LOCAL HERO MAKES ROWING HISTORY….AGAIN
PHOTO NEWS SPECIAL
Three amazing young women have made history with a new world record for any TRIO rowing 2800 miles across the Pacific in the challenge known as The World’s Toughest Row, it was confirmed today.
The team included Charlotte Irving, 33, from Hampton, who attended Lady Eleanor Holles school, and who holds a previous World Record from rowing across the Atlantic three years ago, Jess Goddard, 32, a freelance designer and Taylor Winyard, 31.
In an emotional interview, Charlotte said: “Within the first two auto helms which help us steer automatically had melted because of the harsh conditions, the waves and the wind hitting us side on.
“The thought of the last remaining autohelm breaking was a real worry and we had this constant level of anxiety across the ocean that it would, especially as a trio, if we had to hand steer it would have been impossible to get the sleep we needed.
“As there were only three of us the longest sleep we managed was two hours continuously, we were all absolutely exhausted which made decision making that much harder.
“The conditions were brutal, there were many tears but we never thought of giving up. We had to be really resilient to bounce back from setbacks. It did seem that anything that could go wrong did, like capsizing and Taylor losing her shoes. We also had broken oars and bad salt sores on our hands.
“But it was how we dealt with all those setbacks as a team that defined our end result – our goal was to break the World Record and we did that.”
The team completed the hazardous and gruelling crossing in 38 days, one hour and 34 minutes setting a new World Record for being the fastest overall trio to cross the mid-Pacific Ocean and smashing the previous record held by a male trio by 25 hours.
They had set off on June 8th from Monterey. California and arrived in Hawaii on Tuesday evening.
They had hoped to make the crossing in 40 days breaking the existing record despite the challenging conditions especially at the start of the race where the notorious ‘wall of wind’ off the California coast can easily capsize boats as well as the menacing presence of killer sharks and orca whales.
The team are no strangers to ocean rowing as all three crossed the Atlantic race in the 2021 event.
In three separate teams, they all set a World Record in their category, meaning Taylor, Charlotte, and Jessica now have two World Records each!
“It was wild!” said Taylor, a director at Stobo Castle Health Spa. “If anything could have gone wrong, it did. We capsized three times, burnt through two auto helms, but we got through it. It’s a bit of a blur now – I think I’ve blocked a lot of it out!
“A special moment was when a very big boat, George II, passed us. It was the first voice we’d heard for a while and they were so motivational and so kind to us, so that was a highlight.”
Charlotte, who works in marketing, was a member of the Team ExtraOARdinary which achieved a new World Record in 2021 by rowing the 3000 miles across the Atlantic in 42 days, 7 hours and seventeen minutes, beating the previous record by SEVEN days.
They were were invited to Clarence house to meet the then HRH Duchess of Cornwall, now the Queen, who had sent them a good luck message before setting off.
An early morning crowd, including family and friends, gathered at the famous Hanalei Pier to witness the ecstatic Pacific Triow team hugging at the finish line aboard their boat called Weird Barbie.
Charlotte, whose parents Pauline and Colm from Ormond Avenue, Hampton were on the quayside to meet them, said: “The most beautiful moments were the way we pulled together and found creative solutions. It wasn’t always pretty, but we made it and I’m so proud of the team.”
The team has been raising funds and awareness for the charity Cancer Research UK.
Learn more about the challenge here #worldstoughestrow #pacific2024 #oceanrowing #extremesports
https://www.worldstoughestrow.com/the-pacific/2024-race-entrants/#pacifictriow
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