Roz Savage
Encyclopedia
Rosalind Savage (born 23 December 1967) is a British ocean rower and amateur runner, now pursuing a career as an environmental advocate, writer and motivational speaker.
. She took up rowing at University College
, Oxford
, and went on to gain two half-blues for representing Oxford
against Cambridge
, and to win blades with the Univ Women's 1st VIII in 1988 and 1989.
By 2001, at age 34, she was a management consultant and investment banker. On a train trip that year, however, she sketched obituaries for the life she was living and the one she really wanted. Their disparity spurred her to give up her steady income and big house in the suburbs. An extra-marital affair initiated by Savage led to her divorcing her husband of five years - she admits in her book Rowing the Atlantic: Lessons Learned on the Open Ocean.
In 2003, she became a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society
and took part in an Anglo-American expedition that discovered Inca ruins in the Andean cloudforests near Machu Picchu
. She then spent an additional three months in Peru
, travelling solo and researching her first book, Three Peaks in Peru.
She ran in the London
and New York
marathon
s, finishing in the top 2% of women in each, and has run a personal best of 3 hours 19 minutes.
Her story was filmed as A Little Silver Boat in a Big Silver Sea as part of the ITV1
documentary television series Is It Worth It?, first broadcast on Monday, 12 March 2007 in the UK.
as the only solo female competitor, taking 103 days to complete the crossing. This she did unsupported, despite breaking all four of her oars and having to row with patched-up oars for more than half the race. Her cooking stove failed after only 20 days, then her navigation equipment and music player. She managed to maintain her daily weblog right up until day 80 when her satellite phone
failed, leaving only the movement detected by her positional transponder
.
Despite all this, and the danger of having to cut off the rope to her failed sea anchor
in 12 feet (3.7 m) waves, she arrived safely at the finish in Antigua
. She is only the 5th woman to row solo across the Atlantic from East to West.
Savage's book of her Atlantic voyage Rowing the Atlantic - Lessons Learned on the Open Ocean was published on 6 October 2009 by Simon & Schuster
.
from the US to Australia. (Maud Fontenoy
rowed solo across the Pacific in 2005, via a different route.) After successfully completing 3 stages, starting from California in Summer 2008, and breaking her journey in Hawaii
to Tuvalu
in 2009 to Papua New Guinea
in 2010, Savage accomplished her goal.
She began stage one on 12 August 2007 from Crescent City, California, and was rescued 10 days later approximately 90 miles offshore by the U.S. Coast Guard. She cited heavy weather, and a head injury, and abandoned her boat "Brocade" which was later recovered. She made another attempt on 25 May 2008 launching from Sausalito, California and arrived in Hawaii on 1 September 2008, becoming the first woman to row solo from California to Hawaii. She completed the crossing from San Francisco to Waikiki in a time of 99 days 8 hours and 55 minutes. The total distance covered was 2598 nautical miles (4,811.5 km) and took approximately one million oar strokes. En route to Hawaii, with no other vessels near, Savage was given an essential resupply of water by the two man crew of the JUNK raft
, also on a journey from California to Hawaii.
She began stage two on 24 May 2009, with intentions to arrive at the island nation of Tuvalu
2580 miles away.
On 28 August, after suffering adverse winds and currents for several days, with food supplies running low and her water-maker broken, Savage realised that she was unlikely to be able to reach Tuvalu
and reluctantly changed course for Tarawa. Some controversy surrounds her turning off her tracking beacon for several days without justification, just prior to her finish. Her boat position after she turned back on her tracking device caused more controversy among experienced ocean rowers. She arrived in Tarawa on 5 September after 104 days at sea and approximately 1.3 million oar strokes.
Savage began her third and final stage for the Pacific Row on 18 April 2010 with the intention to row to the eastern shore of Australia. After mid ocean currents gave her a more westerly course, she again changed her destination and arrived at Papua New Guinea on 8 May 2010. She reported by Twitter on 3, 1 June:35pm (UTC) that she arrived at Madang
, Papua New Guinea after 45 days at sea.
, Australia. Her route, daily locations and destination are kept secret because of the danger from pirates.
She was towed back to Australia a fortnight into the 4000 mile voyage due to a fault with the desalination machine the rowing boat was equipped with.
