Man who learned to row at 49 to cross the Atlantic is preparing for an even more extreme adventure
A CARDIFF-BORN man who rowed solo across the Atlantic in 2023 is preparing for his next adventure – sailing non-stop around the world.
But despite his experience in ocean rowing, Sam Glover, from Roath, has never sailed before.
Sam Glover, 50, has signed up for the Global Solo Challenge 2027, an extreme endurance test in which he will single-handedly sail 27,000 miles around the globe.
“I might be the least experienced in this challenge, but I’m driven by my connection to the sea and the adventure that awaits,” said Sam.
Sam’s last adventure, in 2023, took him 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean, from the Canary Islands to Antigua, as part of the World’s Toughest Row Competition.
He won the race against 40 other rowers after 42 days having endured hallucinations, injuries and waves as big as 20ft.
His new challenge, the GSC, will take him 27,000 miles around the world, navigating the three continents of the Southern Ocean, Africa, Australia and South America in about 140 days.
Unlike the rowing challenge, Sam will have to sail non-stop and navigate himself.
Sam told an audience at Llandaff Rowing club on February 7 that while attending Bishop of Llandaff School, he passed the rowing club every day on the bus but had never even stepped in a rowing boat before 2023.
“I think if I had found rowing when I was younger, I would have loved to pursue it, but I found it when I was 49,” he said.
Sam was convinced to take on the rowing challenge by his friend when neither of them had any rowing experience.
“I just had a real burning need to do it, I was always taught to set my mind to something and just do it,” he said.
With just under a year to train, Sam went into the challenge as a duo but his friend Jake pulled out three weeks before the start date, leaving Sam to re-qualify for the solo race.
One and a half months before the start date in the Canary Islands, Sam scraped through the minimum qualifying hours with just five hours to go.
On December 12, 2023, Sam was waved off by his parents and daughter, who had made two paper flowers to decorate his multi-coloured, smiley-faced boat, which he named Lucy.
“I had no concept of what I was getting into, I had only ever been on a boat in Penarth or Barry at that point,” he said.
“The waves would pick me up and throw me back down, my feet were up in the air and as the wave came over, my feet went up with it. It was the best thing I’ve ever experienced in my life; I loved it. And I thought, I think I can do this,” he added.
On his journey, Sam was estimated to have made one million strokes, whilst dealing with three broken navigation systems, two broken phones, and a less than recommended amount of packaged food.
Battling through, Sam says he found his peace through mantra meditation music.
“Going out there, music was the most important thing to me, all my friends sent me their playlists, but the only album that downloaded out in the ocean was a mantra yoga playlist,” he said.
“After a while of listening to it, I don’t know why or how, but at one point my senses even picked up when the wind was going to change,” he said.
“I became so connected to it, I felt every bit of wind, every wave; I had tuned myself into this incredible natural place,” he added.
“I had a new level of ambition and hunger after that challenge. I was on fire, I just wanted to do more stuff,” said Sam.
“Having just been through my solo experience, it saw the sailing challenge as just another level, it’s the journey that draws me in,” he added.
Now, he just has to learn to sail from scratch -controlling an ocean-racing boat, navigation and how to handle harsh weathers in a boat that could reach speeds of up to 26 knots – the equivalent of 40mph on land.
“It’s completely different and technically it is so much more challenging. It’s incredibly extreme,” he said.
Sam will be one of 100 people from all over Britain setting off from Spain in October 2027. Only two Welsh men have done it before.
