Explore Mick Dawson’s Writings

Rowing the Pacific: 7,000 Miles from Japan to San Francisco

Storms, fatigue, equipment failure, intense hunger, and lack of water are just a few of the challenges that ocean rower Mick Dawson endured whilst attempting to complete one of the World Last Great Firsts

In this nail biting true story of man versus nature, former Royal Marine commando Dawson, a Guinness World Record – holder for ocean-rowing and high-seas adventurer takes on the Atlantic and ultimately the North Pacific.

It took Dawson three attempts and a back-breaking voyage of over six months to finally cross the mighty North Pacific for the first time. Dawson and his rowing partner Chris Martin spent 189 days, 10 hours and 55 minutes rowing around the clock, facing the destruction of their small boat and near-certain death every mile of the way, before finally reaching the iconic span of San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge.

Dawson thrilling account of his epic adventure details how he and Chris propelled their fragile craft, stroke by stroke for thousands of miles across some of the most dangerous expanses of ocean, overcoming failure, personal tragedy and everything that nature could throw at him along the way.

Never Leave a Man Behind: Around the Falklands and Rowing across the Pacific

The stories of two veterans – one traumatised, one blind – who rediscover themselves with the help of a friend in the course of two epic ocean adventures, kayaking around the Falklands and rowing across the Pacific.

Mick Dawson tells the story of kayaking around the Falkland Islands with friend and fellow Royal Marines veteran Steve Grenham, who was struggling to cope with the effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and the extraordinary tale of his 2,500-mile voyage in a rowing boat with his friend and former Royal Marine Commando Steve ‘Sparky’ Sparkes, who was not only a rowing novice, but also blind.

Sparky and Mick succeeded in rowing across the finish line after a truly epic voyage of over 2,500 miles from Monterey Bay in California to Waikiki, Hawaii. They’d hoped to break the record for a two-man rowboat and finish in less than fifty-five days, but a hurricane interfered with their plans. It took them eighty-two days, sixteen hours and fifty-four minutes to complete the race, but it was an even greater achievement for that, and Sparky became the first visually impaired person to row across the Pacific.

The race with Sparky was the second expedition of an organisation Mick had set up a few years earlier, The Cockleshell Endeavour, designed to help another former Royal Marine and friend, Steve Grenham, by kayaking with him around the Falklands, where both former commandos served during the 1982 conflict with Argentina.

Conquérir les océans à la rame (French Edition)

Il aura fallu à Mick Dawson trois tentatives et un voyage de plus de six mois pour réussir l’un des derniers exploits de l’extrême que personne n’avait réussi jusque là. 189 jours, 10 heures et 55 minutes avant d’arriver enfin sous les arches emblématiques du Golden Gate Bridge de San Francisco.

Garder le cap au cœur de la tempête, éviter les collisions avec de monstrueux navires marchand,s remettre à flot la petite embarcation qui s’est retournée, la faim, la soif, la fatigue… Les défis à relever pour réussir la traversée à la rame de l’Atlantique et du Pacifique ont été immenses.

Un voyage hallucinant, une aventure épique où l’équipage défie la mort à chaque instant. Et au bout de l’océan après ces milliers de kilomètres, il y a une révélation : le voyage, au-delà de l’exploit sportif, est d’abord un apprentissage intérieur et une aventure humaine à la découverte de soi.

Aventures sur les océans du monde.