All-women team to row 6 weeks across Atlantic for ocean conservation

Four marine scientists are demonstrating their passion for ocean conservation by rowing across the Atlantic Ocean.

The race is hailed as the World’s Toughest Row. Teams must row without stopping and without support — from San Sebastian de La Gomera in the Canary Islands to Nelson’s Dockyard in Antigua.

Canada’s team — Salty Science — is made up of all women scientists from B.C. and Alaska.

They expect the voyage will take 40 to 55 days, with physical exhaustion, challenging weather and sleep deprivation part of the mix. The team will spend 24 hours a day on the 28-foot rowboat.

Two people will row for two hours while the other two sleep.

Salty Science member Lauren Shea, a master’s student at the UBC Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, came up with the idea and convinced her teammates to join her.

"I saw the race finish, and the first time I saw it finished, I was like, 'Wow, why would you want to do that?’” says Shea.

After sending out a few messages, people jumped on board with the idea.

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Crewmate Isabelle Côté, a professor of marine biology at Simon Fraser University, says the mission shows the depth of their passion for the ocean.

"I partly want to be a role model for older women and demonstrate that life doesn't end at 60,” she says. “You can do these wacky crazy things well beyond that."

Côté’s former PhD student Chantale Bégin is the third crewmate, now a professor at the University of South Florida. Noelle Helder with the University of Alaska Fairbanks rounds out the team. She met Shea in undergrad.

The women have been able to get together and train over the past few years and are eagerly anticipating the Dec. 12. race start date, weather permitting.

“We are willing to do something extraordinarily difficult to convince people that the oceans are worth working for,” says Côté.

Shea hopes this voyage will inspire other people to do things that are really awesome and really hard.

“Sometimes your actions feel really small as one person, but when you bring them together as a big collective, you can do a lot,” she says.

Rules of the 'World's Toughest Row'

Once the race starts, one person needs to be in the boat at all times.

Crewmates can go for a swim, or clean the barnacles off the boat, but they’ll need to stay attached with a tether and clipped on.

They must bring 4,000 calories of food a day, which is twice more than what they’d normally eat.