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.
