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.
Jim Shekhdar is a British ocean rower and was the first person to complete a solo unassisted non-stop crossing of the Pacific Ocean.
Rosalind Elizabeth Adriana Savage MBE FRGS MP, known as Roz Savage, is an English ocean rower, environmental advocate, writer, speaker and politician. She was elected as a Liberal Democrat MP for the new South Cotswolds constituency at the 2024 general election.
Peter Bird was a British ocean rower who, in 1983, became the first person to row non-stop and solo across the Pacific from east to west when he completed his journey from America to Australia.
Erden Eruç is a Turkish-American adventurer who became the first person in history to complete an entirely solo and entirely human-powered circumnavigation of the Earth on 21 July 2012 in Bodega Bay, California, United States. The journey had started from Bodega Bay a little more than five years earlier on 10 July 2007. The modes of transport included a rowboat to cross the oceans, a sea kayak for shorelines, a bicycle on the roads and hiking on trails, along with canoes for a few river crossings. The route he followed was 66,299 km (41,196 mi) long, crossed the equator twice and all lines of longitude, and passed over twelve pairs of antipodal points, meeting all the requirements for a true circumnavigation of the globe. Guinness World Records has officially recognized Eruç for the "First solo circumnavigation of the globe using human power" on a journey that lasted 5 years 11 days 12 hours and 22 minutes.
Sarah Katharine Winckless is a British former rower. She won a bronze medal in Double sculls with her partner Elise Laverick at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games and was twice world champion, in 2005 and 2006.
Katie Spotz is an American adventurer who became the youngest person to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean, departing from Dakar, Senegal on January 3, 2010, and landing in Guyana on March 14, 2010. She was the first person to have swum the entire length of the Allegheny River in New York state and Pennsylvania.
Gérard d'Aboville is the first man to row across two oceans solo: the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. He crossed the Atlantic in 1980, travelling from Cape Cod to Brittany. D'Aboville previously built boats and organized races before undertaking this 3,500 mile trip, which he completed in 72 days. In 1981, he was a recipient of the Silver Olympic Order.
Debra Louise Searle MVO MBE, née Newbury, later Veal, is a British adventurer, businesswoman, author and keynote speaker. Searle is famous for having rowed across the Atlantic alone after her then husband and rowing partner, Andrew Veal, was rescued from their plywood rowing boat.
Chris Martin is a British rower.
Leven Brown is a British Ocean Rower who has held five Guinness World Records. He along with his crew Don Lennox, Livar Nysted and Ray Carroll also held the world record for "longest distance rowed in 24h in an ocean rowing boat" at 118 miles, is the first and thus far only in the sport ever to have held North and 'Trade Winds' speed records simultaneously and to hold two speed records over two separate oceans Brown was brought up on a landlocked farm in his native Scottish Borders but was introduced to the ocean at an early age where he discovered ocean rowing. After a career with Brewin Dolphin Securities that spanned 17 years he did his first Ocean Row in 2005.
Mick Dawson is a former Royal Marine Commando, film maker, professional sailor and adventurer. He is best known for rowing the Pacific Ocean with friend and fellow ocean rower Chris Martin in a new state of the art vessel, Bojangles, which Mick built. In 2009, they completed their 7,000 mi (11,000 km) voyage in 189 days 10 hours and 55 minutes; a world first and earning a place in the Guinness Book of records.
Sylvia Cook is a British ocean rower and adventurer who, on 22 April 1972, became the first person to row the Pacific Ocean, in tandem with John Fairfax. With this accomplishment she became the first woman to row any ocean. The journey took 363 days at sea from San Francisco to Australia.
James Ketchell is a British adventurer. On 1 February 2014, Ketchell became the first person to complete the triathlon of rowing across the Atlantic Ocean, summiting Mount Everest and cycling around the world. On 22 September 2019, Ketchell landed his gyrocopter in Basingstoke, England, becoming the first person to circumnavigate the globe in an autogyro, flying for 175 successive days.
Fiann Paul is a Polish-Icelandic explorer known for his exploits in ocean rowing.
Angela Madsen was an American Paralympian sportswoman in both rowing and track and field. In a long career, Madsen moved from race rowing to ocean challenges before switching in 2011 to athletics, winning a bronze medal in the shot put at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London. Madsen and teammate Helen Taylor were the first women to row across the Indian Ocean. She died in June 2020 while attempting a solo row from Los Angeles to Honolulu.
Oliver "Olly" Hicks is a British ocean rower, kayaker, explorer and inspirational speaker. He holds three world records for adventure. He is best known for his solo ocean rows and extreme kayak voyages. He first made the headlines after his solo trans-Atlantic voyage in 2005 when he became the first and currently only person to row from America to England solo and the youngest person to row any ocean solo. Hicks has rowed and paddled over 7,000 miles on ocean expeditions since 2005. Over 6,000 miles and 220 days alone at sea.
Aurelia M. Ditton, known professionally as Lia Ditton, is a British professional yachtswoman, ocean rower, speaker, author and conceptual artist.
Anders Johan Svedlund, was a Swedish born, naturalized New Zealand ocean rowing pioneer. Anders performed 2 of 14 Historic ocean rows listed by Ocean Rowing Society, the official Guinness Adjudicator for ocean rowing. He was the first to row the Indian Ocean, the first to row on the Pacific solo, and the fastest ocean rower of his times.
Ocean Rowing Society International (ORSI) (prior to 2006 known as ORS), is the governing body for international ocean rowing and official adjudicator of ocean rowing records for Guinness World Records. ORSI was founded in 1983 in California by ocean rower Peter Bird and Kenneth F.Crutchlow FRGS. Current coordinators of ORSI are Tatiana Rezvaya-Crutchlow and Chris Martin, and Fiann Paul.
