Rowers fight giant waves to beat ocean-crossing record

Charlotte Harris (left) and Jessica Oliver were met with roaring applause and cheers as they crossed the finish line last week

Two rowers have battled giant waves and a near-collision to beat an ocean-crossing record by nine days.

Jessica Oliver from Cheltenham and Charlotte Harris from Fleet, Hampshire, rowed 2,800 miles (4,506km) from Monterey Bay in California to Kauai, Hawaii in 37 days and 11 hours.

They broke several records during their Pacific Ocean crossing, including becoming the first team to row both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

"We gave it everything and are completely broken, but it was worth it," Ms Oliver said.

'Absolutely gruelling'

Ms Harris and Ms Oliver, known as Team Wild Waves, set off from California on 8 June, and powered their boat across the finish line at Kauai on 16 July.

They broke the overall pairs record by two days, the female pairs record by nine, and won the female class and came second overall ahead of trios and fours.

But despite landing in Hawaii to resounding applause and cheers from their loved ones, the pair described their trip as "absolutely gruelling".

They took a southerly route, encountering bitterly cold winds from Canada.

Only 40 teams have successfully completed the extreme endurance challenge of the Pacific

Near miss

Ms Harris and Ms Oliver faced giant waves and dozens of "knockdowns", when their boat, Cosimo 2.0, almost capsized.

Within a week, their automatic steering system broke, forcing them to steer manually, resulting in little sleep and a lot of blisters.

They said the most frightening moment was when they came 30 seconds from colliding with a tanker whose automatic identification tracking system was not on, which would have seen their boat "smashed to pieces".

"We just about managed to get out of their course and were thrown up and down on the wake of boat, as it passed with just 10 metres to spare," Ms Oliver said.

The pair raised more than £100,000 for Shelter & Woman’s Aid when they crossed the Atlantic.

This time, they hope to raise £50,000 for Shelter.

This year’s race across the Pacific was won by The Salty Sappers, a team of four British Army engineers.

A day later, Wild Waves finished in second place with the remaining teams of fours, threes and two pairs still heading to the finish.