Sylvia Cook

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 Francisco to Australia.

John Fairfax and Sylvia Cook in 1968

Early life

Cook was born to a middle-class family, the daughter of a teacher and a secretary.^[3]

Pacific crossing

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]

Later life

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]