Novice rower relishing 3,000km Norway quest to raise money for air ambulance service
Josh Halley, a diver based in Shetland, is part of four-man team rowing coast of Norway
“THIS will change their lives forever.”
A diver from Shetland is currently embarking on a four-man mission to row the entire coastline of Norway in a tiny 8m x 1.5m boat, all in aid of the UK Air Ambulance Service.
Josh Halley – described by his father Steve as an “adventurer” – came up with the idea to row the 3,000km Norwegian coast over two years ago, after being inspired by the endeavours of fellow explorer Glyn Sadler.
The pair hatched a plan to take on a challenge never done before, and with the expert help of two-time Olympic rower Martin Helseth and Danish enthusiast Anders Thormann they began traversing Norway’s coastline on 12 July.
The quartet have faced unforgiving currents, “Shetland weather” in the form of 40mph gusts and a snapped rudder on their already energy-sapping journey.
But Josh’s father Steve – who is with the team as their support on the ground – said team Nordic Endeavour are giving the challenge their absolute all every day.
“It’s been quite tough with the currents these past few days,” he told Shetland News on Thursday afternoon.
“They’ve been making slow progress – we’ve had Shetland weather, which was 40mph winds.
“They were just rowing for two hours and standing still.”
Steve said that the four rowers have split into two teams, and are taking two hours on, two hours off in their bid to eventually reach Oslo.
When a duo comes ashore, Steve said, they have to consume 1,500 calories just to prepare for their next stint at sea.
He said Josh had been inspired to take on the epic endeavour after hearing Sadler speak on a spear fishing podcast.
“The two of them got speaking and said, ‘we should do something, what could we do that’s different?’,” Steve said.
After landing on the idea of rowing the coast of Norway, he said it had taken them around two-and-a-half years just to get to this stage – with planning and sponsorship pushing it back.
Asked what experience Josh has in rowing, Steve laughed and said: “He’s done absolutely no rowing challenges – he rowed in the garage!”
An initial nine-hour practice session out on the water had left Josh’s body “in pieces”, his father said, adding he “couldn’t get his clothes off because he couldn’t reach the floor”.
What did he make of the idea of his son rowing 3,000km around the Norwegian coastline then?
“He rang me up and told me, and said, ‘dad, what do you think?’
“I was like, ‘whew, really?’ But I said I would always support whatever he wanted to do. We just had to keep it a secret from Mrs Halley for as long as we could.”
Josh chose to raise money for the Air Ambulances UK because he had seen first-hand just how vital their work was, Steve said – particularly in remote communities like Shetland.
“Josh has seen it up close what they might have to do for divers at work,” he said. “He has seen himself the positive side of the air ambulance service.
“When you see that the air ambulance service has been up to Shetland four times in a day recently, that’s exactly what we’re raising for.”
Despite raising money for a UK charity, Steve said it was incredible how much the people of Norway had taken the challenge and their campaign to their hearts.
“It’s a community like Shetland here,” he said.
“The boys damaged their rudder, and within 24 hours someone had come to help them fix it.
“Four or five days later the rudder snapped because of something they hadn’t noticed, and some old boy who was out that morning said to us, ‘come with me’.
“He gave us his workshop to use for two whole days.”
And their mission has extended beyond just rowing across Norway. While traversing the country, the team have also been using weather breaks as an opportunity clean up the seas and coastline by gathering rubbish.
Of the group themselves, Steve said their mental and physical fortitude has been incredible to witness up close.
“They have got four very different people, but collectively their power is enormous. Across the piece it’s quite a powerful team.
“I think they had some [difficult days] right at the beginning, and yesterday [Wednesday] just absolutely ruined them, they were fighting just to stay neutral.
“But they didn’t want to give any territory up, and they kept going.”
If any of the rowers are ever flagging, there are a number of reasons to keep going etched right in front of them.
Every person or business who has donated at least £250 to the team has their name stickered to the inside of the boat, which is “always in their eyeline”, Steve said.
“They can see that all the time,” he added.
“So if they’re mentally stuck or if they’re finding it tough, they just need to look at that.”
He believes the hard part of their mammoth Norwegian mission may not actually be the rowing.
“This will change their lives forever,” Steve said.
“Going back to their everyday job after this, that will actually be quite tough, I think.”
He thanked all of their Shetland sponsors for their support, which includes Ocean Kinetics, Aaron Pottinger, Art Machine, Scottish Sea Farms, Shetland Aerogenerators, Billy and Susan Mail, and Carol Colligan.
You can donate to the Nordic Endeavour fundraiser here.
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