An All-Female British Crew Just Rowed Across the Pacific Ocean

An all-female team of British athletes just rowed their way into the history books.

According to The Guardian, the six-member team—which calls itself the Coxless Crew—launched from San Francisco last April in a 29-foot boat named Doris. They spent most of the past year navigating their way across more than 9600 miles of rough, and sometimes shark-infested waters. Finally, after 257 days, they reached Queensland, Australia—becoming the first crew of women (and the first crew rowing four at a time) to cross the Pacific Ocean.

The Coxless Crew split the journey into three legs. Three of its members—Laura Penhaul, Natalia Cohen, Emma Mitchell—rowed all three of them, while crew mates Isabel Burnham, Lizanne van Vuuren, and Meg Dyos completed one leg each. During the journey, the women rowed 24 hours a day, taking turns in two-hour shifts. Despite bad weather, hunger, fatigue, and physical exhaustion, they only made two pit stops on land.

According to Refinery 29, the record-breaking trip was filmed for a documentary, Losing Sight of Shore, and is helping to raise money for the charities Walking With the Wounded and Breast Cancer Care. To learn more about the Coxless Crew’s incredible feat, check out the above video from CNN or read their blog for a first-hand account.

All images courtesy of YouTube.