DUBAI // "In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue" - but one can only wonder what the explorer would have thought about six women following his route in a rowboat.
The women plan to row a 7-metre boat 4,700 kilometres to Barbados from the Canary Islands in the Woodvale Challenge.
By midnight last night Katie Pattison-Hart, 31, of Dubai, and one of her teammates, Debbie Beadle, 30, were to have rowed in a dry run for 24 hours.
Each had planned to row in two-hour intervals on a rowing machine at the Mina Seyahi rowing club as part of the preparations for their voyage in December.
The distance covered would be 240km, a mere drop in the ocean that lies ahead of them.
The six who make up the Row for Freedom team are taking part to raise awareness for the End Child Prostitution, Pornography and Trafficking campaign, and Ms Beadle came over from the UK for the event.
For Ms Pattison-Hart the adventure of a lifetime started after a chance meeting on a Palm Jumeirah beach in February.
She was at a barbecue and met Julia Immonen, who was in Dubai on holiday. They talked about endurance racing and the annual row across the Atlantic was raised.
Ms Immonen, the team leader, said there was room for a sixth member on the boat, and after watching videos of the event online Ms Pattison-Hart jumped at the chance.
The women met for coffee the following morning, where Ms Immonen, a Finn, laid out the scenario: Ms Pattison-Hart would be using a bucket as a toilet, sleeping for two hours at a time and eating army rations.
She would have blisters everywhere and it was not going to be a comfortable 35 to 45-day voyage.
"I said, 'Yes, that is what I want to do'," Ms Pattison-Hart said.
The next phase was getting into shape and gaining sponsorship.
Ms Pattison-Hart has increased her strength training workouts to four times a week. She does two sessions daily on the rowing machine, cycles once a week and goes to the gym or runs every other day.
To add to the challenge, only two of the six crew have ever rowed and the team got into a boat together for the first time only two months ago.
For Ms Pattison-Hart, it was not a good experience.
"When you pick up a new sport, like running, you put one foot in front of the other," she said.
"To play tennis, you've more than likely hit a ball at some point in your life.
"Rowing is the most bizarre. You can't relate it to anything. I got off the boat thinking I got some serious work to do."
The most difficult part was getting the synchronisation.
"Even holding the oar was difficult," Ms Pattison-Hart said. "As soon as I got one arm up the balance on the boat was awful."
She has enlisted the help of Tim Park from the Mina Seyahi rowing club. He sits with her in the gym and corrects her technique on the rowing machine. They also row on the water every weekend.
Ms Beadle, who works for the charity that will benefit from the £1 million (Dh5.9m) they hope to raise, said they were rowing into the unknown.
Only 250 people have taken part in the Woodvale Challenge, where boats of all sizes compete and there is a 33 per cent failure rate. There have been three deaths and Ms Beadle said capsizing was inevitable.
"Most people prepare for two years," she said. "We're doing it in just under a year. It's been really hectic to get sponsorship."
The six have local sponsorship from Dubai Duty Free, Gems Education and FSI Worldwide, which has an office in Dubai.
"We spoke with a few people who have done it and it keeps getting worse," Ms Pattison-Hart said. "People's experiences are different.
"Physically we can be as ready as we can be, but mentally, I don't think we can ever prepare ourselves for that."
Next month the women will train with Adventure Hub, a company that helps athletes train for extreme events.
They will be coached by former military personnel who have rowed across the Atlantic.
They will also learn how to navigate the ocean and take a survival course.
But before they take to the sea on December 4, they must be careful not to lose too much weight. They expect to burn up to 7,000 calories a day.