Record-breaking Jersey rowers pushed 'to the absolute limit'

Helene Monpetit, Julie Brady, Rosemary Satchwell and Alison Smithurst were celebrated for their achievements on Saturday

Four Jersey women who broke records rowing the Atlantic say they pushed themselves "to the absolute limit".

Alison Smithurst, 59, Julie Brady, 60, Rosemary Satchwell, 55, and Helene Monpetit, 56, broke the record for the oldest female crew to row any ocean.

A celebration of their achievements was held at the Royal Square on Saturday.

The Intrepid 232 crew said when they decided to take on the row in 2020, they knew "it's not called the world's toughest row just for the fun of it".

'Really helpful' support

They spent about two years before the event training together around the coast of Jersey on coastal boats, practicing to keep the boat rowing 24/7 during their journey.

The boat was shipped over to Spain in September, so they said they had not trained in it for about three months.

The women added that Steve Hayes and Peter Wright, who completed the challenge in 2022, were "really, really helpful" in supporting them before they set off.

It cost £23,500 for the team to enter the race, £80,000 for the boat, additional fees for courses, equipment, safety kit and food - totalling £185,000 overall.

A lot of it "came from our bank accounts", the women said.

"We made a commitment to each other that, no matter what, we were going to do it, so we'd spoken about the finances of it," Ms Smithurst said.

The women broke the record for being the oldest female crew to row any ocean

On the first day of the race, which took place from December to February, Ms Satchwell said land disappeared sooner than they thought it would.

She said: "For the first five or six hours, we can see land, and then it starts to get a little bit foggy and land was gone.

"There was no sign of any land - we thought we had land for two days."

Ms Monpetit added: "People had said you could see Tenerife for quite a long time because of the mountains being so high, but it just seemed to disappear really quickly."

'Surfing down waves'

The women said they were faced with 25ft (7m 6in) waves in their 30ft (9.1m) boat.

Ms Satchwell said: "What we didn't expect was the high winds, the high seas and massive waves on day one.

"We started off in white T-shirts and shorts and we were going to change a few hours after we left; we were still in those white T-shirts and shorts six days later.

"It's a bit like Disney without the safety features. You're going along and you're thinking: 'Well, there's only one way we're going and that's over it' - they're rolling waves."

Ms Monpetit said they were "surfing down waves".

"We didn't get a chance to change - it was just relentless. We kept saying: 'When it's calmer, we can do this' ... and it was becoming a joke because it never became calm," she said.

The women said they were warned to stay tied to the boat at all times, highlighting a moment when Rosemary went for a swim during calm seas.

Ms Satchwell said: "We put ropes around the harness ... I didn't think the safety harness was going to be long enough, so I put a rope around it and tied it lots, attached it to the boat and jumped in, went under the water and came back up.

"All of a sudden, the boat was gone, but nobody was rowing."

The women said they were faced with 25ft waves in their 30ft boat

Ms Monpetit said while they were waiting to return to shore, the women were so tired mentally and physically they started saying "really silly things".

She said: "I actually wrote them down, they don't know this ... one of them was: 'Was there always so much water around the boat?', and then someone else said: 'Is the sun in the right place?' - it was hilarious."

The women said that, after the deliriousness subsided, seeing land again for the first time in more than 58 days was "unbelievable".

"There were people on their yachts and people on their catamarans, they all started coming up to us and escorting us towards English Harbour," Ms Monpetit said.

When they finally set foot on land, it felt "very, very wobbly" after being so long at sea, Ms Smirthurst said.

She said: "We all thought the ground was a pontoon until we realised".

The four mums said when they finally set foot on land, they thought the ground they were standing on was a pontoon

The women said they "couldn't have done it" without the support from their families.

"The whole two years leading up to it ... it impacted a lot on family life and social life. You had to sort of take yourself out of the equation quite a bit, so, if family hadn't have been on board, it would have been very problematic," Ms Smirthurst said.

In addition to the family support, the women said the online support was also "incredible".

"We had no idea that so many people were interested in our story. We assumed our friends and family would be, but it was fantastic," Ms Satchwell said.

Since then, the women said they have been stopped in Jersey by strangers congratulating them for their achievement.

'The absolute limit'

Upon reflection of their overall journey, the women said they all said they hoped to continue rowing, although "it's a very different sort of rowing" in Jersey.

Ms Satchwell said the experience showed "the determination that we had as a crew, and that we did it together", while Ms Smithurst said she was "very proud of what we managed to do whilst we were actually out there, because it wasn't just the rowing itself".

Ms Monpetit said the "whole journey has been incredible".

"We have learnt so so much on so many levels, and we have pushed ourselves to the absolute limit," she said.