Latest news with #TheWorld'sToughestRow
The Herald Scotland
02-05-2025
- The Herald Scotland
UK women rescued one week into pioneering row across Pacific after rudder breaks
The pair travelled 350km in around seven days before they discovered issues with their rudder and were forced to stay adrift using a parachute anchor to steady the boat while waiting for rescue. Their friend and translator in Peru, Alec Hughes, rescued the duo. He took about a week to reach them before towing their nine metre-long rowing boat named Velocity back to their start point of La Punta in Lima, which took around eight days. The pair met in 2022 in the Canary Islands when they were preparing for The World's Toughest Row (Seas the Day/PA) Despite the setback, the duo remained in good spirits and hope to look back at the experience fondly. 'We definitely didn't expect a broken rudder a week in, that was rather unexpected. But it's part of the journey and I guess we'll look back and have a good laugh about it in the end,' Ms Payne told the PA news agency. Ms Rowe told PA: 'Although it is massively disappointing to have to restart, it's quite cool that we got to spend another three weeks at sea.' Ms Payne described the broken, but recently refurbished, rudder as 'one of these freak things' after it 'completely delaminated and split open', which usually happens after suffering a big impact such as a strong wave. She added the journey back ashore was deliberately slow to ensure the boat remained undamaged. 'One of the worrying things about being on tow is it's not very safe to tow a boat because it can cause a lot of damage,' Ms Payne said. 'Ocean rowing boats go so slow, so it's really hard to find a vessel that will tow at such a slow speed so we went at about three or four knots.' They aimed to eat 5,000 calories a day but were forced to ration their food during their journey back to shore. They ate 1,500 calories per day of their pre-prepared snack packs but the pair said it was a struggle. 'We'd wake up in the morning and we'd both grab a snack pack, and we'd have the munchies for about an hour, and then the snack pack was totally gone,' Ms Rowe said. 'We'd eaten everything and we said, 'Oh, no. What we gonna do for the rest of the day?' 'It was quite tricky when we were under tow because we're going quite fast and we're going upwind. We were getting waves over the top of the boat constantly.' The pair are aiming to raise money for the Outward Bound Trust, a UK-based charity helping children develop lifelong skills through adventure, and they hope their challenge – and setback – will inspire young children to explore the outdoors. 'Hopefully we can inspire more kids to spend more time outdoors and know that if everything does go wrong, don't give up, basically, just keep going,' Ms Rowe said. 'You always learn so much from things going wrong.' Ms Payne added their journey might help to 'instil curiosity back into children' after being in awe of the ocean. Jess Rowe and Miriam Payne will make another attempt at their pioneering row from Peru to Australia despite the setback (Seas the Day/PA) 'When you get out there (at sea) it's a bit like being a child again because you feel a lot more wonder at the world, like everything is amazing,' she said. 'I think the Outbound is incredible because it's kind of instilling that curiosity back into children in a way.' The pair met in 2022 in the Canary Islands when they were preparing for The World's Toughest Row – previously known as the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge – for which they rowed 3,000 miles across the Atlantic. They hope to attempt their challenge again from Monday in a journey expected to take six months to reach Sydney Harbour, in Australia.
