Maltese Steve Chetcuti Set To Row Atlantic Solo

Maltese rower Steve Chetcuti will take on this year’s World’s Toughest Row alone, joining 42 other teams in a gruelling 3,000-mile (4,800km) Atlantic Ocean crossing.

Competitors face waves up to five metres high, sleep deprivation, hallucinations, pains, and sores while rowing up to 16 hours a day.

As a solo participant, Chetcuti, racing under the team name Cross Rower, will manage navigation, boat maintenance, weather checks, personal hygiene, food preparation, health, and rowing entirely on his own. The journey can take up to 85 days depending on conditions.

Chetcuti, 55, who previously rowed the Atlantic as part of a five-person team in 2021, aims to be the first Maltese to complete an unsupported solo ocean crossing.

His boat, Kamila, is self-righting, allowing him to survive a capsize. He plans to jump into the sea four to five times to clean barnacles from the hull, which slow the boat.

The race starts from La Gomera and ends in Antigua on 11 December 2025, with a staggered start for all participants. While solo at sea, Chetcuti will receive guidance and moral support from a small land-based team and daily contact from race organisers.

He is rowing to raise awareness about loneliness, which affects up to one in two people in Malta. He is also supporting the musical theatre group Margarita.

Updates on his progress can be followed via his Instagram account, the World’s Toughest Row website, the YB Races app, or his GoFundMe page.

#MaltaDaily