Jasmine Harrison

[00:00:00] Jasmine Harrison: Hello, and welcome to the modern adventurer podcast coming up in between half and one and a half knots, depending on whether you’re on a wave and they were going at like 10 knots and they just comply and buy. And then you’ve got the wake afterwards as well. And I’m completely side-on and it’s pitch black and you kind of blinded by this thing.

And it’s like, wow. When you’re also like my heart’s beating so fast because I’m am I going to die? If you haven’t already, please feel free to subscribe to the shape because we have some incredible guests coming up week after week. My next guest is a true adventurer. She broke the record for becoming the youngest person to row solo across the Atlantic or what could have taken up to a hundred days.

But she finished in 70 days crossing the finishing line after encountering sleep deprivation, hallucinations, and coming head to head with a bait that almost took her out in the middle of the Atlantic. But through all that, she had some incredible experience. [00:01:00] And today on the podcast, we talk about some of them.

So I’m delighted to introduce Jasmine Harrison to the podcast. Thanks for having me on here. No worries. Well, absolutely great to have you on you last year, got back from completing this incredible trip rowing across the Atlantic, and you became the youngest solo female to DC. How did it all start? And it all started three years ago.

Three and a half years ago now when I decided to go to the Caribbean, because our never been really like, anywhere like that, I’d never seen a white Sandy beach and I thought let’s go to the one that everybody has on their postcards. So I went to the Caribbean got involved in doing some swimming teaching and an island called Grenada, and then basically managed to get on a boat due to the hurricanes hit.

This was in September, 2017 and sailed [00:02:00] throughout quite a few of the items, maybe 15 islands going all the way up north. And Tega was one of the stops on the way was then until you give a few weeks And saw there was all this commotion going on and somebody said, oh, do you want to hold a flag?

I wasn’t getting all the fluff or walk. Okay. Yeah. There’s these guys who just wrote across the Atlantic. And I was like, oh, amazing. And then I met lots of their friends and family of different teams whilst I was there. And I basically just got really inspired and thought, I want to do this. Like, I don’t know what it was, but it standing up on the for looking over going, I want to be that person on that tiny little boat.

Don’t know why I just did. I need it. I think I needed a bit of an escape, a bit of a change at that point. And that just seemed like a perfect escape. I mean, a situation with Blackbaud, but yeah, I was just taken by it completely. So then came back home because I’d run out of money cause it happens quite expensive, especially when [00:03:00] you’re on a boat.

Then worked pattern, traveling a little bit round like Eastern Europe and then thought I’m definitely going to winter. So I entered and then it was a year and a half preparation planning, getting sponsors, training, setting off. And then seven days later finished. We’re about five months later.

Now I’m here doing a podcast with you. Amazing. Well, I mean, because you’re not a row, your sort of backgrounds in swimming. So this was the first time you were going to ride. What’s in it is that right? And the idea was to do it safely. So how was that sort of taken in terms of the people, the decision for me to do it?

Well, I, I sort of imagined, cause I remember my, my first big trip. And when you let’s say haven’t [00:04:00] ever done anything that big to suddenly go from nothing to the biggest, which I think sometimes the best way I imagine there was quite a few naysayers around, but also I didn’t really make it like a big deal.

I was just sort of, I didn’t really tell anybody, first six months after entering the I’d actually sort of entered it. I told my friends, instead of I’m just going to do this Burlington thing. But also like, they’re just cool. You know, how, like every weekend I’m away doing another swimming event or another competition or something or to another country and then, oh, okay, cool.

And then it was only in the December. So I entered in like the major and it was only in the December that I went to the start line of the next, the last year’s race. I went on a boat, went book shopping, and all I did [00:05:00] was I took a photo, stood on a bow set it as my profile picture on Facebook and it’s fun and exactly ongoing to VRBO across the Atlantic.

And then everybody’s just button boom. And everybody was like, wow. Oh my gosh. And then suddenly my friend that knows this reporter, well, that person that works for the local newspaper and everybody just went absolutely crazy over it. Right. Okay. Well, I’m really glad I never sent this earlier because I couldn’t fast for the, or for the past six months, to be honest.

So that, yeah, that’s how it sort of came up. People weren’t that negative really? Because by the time I’d sort of told people you could tell was sort of had my head screwed on with it. And I could actually answer questions and say, look, that’s my boat. This is what’s happening. It’s happening right now.

Look, I can do it. And to prepare. Yeah, when it’s such a big event like that you’re so [00:06:00] focused on what you need to achieve rather than actually listening to the people. So the fact that I knew that nobody could help me with just their opinion. I needed to know a fact. I need to know. I needed to know what’d you move on with your robo?

You know what I mean? And then they’re like, unless you’ve heard an ocean, I’m not gonna listen to you. And so you don’t end up sort of having that much negativity. And it was, it was only when it came from a rower that I was like, oh, you think I’m not going to make it? Okay. Now that’s quite a big thing for me actually, for everybody else.