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Ocean Rowing Roundup for April
Since our last ocean rowing roundup, all the crews on the Atlantic have completed their rows, and two fresh teams have taken to the Pacific. Atlantic Dash: The Atlantic Dash calls itself an ocean-rowing regatta. Four teams took part in the 5,000km row from the Canary Islands to Antigua this year. Starting on February 1, all four boats had crossed the finish line by March 26. The event organizers stressed that it was not a race, but the four crews were neck and neck to the finish, and all finished within 26 hours. Waves to Awareness, with the pair Ruby Coates and Steffan Evans, finished first. Three hours later, soloist Gary Hutching landed in Antigua's Jolly Harbour. Row For It, a four of Neil Glover, Peter Ross, Darren Smith, and Nick Southwood, finished the next day, followed by the all-female crew Cruising Free, consisting of Sophie Pierce, Janine Williams, Polly Zipperlen, and Miyah Periam. Annasley Park (UK): Solo rower Annasley Park completed her Atlantic row on March 28. The former professional cyclist rowed from the Canary Islands to Barbados in 54 days, 14 hours, and 14 minutes. At the start of her row, she battled sea sickness, strong winds, capsizes, and dust on her solar panels. As she rowed into March, conditions improved, and she picked up speed. This lasted a few weeks before it became clear that a weather system was going to start pushing her north. To counteract it, she took a more southerly line. This helped, but Park still ended up on her para-anchor, trapped in her cabin. "For safety reasons, the cabin door needs to be shut, but that means that Annasley [Park] is sitting inside a sealed fiberglass box, under the hot sun. Much like leaving someone in a car on a hot day with the windows shut," her team wrote. Once finally off the para-anchor, things went from bad to worse: Her autohelm (the link between her chart plotter and rudder) broke. After a day fiddling with the equipment and some frantic calls, she managed to fix it and start the final week of her row. For the last few kilometers, Park whipped round the northern tip of Barbados in a huge squall. Seas the Day (UK): Jessica Rowe and Miriam Payne are rowing from Peru to Sydney, Australia. The pair started on April 8 and hopes to make it 14,000km across the Pacific in six months. Rowe and Payne met in 2022 while taking part in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge (now called The World's Toughest Row). Payne was taking on the race as a soloist, Rowe in an all-female four. Having connected before the row, they stayed friends and decided to embark on a joint project. They were originally going to start their challenge in the middle of March, but this was pushed back to April 8. There were delays getting their boat and food through customs, and they then found a stress fracture in the hull. The first few days felt like "rowing through treacle" because there was little wind. Then conditions changed dramatically, and they ended up on their para-anchor. Assessing the boat after the bad weather, they noticed that the storm had damaged the rudder in four places. Days after leaving, the pair turned their boat around, and a rescue team towed them back to Peru. They will make repairs and restart as soon as possible. The Maclean Brothers (UK): Three Scottish brothers, Ewan, Jamie, and Lachlan MacLean, are also rowing across the Pacific Ocean from Peru to Sydney, Australia. The trio crossed the Atlantic in 2020, breaking the speed record for a three-man crew. On that expedition, they rowed from La Gomera in the Canary Islands to Antigua in 35 days. Now they hope to do the same across the Pacific. They aim to cover 14,000km in 120 days by rowing in two-hour shifts around the clock. If they manage this, they will cut 42 days off the current record. At just 280kg, their carbon-fiber boat is one of the lightest ocean rowing boats in the world. In true Scottish style, they ate a haggis dinner the night before their departure, and packed haggis, neeps, and tatties to celebrate Lachlan's 27th birthday while at sea. Setting off a few days after Seas the Day, they are one week into their row. Already, they've had to contend with the usual early struggles, including seasickness and sleep deprivation. After a few days, they have regained their appetites but are struggling with salt sores on their backsides and a finicky autohelm.
