Tom Mailhot, who participated in the 2001 Atlantic Rowing Race and set a new US record by doing it, will be the guest lecturer at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute tonight.

Mr. Mailhot has a penchant for pursuing the outer limits of possibility and after playing hockey for two decades, he started sea kayaking in 1991 and began winning races two weeks later.

Since then, he has won the Blackburn Challenge four times and won medals in numerous other races, including the US men's swan boat team in Thailand and in the Dragon Boat Open in Flushing, New York.

His lifelong passion for the sea drove him to seek greater challenges, and since 1993, he has become a renowned expedition paddler with adventures carrying him to the far reaches of the globe ? from a single-day crossing of the Bay of Fundy to the coast of Siberia through the Bering Strait, to rounding Cape Horn, a place known for the worst weather in the world with gale force winds, horizontal hail and huge seas.

His extraordinary multimedia presentation tonight will focus on his participation in the 2001 Atlantic Rowing Race from the island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands to Barbados, 3,000 miles away.

With only 700 pounds of food, Tom and his partner, John Zeigler, rowed through electric storms so powerful that the running lights on their boat lit up, dealt with 25 foot swells from Hurricane Olga and managed to avoid sharks and super tankers.

The lecture takes place in the Tradewinds Auditorium from 7 p.m. and tickets are on sale for $10 (members) and $15 (non-members).

A buffet dinner at La Coquille restaurant will follow the lecture at $33.75 per person.