Ocean rower sets world record for crossing the Pacific, facing an avalanche of water and the threat of death with two capsizes
- Lia Ditton arrives in Hawaii after 86 days at sea, despite packing 75 days worth of food and being rolled twice by freak waves like she has never seen before
- The epic adventure is just ‘the half marathon before the marathon’ as she prepares for a crossing from Japan to San Francisco
Few of us ever really have to contemplate our mortality, but Lia Ditton came face to face with her demise and had no choice but to push through. Ditton, 40, pulled into Hawaii last week after 86 days at sea, setting the women’s record for rowing solo and unsupported across the Pacific, from San Francisco.
The British adventurer has already completed a number of shorter rows around the West Coast of the US, including Portland, Oregon to San Francisco (2019), San Francisco to Los Angeles (2018), around Farallon Islands and back into San Francisco Bay (2018).
Ditton has crossed oceans 14 times in sail boats, three times solo. She has also rowed across the Atlantic, but two capsizes in the latest expedition made it the hardest and most dangerous yet.
“I was rolled by an avalanche of water, a freak wave that was breaking and breaking and breaking over itself. I’d never seen anything like it before,” she said.
Ocean rowing boats self right when the cabin doors are shut because of the weight of the hull and the air trapped in the cabins, but for some reason Ditton’s did not. She was miraculously able to roll it back herself.