Rosalind (Roz) Savage was born on 23 December 1967 in Cheshire, UK. She showed neither ability nor enthusiasm for sport while at school, but took up rowing when she arrived at University College, Oxford, because she wanted to be able to eat more without getting fat. She took to rowing with all the zeal of the convert, and went on to gain two half-blues for representing Oxford against Cambridge, in 1988 and 1989. In the summer of 1988, she took part in the Greek Trireme expedition, rowing a reconstruction of an ancient Greek battleship around the Aegean Sea with a crew of 170 oarsmen.
Roz graduated in 1989 with an honours degree in Law and worked in management consultancy and IT project management for corporate London firms before she finally realised at the age of 34 that there might be more to life than a steady income and a house in the suburbs.
After a year of dabbling in a number of projects inspiration finally struck, and on 11 November 2004 she announced her intention to compete solo in the 2005 Atlantic rowing race. Combining the elements of adventure, travel, physical challenge, environmental awareness and solitude.
In 2005-06 Roz completed her first ocean row, an epic 103-day crossing of the Atlantic from the Canary Islands to Antigua. In 2007 Roz’s first attempt to cross the Pacific Ocean ended after 10 days when stormy weather forced her boat to capsize 3 times in 24 hours, losing vital equipment. On 25 May 2008 she returned, leaving San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge and spending 99 days at sea, becoming the first woman to row from California to Hawaii.
In May 2009 Roz began the second stage of her Pacific Row, spending 104 days at sea between Waikiki and Tarawa. She completed the Pacific crossing with a third stage from Tarawa to Madang in Papua New Guinea.
In 2011 Roz completed her third ocean crossing, from Western Australia to Mauritius. She now holds four world records for ocean rowing, including first woman to row three oceans: the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian. She was the 2010 National Geographic Adventurer of the Year and is an elected fellow of both the Royal Geographical Society and the Explorers Club of New York. Roz has rowed over 15,000 miles, taken around 5 million oarstrokes, and spent cumulatively over 500 days of her life at sea in a 23-foot rowboat. She uses her ocean rowing adventures to inspire action on the top environmental challenges facing the world today.
Official Website: www.rozsavage.com
Twitter: @RozSavage
