Join the Libeco Front Row!

Join the Front Row!

Early 2021, three Belgian friends – a boatbuilder, an adventurer and an engineer – will cross the Atlantic Ocean by man power, in a row boat. We depart from Portimao (Portugal) to set course to Miami (US). Our great adventure will take us approximately 3 months and the boat will be our home during that long time. A Tiny house on a big ocean! However, the boat will be more than our home and means of transport, it will primarily become a “research pod” for several experiments.

Front Row BOAT LAB 1
Front Row BOAT LAB 2
Front Row BOAT LAB 3

Meet the Front Row team

Koen De Gezelle

Koen De Gezelle

Boat builder and captain
Koen is the Front Row captain. Koen has been into ocean rowing for almost 20 years and has all the experience needed for the upcoming row from Portugal to Miami.
He builds ocean rowboats for a living and is basically a professional tough guy. He lives on coffee and continues to work on his passion, even the day after his recent thumb surgery.
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Koen and Jelle have been rowing together for one month in Indonesia, on the way to Papua. They survived that, so hopefully they'll get along for another 3 months on this boat!
Jelle Veyt

Jelle Veyt

Adventurer and physiotherapist
Jelle, aka Captain pancake, is on a mission to climb the highest mountain on every continent and to get there human powered: his mission is called the Secutec Seven Summits. He's been on this project for more than 7 years, cycled and rowed for +40.000km and climbed 3 out of 7 summits so far (Elbrus, Everest, Carstensz Pyramid).
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As a Physio he'll be taking care of the physical and medical preparation for the Front Row. He earned his rowing experience by rowing from Java to Papua in 6 months (in a Whaleboat C23), where Koen mentored him in the first part.
There he learned that sea sickness will be his biggest challenge to cross the ocean!
Gijs Vanden Bogaerde

Gijs Vanden Bogaerde

Engineer and sailor
Gijs has been into sailing and rowing for almost 12 years, he has an engineering degree and works closely with Koen on the ocean rowboat.
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Gijs, aka Hands of destruction, has yet to figure out why he's joining. He loves being at sea and he doesn't want to miss this opportunity to cross the ocean. However it's mostly the FOMO driving him.

The Front Row in numbers

Track the team!

While the team makes their way across the Atlantic, you'll be able to follow progress here.

Front Row route: from Portugal to Miami

Support the team

The Front Row project wouldn’t be possible without the generous help of so many supporters, and you can be one of them. Don’t forget to leave a message for the team!

When you click the ‘donate’ button below this form, you will be taken to the chosen payment method interface. After payment you will be redirected to this page. Give the team a motivational shout in the message field!

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Message

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You can also support the Front Row project on Gofundme. Gofundme accepts only credit and debit card payments (and charges a higher commission fee). Click the button below to open the Gofundme project page.

If you are a business, and considering sponsorship for the project, please get in touch about options.

Main partner

We are proud to have Libeco as our main sponsor

Libeco logo

Supporting partners

Stay up to date, follow THE FRONT ROW

Follow the Front Row on Instagram @whaleboat_boatbuilding or #jointhefrontrow,
and on Facebook.

#jointhefrontrow

View

Jan 26

Open
Front Row on the front page We made it to the front page! Very happy to put ocean rowing in the picture, a positive note in between the daily numbers. Press coverage has been great so far, as we're getting closer to the start! --- Read about the ocean crossing on www.jointhefrontrow.be --- #frontpage #positivenews #news #gentenaar #9000 #negenduust #gent #instagent #jointhefrontrow #Libeco #frontrow #whaleboatO28 #whaleboatboatbuilding #roeiboot #roeien #rowing #ocean #oceancrossing #oceanrowing #belgium #fromportugaltomiami #adventure #koendegezelle #jelleveyt #gijsvandenbogaerde #atlanticocean #2021 #andreandleon

Front Row on the front page
We made it to the front page! Very happy to put ocean rowing in the picture, a positive note in between the daily numbers. Press coverage has been great so far, as we're getting closer to the start!

--- Read about the ocean crossing on www.jointhefrontrow.be ---

#frontpage #positivenews #news #gentenaar #9000 #negenduust #gent #instagent #jointhefrontrow #Libeco #frontrow #whaleboatO28 #whaleboatboatbuilding #roeiboot #roeien #rowing #ocean #oceancrossing #oceanrowing #belgium #fromportugaltomiami #adventure #koendegezelle #jelleveyt #gijsvandenbogaerde #atlanticocean #2021 #andreandleon ...