Roz Savage successfully completed her Indian Ocean crossing on 4 October 2011, becoming the first woman to solo row the "Big Three," the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. The crossing took 154 days.
Background
Savage was born in CheshireCheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
. She took up rowing at University College
University College, Oxford
.University College , is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2009 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £110m...
, Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
, and went on to gain two half-blues for representing Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
against Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, and to win blades with the Univ Women's 1st VIII in 1988 and 1989.
By 2001, at age 34, she was a management consultant and investment banker. On a train trip that year, however, she sketched obituaries for the life she was living and the one she really wanted. Their disparity spurred her to give up her steady income and big house in the suburbs. An extra-marital affair initiated by Savage led to her divorcing her husband of five years - she admits in her book Rowing the Atlantic: Lessons Learned on the Open Ocean.
In 2003, she became a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society
Royal Geographical Society
The Royal Geographical Society is a British learned society founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical sciences...
and took part in an Anglo-American expedition that discovered Inca ruins in the Andean cloudforests near Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu is a pre-Columbian 15th-century Inca site located above sea level. It is situated on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, which is northwest of Cusco and through which the Urubamba River flows. Most archaeologists believe that Machu Picchu was built as an estate for...
. She then spent an additional three months in Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, travelling solo and researching her first book, Three Peaks in Peru.
She ran in the London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
marathon
Marathon
The marathon is a long-distance running event with an official distance of 42.195 kilometres , that is usually run as a road race...
s, finishing in the top 2% of women in each, and has run a personal best of 3 hours 19 minutes.
Her story was filmed as A Little Silver Boat in a Big Silver Sea as part of the ITV1
ITV1
ITV1 is a generic brand that is used by twelve franchises of the British ITV Network in the English regions, Wales, southern Scotland , the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their...
documentary television series Is It Worth It?, first broadcast on Monday, 12 March 2007 in the UK.
The Atlantic
On 14 March 2006 she completed the first leg by finishing the Atlantic Rowing RaceAtlantic Rowing Race
The Atlantic Rowing Race is a challenging ocean rowing race from the Canary Islands to the West Indies, a distance of approximately 2,550 nm . The race was founded by Sir Chay Blyth and first held in 1997 with subsequent races roughly every two years since. The early races were run by Challenge...
as the only solo female competitor, taking 103 days to complete the crossing. This she did unsupported, despite breaking all four of her oars and having to row with patched-up oars for more than half the race. Her cooking stove failed after only 20 days, then her navigation equipment and music player. She managed to maintain her daily weblog right up until day 80 when her satellite phone
Satellite phone
A satellite telephone, satellite phone, or satphone is a type of mobile phone that connects to orbiting satellites instead of terrestrial cell sites...
failed, leaving only the movement detected by her positional transponder
Transponder
In telecommunication, the term transponder has the following meanings:...
.
Despite all this, and the danger of having to cut off the rope to her failed sea anchor
Sea anchor
A sea anchor, is a device external to the boat, attached to the bow used to stabilize a boat in heavy weather. It anchors not to the sea floor but to the water itself, as a kind of brake. Sea anchors are known by a number of names, such as drift anchor, drift sock, para-anchor, and boat brakes...
in 12 feet (3.7 m) waves, she arrived safely at the finish in Antigua
Antigua
Antigua , also known as Waladli, is an island in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region, the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua means "ancient" in Spanish and was named by Christopher Columbus after an icon in Seville Cathedral, Santa Maria de la...
. She is only the 5th woman to row solo across the Atlantic from East to West.
Savage's book of her Atlantic voyage Rowing the Atlantic - Lessons Learned on the Open Ocean was published on 6 October 2009 by Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster, Inc., a division of CBS Corporation, is a publisher founded in New York City in 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. It is one of the four largest English-language publishers, alongside Random House, Penguin and HarperCollins...
.
