Two Cathay Pacific pilots will launch an attempt today to become the first to cross the South China Sea in a rowing boat.
Stu Pryke and John Graham plan to board their 7-metre vessel at Subic Bay in the Philippines at noon and set off on the first leg of a 1,000km voyage to Hong Kong.
In an Airbus A330, the crossing is an easy 90-minute hop that the 51-year-old flying instructors make weekly on practice flights from Hong Kong to Manila for trainee pilots.
But with four oars and their own elbow grease as the only means of propulsion, they expect the voyage through treacherous winds and currents to take up to four weeks.
'I have a certain degree of trepidation about the first stage of the trip,' Mr Graham said.
'A little boat in 3 to 5-metre waves is not a pretty sight and we will almost certainly have to deal with some injuries.
'But my main fear at the moment is the first three days because everyone has terrible seasickness. The typhoon season has also come early and if there is a typhoon, we just have to sit it out. The waves can get up to 10 metres.'