Rockfisher II - World's Toughest Row
Nick Fisher
In 2019 a partnership deal was set up between Mitch, and Nick Fisher. Nick was the perfect partner to undertake this immense project with, having built a career in fish himself. Nick had been a fishing broadcaster in the 90s for his own hugely popular Channel 4 show Screaming Reels, he’d presented a fishing radio show Dirty Tackle for Five Live, he’d been a regular contributor to various national magazines and newspapers on the subject of fish and fishing and had written weighty books on the subject too. Nick Fisher loved fish!
Then in 2022 tragic news hit our partnership in the face like a cold and salty harbour wave. It had been like any other Monday in November Nick had travelled from his home in West Dorset to discuss future plans for the Rockfisher. He seemed totally himself. Nick was a hugger, and so at the end of the meeting we hugged him goodbye like we always did, little did we know that this hug would be our last.
Nick drove home, collecting his daughter from school in East Devon. Dropping her back, he announced he was going out to walk the dog. Instead, Nick drove to a hotel in Dorchester, 10 miles from his home, and proceeded to take his own life through an overdose on prescription opioids.
Shockwaves erupted as a result of Nick’s decision. For us at Rockfish, for Nick’s family and for those who loved and knew him. Celebrities like Piers Morgan, Russel T Davies, and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, who’d all worked with Nick throughout his varied career, went online to express their heartbreak. Meanwhile, lengthy obituaries appeared in newspapers like The Times, Telegraph, and The Guardian.
There is never a good time to take one’s own life. The mess it leaves is colossal. Along with so many of Nick’s interests’ management of the Rockfisher partnership fell into the hands of his family. One such was his son Rex, who had worked previously aboard the Rockfisher as a crew. In every storm cloud there is a silver lining, Rex has become very close with us all here at Rockfish.
And today we are excited (and a little nervous) to announce that Rex is embarking on a different journey, he’s undertaking a 3000-mile voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in a rowing boat.
Rex's Voyage
Temporarily stepping away from managing the Rockfish fishing boat, Rex is embarking on a gruelling five-week challenge that will test the very limits of his physical and mental strength attempting to cross the world’s second-largest ocean purely by manpower.
Rex is taking part in an event dubbed The World’s Toughest Row. The race starts in La Gomera in the Canary Islands and ends in Antigua in the Caribbean. There are no stops on route. While he is tracked, he and the three others on his boat are unassisted. From start to finish they will have no outside support. Just them on an ocean over 5 miles deep!
Comforts are limited: dried food, some flapjacks and a shared bucket for a toilet. Each team member will have to consume over 5000 calories each per day, and even then, they’ll be expected to lose around 10 kg throughout the crossing.
The team of four will be rowing in relentless three-hour shift cycles (three hours sleeping, and three hours rowing) non-stop, for 24 hours per day all the way until reaching Antigua on the other side. Their bodies will be pushed to their limits as they face salt sores, sleep deprivation, 20ft high waves and even marlin attacking the boat.
Rex is doing all this to raise funds for charity Tackling Minds, a remarkable organisation that offers those struggling with mental health, addiction, and disabilities the opportunity to find peace through fishing — whether on a riverbank or out on a boat.
For Nick, fishing was a source of tranquillity, an escape from the pressures of the real world, allowing him to let go of his troubles, even if only for a few hours.