Tom’s quest to row across the Pacific Ocean.

We suggest sitting down to read this one! Tom Robinson is currently rowing across the Pacific Ocean, in a bid to become the youngest person to ever do so. His boat, Maiwar, is a 24ft ocean rowing boat which he built himself. Very similar to a whaleboat. Read more about Tom’s quest to row across the Pacific Ocean below.

What were you doing in your late teens/early twenties? Saving for a house, studying at university, backpacking across Europe? Well for Tom Robinson the story is very, very unique. He is embarking on a journey to become to youngest person ever to row across the Pacific Ocean. Starting from Peru to Australia, across 8,000 nautical miles.

At that age, 12 months at sea for most, would seem completely unimaginable, intolerable. But for Tom, the thought fed his passion to explore the world in a very different way.

He has been rowing since he was a kid, starting out in a little dinghy, like most sailors and navigators have done. He gained an apprenticeship at boatyard in Brisbane. And from the beginning, he knew he wanted to build himself a rowing boat and take off across the Pacific Ocean.

The boat:

Tom built himself a wooden boat, styled off a traditional whaleboat, with a cabin put on to hold some of the very few comforts he required to row across oceans. It had to be wooden. That was essential to the experience for Tom. Watch this video below to see what Tom’s working with!

The journey:

Peru to Australia, 8,000 nautical miles, solo. Madness for most people. But for Tom, who at the age of 14 rowed 130kms by himself from Brisbane to the Gold Coast, the ambition to cross the Pacific Ocean was exciting and totally possible in his eyes.

Tom’s boat Maiwar, landed at the Peruvian Yacht Club back in June 2022, loaded with books to keep Tom company on the adventure. The vessel was stocked full of oatmeal, milk powder, a lot of dehydrated meals and just 350 litres of water. We can’t imagine the thought and effort that went into planning food and water for about 150 consecutive days at sea, let alone what would be nutritionally best for a growing young man to sustain the energy to row every day, Day after day.

Tom left La Punta on July 2nd 2022, serenaded by a Peruvian Navy brass band and of course, accompanied by an enthusiastic fleet of other boaters. With an average speed of 1.17 knots and minimal communication, the tracker has been the most reliable measure of Tom’s progress.

See Tom’s progress here on the tracker.

We also suggest reading back through his blog, as we can’t possibly sum his journey up so far in this article!

Fast forward to today, as we write this, September 13th 2023, just over a year on, Tom’s journey continues. But now he can see the light at the end of the tunnel (or should we say ocean), as he’s well and truly over half way back to Australia.

Tom has just reached Vanuatu, and of course the locals are greeting him with the best of hospitalities. Read his latest blog update here. We are very excited to follow Tom’s quest to row across the Pacific Ocean.

Want to read more Pacific Ocean stories? Click here.