Call of adventure pulls solo Queensland rower Liz Wardley to sea three times
When adventurer Liz Wardley decided she needed a new challenge, she didn’t imagine it would turn into a nearly nine-month-long journey across 13,000 kilometres of ocean.
The passionate Queensland sailor traded the wheel of her beloved ocean racer for a seven-metre rowboat, fondly named Tic Tac because it looked like a half-eaten sweet, and set off to tackle one of the world’s hardest rowing events, aptly named the World’s Toughest Row.
The 4,800-kilometre race from Spain across the Atlantic Ocean to Antigua sparked the 45-year-old’s thirst for adventure in a small rowboat.
Liz Wardley was looking for a challenge and new adventure when she signed up for the World’s Toughest Row. (ABC Wide Bay: Nikki Sorbello)
Ms Wardley, from Elliott Heads about 370km north of Brisbane, always loved sailing but the chance of a new adventure attracted her to solo rowing.
“There’s a fair few transferable skills, but definitely bobbing around in a small rowboat is very new to me,” Ms Wardley said.
“I wanted a little project that I could do everything myself, all the planning and management, and not have to answer to anybody.
“The challenge of being just one little person on a little rowboat in a big ocean was very inspiring.”
But the long months of training did not prepare her for the first crazy week.
“We had five-metre waves and 25 to 30 knots of wind,” she said.
“And I was in this seven-metre rowboat, wondering how I was going to get through the day.”
Liz Wardley battled rough seas, strong winds and bad weather during her time at sea. (Supplied: Liz Wardley)
A low-pressure system hit on Christmas day, less than a fortnight after she had left Spain.
“Probably one of the worst Christmases I’ve had,” she said.
“Because we had upwind conditions, meaning the wind was coming from the completely wrong direction and it was against us.”
But as conditions improved, so did her experience.
Some of the views during the solo row were beautiful. (Supplied: Liz Wardley)
“Hour by hour, day by day I got more confidence and started going faster and faster,” she said.
“Sometimes you would just sit out there at night rowing, just in awe of where you were.
“Big starry nights, and big seas that you can see, and you’re just a tiny boat.”
Ms Wardley finished the race on Australia Day this year, placing third overall, and was the first solo woman, breaking the female solo race record by more than 15 days.
Ms Wardley crossed the World’s Toughest Row finish line in Antigua on Australia Day, 2024. (Supplied: Liz Wardley)
One ocean was not enough
Despite being barely able to walk off her boat after 44 days at sea, Ms Wardley decided she wasn’t done yet.
After a brief trip home, she signed up to compete in the Pacific leg of the World’s Toughest Row in June this year.
Unlike the Atlantic competition, this 4,500km race didn’t permit solo racers.
So she joined forces with 17-year-old Lena Kurbiel from France, the daughter of her technical partner from the Atlantic row.
“Because of her age and lack of experience we had to requalify, borrow a boat, go over to England, and train and qualify with her in order to be able to enter the race,” Ms Wardley said.
The 45-year-old joined the World’s Toughest Row Pacific months after finishing the Atlantic race. (Supplied: Liz Wardley)
The pair then set off in Tic Tac to row from California to Hawaii.
“The whole thing when you’re solo, sometimes you just row for like 13 hours straight,” Ms Wardley said.
“This needed to be a bit more structured because everybody needed to sleep, you couldn’t just stay up for 24 hours if you wanted to.”
The Pacific race took 37 days, with the duo pulling into Kaua’i, Hawaii, on July 16.
Ms Wardley kept a tally of each day she was at sea. (ABC Wide Bay: Nikki Sorbello)
Rather than going home to rest, Ms Wardley decided to head back to sea a third time.
“The boat got towed away and I was just like, ‘Can you bring it back?’ and two days after the Pacific row, my boat was on its way back to me,” she said.
“I set off to row to Papua New Guinea because that’s where I was born, I figured I’d go home.”
A third rowing adventure
The solo row to Papua New Guinea was far from smooth sailing, becoming “pretty intense” a month in.
“I hit the doldrums [a windless region near the equator] and there was a lot of thunder and lightning storms,” she said.
“I still had 1,000 miles to go and thought if I go past the Marshall Islands, which was my last safe haven, I’m putting myself in a pretty irresponsible, potentially bad situation if you get an early cyclone season.”
So, Ms Wardley decided to end her row early, after 42 days.
“I’d done what I set out to do and I’d loved every minute of it,” she said.
Ms Wardley says she didn’t see another boat or plane for 39 days on her final ocean voyage. (Supplied: Liz Wardley)
She said the remoteness of this row and the freedom of not racing created a different kind of adventure.
“I didn’t see a boat for 39 days, I didn’t see a trace in the sky of an aeroplane for the entire trip,” she said.
“It really did feel like I was the only person on the planet sometimes … It really was the time of my life.”
Ms Wardley is recuperating at her Elliott Heads home, 20km east of Bundaberg, before her next adventure. (ABC Wide Bay: Nikki Sorbello)
Hanging up the oars
Back at her Elliott Heads home, a year after embarking on her first row, Ms Wardley is taking time to “fill up the piggy bank” and recuperate.
“Being at sea and the adventure will never be done, but it’s time for that chapter to end,” she said.
She has sold her boat, which is headed towards its new owner in England who will use it to solo row across the Atlantic.
Ms Wardley said her biggest takeaway from her experience was not to hesitate, but to prepare properly.
“Never think anything’s too big and unattainable,” she said.
“The body and mind are pretty amazing things.”
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