An Austrian woman set a unique milestone when she joined an expedition to Antarctica and came back with 10 Guinness World Records. After enduring frigid conditions, frostbite, and sleep deprivation while rowing 407 nautical miles (753.7 km) on open waters in Antarctica from January 11 to 17, 31-year-old Lisa Farthofer became the first woman to row on the Southern Ocean. She is also the first woman to row across open Arctic waters.
Lisa, who is a professional sailor and rower, was part of an expedition alongside Fiann Paul (Iceland), Mike Matson (USA), Jamie Douglas-Hamilton (UK), Stefan Ivanov (Bulgaria), and Brian Krauskopf (USA). According to the record book, the team-on board the rowing boat Mrs. Chippy-set off to row 1,500 km (932 m) from the Antarctic Peninsula, past Elephant Island, and to South Georgia. They were retracing the steps of a 1915 voyage carried out by Ernest Shackleton and his crew from Elephant Island to South Georgia.
‘Due to illness and injury within the crew, Lisa and the guys had to abandon their mission at the half-way point’. ‘However, the abrupt end to their journey did not prevent them from earning an impressive string of Guinness World Records titles’, according to the GWR report. They obtained eight records collectively, which are:
- First human-powered expedition in the Southern Ocean
- Fastest row on the Southern Ocean
- First human-powered expedition on the Scotia Sea
- First human-powered expedition from the Antarctic
- Fastest Polar row
- Longest distance rowed on the Southern Ocean
- First human-powered expedition on the Southern Ocean (South to North)
- Southernmost start of a rowing expedition
These eight records were obtained by every man on this expedition, while the superwoman from Austria obtained a total of 10 Guinness World Records.
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