It's been a hectic few days for John after touching down in the USA.

He's holed-up at a base on Long Island, where experienced Atlantic rower and boat designer Roy Findlay has been putting him through his paces.

A fellow Scot, Roy is based at Shelter Island.

And in addition to tweaking the boat for a solo voyage, Roy's input is proving vital in terms of harnessing technology to enhance the prospects of a record time.

John revealed: "Roy has been putting me through emergency drills in thr water, sometimes in the pitch dark and in the wee sma' hours! He's warned me they will continue until my reactions are instinctive. Hopefully this won't be called upon but it underlines the professionalism involved."

While the Shepherd Purple Heart Ocean Row will officially start at Cap Cod in mid-June when a weather window opens up, John will take to the water from Long Island, giving him an opportunity to make last-minute adjustments.

John took part in the tough as nails Vango ultra marathon in Jura and Islay looking for a robust challenge in the countdown to his Atlantic row. In that sense it didn’t disappoint.

But he was forced to pull out after two days and return to Perth to have his new artificial limb tweaked by the medical team at Ninewells Hospital.

John did head back to the islands only to discover the west coast weather has presented experienced organisers with a serious challenge of their own.

He explained:

'I travelled back for running repairs at Ninewells. I returned to Islay planning to take part in the 20 km final day but when I got there I discovered the ultra had ended earlier than planned. Some competitors had suffered from hypothermia. That’s the Scottish summer for you!

It’s a great but totally brutal race. Competitors had come from far and wide, including the USA and Australia.

It was a bit disappointing not making the full six days but with all that's yet to come, it would have been foolish and caused permanent damage if I’d battled on.

But the plan was to give my mind and soul a bit of a beasting before the big one and it did just that!'

Joining John on the Vango Ultra was Commando Joe colleague Rick Gannon and his performance was impressive, taking second place overall.

Perhaps that wasn’t surprising given that he holds the record for completing the Gobi Challenge and the second fastest time for the Scottish Ultra.

The Guildry Incorporation of Perth has agreed to come on board as one of our sponsors. The historic Perth organisation, which can trace its roots back over 800 years, was keen to support an inspirational local adventurer aiming to re-write the record books and raise the profile of the British Ex-Servicemen's Association, which operates a residential home in Perthshire.

A Guildry spokesman said: 'John's solo row attempt has captured the imagination and we wish him well with his journey. Our donation will defray some of the costs involved in securing the latest high-tech equipment to facilitate his record bid.'

The donation follows hard on the heels of a £1000 contribution courtesy of the Dundee Sportsman's Dinner. The cheque was presented by John McCarle of dinner sponsors Fat Sam's nightclub.

He remarked: 'We felt John's record bid was worthy of support from the Tayside business community.'