Naturist mum rows naked to prepare for 3,000-mile trek across the Atlantic
MUJM Julie Paillin rows in the buff as she prepares for a gruelling Atlantic trek.
The naturist, 39, from Nottingham, aims to complete the 3,000-mile Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge as part of the race’s first mixed-sex crew.
The three women and a fella will raise cash to boost NHS workers’ mental health.
To build up her fitness, she is taking solo trips to a secluded river behind her home and practising her stroke.
But the plucky businesswoman, from Nottingham, has been giving passers-by an eyeful – after opting to train nude.
She said: “Being on the water is so natural to me, having lived on a canal boat for the first half of my life.
“I am a strong believer that if you want to do something enough there are no barriers to making it happen.
“Rowing across the Atlantic is pretty much all I have thought about for the past 18 months.”
Julie will have to row without a cox to guide her when she faces waves of up to 40ft on the Atlantic. But she will be joined by a man and two women, who together hope to row a 28ft boat from the Canary Islands to Antigua.
They are grandmum-of-three Gemma Best, 40, civil servant Amy Wood, 26, and salesman Mark Sealey, 56.
And they want to give any cash raised to Duty to Care, a group that supports the mental health of NHS workers.
The amateur rowers are believed to be the first mixed team to ever complete the massive race.
They will row two hours on and two hours off in December – working 24 hours a day for roughly 45 days.
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Gordon Ritchie, who manages the team, said that salt water can become abrasive wearing a rowing suit.
He said: “But the reason Julie does it is she is a naturalist. She doesn’t bat an eyelid about getting her kit off.
“When you’re on a 28ft rowing boat they’ll all have to at some point. There is a cabin at the front, the size of two kitchen units.”
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