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One last sunrise to sunset. One more session navigating the pitiless slide. A final stretch with aching hands holding onto unyielding oars.

But after more than 8,000 nautical miles at sea – an epic five-and-a-half-month journey over the Pacific Ocean that included near brushes with cetaceans, failing beacons and chocolate shortages – the waters delivered a last obstacle.

Powerful 20-knot gusts off Cairns kept pushing their compact craft, their boat Velocity, from the terra firma that was now painfully near.

Friends and family waited ashore as a planned midday arrival shifted to 2pm, followed by 4pm, then early evening. Ultimately, at 6:42 PM, they arrived at Cairns Yacht Club.

"Those last hours tested every fiber," Rowe said, eventually on solid ground.

"Breezes were forcing us off course, and we honestly thought we weren't going to make it. We found ourselves beyond the marked route and thought we might have to swim to shore. To finally be here, following years of planning, proves truly extraordinary."

The Monumental Voyage Commences

The UK duo – aged 28 and 25 respectively – departed from Lima, Peru on 5 May (an earlier April effort was derailed by a rudder failure).

Over 165 days at sea, they averaged 50 nautical miles a day, rowing in tandem during the day, single rower overnight while her partner rested just a few hours in a tight compartment.

Survival and Challenges

Nourished by 400kg of preserved provisions, a saltwater conversion device and an onboard growing unit for micro-greens, the duo depended upon an inconsistent solar power setup for limited energy demands.

Throughout the majority of their expedition through the expansive ocean, they've had no navigation equipment or signaling devices, making them essentially invisible, hardly noticeable to maritime traffic.

The duo faced nine-meter waves, traversed marine highways and weathered furious gales that, periodically, shut down every electronic device.

Historic Accomplishment

Still they maintained progress, each pull following the last, across blazing hot days, beneath celestial nightscapes.

They have set a new record as the first all-female pair to row across the South Pacific Ocean, without breaks or external assistance.

Furthermore they gathered more than £86,000 (Australian $179,000) supporting Outward Bound.

Life Aboard

The duo made every effort to stay connected with society away from their compact craft.

During the 140s of their journey, they declared a "cocoa crisis" – diminished to merely two remaining pieces with another 1,600 kilometers ahead – but allowed themselves the indulgence of breaking one open to mark the English squad's triumph in global rugby competition.

Personal Insights

Payne, from a landlocked part of Yorkshire, lacked ocean experience until she rowed the Atlantic solo in 2022 in a record time.

Another ocean now falls to her accomplishments. But there were moments, she conceded, when they feared they wouldn't make it. Starting within the first week, a route across the globe's vastest waters felt impossible.

"Our electrical systems were diminishing, the water-maker pipes burst, however following multiple fixes, we accomplished a workaround and barely maintained progress with little power throughout the remaining journey. Every time something went wrong, we merely made eye contact and went, 'naturally it happened!' Still we persevered."

"Jess made an exceptional crewmate. The remarkable aspect was our collaborative effort, we resolved issues as a team, and we consistently shared identical objectives," she stated.

Rowe hails from Hampshire. Preceding her ocean conquest, she crossed the Atlantic by rowing, walked the southwestern English coastline, ascended Mount Kenya and biked through Spain. There might still be more.

"We shared such wonderful experiences, and we're enthusiastically preparing additional journeys as a team again. I wouldn't have done it with anybody else."