Sally Kettle – First woman to row the Atlantic Ocean twice

Sally is the first woman to have rowed across the Atlantic east-west, twice.

She first took to the oars in 2003. Following an initial set back to her first Atlantic attempt, she was joined by an unlikely rowing partner – her mother Sarah Kettle. 106 days later they made it into the record books as the world’s first mother and daughter to row an ocean.

In 2005 Sally founded Rowgirls – an all-female rowing team striving to break the record for the fastest Atlantic crossing. The team of four were struck by disaster when a crewmate left the boat mid-Atlantic. Subsequently the boat lost its rudder in the worst recorded conditions in 200 yrs and a shark attacked the boat – no lives were lost.

Unwilling to give up, Sally and her crew completed the challenge. They arrived in Antigua 77 days later and became the first three-handed boat ever to complete the trip.

Sally’s Odd at Sea (Orana, 2007) – is the autobiography detailing the ocean journeys and the motivations behind them. It’s an honest account of her struggles to bring the teams together, and of the difficulties faced when living in a boat smaller than the average bathroom.

Further Adventures

Sally has had varied further adventures, and now takes her story on the road as a professional inspirational and motivational speaker, addressing national and international audiences. She has spoken to as many as half a million people, gaining profile through national press and television.

Sally writes and presents pieces for BBC Radio 4, including “Does Hope Help?” for FourThought and “Jonathan the Tortoise – Operation Go Slow” – for From our Own Correspondant. She also spent six weeks filming in the British Dependancies in the South Atlantic for the television documentary “The Last Horizon”.

All of Sally’s adventures have included the opportunity to raise money for charitable causes. She has pulled together more than £500,000.

Talks

Sally’s account of rough seas, wild storms, harsh living and encounters with sharks
is delivered in stupendous style and her speeches are both hilarious and informative,
evoking a whole range of emotions.

Bursting with enthusiasm and knowledge, Sally overflows with a passion to motivate and inspire.

Client Testimonials

Sally was the perfect mix of entertaining and insightful, bringing her adventures to life for our clients and happily answering the many, varied questions which inevitably came up from such a fascinating story.

Brewin Dolphin

Sally was the perfect mix of entertaining and insightful, bringing her adventures to life for our clients and happily answering the many, varied questions which inevitably came up from such a fascinating story.

Barefoot Coaching

Really inspiring, beautifully presented. Great exercise-learnt a lot about myself as a team member –clever coaching opportunity.

Truly inspirational. I am sitting here believing that I could achieve anything I put that much energy and commitment into. I just need to decide what my Atlantic Ocean is.