“What Sarah went through was just amazing. It was so dangerous,” said home team member, Ricardo. Image of Sarah upon arrival (click to enlarge)
Sarah in her boat (click to enlarge)
Emotional family reunion. Live arrival images courtesy of Sarah Outen’s website (click to enlarge)
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The quest for the first female solo row across the Indian Ocean from Oz to Mauritius – Sarah Outen has done it!
Posted: Aug 03, 2009 02:08 pm EST
(TheOceans.net) “Sarah is ok,” reported her home team after 24-year old Sarah Outen reached Mauritius during the early evening of 3 August (local time Mauritius +3 GMT). Sarah left Australia 124 days ago and became the first woman to row single handed, unsupported across the Indian Ocean from Australia to Mauritius.
Last nautical miles
Sarah’s home team reported that when she was two miles away from land the weather was a bit unstable; very windy and big waves and Sarah had a small corridor, just enough to get through safely.
A rescue plane from the Mauritius Coast Guard was circling above her as the sun was setting.
A boat with some home team members and volunteers spotted Sarah and guided her through the reefs and onto the beach.
“They managed to get the rescue boat through the reef until they were 300 m away from Sarah and from there they walked until they reached her. She’s ok, although obviously emotional right now. The boat is being tied to the rescue boat and towed to the beach,” reported the home team.
She has been welcomed at the beach by about a hundred people although it was already dark.
Sarah will give an update tomorrow.
Briton Sarah Outen left Fremantle Australia on 1 April 2009 on the Quest for the first female to row solo/unsupported across the Indian Ocean from Australia to Mauritius; a distance of about twice that of the Atlantic. She has food for up to 130 days, but is aiming to row into Mauritius after around 100 days (weather depending).
The Indian Ocean has been rowed single-handed/unsupported only twice, first in 1971 by Anders Svedlund. It took the Swedish rower 64 days to complete the journey aboard Roslagena. He completed a crossing from Kalbarri, Western Australia to Diego Suarez, Madagascar (4,313 miles).
In 2003 Brit Simon Chalk completed the solo/unsupported row in 107 days. He set out from Kalbarri, Western Australia, and arrived at Rafael Island (4,027 miles)
“A further successful solo crossing and one double handed crossing of the Indian Ocean followed Simon’s voyage in 2005 and 2007 respectively and the current record for rowing across the Indian Ocean is held by Ukrainian, Paval Rezvoy who rowed from the Cocos Islands, Australia to Mahe in the Seychelles (2,977 miles) in 57 days,” stated the Woodvale Indian Ocean Race organisers.
On 25 June 2009 the first females, Angela Madsen (USA) and Helen Taylor (UK) rowed the Indian Ocean successfully. They were part of the Woodvale Indian Ocean Race from Geraldton, Australia, to Mauritius (3,132 nautical miles).
The first female team to row across the Indian Ocean from Australia to Mauritius was Sarah Duff (26), Fiona Waller (34), Jo Jackson (28) and Elin Haf Davis (32) from the UK. They left Geraldton, Western Australia on 19 April 2009 and rowed the 3,132 nm to Port Louis, Mauritius in 78 days, 15 hours and 54 minutes (arrival date 6 July 2009)
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