Fundraising total over £12,000 in first week of Wick couple’s round-Britain bid
Allan Lipp and Mhairi Ross are off the Angus coastline, almost a week into their round-Britain rowing challenge – and their fundraising total has risen to well over £12,000.
On Friday afternoon the Wick couple were continuing down the east coast between Montrose and Arbroath on their seven-metre carbon-fibre vessel Boudicea.
Allan and Mhairi are aiming to become the first mixed pair to complete an unsupported circumnavigation of the British mainland by rowing boat.
Allan, the Wick RNLI lifeboat coxswain, and Mhairi, who works as a paramedic and is a lifeboat volunteer, expect to take about 60 days to complete The Long Row Home, covering around 2000 nautical miles.
They have set a target of £30,000, to be divided between the RNLI and Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance. The amount raised on their JustGiving page stood at £12,376 by Friday afternoon.
The pair began their adventure last Saturday when they were given a rousing send-off as they rowed out of Wick harbour.
On day four of the trip, after leaving Stonehaven, the rowers had a dolphin encounter.
They wrote in an update: “We departed Stonehaven at 13:00 and rowed as far as Bervie Bay. Though it’s a little over eight nautical miles, the wind slowed us down, and we didn’t arrive until 19:30.
“We both rowed another full shift, taking only short breaks for rest and snack before dropping anchor in Bervie Bay. Just as we set the anchor, a lone dolphin popped by.”
The round-Britain rowing bid means Allan will miss next weekend’s Wick RNLI Harbour Day, a major annual fundraising event for the local lifeboat team. It takes place on Saturday, June 15, from 1.30pm to 5pm.
The Wick lifeboat Roy Barker II and its counterpart from Longhope will be open to the public, while visiting yachts will add to the spectacle in the marina.
Wick RBLS Pipe Band will again be performing on the quayside during the afternoon and emergency services will be putting on displays. There will be live music, dancing, a barbecue, children’s games and competitions.
Members of the Wick lifeboat crew as well as the fundraising committee turn out in force to help with the running of the event.
Last year’s Wick RNLI Harbour Day raised £14,100.
The RNLI has 238 lifeboat stations around the UK and Ireland and is funded mainly by donations. It receives no government funding.
