Olly Hicks

Oliver "Olly" Hicks (born 3 December 1981)[1] is a British ocean rower, kayaker, explorer and inspirational speaker.

[3] Hicks is a member of the exclusive Cordon Rouge Club, made up of some of the world's greatest explorers he is also a longstanding supporter of The Duke of Edinburgh's Award.

This was made into a documentary, called Virgin Row after its sponsors; it won first prize in the Moscow Film Festival, adventure category.

[8][9] A film of this project was produced by Hicks and director George Olver, titled Tenacity on the Tasman, which was screened at the Odeon Leicester Square in 2009.

Hicks has sailed extensively in the Southern Ocean, often working aboard the expedition yacht Pelagic Australis which regularly visits Cape Horn, the Antarctic peninsula, the Falklands and South Georgia.

[18] Hicks and Bullard were recovered by an Icelandic fishing boat warning them of an impending hurricane on their way across the ‘Devils Dancefloor’ to the Faroes.

After waiting for good weather on the Faroes for three weeks the paddlers had to take refuge on the remote Scottish Island of North Rona where they were stranded by a storm and forced to live off the land.