West Australian
23-04-2025
- Sport
- West Australian
Australian all-female team rowing 4800km across the Atlantic Ocean for Telethon
An all-female team with no rowing experience will face unpredictable winds, waves and seasickness when they traverse 4800km across the Atlantic Ocean for Telethon. Australians Charlie Smith, Ena Ladd, Fiona McTavish, and Karla Pound will push themselves to the limits by rowing non-stop — alternating two hour shifts — for The World's Toughest Row in December next year. The 3000 nautical mile journey will take them from San Sebastián de La Gomera in Spain's Canary Islands to Nelson's Dockyard in Antigua. It's expected to take between five and seven weeks. But they are not just doing it for the challenge, they will be raising much-needed funds for sick kids across WA. Telethon will be put on the global stage, with the crew proudly plastering its logo on the boat as it crosses the ocean. And once the quartet has past the finish line, the boat and other row equipment will be sold and the proceeds donated to the charity. Perth-based teammate Ms Smith said it just made sense to donate to Telethon as it is a charity that has been close to her heart since she was a kid. 'I'm Perth born and raised and hence why Telethon came about as our charity because I've grown up with it on my screen and attended the weekend events when I was younger,' she said. 'I know that the girls and I will have some really difficult days on the ocean during our row but I think drawing on the fact that what we are experiencing is so minor in comparison to the challenges our Telethon kids and their families battle on the daily will be our driving force to make this row as successful as we can. 'Our boat is about $150,000 so once we sell that at the end of our race that'll be going back to Telethon. We're hoping to donate in excess of that and get the community to help us out as well.' Working as a deckhand and dive instructor for almost 10 years, Ms Smith was looking for her next water-based adventure when she moved back to Perth during COVID. When she asked her friends to join, it was a resounding yes. 'I am personally driven by challenges in all forms and when Charlie mentioned this one to me it was out of this world, I didn't really understand what she asked me but I immediately said yes,' Ms Ladd said. Ms Pound, who stars in the most recent season of Alone Australia, said she was doing the row to see what she was 'truly made of'. 'I'm always chasing the next adventure and this is going to be a doozy,' she said. 'Working in the marine industry, women are a minority so I like to push the boundaries of what we can actually do and aim to do it better,' Ms McTavish added. 'I've been lucky enough to be surrounded by inspiring women throughout my life so I would love to pass this on to future generations, if I can. The added bonus is doing this with three awesome friends.' Training has been hard for the four-person crew as they live on all different sides of the country but they are planning to spend some time in the UK to get their hours up on their specially made boat this year. The R45 boat is made to endure ocean rowing with spots for three rowers to row simultaneously and a cabin to sleep in. However, the boat isn't fish proof with the team's number one concern being Marlin strikes as the large fish is known to attack boats with its spike, which can pierce the hull and cause flooding. Smith said she was looking forward to whatever Mother Nature threw at the crew. 'Mother Nature, she is incredibly unpredictable, and I think we're not really going to know until we're out there,' she said. 'I think as far as maybe using a bucket as a toilet is going to be a challenge in itself as well. 'Me and the girls we have a wealth of maritime knowledge so I wouldn't want to do this with anyone else other than those three.' To see their journey or to donate visit the Atlantic Waterbirds donation page or the team's Instagram .
The Independent
03-04-2025
- The Independent
‘We got bored of real life' – UK women ready for pioneering row across Pacific
Two UK women are aiming to become the first team to row the Pacific Ocean non-stop and unsupported. Miriam Payne, 25, from East Yorkshire, and Jess Rowe, 28, from Hampshire, are planning to set off from Peru on Friday as they look to complete an 8,000km journey. The duo hope to raise £50,000 as part of the mission for Outward Bound Trust, a UK-based charity which helps children develop lifelong skills through adventure. 'I think we got bored of real life,' Ms Payne told the PA news agency. 'At this point we're so ready to get out there and get away from this chaos and all the packing and planning – it's been a long process.' Ms Rowe added: 'We absolutely love being at sea and the simple life as well – I think we might even get a bit more sleep out there!' Ms Payne and Ms Rowe plan to row in alternating two-hour shifts, and predict it will take around six months to reach Australia, aiming for Sydney Harbour. The pair met in 2022 in the Canary Islands when they were preparing for The World's Toughest Row – previously known as the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge – for which they rowed 3,000 miles across the Atlantic. Ms Payne broke the race record for the fastest female solo row, which was also her first sea race, while Ms Rowe participated with a team of four women called Full Throttle, winning the female race and Murden Cup. 'Coincidentally, we both signed up to row the Atlantic the same year, and we chatted a bit online beforehand and then met at the start line, and became really good friends through that,' said Ms Payne. 'Jess was working on yachts at the time, so I did it solo, she did it as part of a four, and she was there in Antigua for my arrival. 'I think it was the sole reason why I had a really good arrival party, because she brought all her friends and stuff like that and within a few days we were sat on the end of my hotel bed figuring out 'what's the next big adventure we could do?'' Alongside working full-time office jobs, both women have spent two years preparing for the expedition, driving around the country on weekends to train in Hartlepool and Chichester. Challenges will include sleep deprivation, large waves, potential injuries, capsizing, and sea traffic in areas such as Lima, where there will be large container ships. 'There's lots of things that can go wrong out there, it is a very dangerous environment,' said Ms Rowe. Meanwhile, although the trip is expected to take around six months, Ms Payne acknowledged that they do not have control over the elements. 'I think ultimately it's that respect for the ocean and it is up to Mother Nature to decide,' she said. 'There's a lot of people saying you conquer the ocean but you absolutely don't.' The pair will be entirely self-sufficient during the expedition and have learned to fix things on the boat including their water maker, electronics, seats and oars. Both women completed first aid training to deal with any injuries and also have the support of a TeleMed service, a remote healthcare service which will give the crew 24-hour access to a doctor. They aim to eat 5,000 calories a day, and they will use a desalinator, a device which removes salt and other minerals from seawater, to create fresh drinking water. The duo have been in Peru for a month and wanted to set off earlier than their start date, but their boat was delayed in customs for two weeks. They said they will return to their jobs at the end of the expedition, but the campaign will not end there as they plan to carry out talks at schools and to continue working with the Outward Bound Trust.
