Ex-Royal Marine from Dorset completes Pacific and Indian Ocean row

In 2021, Bell rowed across the Atlantic, from New York to Newlyn, Cornwall, and vowed never to do anything like it again.

But advances in technology, such as lighter boats, improved solar panels and autopilot systems made him curious about what else he could achieve.

He said he had avoided “clockwatching” by listening to podcasts and audiobooks, as well as by sending and receiving voicenotes.

In one, sent to BBC Radio Solent and recorded in the Indian Ocean, he said he had embarked on the challenge due to an “overwhelming sense of curiosity”, adding: “The idea struck me it might be achievable and I couldn’t let that go.”

Bell’s record-breaking journey took him in a westerly direction across the Pacific, the Coral Sea, Great Barrier Reef, Torres Straight and the north coast of Australia, before crossing the Indian Ocean.