World's Toughest Row

A remarkable English family, one of whose members took his life, are endeavouring to make suicide less of a taboo subject by rowing 3,000 miles across the Atlantic. The Ash family -- mother Charlotte, daughter Camilla and her siblings Henry and James -- had no experience of rowing whatsoever until this summer but are now preparing to take part in the "World's Toughest Row".

The 50 to 60 backbreaking days that lie ahead once they set off from the Canary Islands for Antigua in December next year will be challenging, but nothing compared to what they experienced on September 19, 2023. That was the day Charlotte's husband Robert, the children's father, took his life.

"Bring suicide more into a conversation"

"It's not about flying flares, it's never been about a personal endeavour," Henry, 32, told AFP. "It's about the charity, raising awareness and trying to bring suicide more into a conversation where people feel that they are able to talk about it."

Henry had always wanted to row an ocean. In the most tragic of circumstances the seed grew, and he decided to repay Suicide & Co for their help. When asked if he had thought about doing the row with anyone else, he said: "Because of the reason why I'm doing it, I wouldn't want to do it with anyone other than my family." His 63-year-old mother Charlotte decided to join because "it would be worse having my three children at sea and not being with them than it would be to go with them."