A SCOTTISH woman who completed “the world’s toughest row” across the Pacific Ocean has broken her second world record.
Taylor Winyard from Peebles was part of the "Pacific Triow" team which travelled 2800 miles across the world’s largest ocean.
Along with her teammates Jess Goddard and Charlotte Irving, Winyard left Monterey Harbour in California on June 8 in the hopes of reaching Hanalei Bay on Kauai, Hawaii.
After 38 days at sea the group finally arrived at their destination on July 16, setting a new world record for the fastest trio to row across the Pacific.
Winyard was also part of the mixed trio team which broke the world record for being the fastest to row across the Atlantic in 2022.
"The Atlantic was really tough, but this was another ball game - it was absolutely brutal," she told the BBC.
"We were told that the first two weeks would be hard as you have to cope with a wall of wind, but the bad weather continued for three weeks.
"It was really tough - there were huge waves, a lot of difficult currents and it was much colder than we thought it would be.
"We were dressed in our full weather gear for the first three weeks, until the sun finally came out... and that's when we started to get burnt."
The trio set out just hoping to complete the challenge however as they progressed they set their sights on breaking the previous record of 40 days and four hours.
However, after capsizing twice due to bad weather there were moments where they felt they might not make it.
"We thought the record was out of reach after the first two weeks but as we closed in on Hawaii it became apparent that we could do it,” said Winyard.
"You don't get too excited as it only takes for one of us to become ill, a power outage or something to break on the boat for everything to change.
"It was only when we arrived at Kaua'i that we were told that we'd not only broken the women's record but also the men's time.
"I just feel so proud to have done this for Scotland."
Winyard is the director of the Stobo Health Spa in Peebleshire but is set to spend the next two weeks recovering in Hawaii with her teammates.
She becomes the first Scot to row across both the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans.
