You Can Row Your Own Way

What’s it like to achieve something momentous and life-changing that few people on Earth have ever achieved, only to have the first question you’re always asked be about who WASN’T with you when it happened?

Adventurer and entrepreneur Debra Searle knows a little bit about that feeling. In 2002, Searle and her husband Andrew set out to row together from Tenerife to Barbados in the Ward Evans Atlantic Rowing Challenge. Searle and Andrew—a professional oarsman—were the only mixed-gender pair in the competition. Searle had never rowed before, but once they started rowing, she discovered she “absolutely loved it.” Unfortunately, Andrew also made an untimely discovery: he was cripplingly afraid of open water. “We’d only rowed on the Thames!” laughed Searle.

What followed set in motion a chain of events that would change Searle’s life forever. With Andrew in and out of consciousness, Searle took over the rowing for a week as they waited for rescuers to pick him up. When the rescuers arrived, they brought with them a huge decision for Searle: come back to land and forget about the journey—or continue alone? Of course, Searle decided to go it alone—and the first question she is always asked is about her husband’s early exit. Andrew is now Searle’s former husband.

Searle told attendees that more people have been to the moon than have rowed the ocean alone. “But I couldn’t live the rest of my life not knowing if I could do it,” she said. So, on she rowed, into the dark Atlantic on her own. It was a harrowing journey, both physically and mentally; Searle shared photos of sharks that were uncomfortably close to her flimsy plywood boat—and enormous cargo ships that came even closer.

Nights were the hardest—alone on a silent, pitch-black ocean that seemed never-ending. Searle worked through her fears by creating in her head a “How Bad is It?” scale, with 10 being successfully hitting the finish line—and 1 being eaten by a shark. That scale helped Searle keep her perspective and realize that things weren’t as bad as she was making them out to be.

But the loneliness of those 111 days. That, Searle said, was the hardest part. She made friends with a sea turtle she named Barney and their “conversations” became a lifeline. Searle also leaned on music to boost her spirits and keep her company. And when she wanted to quit, that was when she called up what would become the anthem of her journey: “You Get What You Give” by the New Radicals. The lyrics were a mantra: “Don’t give up…you’ve got a reason to live!”

Searle closed by saying that her record-setting adventure was never a solo row, but a team effort. That effort continues to inform how she runs her businesses and her life. It’s about being present for the people who matter, in your work and in your family. “Always ask yourself: what’s it like to be on the other side of you?”