Newsletters
Two British women have completed an 8,213-nautical-mile non-stop row across the Pacific Ocean, arriving in the Australian city of Cairns after nearly six months at sea.
Miriam Payne and Jess Rowe made the journey unsupported, spending about 15 hours a day at the oars to become the first all-female team to accomplish the feat.
After an earlier attempt was abandoned in April due to a broken rudder, Payne, 25, and Rowe, 28, finally set off in May aboard the nine-meter boat Velocity, carrying 400 kilograms of freeze-dried food, a water desalinator, and some solar panels.
Throughout the voyage, they faced 30-foot waves, close encounters with whales, sleep deprivation, blistered hands, and the constant risk of being hit by massive container ships. Even as they neared the Australian coast, harsh tides prolonged their final stretch.
“Those last few hours were brutal,” Rowe said after reaching land. “The wind was pushing us off course, and we honestly thought we weren’t going to make it. We thought we might even have to swim to shore. To finally be here after talking about it for so long feels incredible. The welcome in Cairns has been beyond words.”
During the day, the pair rowed together, while at night they took alternating two-hour shifts, catching brief rests in a tiny cabin at the front of the boat.
“We loved every minute of it,” Payne said. “There were some brutal challenges, mostly equipment failures, but we were never really terrified. The Pacific’s actually pretty peaceful.”
At times, they were effectively invisible when their beacon stopped transmitting, and they ran out of their favorite snacks about 30 days before reaching the end, leaving only freeze-dried meals.
For Payne, this was her second major ocean rowing journey after crossing the Atlantic solo in 2022. “It was amazing to have Jess as a teammate. We worked hard together, solved problems together, and were always pushing toward the same goal,” she said.
Beyond making history, the Seas The Day team raised around £80,000 ($107,000) for The Outward Bound Trust, a charity that encourages young people to challenge themselves in the natural world.
2 min read
