Two British women have completed an 8,213 nautical mile (15,210km) non-stop row across the Pacific Ocean, arriving in the Australian coastal city of Cairns after a near six-month voyage from Peru.
Miriam Payne and Jess Rowe were unsupported across the vast expanse of ocean, spending around 15 hours each day at the oars to become the first all-female pair to achieve the feat.
After an initial attempt was abandoned in April because of a broken rudder, Payne, 25, and Rowe, 28, eventually set off in May in the nine-metre craft named Velocity, armed with 400kg of freeze-dried food, a water desalinator and some solar panels.
During their voyage they battled 30-foot waves, close encounters with whales, sleep deprivation, blistered hands and the constant danger of being hit by huge container ships.
Even when almost in sight of the Australian coast, they struggled with unforgiving tides that prolonged their ordeal.
“Those final few hours were brutal,” Rowe said after finally setting foot on terra firma. “The wind was pushing us off the channel, and we honestly thought we weren’t going to make it.
“We thought we might have to swim to shore. To finally be here, after talking about it for so long, just feels incredible.
“After so many days at sea, to finally see land, and the welcome we’ve had here in Cairns, is beyond words.”
The pair rowed together during the day while at night they did alternate two-hour shifts so they could snatch some sleep in a tiny cabin at the front of the boat.
“We loved every minute of it,” Payne said. “There were some brutal challenges along the way, mainly equipment failures. We were never really terrified, the Pacific’s pretty peaceful.”
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