Dubai: In an indoor swimming pool in Dubai, three ships battle artificial rain and simulated waves as they prepare for an Arctic voyage to show the dangers of marine pollution.
Their quest takes the group from one extreme to another.
His home is the United Arab Emirates, which is famous for its scorching heat, especially in summer.
The destination is one of the world’s coldest regions – warming three times faster than the global average due to climate change.
For leader Toby Gregory, it was an opportunity to warn of the dangers of plastic litter in the world’s oceans, after a boat trip across the Atlantic Ocean in 2023.
The United Nations says that 85 percent of marine debris is made up of plastic.
Last year, Gregory founded the Plastic Pledge, which seeks to educate students about plastic disposal.
He added: “The greatest danger to our planet is that everyone believes that someone else will save them.”
The ‘Arctic Challenge’ will see Gregorini, 46, Andrew Saville, 39, from England, and Orlag Dempsey, 30, from Ireland embark on a 1,500km journey later this month.
Departing from Tromso in northern Norway, they will go to Longyearbyen, the capital of the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard.
They plan to row for about three weeks in an eight-meter (26-foot) UAE flag boat, with or without a sail.
In summer, when there is continuous sunlight in the polar region, they can use solar panels to maximize the effect of their electric navigation and communication equipment.
Co-authored with the United Nations Environment Clean Sea Initiative, this initiative will be the first three-person team to cover the Arctic Ocean with Dempsey.
Studying in Dubai forces them to be creative, and the summer heat drives them indoors.
In a recent session on Dynamic Advanced Training, which focuses on aviation, they try to ride a ship like a wave as artificial rain, thunder and lightning create storm-like conditions.
According to Saville, Arctic weather is “very difficult to reproduce”, with temperatures in Dubai currently exceeding 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees).
Mercury is expected to rise from zero to 10 degrees Celsius in the sea in the Arctic, said Sawill, so they hope to use climate-controlled space.
One option is the indoor spa where the temperature drops to minus 2 degrees Celsius (28.4 degrees Fahrenheit).
“Hopefully we can get in there and do a little bit of practice for a few hours. Just to give you a real feel for the cold weather,” Saville said.
Dempsey relied on his good Irish upbringing to see him through.
“I spent the first 20 years of my life in the cold,” he said.
“I think it’s just something we have to adapt to mentally and physically when we get there, and I don’t think it’s going to be a problem for any of us.”
Dubai rowers to brave Arctic to highlight plastics pollution
