Briton finishes first-ever solo row across the Pacific Ocean

Ontario-based John Beeden became the first person to complete a non-stop solo row across the Pacific Ocean on Sunday, finishing his journey from San Francisco to Cairns, Australia, in 209 days. To complete the 7,021-mile journey, Beeden, 53, had to average 15 hours of rowing a day; he set out on June 1, and was delayed by several weeks at sea due to bad weather.

Luckily, Beeden had experience in the open ocean: He rowed across the Atlantic just four years ago. His wife, Cheryl, commented to the BBC that, "I kind of think it's like childbirth because he says he's not going to get in another boat for a while — but I am sure in a couple of weeks he'll be having some other adventure, and I will have to restrain him a little bit."

Peter Bird attempted the same record in the Pacific in 1983, but had to be rescued by the Australian navy 294 days later.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Speaking to The Globe and Mail, Beeden said the trip was "10, 15, 100 times harder than I thought it would be."

“Here at last!" he wrote in a blog post after arriving. "Just got back to the hotel and going to have a shower and a rest […] It will be great to not have to get up and row for 15 hours."