Sarah Dilys Outen (born 26 May 1985) is a British athlete and adventurer. She is also a

motivational speaker A motivational speaker (or inspirational speaker) is a speaker who makes speeches intended to motivate or inspire an audience. Such speakers may attempt to challenge or transform their audiences. The speech itself is popularly known as a pep ta ...

in the UK and internationally. Outen was the first woman and the youngest person to row solo across the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

and also the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

from

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

. She completed a round-the-world journey, mostly under her own power, by rowing boat, bicycle and kayak, on 3 November 2015.

Education

Outen attended Stamford High School before reading Biology at

St Hugh's College, Oxford St Hugh's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It is located on a site on St Margaret's Road, to the north of the city centre. It was founded in 1886 by Elizabeth Wordsworth as a ...

where she started rowing in 2004.

Projects

Rowing solo across the Indian Ocean

After an eleven-day failed attempt which she dubbed her 'Warm Up Lap', Outen set out again from

Fremantle, Western Australia Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia located at the mouth of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australi ...

, on 1 April 2009 in her 19 ft boat called ''Serendipity''. She rowed for 124 days, 14 hours and 9 minutes before arriving at Bois des Amourettes, on the island of

Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...

, on 3 August 2009. She was the first woman to attempt the crossing single-handedly, and only the fourth person to ever complete a solo crossing. She was also the youngest person and the first woman to row alone across the Indian Ocean. Her journey raised more than £30,000 for two charities, Arthritis Care and Arthritis Research Campaign. She dedicated the crossing to the memory of her father who died in 2006. She was elected Fellow of the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

shortly afterwards and awarded three

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, list ...

for her crossing.

London2London: Via the World

On 1 April 2011, Outen set off on an expedition called "London2London: Via the World". This mostly solo loop of the planet included the first attempt by a woman to row across the north Pacific Ocean. She rowed, cycled and

kayak ] A kayak is a small, narrow human-powered watercraft typically propelled by means of a long, double-bladed paddle. The word ''kayak'' originates from the Inuktitut word '' qajaq'' (). In British English, the kayak is also considered to be ...

ed her way eastward from London around the world, sharing stories about the adventure and experience. The journey was scheduled to take 2.5 years to complete. During her expedition, she cycled across Europe and Asia, rowed across the north Pacific, and cycled across parts of the United States and Canada to

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer months. The ...

, before rowing across the

North Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for ...

to the UK. In the spring of 2012, during her first attempt on the Pacific leg, her vessel ''Gulliver'' was damaged in a storm and she had to be rescued. After several months spent recovering, she restarted her journey in Japan aboard a new seven-metre vessel named ''Happy Socks.'' As of 19 June 2013, she had achieved 1097 nautical miles on her row across the Pacific. She communicated about her trip using a

satellite phone A satellite telephone, satellite phone or satphone is a type of mobile phone that connects to other phones or the telephone network by radio link through satellites orbiting the Earth instead of terrestrial cell sites, as cellphones do. Therefo ...

, filing periodic "phonecasts" from her boat. On 23 September 2013, after 150 days and 3,750 miles at sea, Outen became the first woman to row solo from Japan to Alaska as well as the first woman to complete a mid-Pacific row from West to East. She arrived at

Adak Island Adak Island (, ; ) or Father Island is an island near the western extent of the Andreanof Islands group of the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. Alaska's southernmost city, Adak, is located on the island. The island has a land area of , measuring lo ...

in the

Aleutian Islands The Aleutian Islands ( ; ; , "land of the Aleuts"; possibly from the Chukchi language, Chukchi ''aliat'', or "island")—also called the Aleut Islands, Aleutic Islands, or, before Alaska Purchase, 1867, the Catherine Archipelago—are a chain ...

, rowing to within half a mile of a rocky coastline before being towed through the channel between Adak and

Kagalaska Island Kagalaska Island (; ) is an island in the Andreanof Islands of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. The island is in length and wide. It is separated from Adak Island to the west by Kagalaska Strait (Aakayuudax̂ in Aleut) which is approximately wi ...

. She was originally bound for Canada, but punishing currents and inclement weather forced her to change destinations for Alaska. SDO riding past LRLH jeh

In May 2014 she returned to Adak and kayaked 2500 km along the Aleutian island chain and Alaskan Peninsula with Justine Curgenven, to the nearest road in Homer. There is no documentation of anyone else completing this journey in modern times, which involved many long crossings in uncharted waters with strong currents of unknown strength and direction. It took 101 days. From Homer, she got back on her bike and cycled through the Winter to the East coast of America. In September 2014 she crossed the border into Canada, arrived in New York on 12 March 2015, and left Cape Cod on 14 May. On 5 July she reported that a wave had torn off the rudder of her rowboat. On 6 October, having been at sea for 143 days but beset by

Hurricane Joaquin Hurricane Joaquin ( ; ) was a powerful tropical cyclone that devastated several districts of The Bahamas and caused damage in the Turks and Caicos Islands, parts of the Greater Antilles, and Bermuda. It was also the strongest Atlantic hurricane ...

, she abandoned the Atlantic crossing. She completed the journey at

Tower Bridge Tower Bridge is a Listed building#Grade I, Grade I listed combined Bascule bridge, bascule, Suspension bridge, suspension, and, until 1960, Cantilever bridge, cantilever bridge in London, built between 1886 and 1894, designed by Horace Jones ...

in London on 3 November 2015.

Honours

She was elected a Fellow of the

following her successful Indian Ocean crossing in 2009. Outen was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in the

2011 Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours 2011 for the Commonwealth realms were announced on 11 June 2011 in the United Kingdom,United Kingdom: New Zealand,University of Leicester The University of Leicester ( ) is a public university, public research university based in Leicester, England. The main campus is south of the city centre, adjacent to Victoria Park, Leicester, Victoria Park. The university's predecessor, Univ ...

awarded her an honorary Doctor of Laws.

Publishing

Her first book ''A Dip in the Ocean: Rowing Solo Across The Indian Ocean'' was published by

Summersdale Summersdale Publishers Ltd (often simply Summersdale) is an English independent publishing firm of non-fiction. The company is based in Chichester, West Sussex. Founded in 1990 by Stewart Ferris and Alastair Williams, it has since published ov ...

on 7 February 2011. Her second book ''Dare to Do: Taking on the planet by bike and boat'', which follows her London2London expedition, was published by

Nicholas Brealey Publishing John Murray is a Scottish publisher, known for the authors it has published in its long history including Jane Austen, Arthur Conan Doyle, Lord Byron, Charles Lyell, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Herman Melville, Edward Whymper, Thomas Robert ...

on 1 November 2016.

Personal life

During her crossing of the North Pacific Ocean Outen proposed to her long term girlfriend Lucy. Outen was later joined by Lucy for part of the cycle across North America. Outen and her partner live in Oxfordshire.

References

External links

Sarah Outen's expedition websiteSarah Outen photo gallery
from

BBC Radio Leicester BBC Radio Leicester is the BBC's local radio station serving the counties of Leicestershire, City of Birmingham, South Staffordshire, Nuneaton and Bedworth and Rutland. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at ...

Sarah Outen feature in WideWorld magazine
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Outen, Sarah 1985 births Living people Alumni of St Hugh's College, Oxford English female rowers Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society English lesbian sportswomen Members of the Order of the British Empire Ocean rowers People educated at Stamford High School, Lincolnshire Sportspeople from Rutland LGBTQ rowers 21st-century English sportswomen