Men's Journal

Three brave long-distance rowers who dared to challenge–or are still challenging–the open seas.

by Nate Storey

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Antarctica Denied

When Olly Hicks, 26, left Tasmania in January to circle Antarctica, he figured the 15,000-mile voyage would take about two years. The Flying Carrot, his Virgin-funded ocean rowboat, was built to withstand the harsh Southern Ocean. But after 96 days of drifting at barely 1 mph, he quit at New Zealand.

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87 Days Across the Atlantic

On New Year’s Day, American Paul Ridley, 25, set out from the Canary Islands to raise money for Row for Hope, a charity he founded after his mother died of skin cancer. After 87 days, Ridley paddled into Antigua, becoming the youngest American to complete the 2,950-mile journey across the Atlantic.

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Australia to Africa

Sarah Outen cast off April 1 to become the first woman and, at 23, the youngest rower to traverse the Indian Ocean (a previous try ended when bad weather swept her off course). Outen hopes to complete her trip — 3,100 miles from western Australia to Mauritius, off the east coast of Madagascar — by mid-August. She’s currently about 415 miles from the finish.

You can check her progress and read her blog at sarahouten.co.uk.

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Photos, from top: courtesy Olly Hicks; courtesy Paul Ridley; courtesy Sarah Outen. Maps by Alan Kikuchi.

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This article originally appeared in the July/August 2009 Issue of Men’s Journal.