The Pacific
Shortly after her successful Atlantic crossing, she announced her bid to become the first woman to row solo across the Pacific OceanPacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
from the US to Australia. (Maud Fontenoy
Maud Fontenoy
Maud Fontenoy is a French sailor known for her rowings across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.Most recently, she completed a sailing trip around the Antarctic alone, against prevailing winds. Departed from the Réunion island on October 15, 2006, she crossed the finish line on March 14, 2007,...
rowed solo across the Pacific in 2005, via a different route.) After successfully completing 3 stages, starting from California in Summer 2008, and breaking her journey in Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
to Tuvalu
Tuvalu
Tuvalu , formerly known as the Ellice Islands, is a Polynesian island nation located in the Pacific Ocean, midway between Hawaii and Australia. Its nearest neighbours are Kiribati, Nauru, Samoa and Fiji. It comprises four reef islands and five true atolls...
in 2009 to Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
in 2010, Savage accomplished her goal.
She began stage one on 12 August 2007 from Crescent City, California, and was rescued 10 days later approximately 90 miles offshore by the U.S. Coast Guard. She cited heavy weather, and a head injury, and abandoned her boat "Brocade" which was later recovered. She made another attempt on 25 May 2008 launching from Sausalito, California and arrived in Hawaii on 1 September 2008, becoming the first woman to row solo from California to Hawaii. She completed the crossing from San Francisco to Waikiki in a time of 99 days 8 hours and 55 minutes. The total distance covered was 2598 nautical miles (4,811.5 km) and took approximately one million oar strokes. En route to Hawaii, with no other vessels near, Savage was given an essential resupply of water by the two man crew of the JUNK raft
Junk raft
A junk raft is a type of home-built watercraft made of plastic bottles or other recycled materials constructed by and for three different sorts of audiences: artists and community-minded groups organizing recreational flotillas; environmentally concerned individuals seeking to draw attention to the...
, also on a journey from California to Hawaii.
She began stage two on 24 May 2009, with intentions to arrive at the island nation of Tuvalu
Tuvalu
Tuvalu , formerly known as the Ellice Islands, is a Polynesian island nation located in the Pacific Ocean, midway between Hawaii and Australia. Its nearest neighbours are Kiribati, Nauru, Samoa and Fiji. It comprises four reef islands and five true atolls...
2580 miles away.
On 28 August, after suffering adverse winds and currents for several days, with food supplies running low and her water-maker broken, Savage realised that she was unlikely to be able to reach Tuvalu
Tuvalu
Tuvalu , formerly known as the Ellice Islands, is a Polynesian island nation located in the Pacific Ocean, midway between Hawaii and Australia. Its nearest neighbours are Kiribati, Nauru, Samoa and Fiji. It comprises four reef islands and five true atolls...
and reluctantly changed course for Tarawa. Some controversy surrounds her turning off her tracking beacon for several days without justification, just prior to her finish. Her boat position after she turned back on her tracking device caused more controversy among experienced ocean rowers. She arrived in Tarawa on 5 September after 104 days at sea and approximately 1.3 million oar strokes.
Savage began her third and final stage for the Pacific Row on 18 April 2010 with the intention to row to the eastern shore of Australia. After mid ocean currents gave her a more westerly course, she again changed her destination and arrived at Papua New Guinea on 8 May 2010. She reported by Twitter on 3, 1 June:35pm (UTC) that she arrived at Madang
Madang
Madang is the capital of Madang Province and is a town with a population of 27,420 on the north coast of Papua New Guinea. It was first settled by the Germans in the 19th century....
, Papua New Guinea after 45 days at sea.
The Indian
In April 2011, Savage set out to row across the Indian Ocean, launching from FremantleFremantle, Western Australia
Fremantle is a city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle was the first area settled by the Swan River colonists in 1829...
, Australia. Her route, daily locations and destination are kept secret because of the danger from pirates.
She was towed back to Australia a fortnight into the 4000 mile voyage due to a fault with the desalination machine the rowing boat was equipped with.
Roz Savage successfully completed her Indian Ocean crossing on 4 October 2011, becoming the first woman to solo row the "Big Three," the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. The crossing took 154 days.
Further reading
- BBC News, Tuesday, 14 March 2006
- Merco Press, Thursday 16 February 2006
- Financial Times FT.comk, 19 November 2005
- BBC Radio 4 Interview, 12 April 2006
- TheOcean.net 14 March 2006
- Yorkshire Post Today, 28 June 2006
- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/rowing/2344010/A-Life-in-Sport-Roz-Savage.html
- Radio interview on WNYC for "Rowing the Atlantic" 6 October 2009