Oh, you don’t know what you’re all about. Don’t give me your opinion. So it was a bit different. I’m interested because as I say, it’s this incredible event for all people listening that happens every year, going from Canary islands to anti. Yeah, just next to tanneries. Yeah. And how do you go [00:07:00] shopping?

This is sort of, you go to the year, the previous years before and you buy it off the, like that you sort of go with all the start basic. I like that one. Can I buy that off you when you finish to be fair? I don’t really know. Most people do. I had never seen one, never been on one was just completely taken.

So I went along the dock and especially all the solos because the teams that are not the same level. And I went on the solos. I was just speaking to them saying, oh, hi, can I just look at your boat? Do you mind if I stand on it? Is it weird if I asked to be in your cabin is a little strange, but I just want to see what it’s like.

I just have no idea. And I just saw. Was more taken by the different designs than what people are doing. And it was actually just more sitting in what I’m feeling like, is this the right thing that I’ve [00:08:00] done? Could I sit in one of these cabin rooms for potentially like a hundred days? So that’s what I was doing.

And then I was going along the different boats. And then there was one though that I asked to sit on, literally just sit on their own possession and just go, could I sit here and eat, just took me dinner. Why? I just really liked that boat. There was something about it. And I sort of asked how much it was going to be.

Like what you do, how would you buy a boat? To be honest, he was really, really useless. Didn’t help me at all, but then I don’t blame him cause he was about to go to do a row, but also he was useless afterwards. And it was, I sort of needed time to decide and it was in the January that I won and somebody said to me, that’s about the one when your best actually put the deposit down on what you need to put the deposit down as well.

I’ve never bought anything like big in my life. I never bought [00:09:00] a car or doing anything like that. So. Deposit. And I was like, I need to get hold of this guy in the middle of the ocean or something like messaged just like Facebook page and the reply. And I will speak to him. I said, I need to give you a deposit.

How much deposit do you need? I don’t know whether I’ve got it, but I need to buy this boat like panicking this boat that I really, really wanted was going to be gone by somebody else. And that’s how I did it. I have no idea. I think a lot of other people actually get boots made for them. They get them done grand new, but I was not a single sponsor at that point.

I thought that because I loved this boat, everybody else would. And so I need to fight for my boat. I didn’t, nobody else wanted it, but it was a good boat. And actually I sell next week exactly a week today on Wednesday, whatever it is Argos. Gone. So [00:10:00] same way, same way that you bought it there.

So on message you in the middle of the ocean, not quite. So I’ve had a few people message me saying, oh, it was all grown for sale. Cause now it’s becoming a big, popular thing that a lot of people want to go do on this. To be honest, it’s not like many boats out there, not for how many people want to.

So I’ve seen this postpone on Facebook by this guy. And the only reason I noticed the post was because it was a picture of me, it taken like one, one of the ones that London campaigns, the race body had taken of me. And I’ll go out with sea and put it to this page saying, has anybody got a solo boat for sale?

And it was blue. Let’s meet how often that boat is for sale. Excuse me. Thank you. And so I just messaged him, said, hi, you know, that. Yeah, that goes for sale. If that was the photo that you picked out, why didn’t you do it? That one was for sale. And [00:11:00] so all it should just message. It was like, excuse me. And now it’s going to hit amazing passing the buck down or passing it down.

And S and so of course, with all these sort of events, sponsorships, the hard part. Yeah. How, how did that sort of come about? Because you got your deposit down for the bait, you had the page, but it will say, I think, unless you’ve got huge pockets, you need sponsors sort of go about and say, how did you go about it?

I’ve started actually trying to get sponsors the previous six months before we even the very start. I was sort of going on company websites, Googling about them a little bit and then just sort of messaging them, you know? So send an email. This is what I’m going to do. It’s completely naive. I know.

Oh, well, why wouldn’t Amazon’s Martin to send me money, you [00:12:00] know, still flat up you see the big sponsors on every sport event, I think, oh, this is going to be a big spot. They’ll sponsor me too. They’ve got the money. They don’t want it. They probably get requests all the time. They don’t care. And so I sort of changed dramatically or my approach of just.

Lying on the grass in the middle of summer, sending a random text verbose. And when he came to somebody and then I decided that I would stick local find cause where I lived, there’s a lot of big companies anyway. So our town, everybody knows everybody. So I thought, let me ask everybody that I know if they own a business suddenly got really tuned into every single person that came in to the pub.

I look at that workshop see what? Cause they always come for a pint after work and think, oh, who do you work for you? The owner. And it gave me ideas of businesses. And then you start speaking to somebody. I said, do you know a friend that owns a [00:13:00] business? Do you own a business? Collecting knowledge of people and then say, oh, look at the people to respond to me who sponsors a local things.

So I basically created a massive list of smaller sponsors that I would approach to then bigger ones, like on a huge industrial estates and multinational. So I basically sent a couple of messages and found out as much as I could. I figured, nah, we’re just going to walk right in there. Just walk straight in don’t even on them.

So the can’t even sort of prepare a speech, have to say no. And I go in and I said, hi, could I speak to so-and-so somebody that I found out through somebody? And then he say, your friend, whatever told me when they were very drunk, that you would expose me. So you’re going to have to and so did that, I just find on the name of somebody walk in.

