Woman to row across Indian Ocean

Endurance rower Roz Savage in Indian Ocean bid

Roz Savage will spend months in a 7m boat (copyright: Roz Savage)

A British woman has left the Western Australian port of Fremantle in a bid to row solo across the Indian Ocean.

Roz Savage, 43, a former investment banker from Cheshire, has already crossed the Atlantic and Pacific.

Her latest challenge is an attempt to row across 6,400km of open water as she attempts to become the first woman to row across three oceans.

She hopes her journey, which is expected to last for four months, will raise awareness about marine pollution.

In the past Ms Savage, originally from Northwich, has used her long-distance rowing exploits to promote other environmental causes.

Her exact route and final destination are being kept secret for security reasons.

The original plan had been to head to the Indian city of Mumbai. However, that route would have taken her into seas stalked by pirates off the coast of Somalia.

The threat posed by piracy is a new concern for the environmentalist, who survived fierce storms and a near-drowning on her journeys across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

"It's something that I think about in the wee hours of the night," she told the Associated Press news agency.

"I've done everything I can to reduce the risk, so now I try and just tell myself that yeah, there's nothing more I can do."

Roz Savage has already rowed across the Atlantic and Pacific

The Briton's home for the next few months will be a 7m (23ft) rowing boat.

It has a tiny cabin where Ms Savage will seek respite since she will not stop for breaks on land.

Her daily routine is set to involve 12 hours of rowing each day, in three-hour stints, with hour-long rest breaks to eat between shifts.

Ms Savage has a desalinator on her boat to make salt water drinkable.

She also has a six-month supply of fruit and nut bars and freeze-dried meals. And she will grow bean sprouts in a small pot.

The London-based Ocean Rowing Society, a group that tracks rowing feats around the world, said Ms Savage will be the first woman to row across three oceans if she is successful.