Atlantic challenge speeds up for Thirsk teacher
Jasmine Harrison is rowing from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean.
Last updated 2nd Feb 2021
A part-time teacher and bartender from Thirsk is edging closer to the finish line of her 3,000 mile journey.
21 year old Jasmine Harrison is aiming to become the first female to row the Atlantic solo.
She set off in mid-December, and across her journey will face 20 foot waves, drink 10 litres of water a day and row 1.5 million oar strokes.
Her boat is just 7 metres in length and weighs just 250kg. She's rowed nearly 2,000 nautical miles, with just over 1,000 to go; a day's rowing can range from 40-60 miles.
Speaking to Greatest Hits Radio from her boat, Jasmine says: "It was quite quiet recently and I was rowing quite a lot. However, the last couple of days I've managed to pick up some speed and the day before I saw some dolphins.
"Hopefully I've only got less than three weeks left actually at sea, which is good because I'm starting to run out of my nice snacks!
"I'm about ready to head into Antigua, but at the same time I'm going to miss being out here. One day I'll do 40 miles, and the next I do 60 just because of the way I'm feeling and the weather".
Jasmine recently had a near miss with a huge boat which dwarfed the size of hers: "This boat was around 185 feet long, and my alarm system set off when it was about 2 miles away.
"It happened early in the morning, and when I looked outside it was coming straight at me, and was lit up like a Christmas tree. It was heading for me at about 11 knots.
"I tried to call them on the radio and altered my course. It was quite scary, but I knew that I could at least row half the width of that boat. I was considering though that I might capsize.
"I managed to get them on the radio, which was fortunate!"
Jasmine also says breaking the world record would be impressive, but it's not her main motivation: "It would mean a lot to do it as the youngest, but it's not my main priority. I'm doing this because I want to.
"It is a selling point to say that you're the youngest, but it seems that everyone else is a lot more bothered about that fact than I am".
The route itself is from La Gomera in the Canary Islands to Nelsons Dockyard (Antigua) in the Caribbean. The team, called 'Rudderly Mad' is raising money for ShelterBox.