Ocean rowing

The pair left Battery Park, Manhattan, on 6 June 1896, arriving on the Isles of Scilly, 55 days and 13 hours later, having covered 3,250 nautical miles (3,740 mi; 6,020 km).

[3] 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.

On 25 April 2023, Aurimas Valujavičius reached the United States becoming the third person in the world and the first Lithuanian to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean from Europe.

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.

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.

[10] 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.

[17] On 3 December 1999, Tori Murden of the United States became the first woman to row any ocean solo when she arrived in Guadeloupe, having set off from Tenerife in the Canary Islands 81 days earlier.

The fastest unsupported row from the United States to England was set in 2005 by The Ocean Fours (NL) (Gijs Groeneveld, Robert Hoeve, Jaap Koomen, Maarten Staarink) with the Vopak Victory.

Their boat Artemis Investments left New York on 17 June 2010 and arrived in St Mary's on 31 July 2010 in a time of 43 days 21 hours 26 mins and 48 seconds.

[21][22] A fourteen-man British and Irish crew skippered by Leven Brown aboard La Mondiale set a new world record crossing the mid-Atlantic from east-to-west, Gran Canaria to Barbados, of 33 days, 7 hours, and 30 minutes from 15 December 2007, to 17 January 2008.

[26][27] From 10 October 2011 to 11 March 2012, Erden Eruç set the record for the longest distance rowed across the Atlantic, solo and nonstop, crossing from Lüderitz, Namibia to Güiria, Venezuela along a route of 5,029 nmi (9,314 km; 5,787 mi) in 153+1⁄2 days.

[25] In 2018, Bryce Carlson of the United States set the record for the fastest solo crossing of the North Atlantic Ocean from St John's, Newfoundland, Canada to St Mary's, Isles of Scilly, England,[29] the first American to complete a North Atlantic crossing,[30] aboard the custom built 20 ft (6.1 m) boat Lucille.

The journey of 2,302 nmi (4,263 km; 2,649 mi) set a record crossing time of 38 days, 6 hours and 49 minutes from 27 June to 4 August 2018, at an average speed of 2.5 knots (4.6 km/h; 2.9 mph).

[33] The fastest team of eight to row across the Atlantic on the Trade Winds 1 route was achieved by Simon Chalk, Paul Williams, Matthew Inglesby, Matthew Mason, James Prior, Oliver Waite, Gavin Emmerson (all UK) and Yaacov Mutnikas (Lithuania) who rowed a distance of (4808 km) 2569 nautical miles from Puerto Mogan, Gran Canaria to Port St. Charles, Barbados at an average speed of 3.29 knots between 10 February and 15 March 2014.

Second place went to the French crew of Atlantik Challenge, Joseph Le Guen and his partner, a double convicted murderer, Pascal Blond.

[citation needed] On 26 December 2015, British-born Canadian, John Beeden, 53, became the first person to successfully row non-stop, unassisted from North America to Australia covering 7400 nautical miles in 209 days.

[43] On 18 June 2019, Jacob Adoram Hendrickson set the Guinness World Record for completing the longest solo, nonstop, unassisted ocean row across the Pacific from North America.

The crew consisted of Bernard Fisset (Belgium); Doug Tuminello, Brian Flick and Angela Madsen (USA); and Helen Taylor, Ian Couch, Simon Chalk and Paul Cannon (UK).

The Ocean Angels (www.oceanangels.co.uk) supported Breast Cancer Care on their journey, consisting of Fiona Waller, Sarah Duff, Elin Davies and Joanna Jackson.

On 5 August 2013, Maxime Chaya (Lebanon) and his two teammates Stuart Kershaw (England) and Livar Nysted (Faroe Islands) arrived in Mauritius 57 days, 15 hours, and 49 minutes with the average speed of 2.27 knots[65] after setting off from Geraldton, Western Australia aboard rowboat tRIO.

[66] The fastest crossing of the Indian Ocean was set in 2014 by a six-man crew aboard Avalon: (Leven Brown, Jamie Douglas-Hamilton, Tim Spiteri, Fiann Paul, Cameron Bellamy and Heather Rees-Gaunt) with a crossing time of 57 days from 10 hours and 58 mins from Geraldton, Australia to Victoria, Mahe, Seychelles with an average speed of 2.65 knots covering distance 600 nautical miles longer than the previous world record holders which calculates into approximately 10 days advantage over the previous record holders.

[69] Polar Row I: The fastest crossing of the Arctic Ocean was set in 2017 by a five-man crew aboard Polar Row I, (Fiann Paul, Tor Wigum, Tathagata Roy, Carlo Facchino, Jeff Willis) with a crossing time of 7 days and 7 hours, from Tromsø, Norway to Hornsund and next to Longyearbyen (additional 36h), Svalbard, with an average speed of 2,58 knots.

[72][73] Fiann organized Team Polar Row III (Fiann Paul, Carlo Facchino, James Plumley, Arnar Már Árnason, Gísli Hjartarson, Yngvi Yngvason)[74] and attempted to have 4 new rowers transported to Jan Mayen by a private plane from Iceland, but the airplane didn't receive the landing permit due to military restrictions on Jan Mayen.

[citation needed] In 2010, Sir Richard Branson sponsored the inaugural multi boat race, called Virgin GB Row 2010.

The men's crew in Orca were forced to retire as the boat lost its anchor at Wolf Rock, off Lands End, leaving the ladies crew to complete the race in 51 days, setting a world record as the fastest unsupported female four to complete the entire challenge, starting and finishing at Tower Bridge in London.

The all female crew was composed of Belinda Kirk, 35, from Bristol, Royal Navy nurse Laura Thomasson, 23, from Kent, IT support manager Beverley Ashton, 29, from Oxfordshire, and former US Marine Angela Madsen, 50 from Long Beach, California, rowing Go Commando.

[77] In 2018, Andrew Hodgson became the first person to row solo around Great Britain in a time of 175 days 2 hours and 51 minutes in his boat Spirit of Ahab.

The six-man crew also included first mate Colin O'Brady, Cameron Bellamy, Andrew Towne, Jamie Douglas Hamilton, and John Petersen.

Organised by the NOMAN is an Island: Race to End HPV Campaign[80] the record is held by Team Monex Europe, who completed the crossing of the Balearic Sea in 54h30 minutes in July 2019.