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Student rows Europe to South America in 97 days

Harriet Heywood
BBC News, Cambridgeshire
Team Forces/PA Zara is holding a large Union Jack flag high above her head. She is smiling at the camera and wears a blue Team Forces branded polo shirt. Behind her is the sea. Zara has brown curly hair that looks slightly wet at the ends from the rowing. Team Forces/PA
The student is believed to have become the youngest person and first woman to row solo and unsupported from mainland Europe to mainland South America

A 21-year-old who has spent 97 days alone at sea has completed her unsupported solo row from Europe to South America.

Zara Lachlan, from Cambridge, set off from Lagos on the Portuguese Algarve on October 27 last year.

Despite close encounters with sharks, tankers and bad weather, Ms Lachlan reached French Guiana on Saturday to complete the 3,600 nautical-mile journey.

She missed beating the solo row speed record by 19 hours, but is believed to be the youngest person and first woman to row the solo unsupported journey.

Team Forces/PA Zara is rowing her boat on the sea. The sky is empty and light blue, the sea is also clear but a much darker blue. The is a line where the two appear to meet. Zara is rowing her boat and wears a baseball cap, bikini top and shorts. She looks slightly sunburnt and there is no shelter above her. Team Forces/PA
She carried 800kg of supplies in her boat, including 5,500kcal of meals and snacks per day

Ms Lachlan will join the Army in September as a technical officer, having completed a physics degree at Loughborough University.

During the journey she overcame a cut leg, an injured arm, a broken finger, capsized boat and broken equipment.

She said: "I found that last week actually really hard, because I knew I was close and it never actually felt close enough.

"But then it really snuck up on me, because French Guiana is actually very flat, and I didn't see it until I was about five miles offshore.

"And then all of a sudden I was just here, and obviously it feels nice to be done.

"Nobody knew I was coming in, but I got clapped by lots of fishermen from Brazil. I think everybody was just a little bit more confused what on Earth I was doing."

Team Forces/PA Zara is stood on her boat with both hands in the air. On the left she holds a red flare with red smoke billowing out. On the right she is holding a small Union Jack flag. Her boat has been docked and the sea around her looks calm. Team Forces/PA
Ms Lachlan arrived in French Guiana on February 1, in a time of 97 days, nine hours and 20 minutes

After a difficult start in which she said she was "going around in circles", Ms Lachlan told the PA news agency she "enjoyed every single day, even the really tough ones".

She smashed the screen of her primary phone on day 40 so she could not listen to any music, had a near miss with a ship by "0.1 of a mile" and was joined by a shark.

During the challenge she raised money for the Team Forces Foundation and Women in Sport.

She also hoped to inspire more women to take up physical activity.

Ms Lachlan said: "I learned to be a lot easier on myself because I've always been somebody that, especially when it comes to myself, looks at the outcome and the results over the effort you put in."

Additional reporting by PA Media.

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