Laura Penhaul

Laura grew up in Cambrose, near Redruth and attended Trewirgie Junior School and Redruth School. In April 2015, she set out with three other women to row from the USA to Australia. The women named themselves the ‘Coxless Crew’, and their boat was called Doris.

The journey took 257 days. It was rowed in three stages – from the USA to Hawaii, from Hawaii to Samoa, and from Samoa to Australia. The crew rowed for 24 hours a day in shifts of two hours. To find the energy, they ate around 5,000 calories a day (almost double the recommended amount for a woman). Their row was finally completed when they arrived in Cairns in Australia on Monday 25th January 2016.

The women set two world records, becoming the first all-female crew to row the Pacific and the first four-person crew to row the Pacific. The journey also helped to raise money for two charities, Walking With the Wounded and Breast Cancer Care. A documentary film called Losing Sight of Shore has been made about the journey.

The other women in the Coxless Crew were Natalia Cohen and Emma Mitchell, Isabel Burnham (who rowed the first stage), Lizanne Van Vuuren (second stage) and Meg Dyos (third stage).