Jamie Sparks (born 11 January 1992), is a British ocean rower and adventurer. On 27 January 2014 he, alongside fellow Briton Luke Birch, became the Guinness world record holders for the youngest pair to row across any ocean.^[1] In 2014, Sparks skippered the first ever unsupported row from Exmouth, Australia to the Seychelles.^[2] Sparks and his crew, consisting of Angus Collins, Hamish Khayat and Alex Simpson, were at sea for 71 days.^[2]

Early life

He was born in London and attended Arnold House School in St John's Wood, Harrow School, and the University of Bristol where he received a BA in Archaeology & Anthropology.

Atlantic Ocean Row

In December 2013, under the team name 2 Boys in a Boat, Jamie and his rowing partner Luke Birch set out from La Gomera in the Canary Islands to Antigua in the Caribbean. The pair rowed the 3000 miles in 2 hours on and 2 hours off shifts, all day and night.^[3] The crossing took them 54 days and they raised over £300,000 for Breast Cancer Care, a record total for the charity.^[4] Prior to the row, the crew had been on 5,000 calorie a day diets in order to gain muscle mass for the crossing.^[5]

Indian Ocean Row

In July 2014, under the team Fast Row West, Sparks captained a crew of four on the first ever unsupported row from Exmouth, Australia to the Seychelles.^[2] The team became the fastest four-man crew to cross the Indian Ocean and the youngest four-man crew to cross any ocean.^[6] The intended destination had originally been the island of Mauritius however, massive equipment failure and extreme weather conditions led to the crew having to detour to the Seychelles.^[6]

References