Married Devon doctors to spend Christmas day rowing across Atlantic for charity

Adam Baker and Charlie Fleury

Two married NHS doctors from Devon are to spend Christmas Day on the high seas as they race across the Atlantic to raise money for charity.

Adam Baker and Charlie Fleury - who both work in the A&E department at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital - are competing in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge.

They left their starting point in the Canary Islands 10 days ago and are not expected to reach Antigua for another month.

During the gruelling 40-day challenge, the pair - who are both 31 years old - will row 3,000 miles across the ocean north of Cape Verde in a 24ft boat while competing against 35 other crews.

The doctors swapping scrubs for oars in 'world's toughest race'
Thousands of NHS staff in the South West off sick

Their vessel, which is called Percy, is about a third the size of a red phone box and they will take it in turns to row it, swapping every two hours around the clock.

The longest the couple had rowed together before they set off was five days. Mr Baker, who has previously suffered from sea sickness, said it was his wife's idea to take part.

The A&E doctors said their work has prepared them for facing the pressures of navigating on the water, and that said they saw their position of being a husband and wife team as an "advantage".

Mr Baker said he was "looking forward to pushing through our perceived mental barriers and taking on the extremes of the ocean".

The pair hope to raise £100,000 for the Devon Air Ambulance, the RD&E charity, which supports the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust, the RNLI and Mind.

The row from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean is describe as one of the hardest in the world.

They also hope to use their experience to help research how ultra-endurance sporting events affect men and women differently.

The trip was delayed for a year because of their commitments during the Covid pandemic.

Ms Fleury said: "It has been incredibly hard to keep momentum going despite being so mentally fatigued with work pressures, but what good practice to prepare for this ultra-endurance challenge."

Under team name Emergensea Duo, they will attempt to break the mixed pairs record for the crossing, deemed to be the "world's toughest row".

Husband and wife team Helena and Richard Smalman-Smith made a crossing to Barbados in 2012 in just over 75 days.