‘Like a zombie’: Aurimas Mockus and his gruelling quest to row from San Diego to Brisbane – mostly naked

Lithuanian rower Aurimus Mockus, one month into journey to Brisbane across the Pacific Ocean Photograph: Aurimus Mockus

In his first three days at sea, Aurimas Mockus says, he got only five hours of sleep. His body ached and his hands were covered with wounds and blisters.

But alone in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, facing up to eight months of rowing, pain quickly turned to “nothing”, the Lithuanian said in a media release.