DRAKE PASSAGE

Dec. 30, 2019

In a first, six rowers from four countries on December 25 crossed the Drake Passage, in just under two weeks after pushing off from the southern tip of South America. The project was dubbed “The Impossible Row.”

About:

  • The Drake Passage is located between Cape Horn at the tip of South America and the Antarctic Peninsula. The passage is named after Sir Francis Drake, who was the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe.

  • It is also the narrowest stretch in the Southern Ocean and spans approximately 800 km between the southern tip of South America and the northern tip of the West Antarctic Peninsula.

  • It is considered one of the roughest waterways in the world because here, layers of cold seawater from the south and warm seawater from the north collide to form powerful eddies.

Do you know?

  • The six men rowed for 12 days, 1 hour and 45 minutes, making it the first completely human-powered crossing of the passage, which was confirmed by the Guinness World Records (GWR).

  • As per the GWR, the row represents, among other firsts, the first row on the Southern Ocean, the first row across the Drake Passage and the first row to the Antarctic continent.