Home News Madcap Northsider sets sail to hold Amazon kids

Madcap Northsider sets sail to hold Amazon kids

Tuesday, 30 June 2009

ACHIEVING the impossible is something Northsider Robert Dowling has become accustomed to. The dedicated charity fundraiser’s inconceivable feats include sailing down the Amazon river in a bath tub and breaking a world record for sailing non-stop for 24 hours. The daring and adventurous Finglas native will take to the waters again next week in aid of his newly found charity for sick and impoverished children living on the banks of the Amazon river. This year’s whacky challenge is closer to home, as the father-of-two will take to the water at Broadmeadow Estuary in Malahide on Saturday, July 4. He will attempt to break a record by sailing non-stop for two days and nights along the estuary. Robert is hoping to enter the Guinness Book of Records by sailing solo for 48 hours in his 30-year-old 14-foot dinghy. And he’s not expecting it to be all plain sailing. “This boat isn’t the kind that you can just sit back and put your feet up in,” Robert told Northside People. “It will be tough, a real test of my endurance because I have to stay awake. “Usually, two people would do this and take shifts with sleeping but I figured if I could do the 24 hours solo, it wouldn’t be that much of a stretch to do 48 hours.” Robert, who will turn 51 while on the water, will confine his boat to the estuary over the two days. “I hope to raise over e10,000 for the charity that I set up just a few months ago,” he said. “Through the Children Of The Amazon River (COTAR) charity, I hope to be able to help those who cannot afford the medical treatment they need to survive. “I met so many people and children on my journey down the Amazon and I just wanted to do something, anything I could to help make a difference to their lives.” Three years ago, Robert journeyed through Peru on his bath tub adventure. “When I was about 20-years-old I was in a pub with some friends and we wrote a list of the things we’d like to do in our lifetime,” he stated. “I closed my eyes and thought of sailing down the Amazon in a bath. “Decades later, when I feeling a little sorry for myself after my separation from my ex-wife, I thought what the heck, I’ll go sail the Amazon. “I got through Peru when I ran into a Brazilian gun boat that thought I was a drug smuggler. I tried to continue but they more or less told me they had a bullet with my name on it. “I had to stop then; I abandoned the bath and backpacked the rest of the way. “It was only when I went back to the jungle a year later to find the bath that I had the most life-changing encounter with a little girl called Jazmin.” The young Peruvian girl was paralysed and suffering with a life-threatening illness. “I don’t know what it was about her that made me just so compelled to do anything I could to help and save her,” Robert recalled. “She was getting worse and worse and no one knew what it was she was suffering from. “When I came back to Ireland, I focused on raising as much money as I could to send over to her. “I raised enough to send her to a hospital for treatment and she’s doing much better. “I think the whole situation just got me thinking about how I can make my fundraising go further,” added Robert. • Those who wish to donate or learn more about COTAR, can visit a marquee which will be in place on the Malahide bank of the Broadmeadow estuary from July 3-5. Also, Robert can be contacted on 085-7253566.