It took her 237 days to row, alone, across the 14,000 kilometre of the Pacific Ocean. But 50-year old Michelle Lee has done it.
On Wednesday morning, the massage therapist from Kellyville in Sydney’s north west, rowed into Port Douglas in Far North Queensland, completing her almost eight-month journey.
She began her trip on August 8 last year off the coast of Mexico in a 7.7 x 2m carbon fibre boat, The Australian Maid.
Friends and family gathered to greet Lee at the Port Douglas jetty to celebrate her becoming the first woman to row solo without aid across the Pacific Ocean.
Despite the loneliness, Lee said it was a “privilege” to witness the animals of the sea during her journey.
“You’re just experiencing and witnessing Mother Nature in all her runway-ready, take-me-as-I-am, natural beauty,” she said. “Some days she’s better than others, and she certainly puts you through the paces.”
“Knowing [my friends] were just there and I can’t touch them, can’t see them, I actually felt alone for the first time, just sitting out there on the Great Barrier Reef waiting to come in.”
Lee’s mother, Margaret told ABC she “nearly died of fright” during her daughter’s solo rowing expedition, but was ”relieved and very excited and just happy that she’s home”.
During the journey, Lee had posted messages to her supporters.
“My patience has been tried and tested, I’m ready to land,” she wrote days before her return. “I’m now just dreaming of stepping on land.”
“That stack of pancakes is going to be so amazing, as is a bunch of celery, some chopped capsicum and cucumber.”
“A bed with fresh sheets – so divine – and a shower, and to get my hair done as well! I expect it will take me a week to become a socially acceptable human again.”
Richard White, owner of The Quays Marina, applauded Lee’s tenacity in accomplishing her personal challenge, in an interview with My Sailing.
“What really impressed me was Michelle’s sheer determination before the journey had even started,” he said.
“Michelle had so many hurdles to tackle long before she got on the ocean, from getting a boat to finding a country across the Pacific to row from.”
“I watched her never give up and that’s the tenacity needed to complete a record-breaking row like this.”
During her rowing endeavour, Lee crossed the Equator and passed through the path of five hurricanes and four cyclones, including Cyclone Gabrielle which kept her out of action for more than a week.
Lee has made other solo rowing journeys in the past few years, including her 68 day endeavour across the Atlantic Ocean in 2019, where she rowed 5,000 kilometres. The journey earned her the title of Australian Geographic Adventurer of the Year in 2019.
So what’s next for Lee? She’s already planning to leave for a 1000km hike, beginning in Spain, in the next month. “Do what you love, love what you do,” she said.
“Say ‘yes’. Work the details out later. I’m excited for what’s to come.”
She’s certainly a remarkable woman, inspiring us all to follow her motto: “Don’t die wondering. Start thinking you can and you will.”