I am delighted to announce I will be working with Antrim Designs on the new boat for my World Record Attempt to be the first woman to row solo across the North Pacific Ocean.

After my first solo sailing race across the Atlantic in a 35ft trimaran, I delivered an Antrim 40 trimaran 1,000 miles up the coast of the US from Florida. During the trip, I gained first-hand experience that Antrim designs were both solid and safe, as well as incredibly fast – a rare combination. In the same boat, I raced the Black Dog Dash double-handed, which remains one of the best days of racing of my life!

Over the years, I’ve followed Jim’s work and after his rowboat design “Orca” set a new World Record for the first multihull to be rowed across an ocean, Antrim designs became a natural choice.

To test-run working together, Jim designed a new rudder last year for my existing training boat. The new rudder is carbon and built by arguably one of the best foil builders in the US, Larry Tuttle. With this rudder, I saw an immediate and astonishing 30% increase in boat speed. This could translate to as much as a month of time less at sea! With this revelation, there was no turning back on my decision to build a new boat.

Off-watch July 2005, delivering the Antrim 40 Zephyr from Charleston to Mattapoisett, MA. And oh look – guess what I am reading? Alone by Gerard d’Aboville, the first man to row solo across the Pacific.

JIM ANTRIM:

I am really excited to be designing a new boat for Lia.

Lia’s quest to be the first woman (and third human) to row the North Pacific solo from Japan to San Francisco is a project loaded with unique challenges, bold adventure, woman against nature (or rather working with it)… life on the edge – right up my alley. I love this stuff!

I first became aware of Lia some years ago when I came across a photo of her sailing a 40’ trimaran of my design. Who is this, I wondered; then I found she had some serious and solid sailing background. Sailing a trimaran in the OSTAR is not for sissies. Later I saw that she was rowing across the Atlantic. What? This is a special person, a name to remember. So when I saw that she was giving a talk locally about her intent to row the Pacific solo I booked my seat immediately.

After more than 45 years designing boats I have a pretty good sense of what projects have legs. Lia is an excellent speaker: very personable, witty, and engaging, good at self-promotion; and she has the experience to back it up.

Step one in all adventures of this kind is obtaining support. Unfortunately big dreams don’t go anywhere without money. You need believers!

Step two – you have to get to the start line. Lia is organised and goal oriented. She is approaching this row like a professional athlete – training hard, and surrounding herself with a team of skilled advisors. Finally, she is tenacious and driven to succeed. Success in ocean rowing has a lot to do with perseverance. Face the obstacles and keep going. Make no mistake: this is a tough challenge. Many have tried and failed. But I feel confident that one day I will be greeting Lia as she rows under the Golden Gate Bridge, at the end of her long voyage. It’s going to happen!”

 

ABOUT JIM ANTRIM:

Jim Antrim is a naval architect based in El Sobrante, California. Jim has designed an extraordinary variety of boats, from race-boats and cruisers; rowboats to electric boats, many of them record setters. Jim’s design ‘Orca’ holds a Guinness World Record for the first multihull to successfully row across an ocean. In doing so it set new records for most miles rowed in 24 hours, and missed the four man Transatlantic rowing record by a matter of minutes…