Ocean rowing is the sport of rowing across oceans. Some ocean rowing boats can hold as many as fourteen rowers; however, the most common ocean rowboats are designed for singles, doubles, and fours.
The history of ocean rowing is divided into two eras by the Ocean Rowing Society International, the official adjudicator of ocean rowing records for Guinness World Records. The first fourteen ocean rows, up to and including 1981, are considered historic ocean rows as they were completed with very limited, if any, modern technology. All subsequent rows are described as modern-day rows.
History
The first ocean to be deliberately rowed across was the Atlantic by Frank Samuelsen and George Harbo, two Norwegian-born Americans, in June 1896. The pair left Battery Park, Manhattan, on 6 June 1896, arriving on the Isles of Scilly, 55 days and 13 hours later, having covered . They continued to row to Le Havre, France. No such crossing would be officially attempted again for 70 years' time, and, in a testament to the sport's inherent danger, the first to try to repeat the feat, again a two-man crew rowing the Atlantic from west to east, were lost at sea in 1966. However, that same year, John Ridgway and Chay Blyth successfully rowed across the Atlantic in 92 days.
The first solo crossing of an 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 four months after Fairfax, he came within 8 days of beating Fairfax to the title of first solo rower of any ocean.
In 1974, Derek Paul King and Peter Bird rowed across the Atlantic Ocean from Gibraltar to St. Lucia in Britannia II - the boat designed by Uffa Fox and first rowed by John Fairfax and Sylvia Cook across the Pacific Ocean in 1971/72.
Kathleen and Curtis Saville were the first people born in America to row across the Atlantic Ocean from Casablanca to Antigua in 1981 and Kathleen was the first woman to row the North Atlantic Ocean.
In 2023, finnish firefighter Jari Saario became the first human ever to row across Atlantic Ocean twice. He started his first row from Gran Canaria, Canary Islands to Antigua at 23 january 2023 and arrived at Antigua on 28 march 2023. He started his second row from St. Johns, Canada at 22 june 2023 and ended his rowing tour at Cuxhaven, Germany october 10 2023.
Kenneth Crutchlow, the founder of ORSI, was the major contributor to popularizing ocean rowing.
Atlantic crossings
Amyr Klink was the first person to row across the South Atlantic, leaving from Lüderitz, Namibia on 9 June 1984 and arriving 101 days later in Salvador, Brazil on 18 September 1984.
In September 1987, Don Allum became the first to row the Atlantic in both directions, having successfully completed a 77-day solo journey from Newfoundland, Canada to Achill Island, Ireland and having previously rowed from Gran Canaria to Barbados in 1971 with his cousin Geoff Allum, in 73 days.
One man holds the world record for both the fastest solo boat to cross the Atlantic and the fastest duo - Dutch Mark Slats crossed the Atlantic Ocean solo in only 30 days, seven hours and 49 minutes in 2017. Mark rowed the Atlantic again in 2020 with a fellow Dutchman Kai Weedmer. The duo were first to arrive in Antigua beating alle 3, 4 and 5 man crews participating in the Atlantic Challenge and broke the record for the fastest pair to row across the Atlantic Ocean taking just 32 days, 22 hours, 13 minutes. Their boat 'Maria' a D12 from The Ocean Rowing Company was built by Mark Slats himself.
The world record for the fastest 4 man crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in a rowing boat is held by team The Four Oarsmen. During the Talisker Whisky Atlantic challenge they rowed 4,722 km (2,554 nautical miles) from La Gomera in the Canary Islands to Antigua aboard a Rannoch R45 boat named Aegir, arriving on 12 January 2018. They rowed the Atlantic Ocean Trade Winds I route (open-class category) in 29 days and 15 hours. The four man team consisted of close friends (Stuart Watts, Peter Robinson, Richard Taylor and George Biggar – all from the United Kingdom). Aegir is the fastest rowing boat to cross any ocean, at an average speed of 3.589 knots, beating the previous record held by Sara G since 2011.