A 60-year-old British woman has become the first-ever deaf person to set a record in rowing across the Atlantic, covering 4,828 kilometers.
Mo O'Brien and her crewmates, including her daughter, docked on the Caribbean island of Antigua, 49 days after she left the Canary Islands last December, and returned late on Thursday, January 30th, making them the fastest women's team to complete the challenge. O'Brien said she was relieved to have achieved this result.
The Ocean Rowing Association, which is responsible for monitoring ocean rowing records, confirmed that O'Brien is ranked first in the world.
O'Brien, from Bougwen Steenak in Cornwall, south-west England, rowed with her daughter Bird Watts, 32, and their friend Claire Allison (45).
They were paddled in turns for four hours, and each time, two of them were doing the job, then taking a two-hour break, in a fixed cycle for the entire race.
Besides seasickness, blisters on their skin and severe sleep deprivation, O'Brien said the trip taught the crew many lessons for how to deal with deaf people, and was determined to start a new challenge - rowing across the Pacific.
"Why not," she joked, "just give me a week to shower and wash my clothes."
The Ocean Rowing Association said that about 1083 people have rowed into the ocean since January 14, including approximately 440 crew members who crossed the Atlantic Ocean from east to west.
The British Deaf Association congratulated Mrs. O'Brien on behalf of her speaker, saying: "Mo O'Brien is an inspiration to many and an example of what deaf people can achieve."
O'Brien also hopes its accomplishment will encourage the Deaf Association, to carry out the challenge race with a team of all its deaf members.
"I feel that I can show that a person can do anything no matter what his disability is."