Cambridge woman Zara Lachlan reaches halfway in solo Atlantic row

A 21-year-old woman from Cambridge who is hoping to become the youngest person to row solo from mainland Europe to South America has passed the halfway point of her journey.

Zara Lachlan has covered more than 2,050 miles of her record-breaking 4,000-mile solo and unsupported row across the Atlantic.

During the journey she has faced a broken oar, vicious weather that caused her boat to roll, damage to some of her communication equipment, encounters with orcas and sharks – and a near collision with a larger vessel.

About her most recent setbacks, Zara said: “In the past 24 hours I’ve had three things which I'll update you on.

“I had a small cut that just bled a lot. I’m fine, but when I was washing it off in the sea a couple of minutes later a shark appeared, which was pretty cool. It hung round for quite a while – about an hour. It was not a great white shark as it was brown, so you could call it a ‘great brown shark’!

“Also in the early hours of this morning whilst it was still dark, I had a very large ship not turning on its radio and heading straight towards me. I could see on the AIS here they were going to go and it was directly towards me, so I got on the radio and I used a white flare, but they still didn’t reply.

“They missed me by 0.1 of a mile, which is nothing! It’s ridiculous. I’m really angry at them because I can’t do anything about that. So I’m very grateful that I’m OK.”

In spite of this, Zara is still making good time, rowing 16 and a half hours a day as she heads towards her end goal off the coast of French Guiana.

Zara added: “So I’m going to rest from 9pm to midnight, 3am to 6am and then 1pm to 2.30pm.

“That’s so I can do stuff whilst it’s still hot, like clean the boat as I don’t want to get in the water whilst it’s still cold, and I also need to eat!”

As Zara is not a strong swimmer, one of her fears going into the challenge was cleaning the bottom of her boat regularly to reduce drag, something that requires her to dive under the boat in the middle of the ocean.

“The idea of not seeing the sea floor doesn’t really bother me. I’ve never been in the ocean really.

“What I don’t like is, as I don’t like being in the water, is the feeling of being out of breath and the feeling of needing to come up for air.

“But you have to properly get under the boat which for me makes me scared. With a boat above you, you then have to pick a side to swim to come up for air. But then it’s quite wavey today, when you come up for air a big wave will come and you end up drinking half the water!”

At the end of her challenge, Zara will be the first woman and youngest person ever to complete any mainland trans-Atlantic crossing and will become a world record holder.

Zara is hoping her efforts will inspire women and girls into sport and she is also planning to host a talk from the ocean for schools across the UK.

“I know it seems like an extreme way to inspire other women to get into fitness, but I want people to realise their potential and, if I can complete this challenge having never rowed on the ocean before, then other women can attempt a challenge of their own, albeit probably not a cross-Atlantic row!”

Having just completed her physics degree at Loughborough University, Zara will be joining the Army on her return as a technical officer.

She is raising money for two charities through her record-breaking trip, Team Forces and Women in Sport.

Major General Lamont Kirkland, CEO of Team Forces, said: “Team Forces is delighted to be supporting Zara on her record-breaking expedition attempt.

“It’s been incredibly impressive to see that her focus has never wavered from the ambitious goal she has set herself. It’s doubly astounding when you recall that this 21-year-old had never rowed a boat on the sea in her life until this year. Zara is on her way to becoming a legend!”

Zara is carrying 800kg of supplies in her boat including 5,500kcal of meals and snacks per day – which she is eating cold!

The only assistance permitted throughout the challenge is meteorological, from onshore weather routers.