Quartet will spend Christmas 2024 at sea – on a 3,000-mile row across the Atlantic

If all goes according to plan, Jon Wilburn, Steve Potter and Jason Howard, with long-term friend Dan Dicker, will be almost two weeks out into the Atlantic, competing against some 40 other crews in the World's Toughest Row.With a year to the departure date, December 12 next year, Jon and Steve displayed the 28-foot canoe-shaped, self-righting ocean rowing boat Saltie to fellow Dell Quay SC members - plus the complex array of equipment and stores they will be slotting into every available space.

And they revealed the formidable statistics of the enterprise: they will row 3,000 miles from the Canary Islands to Antigua, and have to pull on their oars 1.5 million times to complete the route.More than 50 club members turned up, to look at the boat - which, under previous ownership, has already crossed the Atlantic twice - and to hear how Jon and Steve got involved, the challenges they face and the comprehensive safety arrangements. Some even went on a trial row.A unique aspect of the team's effort is revealed in its name, Lessons from a Boat. Both Jon and Steve are teachers - Jon at Springfield, Portsmouth, and Steve recently retired as head of Westbourne Primary.

Conditions permitting, they will be streaming live interactive lessons en route, to schools locally and nationally, maybe even globally. Among topics they will cover are geography, weather, human impact and the scientific work they'll be undertaking, which includes a sampling project linked with Plymouth University to locate and log plastic pollution in the Atlantic."We want to reach out to primary and secondary school children in a really meaningful way," Steve emphasised.The World's Toughest Row has its origins in the 1966 Atlantic crossing by Sir Chay Blyth and John Ridgway, which inspired Sir Chay, three decades later, to organise the first race, and it has continued since, under different names and organisers.Sponsorship is essential to the success of the Lessons from a Boat team. The costs are formidable, but the team are also keen to support charities close to their hearts, including Diabetes UK. Anyone who can help should contact [email protected] or [email protected].To return to the arrangements for Christmas 2024 aboard Saltie... In the display at Dell Quay, alongside the electronic navigation gear, heavy duty batteries, medical-grade foam mattresses, first aid kits, all-weather clothing and more, was the team's essential food - principally thousands of packets of concentrated dehydrated meals.

The Christmas dinner menu? Reindeer stew, rehydrated with desalinated water, "with a tipple of brandy and a little Christmas cake", said Jon.The calorie-rich cake is more than an indulgence. They will need a stock of 1.1 million calories on board to keep them going during the 40-plus days of rowing.The training programme is well under way, with lots of gym sessions and a good start to the 120 logged hours of rowing required before they are allowed on the start line."We're certainly not among the first do do this," said Jon. "But a lot fewer people have crossed the Atlantic in a rowing boat than have climbed Everest."