Women of the Water: Risk, Reward, and Rowing Across the Pacific

When 17-year-old Lena Kurbiel messaged Liz Wardley asking to row the Pacific together in The World’s Toughest Row, Liz didn’t hesitate—she said no.

Liz had just completed a solo Atlantic Ocean crossing in her Rannoch-built rowboat, Tic Tac, and the plan had been simple: row one ocean and be done. After all, she’ll tell anyone who asks she’s not a rower. But the moment her feet hit land, something shifted. The next day, she announced she’d row the Pacific too—which required a partner.

“I went into a bit of a spin thinking about who would fit my headspace at that minute,” Liz says. She pictured a strong rower with offshore experience, preferably male, and someone she’d sailed with before.

- Rowing aboard the beloved 'Tic-Tac'

Lena, though a French National Champion rower, didn’t tick enough boxes. Liz sent a polite no back and moved on. But the decision didn’t sit right.

“I thought, I’ve just done exactly what everyone did to me when I was 17.”

Back then, Liz had been walking the docks after finishing high school, asking for a chance to sail offshore. Most people laughed or brushed her off. So, she built herself up: she learned hydraulics, sail making, and rigging. She raced Hobie and beach cats. Eventually, she sailed around the world with Team SCA—among many other adventures—and logged over half a million nautical miles.

“For that reason only, I picked up the phone and told Lena, ‘Right, we’re going to give this a crack.’”

- Lena at rowing practice

Their decision raised eyebrows. Why bring on a teenager with no ocean experience? But Liz stuck by it.

“I had to just brush all that off and believe in my decision.”

They trained during Lena's school holidays, borrowing a boat and living aboard at a UK marina in freezing temperatures. Liz drilled her in the basics, then handed over responsibility to see how she’d handle it. She also worried about how her own intensity would land.

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“People who know me said, ‘You’re going to break this poor girl,’” she says. “I'm not always a very easy person. I expect a lot of myself, and that can come off on others. But I had to be myself. If she didn’t like it in training, it would be worse halfway across the Pacific.”

Ten days later, Lena was still in. The next time they saw each other was at the start line in Monterey, California—just five months after Liz had completed the Atlantic.

- Liz and Lena wearing the Women's Adelphi Hooded long sleeve to protect them on the row

Leaving Monterey is notoriously rough. Their first week brought bad wave angles, erratic seas, freezing temps, and dense fog. It took Liz back to her first week alone on the Atlantic: relentless swells, two knockdowns, and rowing nonstop for over nine hours to stay on course. That crossing had included a capsize—but she finished first among women and third overall in the solo class, smashing the previous female solo record by 15 days.

Now, she had that hard-won confidence to draw on—and to offer Lena.

“It’s not something I knew until I’d rowed across an ocean,” Liz says. “I could tell her, ‘This is normal, it’s good, keep rowing.’”

She kept things light when possible. When Lena got knocked off her seat by a wave, Liz opened the hatch, saw her teammate’s wide eyes, and deadpanned, “You good? ...Nah, you’re fine,” before closing it again.

They developed a rhythm, adjusting shifts based on fatigue, weather, and their position in the fleet. They rowed together by day and, through the night, alternated short stints: 90 minutes on, 30 minutes off.

Despite their rough start, they led the race for 20 days. Their southern strategy gave them an early edge—until shifting conditions favoured teams farther north. Liz and Lena missed the current they’d aimed for, and a four-man crew overtook them. 

“Still, it was amazing to lead the fleet for that long,” Liz says.

- Liz & Lena Leaving Monterey in California

Even as others gained, there was never tension between them. Liz saw how hard Lena worked and never questioned her effort.

“It was obvious she was doing everything she could.”

On the final day, they caught sight of Kaua‘i at dawn.

“I said to Lena, ‘You need to enjoy this day. We’ll still go as fast as we can, but you don’t know if you’ll get the opportunity to be somewhere like this again.’”

They’d kept up an intense pace for the previous ten days. Another team slipped ahead by just hours, and when the pair rowed into Hanalei Bay after 37 days, 16 hours, and 33 minutes, they finished third overall and second in their division.

At the Hanalei Pier, a crowd cheered as they lit flares to mark the finish. Lena became the youngest person to row the Mid-Pacific. Liz joined the elite two-ocean rowers club.

"It was a great honour and the best experience to be able to row with Liz," said Lena from the podium. “The limits I thought I had; I pushed them all the way to the max. I didn’t know what I had inside of me before doing the crossing.”

 

- Liz & Lena At the finish line in Hawaii

After a month at sea, the women don’t necessarily know each other deeply. Between the noise of wind and water, conversation was difficult and rare. Besides, if only one was rowing, the other usually slept or ate.

“We’re different people, and our age gap is big,” Liz says. “But we’re bonded for life by an incredible experience.”

Liz gave Lena the shot she never got at 17—knowing it might cost her. She put her own goals on the line, and watched Lena row to a world record at the age Liz was still hearing no. That’s what it means to lead—with trust, risk, and a belief in someone else’s potential.

Author - Danielle Baker

Images courtesy of - Liz Wardley