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Yahoo
‘We got bored of real life' – UK women ready for pioneering row across Pacific
Two UK women are aiming to become the first team to row the Pacific Ocean non-stop and unsupported. Miriam Payne, 25, from East Yorkshire, and Jess Rowe, 28, from Hampshire, are planning to set off from Peru on Friday as they look to complete an 8,000km journey. The duo hope to raise £50,000 as part of the mission for Outward Bound Trust, a UK-based charity which helps children develop lifelong skills through adventure. 'I think we got bored of real life,' Ms Payne told the PA news agency. 'At this point we're so ready to get out there and get away from this chaos and all the packing and planning – it's been a long process.' Ms Rowe added: 'We absolutely love being at sea and the simple life as well – I think we might even get a bit more sleep out there!' Ms Payne and Ms Rowe plan to row in alternating two-hour shifts, and predict it will take around six months to reach Australia, aiming for Sydney Harbour. The pair met in 2022 in the Canary Islands when they were preparing for The World's Toughest Row – previously known as the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge – for which they rowed 3,000 miles across the Atlantic. Ms Payne broke the race record for the fastest female solo row, which was also her first sea race, while Ms Rowe participated with a team of four women called Full Throttle, winning the female race and Murden Cup. 'Coincidentally, we both signed up to row the Atlantic the same year, and we chatted a bit online beforehand and then met at the start line, and became really good friends through that,' said Ms Payne. 'Jess was working on yachts at the time, so I did it solo, she did it as part of a four, and she was there in Antigua for my arrival. 'I think it was the sole reason why I had a really good arrival party, because she brought all her friends and stuff like that and within a few days we were sat on the end of my hotel bed figuring out 'what's the next big adventure we could do?'' Alongside working full-time office jobs, both women have spent two years preparing for the expedition, driving around the country on weekends to train in Hartlepool and Chichester. Challenges will include sleep deprivation, large waves, potential injuries, capsizing, and sea traffic in areas such as Lima, where there will be large container ships. 'There's lots of things that can go wrong out there, it is a very dangerous environment,' said Ms Rowe. Meanwhile, although the trip is expected to take around six months, Ms Payne acknowledged that they do not have control over the elements. 'I think ultimately it's that respect for the ocean and it is up to Mother Nature to decide,' she said. 'There's a lot of people saying you conquer the ocean but you absolutely don't.' The pair will be entirely self-sufficient during the expedition and have learned to fix things on the boat including their water maker, electronics, seats and oars. Both women completed first aid training to deal with any injuries and also have the support of a TeleMed service, a remote healthcare service which will give the crew 24-hour access to a doctor. They aim to eat 5,000 calories a day, and they will use a desalinator, a device which removes salt and other minerals from seawater, to create fresh drinking water. The duo have been in Peru for a month and wanted to set off earlier than their start date, but their boat was delayed in customs for two weeks. They said they will return to their jobs at the end of the expedition, but the campaign will not end there as they plan to carry out talks at schools and to continue working with the Outward Bound Trust. To find out more about their fundraising, visit:
