ONBOARD Magazine spring 2024

The sense of adventure lies in what
happens between the start and end
of an expedition rather than the
actual beginning and conclusion.
Hansen, a 61-year-old endurance paddler, and
Agnew, were already acquainted, with the
former wishing the latter luck in his efforts
to row across the Atlantic. Unfortunately,
he was unsuccessful on two occasions; yet
the Northwest Passage was something
different and, arguably, something even
bigger.
Initial conversations were had, and a plan
put down on paper, with Agnew deciding to
focus his attentions on individual training
in Blighty. The 32-year-old told ONBOARD:
“I didn’t have the funding to meet them
before the voyage, so I went to a guy called
Jeff Allen in Cornwall who was invaluable in
helping practising my transition to kayaking
from rowing. He put me on a surfing beach
with big breaking waves and said if I could
stay upright in these conditions, I could
do it in any!
“Also, the difference between rowing and
kayaking is distinct. In a rowing boat, you’re
rowing backwards and a lot of the power
is helped by your legs. In kayaking, though
you are still using your legs it’s a very
different technique. An ocean rowing boat
is like a mini-yacht with a mast, it’s big
and stable, with two cabins, an anchor,
but with a kayak, you have to know what
you’re doing to stay upright. There were
certainly risks involved from both sides,” he
continues, “as I was betting on us getting
along. Of course, they were betting on the
same but also that I was good at kayaking,
as well! They knew that I was particularly
resilient in extreme conditions, so that
was a bonus.
“I am so very grateful to West and the
team for allowing me to prove myself, for
being patient with me and for being amazing
throughout. We got along from the word
go - we all made it work and I’m so thankful
for that.”
Around 2017, not long after leaving
university, Agnew was already eyeing up
his ambitious voyage rowing the Atlantic
Ocean and seeking sponsorship, reaching
out to newspapers to cover his pursuit.
Although many of the efforts of adventurers
are seen as superhuman, Agnew explains
that deep down they’re not too dissimilar to
everyday people going about their everyday
lives. It is this irresistible truth that inspired
him to follow his own ventures into the
unknown while documenting the feats of
others as a journalist.
He says, “After I left university, I moved
out to Hong Kong and got something of
a dream job as the Outdoor and Extreme
Sports Editor of the South China Morning
Post. However, it was this position that
supercharged me to do these kinds of
things myself. “In interviewing these people,
I realised that they weren’t professional
athletes. They were lawyers and teachers,
they’re mothers, fathers, husbands, wives
and had what we would deem to be ‘normal
jobs.’ They’re also record-setting Ultrarunners
and all of these sorts of things.
“I found that the path towards doing these
things wasn’t just about the immediate
weeks and months before but accumulating
everything over a period of years. I was
already halfway on this path and it encouraged
me to do them more seriously.”
Back to the challenge and Agnew, along with
the Arctic Cowboys, found themselves faced
with not just all manner of treacherous
conditions, but wildlife’s unpredictability too –
notably in the form of several confrontations
with polar bears.
Agnew laughs apprehensively, recalling:
“What would surprise me – as well as
scare me – polar bears would be walking
along the shore and we would be coming up
behind them, obviously just on our journey.
We didn’t want to spook them by just
appearing, we wanted to make ourselves
known. “However, this one occasion one
looked over its shoulders and ran ahead.
70 | SPRING 2024 | ONBOARD