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Ocean rowing is the sport of rowing across oceans. The sport is as much a psychological as it is a physical challenge. Rowers often have to endure long periods at sea with help often many days if not weeks away. The challenge is especially acute for solo rowers who are held in especially high esteem within the sport. The history of ocean rowing is sometimes divided into two eras. The first 12 ocean rows are considered "Historic Ocean rows" within the sport as they were completed with very limited if any modern technology. The subsequent rows are described as "Modern Day rows".
Atlantic rowing
The first ocean to be rowed was the Atlantic which was rowed by George Harbo and Gabriel Samuelsen, both of Norway, in June 1896. The pair left Battery Park, Manhattan on 6 June 1896 arriving in Le Havre, France 55 days and 13 hours later having covered 3,250 miles. The pair also stopped on the Isles of Scilly during their journey.
The first solo crossing of any ocean was completed by John Fairfax of Britain on 19 July 1969. He rowed from Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands to Hollywood beach Florida in 180 days. In the same year Tom McClean, also of Britain rowed from Newfoundland, Canada arriving in Blacksod Bay, Ireland on 27 July 1969. Despite having left almost 4 months after Fairfax he came within 8 days of beating Fairfax to the title of first solo rower of any ocean.
On 3 December 1999 Tori Munden of the USA became the first woman to row any Ocean solo when she arrived in Guadeloupe having set off from Tenerife in the Canary Islands 81 days earlier.
In March 2006 Julie Wafaei of Canada became the first woman to row across the Atlantic from mainland to mainland.
Pacific
Having become the first person to row any ocean solo in 1969, John Fairfax set off from San Francisco in California on 26 April 1971 with Sylvia Cook. After three stops (in Mexico, Fanning Island and the Onotoa Gilbert Islands) the two arrived on Hayman Island in Australia 361 days later on 22 April 1972. In doing so Cook became the first woman to row any Ocean.
The first person to row the Pacific solo was Peter Bird of Britain. Bird set off from San Francisco, California and arrived at the Great Barrier Reef Australia 294 days later on June 14, 1983. Bird would later die attempting the west to east journey across the Pacific.
Controversially, Briton Jim Shekhdar later made the claim to be "the first person to row across the Pacific single-handed". Shekhdar had rowed across the Pacific non-stop, solo and unassisted arriving in Australia on 30 March 2001. Some within the sport felt that Shekhdar had not given due credit to the achievement of Peter Bird and the term "unassisted" also came under some scrutiny.
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean was first crossed by Anders Svedlund of Sweden in 1971. He set off from Kalbarri in Western Australia on April 29, 1971 and arrived near Diego Suarez, Madagascar 64 days later on June 23.
External links
"Ocean rowing"