British Woman Becomes Fastest In World To Row Solo From San Francisco To Hawaii

A British woman has become the fastest woman in the world to row solo from San Francisco to Honolulu, Hawaii.

Lia Ditton, 40, completed the journey in 86 days, 10 hours, five minutes and 56 seconds after starting from San Francisco on June 17, thereby breaking British rower Roz Savage's 2008 record of 100 days. She achieved her goal on Sep. 12 as she reached the Waikiki Yacht Club on the island of O'ahu at 6:10 a.m.

In June, another rower, Angela Madsen, 60, died during a similar voyage from Southern California to Hawaii. Madsen, a U.S. Marine veteran and a Paralympian who won a bronze medal in shot put at the 2012 London Summer Paralympics, reportedly died while conducting an underwater maintenance work on her boat in June.

During her voyage, Ditton used to post daily on Instagram about her adventures. She battled an unspecified illness, overcame a lot of hardships including food shortage, adverse water currents along with unruly winds and a shark encounter during her journey, which she described as the "greatest psychological challenge" of her life, Sky News reported.

The record-breaking journey nearly ended just a day after it began when she had to row past waves the size of buildings near the Continental Shelf in the Pacific Ocean. She faced yet another adversity on July 6, when her 21-foot boat capsized, the report added. The boat developed cracks at the base but Ditton managed to fix the issue and move forward.

Ditton received a warm welcome at the Waikiki Yacht Club. The club commodore Hideki Hayashi described her voyage as "a remarkable feat of endurance and determination".

Ditton is next planning to attempt a 5,500-mile journey from Japan to San Francisco in 2021, the news outlet reports.