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Jan 25

Open
Meet Fritz Buyl, the Front Row weather router. In summer, Fritz eats a few weather charts for breakfast, heads to his daily job at the Oceanographic Meteorologic Station where he forecasts the weather, then goes on to send weather updates to professional competitors at sea, and before he goes to bed, he studies the latest Heavy weather sailing edition. In winter you can find him in Union Glacier Antarctica where he provides all forecasts for South Pole missions and adventurers alike. His daily briefings will guide us across the ocean following the optimal route. Based on weather system forecasts he will set the course, so we can benefit from wind and currents, and avoid depressions. Graphics by @andre_and_leon #weatherrouting #weatheratsea #weather #weatherforecast #routing #marine #optimalcourse #jointhefrontrow #Libeco #frontrow #whaleboatO28 #whaleboatboatbuilding #roeiboot #roeien #rowing #ocean #oceancrossing #oceanrowing #belgium #fromportugaltomiami #adventure #koendegezelle #jelleveyt #gijsvandenbogaerde #atlanticocean #2021 #andreandleon

Meet Fritz Buyl, the Front Row weather router. In summer, Fritz eats a few weather charts for breakfast, heads to his daily job at the Oceanographic Meteorologic Station where he forecasts the weather, then goes on to send weather updates to professional competitors at sea, and before he goes to bed, he studies the latest Heavy weather sailing edition. In winter you can find him in Union Glacier Antarctica where he provides all forecasts for South Pole missions and adventurers alike.
His daily briefings will guide us across the ocean following the optimal route. Based on weather system forecasts he will set the course, so we can benefit from wind and currents, and avoid depressions.

Graphics by @andre_and_leon

#weatherrouting #weatheratsea #weather #weatherforecast #routing #marine #optimalcourse #jointhefrontrow #Libeco #frontrow #whaleboatO28 #whaleboatboatbuilding #roeiboot #roeien #rowing #ocean #oceancrossing #oceanrowing #belgium #fromportugaltomiami #adventure #koendegezelle #jelleveyt #gijsvandenbogaerde #atlanticocean #2021 #andreandleon ...

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Jan 13

Open
Grafityp crosses the Atlantic Ocean with “JOIN THE FRONT ROW” Koen De Gezelle (boat builder and captain), Jelle Veyt (physiotherapist) and Gijs Vanden Bogaert (sailor and engineer) are three brave Flemish rowers, who will cross the Atlantic Ocean from Portugal (Portimao) to Miami… They want to do this in two and a half months. It was our Belgian distributor IGEPA from Aalter who informed us of this project. And this project was recently also launched by the Flemish television channel VTM. A very prestigious and adventurous project, which Grafityp was eager to join. All the more so, since the common thread in the story is “SUSTAINABILITY”. The boat itself is almost 10 meters long and is made of an environmentally friendly synthetic material and covered with solar panels to generate the electricity. Other environmentally friendly sources of energy are hydrogen fuel and rechargeable lithium batteries. Vegetable food will be grown on board during the voyage. All waste will be recycled and composted. Furthermore, there is no plastic packaging anywhere on the boat. And they get their drink from rainwater (collection) and a device that can distill seawater into drinkable water. The men will row in pairs, and they will alternate for a two-hour break. For this project, the printable film and the matching laminate of Grafityp were of course chosen. In order to protect the film against the aggressive seawater, the edges at the waterline were protected with a reflective film (which is mandatory at sea for small ships) and the other edges were sealed. A hellish job that Rudi en Johan managed to do in 3 days! We will follow this project via satellite and will certainly keep you informed of this adventure on a regular basis. Koen, Jelle and Gijs, we wish the best of luck and a lot of courage to complete this journey. #Grafityp #Grafiprint #jointhefrontrow #Koendegezelle #jelleveyt #gijsvandenbogaert #Atlantic #Rowing #Sustainability #Igepa

Grafityp crosses the Atlantic Ocean with “JOIN THE FRONT ROW”

Koen De Gezelle (boat builder and captain), Jelle Veyt (physiotherapist) and Gijs Vanden Bogaert (sailor and engineer) are three brave Flemish rowers, who will cross the Atlantic Ocean from Portugal (Portimao) to Miami… They want to do this in two and a half months. It was our Belgian distributor IGEPA from Aalter who informed us of this project. And this project was recently also launched by the Flemish television channel VTM. A very prestigious and adventurous project, which Grafityp was eager to join.

All the more so, since the common thread in the story is “SUSTAINABILITY”.

The boat itself is almost 10 meters long and is made of an environmentally friendly synthetic material and covered with solar panels to generate the electricity. Other environmentally friendly sources of energy are hydrogen fuel and rechargeable lithium batteries. Vegetable food will be grown on board during the voyage. All waste will be recycled and composted. Furthermore, there is no plastic packaging anywhere on the boat. And they get their drink from rainwater (collection) and a device that can distill seawater into drinkable water.

The men will row in pairs, and they will alternate for a two-hour break.

For this project, the printable film and the matching laminate of Grafityp were of course chosen. In order to protect the film against the aggressive seawater, the edges at the waterline were protected with a reflective film (which is mandatory at sea for small ships) and the other edges were sealed.

A hellish job that Rudi en Johan managed to do in 3 days!

We will follow this project via satellite and will certainly keep you informed of this adventure on a regular basis.

Koen, Jelle and Gijs, we wish the best of luck and a lot of courage to complete this journey.

#Grafityp #Grafiprint #jointhefrontrow #Koendegezelle #jelleveyt #gijsvandenbogaert #Atlantic #Rowing #Sustainability #Igepa ...