Dave Bell rowed from Peru to Kenya and did not set foot on land for 327 days

On Friday 2 October, a carbon-fibre rowing boat called Billy No Mates came ashore at Kilifi, on the Kenyan coast north of Mombasa. Dave Bell, 54, climbed out and stood on land for the first time since he had left Lima, Peru, on 9 November 2025.

“I’ve not stepped off that boat since the ninth of November. This is the first time I’ve touched land.” — Dave Bell, quoted by Citizen Digital and The Standard

Bell, known as “Dinger”, served 20 years in the Royal Marines and lives in Bere Regis, Dorset. He rowed alone, with no support boat and no chance to take on food or water, across the Pacific, through the Coral Sea and the Torres Strait, round the top of Australia and across the Indian Ocean. Kenyan reports put the distance at more than 15,000 nautical miles, about 28,000km (17,000 miles). He was at sea for 327 days.

Two oceans, one boat

The row was not a straight dash. Bell stopped rowing for about eight weeks in the South Pacific because he was going too fast: pressing on would have brought him into the Coral Sea during cyclone season. When he did get there, a knockdown flooded the boat, damaged his electrics and left him with salt sores. He lost two oars. Two oceanic whitetip sharks followed him for weeks.

He slept three to four hours a day, made his drinking water with a desalination machine and lived on dried food. He landed with about 20 days of food left.

In early October, with under 900 nautical miles to go, he told The Scotsman that the start had been the hardest part.

“The first few weeks were terrible and I really struggled with the pointlessness of it all.” — Dave Bell, to The Scotsman

His answer to the long run of breakages was simple. When something broke, he said, you either repair it or work out how to manage without it. Much of the time was quieter than that. He told reporters in Kilifi that he rowed in silence for large parts of the day, enjoying the ocean, and that the solitude was a mixture of calm and quiet.

This was not his first ocean. In 2021 he rowed solo and unsupported from New York to Newlyn in Cornwall, which took 119 days. This time he raised more than £110,000 for Rock2Recovery, a charity that supports serving and former members of the Armed Forces, emergency service workers and their families.

Before he landed, The Scotsman reported that a finish would make him the first person to row solo, non-stop and unsupported across two oceans from South America to Africa, and would beat the existing ocean-rowing distance record. None of the reports we read said whether a records body has yet confirmed either.

Why this matters

Very few people will row an ocean. Far more can row, and it is one of the few sports you can learn on a machine in a gym and then take onto a river, a lake or the sea.

The NHS (the UK health service) suggests adults do at least 150 minutes of moderate activity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity a week, plus strengthening activities that work all the major muscle groups on at least two days. A steady session on a rowing machine is an easy way to count towards the first. British Rowing describes the sport as one “for all ages and abilities”, rowed indoors, on rivers or on the sea, and its Go Row finder lists beginner courses at local clubs. In the US, USRowing says its member clubs run learn-to-row, masters, indoor and coastal programmes, and many open their doors on National Learn to Row Day in June.

How to start

• Learn the stroke before the speed. A club beginner course or a gym instructor will teach the order of the stroke (legs, then body, then arms) and save you a sore back.
• Go long and easy first. Most of your rowing should be at a pace where you can talk. Bell’s lesson was patience: he stopped for eight weeks rather than arrive at the wrong time.
• Expect things to go wrong. A blister, a missed week, a strap that breaks. Fix it or work round it, and carry on.
• Check with a GP (family doctor) first if you are new to hard exercise or have a heart, back or joint problem.

For two more long journeys, read how Karl Bushby walked home from Chile and how Joanne Currie and Sue Smith raced across the Atlantic.