🔗 Share this article

A final 24-hour stretch. One more session navigating the unforgiving ocean. A final stretch with aching hands clutching relentless paddles.

However following over 15,000 kilometers across the ocean – an epic five-and-a-half-month journey through Pacific waters that included close encounters with whales, defective signaling devices and sweet treat crises – the ocean presented a final test.

Strong 20-knot breezes approaching Cairns kept pushing their tiny rowboat, their boat Velocity, from the terra firma that was now achingly close.

Supporters anticipated on shore as a scheduled lunchtime finish became 2pm, then 4pm, then dusk. Finally, at 6.42pm, they came alongside the Cairns sailing club.

"Those final few hours were brutal," Rowe said, finally standing on land.

"Breezes were forcing us off course, and we genuinely believed we might fail. We ended up outside the channel and thought we might have to swim to shore. To finally be here, after extensive preparation, just feels incredible."

The Epic Journey Begins

The English women – 28-year-old Rowe and 25-year-old Payne – set out from Peruvian shores on 5 May (an initial attempt in April was derailed by a rudder failure).

Over 165 days at sea, they maintained 50 nautical miles daily, rowing in tandem during the day, single rower overnight while her partner rested just a few hours in a confined sleeping area.

Endurance and Obstacles

Sustained by 400 kilograms of dehydrated meals, a seawater purification system and an onboard growing unit for micro-greens, the pair have relied on a less-than-reliable solar system for limited energy demands.

For much of their journey over the enormous Pacific, they lacked directional instruments or location transmitters, making them essentially invisible, nearly undetectable to passing ships.

The pair have borne 9-metre waves, traversed marine highways and endured raging storms that, at times, disabled all electrical systems.

Historic Accomplishment

Still they maintained progress, stroke by relentless stroke, across blazing hot days, under star-filled night skies.

They achieved an unprecedented feat as the pioneering women's team to cross the southern Pacific by rowing, non-stop and unsupported.

Furthermore they gathered more than £86,000 (179,000 Australian dollars) for the Outward Bound Trust.

Existence Onboard

The pair did their best to keep in contact with the world away from their compact craft.

On "day 140-something", they declared a "cocoa crisis" – diminished to merely two remaining pieces with another 1,600 kilometers ahead – but allowed themselves the indulgence of opening one bar to honor England's rugby team winning the Rugby World Cup.

Individual Perspectives

Payne, hailing from inland Yorkshire, was unacquainted with maritime life prior to her independent Atlantic journey in 2022 in a record time.

Another ocean now falls to her accomplishments. But there were moments, she admitted, when they feared they wouldn't make it. As early as day six, a path over the planet's biggest sea appeared insurmountable.

"Our electrical systems were diminishing, the desalination tubes ruptured, yet after numerous mends, we accomplished a workaround and simply continued struggling with minimal electricity throughout the remaining journey. Each time problems occurred, we just looked at each other and went, 'naturally it happened!' But we kept going."

"It was really great to have Jess as a teammate. Our mutual dedication stood out, we addressed challenges collectively, and we were always working towards the same goals," she remarked.

Rowe originates from Hampshire. Before her Pacific triumph, she crossed the Atlantic by rowing, walked the southwestern English coastline, scaled the Kenyan peak and biked through Spain. Further adventures likely await.

"Our collaboration proved incredibly rewarding, and we're enthusiastically preparing additional journeys collectively once more. Another teammate wouldn't have worked."