Writer Reacts
patreon
Best Friends Battle 40ft Waves in Fastest Row Across the Pacific by a Duo–Beating Men’s Record by 2 Days
🕑 Added 2024-09-11 15:23:52 +0000 UTC
Two best friends have become the fastest duo ever to row across the Pacific Ocean, battling 40-foot waves to break the previous record set by two men.
Jessica Oliver and Charlotte Harris completed the epic row in 37 days, 11 hours, and 43 minutes, breaking the record in the 2024 World’s Toughest Row Pacific Challenge.
The 33-year-olds set out from Monterey Bay, California for the 2,800 mile journey on June 8th, and when they arrived in Hawaii on July 16th they had beaten the existing women’s record by an astonishing 9 days.
The achievement comes after the pair, known as Wild Waves, set a world record in 2021 as the fastest female pair to row the Atlantic Ocean.
“It was absolutely grueling both from a mental and physical perspective – the hardest thing we have ever done,” said Jess, while standing at the winner’s podium with a Hawaiian garland draped around her neck.
There were ecstatic hugs and tears waiting for the dynamic duo on Hanalei Bay beach as they fell into the arms of family and friends.
“We gave it everything and are completely broken, but it was worth it,” said Charlotte.
Apart from sheer grit and determination, it was teamwork and solid friendship that got them through.
“We can read each other so well,” said Charlotte.
The pair took a southerly route and were pursued by bitterly cold northerly winds from Canada producing giant waves, and their boat Cosimo almost capsized.
Within a week, their automatic steering system broke, forcing them to steer manually which meant precious little sleep and lots of blisters to show for it.
“The first 10 days were really challenging and stressful,” said Jess. “We thought: ‘who on earth signed us up for this?’.
“Sometimes the winds were so difficult we were screaming: ‘how am I supposed to get out of this?’”
Team Wild Waves were neck and neck in the women’s pairs for most of the race with their nearest rivals: Liz Wardley, a three-times round-the-world sailor who holds the Atlantic race record as a solo rower, and Lena Kurbiel, her 17-year-old partner.
After four weeks, on Friday July 12, the UK duo edged past them to take the lead.
“We were constantly monitoring the competition. We’d make 15 miles of gains and then they’d be taken from us in one day. It was relentless.”
The most frightening episode was a near-collision with a tanker whose AIS tracking system was not turned on.
“We were 30 seconds from a head-on collision which would have seen our boat smashed to pieces,” said Charlotte. “We just about managed to get out of their course and were thrown up and down in the wake of their boat, as it passed with just 10 meters to spare.”
The idea to conquer the Pacific was a no-brainer for Team Wild Waves, after their record-setting row in 2021 across the Atlantic: they had barely set foot on dry land when they decided that the Pacific had to be next.
Two years of tough training followed for the English university pals from Gloucestershire and Hampshire—mostly in the gym and on the North Sea, along with fundraising and securing corporate sponsorship.
They raised more than $120,000 for Shelter and Women’s Aid during their Atlantic crossing—and continued that fundraising this year, raising $40,000, so far.
“She’s an amazing girl,” said Jessica’s mother. “When she sets her mind to do something, nothing stops her from achieving that goal.”
“She certainly knows how to test her mother to the limit – it’s been a nerve-racking few weeks.”
