Rowing Across the Pacific Podcast

On 22 April 1972 Sylvia Cook became the first woman to row an ocean, after traversing the Pacific with the late John Fairfax. Today, Cook lives a much more conventional life, working a few days a week in a well-known DIY chain.

‘People think it must have been really exciting to do something like that, but most of the time it's really boring,’ she tells Barney Rowntree. ‘The bits that aren't boring are just terrifying.’

During the duo's journey, their boat suffered damaged when it ran aground on a remote island and Fairfax was attacked by a shark, but the pair persevered, reaching the finish line in Australia after an exhausting 363 day adventure.

Produced by Barney Rowntree for Avaunt Magazine