Iit was always during the night that things went wrong for Jasmine Harrison, the youngest woman to row alone in the Atlantic Ocean. Like the time your boat launched a huge wave at 19.2 knots and turned, leaving you with a seriously injured elbow.
“I was basically thrown against a wall at 20 miles an hour. It will hurt, especially in the middle of sleep, ”she said. “It all happened when I was sleeping.”
But the 21-year-old swim teacher from Thirsk, North Yorkshire, made her 70-day journey on her hike, savoring the freedom and independence of life at sea.
She was determined to make the journey, part of the Talisker Whiskey Atlantic Challenge, on her own terms, choosing to do it alone instead of as part of a team. “I’ve been quite independent my entire life anyway. I just thought: I want to do this, so I’m going to do it. I love the feeling that you have to do something on your own, it’s very liberating for me, ”she said.
Instead of the food packages that people normally eat on these long trips, she lived on cookies and chocolate – “I think I ate 40kg of chocolate”, she laughed – and could choose to avoid paddling in the rain. “I could do what I wanted. If it’s raining outside and I’m in my cabin because I just woke up, I’m not going to go out and row. “
She preferred to paddle in long 12-hour shifts, with short breaks to stretch, eat and clean the boat before watching the sunset, take a nap and paddle again in the dark before sleeping more.
She left La Gomera, in the Canary Islands, in December, and landed in Antigua, the Caribbean, 70 days, three hours and 48 minutes later. Harrison said she took the time away from the stress of life and Covid and, far from feeling isolated, she used her satellite phone to make many calls back home, talking to more people than usual.
Along the 3,000-mile (4,828 km) route, she encountered a wide range of wildlife – some whales, a striped marlin, pigfish, a group of dolphins, which followed her for days, and pilot fish that swam under your boat and would come to your hand every morning. “I’m in their environment, so you have to be nice. It’s just incredible and I love animals. I want people 10 years from now to be able to see what I saw, it’s amazing, ”she said.
One of the charities Harrison is raising money for is the Blue Marine Foundation, which aims to combat overfishing, along with ShelterBox, which offers help to people affected by natural disasters.
Speaking of the port of Antigua near his boat, Argo, Harrison said he hoped his achievement would inspire others to realize their potential and, at a time when Covid reduced opportunities, he would help people realize that there is still a world out there. .
“I just want to inspire people to change their mindset for what you can do, not what you can’t. The life you were born in doesn’t have to be your life. It can be great if you love it, but you can be different, ”she said. “You don’t have to follow exactly what your parents did. We are all different people, find what you want to do. “