Let’s Talk Money
The cost of rowing an ocean
Boat • Learning • Money • Personal • Team • The Race • Training
Taking part in the World’s Toughest Row is not cheap. And as always with this blog, I’m not pulling punches… I’m laying things out the way they truly are.
Because we’re dealing with primarily European organizations, a lot of these fees had to be converted to dollars. Many of the costs are estimates (or maybe better to say educated guesses based on research/my travel experience) but still have a lot of variables that could factor in and change them.
Buckle up.
Shared team costs
These are the expenses that exist regardless of whether you’re a solo rower or a team. One bill, split between however many of you there are.
Race entry fee for a pair — €22,500 / $25,732
Loose equipment (satellite comms, personal locator beacons, etc.) — $3,000 est.
Shipping the boat, round trip — £12,650 / $16,895
Insurance — $1,000 (complete guess)
Boat training in the UK — £4,000 / $5,342 est.
Team total: ~$52,000
Per-person costs
These are the expenses each rower pays individually.
Race registration — €1,000 / $1,143
Food ($35/day × 60 days) — $2,100 est.
Mandatory courses — £650 / $868
Travel & accommodation, start line (10–15 days) — $4,000 est.
Travel & accommodation, finish line (3–4 days) — $2,500 est.
Travel & accommodation, boat training in the UK (5-6 trips) — $5,000 est.
Fitness coaching (£175/month × 19 months) — £3,325 / $4,440
Per-person total: ~$20,000
And then, believe it or not, that number doesn’t include the single biggest line item:
The boat.
There are three options: renting (called “chartering” in the UK), buying new, or buying used. Specifics on those are coming in a different post. But for now, assume we go the least complicated route and rent. Cost for that: £30,000 / $40,068.
So the overall estimated total: team costs (~$52K) + individual costs for two rowers (~$40K) + the boat (~$40K):
$132,000
How we attempt to raise that kind of money is also a different post. But whatever we don’t raise, we have to be prepared to pay ourselves.