothers just set behind them is now the measuring stick for ocean rowing and a loud extra lesson in how a shared goal and loyalty that never wavers can turn the impossible into an accomplished fact.
Looking Ahead
The Scottish brothers won’t stop now. Their real rowing goal has eyes on a fundraising target that is still glowing just out of reach. The tale of oars and salt is riding the wings of millions and proving, yet again, that grit and giving hand in hand can lift whole continents. To take them further along, anyone can send support through the Maclean Foundation.
What the Macleans just stitched into history stands as a marriage of grit, brotherly heart, and the way our personal peaks and valleys can become ladders for faraway help. Their Pacific row sits on the shelf next to the greatest feats of adventure that became philanthropy in the last ten years, already glowing in memory and still glowing in work.
Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/08/31/australia/scottish-brothers-pacific-ocean-australia-record-row
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