He survived three hurricanes, a shark attack and lightning storms, and was the first rower to conquer Spain’s notorious Bay of Cadiz, collecting a Guinness world record for being the first to row from mainland Spain to the West Indies in the process.

And, following months of planning, training and fine-tuning, Leven is off again, this time tasked with breaking three world records in three years on each of the planet’s major oceans Atlantic, Pacific and Indian, with an aim of raising £1million or more for several charitable causes.

Having had a keenness for adventure all his life – rowing, sailing, walking, bushcraft and survival are all passions – for the last three years the former Selkirk and Earlston High School pupil has dedicated his life to the ocean.

And last Saturday, he and a 14-strong crew set off in one of the world’s fastest rowboats to race an American team across the Atlantic, looking to break the current record as they go.

The two boats involved are of very different design and this race will ultimately determine which is the fastest. The race has to be completed in less than 35 days, eight hours and 30 minutes, which is the record held by a French crew rowing the La Mondiale in 1992. Several attempts have been made to beat this record, but none yet have achieved this.

The British and Irish team, led by Leven, who also heads up Ocean Rowing Events, hopes to achieve the rowing speed record across the Atlantic in 33 days.

They will crew the same French craft that for 15 years has held the record. Last year, La Mondiale was obtained by Leven and her current British/Irish crew and has undergone an extensive refit in returning her to racing condition.

Trying their best to scupper those plans will be Roy Finlay and Denis Richardson, who put their jobs and lives on hold last March to disappear daily into a cluttered garage on the Shetland Islands to hammer, saw and paint what they call a revolutionary ocean racing boat.

Their creation is named ORCA (for Ocean Rowing Challenges America) and uses the latest – and oldest – technology, a multihull design based on an ancient Polynesian concept.

Designed by Finlay, its builder and skipper, and Jim Antrim, a Californian, ORCA was shipped to the Canary Islands for the unique trans-Atlantic race toward Barbados against the much larger monohull La Mondiale.

The boats have no motors or sails and are powered only by rowing.

A ‘life on the ocean wave’ will indeed become reality for the respective captains and crews of these two boats.

Extreme courage and tenacity will be required of each one of them, not to mention the ability to work as a team and tolerate each other within the restricting confines of an ocean rowboat.

Blistered hands and salt sores will be an everyday part of the long and hard test of endurance in order to achieve their goal.