All-female rowing team breaks world record in race across the Pacific: ‘Best Decision Ever’

Talk about crushing the competition.

Lat 35 Racing’s first all-female rowing team competed in the biannual Great Pacific Race, challenging rowers to cross 2,400 nautical miles of the Pacific Ocean from San Francisco, California to Waikiki, Hawaii, as quickly as possible.

The Lat 35 ladies – Libby Costello, Sophia Denison-Johnston, Brooke Downes and Adrienne Smith – crushed the competition.

They also set a global best for female competitors.

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The women completed the race in 34 days, 14 hours and 11 minutes, breaking the previous record by 24 hours.

Lat 35 has partnered with the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA) to raise money and raise awareness for mental health throughout the journey.

The team surpassed their goal of $10,000 and currently raised $12,083 for charity.

Teammate Brooke Downes shared the experience in an interview with Fox News Digital, reiterating the team’s mission to “get to Hawaii as soon as possible.”

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“So that’s what we did,” she said.

The rower revealed how questionable it was to break the record.

She admitted her confidence in expecting to break the record may have been “naïve” given how unpredictable the conditions on the water were.

“The last few days we’ve had really terrible conditions and our estimated time of arrival has been pushed back and forth,” she said.

The team left San Francisco on June 21 – and arrived in Waikiki on Monday, July 25.

“But on the last day we knew we were going to break a world record. It just mattered by how much.”

The team left San Francisco on June 21 – and arrived in Waikiki on Monday, July 25.

Aside from hitting rocky water at the end of the trip, Downes recalled moving “terribly slowly” about two weeks into the race due to the wind conditions.

This slow movement lasted about five days in great heat.

“That was kind of a point where I saw an opportunity for me to break the overall record, which was just really disappointing,” she said.

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“To see how defeated our whole team was – it was just pretty heartbreaking.”

But the strength of the foursome kept the boat moving as the women lifted each other and laughed through the challenging waters.

“We had so much fun out there in the middle of the ocean,” she said.

“More fun than I ever expected.”

“One day the conditions were perfect for us to jump in the water and swim,” she added.

“It was a very special day for all of us to be together, swimming at this place off the coast [where] it probably never was anyone else.”

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Downes expressed “grateful” for the support of her teammates on nights when conditions were rough and at times physically painful.

Each teammate rowed for two hours and two hours off to make up for adequate sleep — and to give team members a chance to complete other tasks, such as B. preparing freeze-dried meals and maintaining the boat.

The crew produced 25 liters of purified water per day through a pressurized system and solar power, which they used for drinking, cooking, washing up and cleaning their clothes.

“Every single day brings something new,” she said.

“But the schedule is exactly the same all the time.”

Each woman brought only enough clothing to meet all weather conditions, including rain, intense heat, and even cold.

The cabins at the fore and aft of the boat each slept two rowers, which was a tight squeeze for Downes, who is 5ft 11in.

“It’s pretty amazing how much you can fit in the boat,” she said. “But you didn’t bring anything you don’t need.”

Downes explained how each woman brought only enough clothing to handle all weather conditions, including rain, intense heat and even cold weather.

“The beginning was very cold,” she said.

“And extra cold because we would have to wear the same wet clothes to row.”

The women encountered other obstacles on the water, for example, they were hit by flying fish. Also, the boat’s rudder was knocked out of position by an unidentified sea creature – causing the boat to skid.

The boat’s bearings also began to corrode halfway through the voyage. This was caused by mixing different metals into the wheels.

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“We made it to the finish without spare wheels,” she said.

It took about a day and a half after the women first discovered Hawaii’s mountainous landscape to officially make landfall.

New Jersey-born Downes, who graduated from the University of Southern California in 2019, described the trip as “the best decision” she’s made as a rower in more than 10 years.

“I was really curious,” she said.

“I wanted to know what it’s like to be in the middle of the ocean with no one around…during this huge, incredible race.”

“I love rowing and now I want to row even more.”

The rower said “nothing would stop her” except fear, so teammate Libby Costello — a longtime friend of Downes’s — invited her to join the Lat 35 crew.

Downes accepted the offer, quit her job, and moved to Santa Barbara to begin training.

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“I figured I can either watch this whole experience and wish I would do it to her — or I can actually do it to her,” she said.

“And it was the best decision I’ve made.”

Downes, who trained for the National Rowing Team before the race, is aiming to qualify for the 2024 Olympics but said she will take some time to recover first.

“I love rowing and now I want to row even more,” she said.

Denison-Johnston is also an Olympic hope.

Downes is currently enjoying her time in Hawaii.

The record for fastest male rowers was also broken by a lat 35 team during the 2021 race.

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The men completed the race in 30 days, five hours and 37 minutes.

Downes said there have been teams in the past who have not been able to finish the race due to medical problems and have been diverted too far south by the strong currents.