Inspirational adventurer turns down promotion to row the Atlantic, asking ‘what would I rather look back on?’
- Based in Hong Kong with his career extending before him, Ewan Bell does not have to think too long when choosing between adventure and security
Ewan Bell was having an unconventional conversation with his boss when he was faced with a life-changing decision he did not expect. Bell was telling his employer he would need a few months off to row the Atlantic, as you do, when the boss said “well, we were about to offer you a promotion in Singapore”.
Bell, who was based in Hong Kong at the time, did not think twice: “I would rather look back and say I've rowed an ocean than say I've worked this job in Singapore.
“In all honesty, it was instant. I said ‘I've committed to this and this is what I want to do’ on the phone call, I didn't even have to think about it,” he said.
He packed his bags, and left his life in Hong Kong behind, convinced it would be easier to organise the adventure from the UK. Fortunately, his employer, advertising agency dentsu X, understood. They move him internally back home and even sponsored the adventure.
Bell is part of a four-man team set on rowing from the Canary Islands to Antigua, 4,828km, unsupported, as part of the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge in team Atlantic Ambition. They will need to row in shifts – two hours on, two hours off – all day and night for more than a month. They will make their own water with a desalination machine and prepare dried food packs. In his team of schoolmates – Ed Wilson, James Protherough and Jon Merotra – Wilson is the only one who had rowed before.