Leven Brown (born 14 August 1972) is a British Ocean Rower who has held five

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

. He along with his crew Don Lennox,

Livar Nysted Livar Nysted (born 27 September 1970) is an ocean rower and an artist, a painter. He grew up in the small village of Hvannasund in the Faroe Islands. Nysted has achieved five world records in ocean rowing. In 2010 he – together with three othe ...

and

Ray Carroll Ray Carroll (born 1977) is an Irish people, Irish Rowing (sport), rower. A native of Salthill, Galway, Carroll was part of a four-man crew that set a new record for trans-Atlantic rowing in August 2010. His crewmates were skipper Leven Sinclair ...

also held the world record for "longest distance rowed in 24h in an ocean rowing boat" at 118 miles, is the first and thus far only in the sport ever to have held North and '

Trade Winds The trade winds or easterlies are the permanent east-to-west prevailing winds that flow in the Earth's equatorial region. The trade winds blow mainly from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and from the southeast in the Southern Hemisp ...

' (Mid

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

) speed records simultaneously and to hold two speed records over two separate oceans ( North Atlantic and

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...

) Brown was brought up on a landlocked farm in his native Scottish Borders but was introduced to the ocean at an early age where he discovered

ocean rowing Ocean rowing is the sport of rowing across oceans. Some ocean rowing boats can hold as many as fourteen rowers; however, the most common ocean rowboats are designed for singles, doubles, and fours. The history of ocean rowing is divided into two ...

. After a career with Brewin Dolphin Securities that spanned 17 years he did his first Ocean Row in 2005.

2005 First Expedition 'The Columbus Run' Cadiz - Tobago

On the first expedition Brown set off solo on 14 August 2005 on a journey. He spent a total of 123 days at sea and covered 4278 miles. There were four named storms on Brown's first voyage: Vince, Delta, Epsilon and Zeta. 2005 was the busiest hurricane season on record. Brown supported 'The Sportsman's Charity' and the Edinburgh 'One City Trust' on this voyage. Brown received a Guinness world record for being the first person to row from mainland Spain to the West Indies.

2007/8 Mid Atlantic - Gran Canaria - Barbados Expedition - speed record

2007/8 - Brown's second voyage was as skipper with a 14-man crew on a 50 ft ocean rowing boat called ''La Mondiale''. He and his crew rowed 3000 miles from Gran Canaria to Barbados in 33 days 7 hours 30 minutes beating the record of that time. Several charities were represented by the crew. The previous record was set by a French team in 1992 of 35 days 8 hours 30 minutes in the same boat.

2009 Mid Atlantic - Gran Canaria - Barbados Expedition - speed record attempt

2009 - The third voyage in La Mondiale was cut short by the irreparable damage to the rudder after a collision with an unknown submerged object. The 14 crew were evacuated safely onto a passing ship ''Island Ranger'' but the boat was lost presumed sunk some 1000 miles from the Canary Islands. Several charities were represented by the crew.

2010 North Atlantic USA, New York - Isles of Scilly, UK Expedition - speed record

2010 - The North Atlantic, Brown's fourth voyage. As skipper he picked his crew, all of which he had rowed oceans with before, Don Lennox (Scotland),

(

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

(Ireland). They were attempting to beat the long-standing North Atlantic speed record set in 1896 by Norwegians Frank Samuelsen and George Harbo which had stood at 55 days 7 hours for some 114 years. Their boat ''Artemis Investments'' left

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

on 17 June 2010 and arrived in St Mary's on 31 July 2010 in a time of 43 days 21 hours 26 minutes and 48 seconds. Which remains the record to date for the North Atlantic. During their voyage they were capsized twice in storms.

2013 Mid Atlantic Gran Canaria - Barbados Expedition - speed record attempt - maiden voyage ''Avalon''

2013 - The Trade Winds Route, Puerto Mogan, Gran Canaria to Port St Charles, Barbados, 3000 miles. Leven Brown skippered his new ocean rowing racing boat ''Avalon'', with a crew of eight. He set the fastest team time that year narrowly beating rival boat ''Titan''. Brown's time was 35 days 12 hours 41 minutes. Several charities were represented by the crew.

