Sylvia Cook is a British ocean rower and adventurer who, on 22 April 1972, became the first person to row the Pacific Ocean, in tandem with John Fairfax.[1] With this accomplishment she became the first woman to row any ocean.[2] The journey took 363 days at sea from San FranciscotoAustralia.
Cook was born to a middle-class family, the daughter of a teacher and a secretary.[3]
| External audio | |
|---|---|
 Sylvia Cook, 12:42, Avaunt podcast[4] | |
| John Fairfax and Sylvia Cook, 43:05, WNYC[5] |
Cook and John Fairfax started rowing for their cross-Pacific journey in San Francisco on 26 April 1971 in a specially designed tandem row boat called Britannia II, a self-bailing, self uprighting vessel, designed by Uffa Fox.[2]
Cook works for B&Q in Surrey, UK, where most of her co-workers had no idea she had rowed across the Pacific Ocean.[3]
Sylvia became the first woman to row an ocean.
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