A grandmother who could not swim until her mid-40s is now bidding to become the oldest solo female on the planet to row any ocean and hopes her 3,000-mile journey across the Atlantic will share the message tattooed on her stomach that “anything is possible”. Victoria Jeffs, 56, a mental fitness expert and mentor who lost both of her parents in her twenties after giving birth to her son, Dan, now 37, when she was 19 years old – her mother, Sue, 44, to cancer and her father, Ian, 55, to suicide.
The 30th anniversary of her father’s death will take place while she is on her journey. She said having her son aged 19 meant she “didn’t get a chance to be more adventurous” in her younger years, and it was not until she fell out of love with work in her mid-40s that she started to learn to swim, later selling her estate agent business.
She explained that, initially, she “felt very vulnerable going into the water”, but with patience, persistence, and the support of an “amazing swim teacher”, she learned to swim at the age of 46 and said it is “one of the greatest things” she has ever done. She has since gone on to compete in several Ironman races across the globe – triathlon events, comprising a 2.4-mile open water swim, a 112-mile bike ride, and a 26.2-mile run – and is now preparing to make her solo 3,000-mile rowing journey across the Atlantic from the Canary Islands to Antigua.
Victoria, who lives in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, has a tattoo on her stomach which says “anything is possible”, has ordered her 7m x 1.5m boat from America, which costs approximately £40,000, and is hoping to complete 400 hours of rowing training prior to the journey. While Victoria is fearful of capsizing and will have to use separate buckets for her “bathroom and kitchen” while battling the elements, she said she is “really excited to be surfing down waves backwards” and wishes to give the message that “we can do anything”.
“For me, it’s very much about putting myself out of my comfort zone,” she said. “I’m sure there will be times when I’m terrified, I’m sure there will be times when I love it, and I’m sure there will be times where I’ll think, why am I here? Or what am I doing?
“That’s where the bigger purpose to it comes of wanting to inspire other people, women particularly, but men as well, as I don’t want anybody to exist in life; I don’t want anybody to do what my father did. I want to prove to everybody that we can do anything.”
Victoria said swimming “had not been part of (her) identity growing up”, but in 2014, after seeing her friends complete an Ironman race, she decided to dive in headfirst. She said one of her biggest challenges was learning how to breathe properly while swimming – and it took three months before it “absolutely clicked” and she felt fully comfortable in the water.
She said learning to swim gave her “confidence” and enhanced her “sense of adventure”. Victoria then decided to sign up for her first half Ironman in 2014 – and although she failed this, she has since gone on to successfully complete many other races, including full Ironman races in Sweden and New Zealand.
She said she has learned that “we are capable of so much more than we ever realise”. In 2015 she was approached by a friend who said she was rowing the Atlantic, which is when Victoria learned about ocean rowing, donating £5,000 in corporate sponsorship.
At the time, Victoria said she thought “gosh, I wish I had the opportunity to do something like that”. Little did she know that she would later sign up for the challenge herself.
“I thought, that’s not available to someone like me,” she said. “I thought I’m too old, that that’s what people do when they’re younger, and I was just more focused on my business.”
Due to the Covid pandemic, Victoria said many of her Ironman races kept being deferred – but in January 2021 she decided she wante
d to row the Atlantic as a solo competitor. Victoria now wants to set the record for the oldest solo female on the planet to row across any ocean.
“I did not know how many solo women had done it,” Victoria said. “I knew nothing about how to physically do it – everything it involved – I knew nothing.
“I just knew I was going to do it, and I knew I wanted to do it on my own.” As part of Victoria’s training, she is learning about sea navigation and survival, marine radio licences, and how to cook on the ocean using dehydrated and wet food rations.
To enhance her strength and endurance, she is doing weight training three times a week, which includes dragging a “giant” tractor tyre around her village using a harness; rowing, both in the water and at home using a machine; and cycling, swimming, and kayaking. She will set off from the Canary Islands on December 12 and will be at the mercy of the weather, her equipment, her supplies, her body, and her mindset for somewhere between 55 and 100 days, where she will “literally be surfing waves” as she rows backwards.
As part of the challenge, she will be raising money for three charities – Samaritans of Stratford-upon-Avon, Cyclists Fighting Cancer, and Youth Adventure Trust – and she will also be marking the 30th anniversary of her father’s death on January 4, 2024. Since his death, Victoria said “there is a journey one goes on to understand and come to terms with that” adding “the legacy that any person who takes their own life leaves is left for the family and friends – that’s part of the reason why I’ve been so focused on mental fitness over the years.”
Victoria, who is being sponsored by Absolute Collagen, described herself as “a very ordinary 56-year-old granny” and said her friends think she is “mad”. However, she hopes to inspire others to “stretch out of (their) comfort zone, to aspire to more, and to have that sense of adventure” as they grow older, as she believes “we are our own limits” and “the mind is so much more powerful than we give it credit for”.
“I’m looking forward to the scary bits, as bizarre as that sounds,” Victoria said. “I discovered long ago that life is much more interesting if we get comfortable being uncomfortable – that’s where we grow.
“You have to become a bit uncomfortable with something to get better at it and, therefore, I’m really excited to be surfing down waves backwards. I’m not an expert at it, I’ve never rowed before… but, more than anything, I want to know what I’m capable of.”
Victoria works with Absolute Collagen for their ‘Strong in Your Own Skin’ campaign – find out more at www.absolutecollagen.com/pages/strong-in-your-skin. You can visit Victoria’s website at totallyoardacious.com.