2014 Geraldton, Australia - Seychelles, Africa Expedition - speed record - Indian Ocean

2014 - The Indian Ocean - 4579 Miles Rowed From Geraldton, Australia to Victoria, Mahe, Seychelles. Crew of seven. Brown's first mixed crew. Set two more world records - Speed record across the Indian Ocean 57 days 10 hours 58 minutes - with an average speed of 2.65 knots. Brown's original intention was to go for Durban, South Africa however early in the voyage a set of three storms knocked them too far north to make this landfall. They then changed course to head for Mombasa in Kenya but owing to rising terrorism the

British Foreign and Commonwealth Office The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' ministries of foreign affairs, it was created on 2 September 2020 through the merger of the Foreig ...

recommended no travel to

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

. They then changed course and landed on the

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, ...

. Brown had to evacuate Dr Shane Usher due to him being severely burned by boiling water mid ocean reducing the crew down to six. A critical steering cable broke on ''Avalon'' which forced the crew to manually steer the boat which reduced the rowing deck down to two rowers per shift - half what it is meant to be. On the way into the Seychelles they had an incident with a suspected pirate vessel. Brown bluffed that they were in fact a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

'Q' boat and that they were rendezvousing with their frigate in 30 minutes. The suspected pirate vessel then fled. This was called his ' Captain Phillips' moment. Brown supported Save the Elephants as a charity.

2015 Mid Atlantic Gran Canaria - Barbados Expedition - speed record attempt - boat ''Avalon''

2015 - The Trade Winds Route, Puerto Mogan,

Gran Canaria Gran Canaria (, ; ), also Grand Canary Island, is the third-largest and second-most-populous island of the Canary Islands, an archipelago off the Atlantic coast of Northwest Africa which is part of Spain. the island had a population of that ...

to Port St Charles,

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate) ...

, 3000 miles. Leven Brown Skippered Ocean Rowing racing boat ''Avalon'' again, with a crew of eight. Six men and two women including Thato Mabelane who became the first African woman to row an ocean. It was the most international crew Brown had Skippered containing five nationalities including South Africa, Brazilian, Irish, English, and Scots. The crossing was marred by steering failure again within the first 24 hours but they managed to manually steer for the entire course. The boat's rudder was attacked by a

great white shark The great white shark (''Carcharodon carcharias''), also known as the white shark, white pointer, or simply great white, is a species of large Lamniformes, mackerel shark which can be found in the coastal surface waters of all the major ocean ...

estimated to be 4 – 5 m in length. There was little damage. The Voyage took 43days 12hours 55 mins. In the final approach the ''Avalon'' was blown out to sea by gale force winds 2 miles from Port St Charles, Barbados and was towed into calmer waters to finish. The crew rowed circa 3250 miles. Leven Brown became only the second man in history to cross two different oceans in a rowing boat within a year - the first being his great friend, fellow rower and teammate

- Brown did the Indian Ocean In June 2014 and the Atlantic in January 2015. Brown again supported the ' Save the Elephants' charity.

Other information

Brown is a fully qualified RYA/MCA

yachtmaster A Yachtmaster qualification is a certificate of competence of the ability to handle either a sailing boat or motor boat (as endorsed) in certain prescribed conditions. Three different titles are specified; Yachtmaster Coastal (previously - and in ...

and runs his own expedition and rowing services company as well as undertaking yacht deliveries throughout the world. Leven was nominated for the National Geographic Adventurer Awards and was nominated for a Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Award as well as being awarded the Freedom of the City of Edinburgh for his achievements. - Yorkshire Post Newspaper
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Leven Sinclair 1972 births Living people Sportspeople from the Scottish Borders Ocean rowers Scottish male rowers