So this is what I’m doing. We sponsor. And most of the time they then said, yes, [00:14:00] well, I’ll say most of the time it was probably know. Five occasions. I actually managed to do that. And especially when you’ve got one that is quite well respected, certainly going to get loads. And they sort of sailors that chain on from each other.

Cause everybody, everybody likes the sheep and the followups they sponsor do what well I’m going to have to that. They can’t get the foot in something that I’m not, you know, and it was quite funny that competitive sort of thing throughout what a local businessman. But then also COVID hit all these sponsors that had promised me that they would sponsor quite a lot then didn’t and it was quite difficult or they then didn’t until the October, the following October.

So now I spent all the time training Huffman to buy things, having to spend all this money that I didn’t have until sponsors, they gave me and I didn’t fully buy my book. [00:15:00] Until I think the day I started through, I think that’s when I did my final payment, I was sending him like payments as soon as I’d get a sponsor and then send off.

Just because I was like, please, please, can I do that? Because it was, I call it be you, but I put my deposit down. So it’s my boat. And then also the payment for the race entry fee and stuff, but it was difficult to find sponsors just COVID was the biggest pain ever as well. And it is, nobody wants to believe that this, at that point I was only 20, 20 year old girl is only ever really spawn and gone traveling.

Like most people. I was actually going to do something so big and cool. Some people are home straight on. I believe when other people that are, did you know that you were going to be the youngest solo female to do it? Yeah, I did because that’s a sort of good [00:16:00] USP for sponsors. And I imagine, and actually your approach of going local is by far and away for people listening who are going down this route is the best way to go is, you know, friends of friends and people in the local area.

I think it was bear Grylls who decided when he knew he was climbing Everest to rather than gauge the big ones, he went to his local window repair, which was called Everest or something and approached them. And they said yes, because it had Everest and it was bad, real. So he was like, yeah, I’m in. Yeah.

It was I think my USP was one that didn’t necessarily always work to my favor though. It can be the youngest girl that’s ever done it by yourself and people. I wonder why somebody is not that young, then I think that’s what kind of went through their heads. I thought it was [00:17:00] great. I’ve got your spec.

So I’m going to get a world record, but in their minds it was a bit more doubt. I was again, right. Okay. If I could have, if I had already done it by and I suddenly next year ago, I’m going to be the fastest, that’s a USP because I’ve got something to back me up and suddenly everybody is going to, or if I’d already climbed Everest and that I I’m going to be the youngest person that’s going to Rover this, then it’s like, wow.

Yes, we were all back in. You know, are you though, are you really? And I also, I didn’t want to over promise anything because I couldn’t say it’s definitely going to be on BBC news. I can’t, if I could have said I’m going to have. Well, like however many hours of live air time, all over national TV. Maybe that have said, oh yeah, we’ll give you money then.

Cause that was all OGO. But I couldn’t promise, well, I suppose that that’s the way it’s a difficult thing with [00:18:00] sponsorship. And so you were starting, what was the sort of date that you start 12th of? December 12th, December. You’ve got the bait and you’ve just paid your last payment. You’re getting ready to row out family all there to wave you off.

Nope, of course. What was the sort of feeding, like sort of setting off knowing that you’ve got another two, three months ahead of you by yourself? It was quite relieved. Actually I made it here. I’m okay. I’ve got to this point, but then there’s almost, it was incredibly scary. I was just more nervous of actually getting away from the side.

Like I was thinking you’ve never quite made it yet. Like, yes, you were at the start line, but I need to get out of the locked gates, not the long day. So that was a train [00:19:00] out of the Harbor wall. I need to not hit the ferry. I need to go in the channel to get out. I need to clear the island and then don’t have a way point that I need to pass.

And then I’ve got this. And so it was all very staged and I was thought of stopped worrying because it was always nervous about then the following sort of challenge. But also it didn’t help that I was like having a bit of a, I was tripping a little bit on like seasickness patches. And you know, you think you’re fine and you, because I never experienced anything doing such a big challenge that I would be so nervous.

I didn’t know how my body was going to react. And I thought, well, this must just be normal. Maybe this is just a side effect of I’m doing something so big and scary. And it wasn’t, it was because they had sea sickness patches, and I was an emotional, but also completely not, I was like sort of cold, but also like what’s going on.

Everything happened so quickly. It was [00:20:00] it’s a feeling that I want to go back to the start line this year. And I think that will clear up a lot of things for me seeing it from the outsider’s perspective again, and that I think will put me back in that place. So that was going to be a bit of a weird one, but yeah, it was, it was just indescribable.

I think having all of them five doesn’t mean. Yeah, I think I’m good. D do you usually get seasick? Nope. I had been told to take the patches anyway. Because then it’s precautionary never do that. Don’t do what people tell you to do, because stop messed up. Good and say, see, you’re sort of out in the ocean.

How does it sort of feel sort of, because you’re, you’re on your rain say you’ve got to sleep because I know in pairs or in fours, they sort of D two hours on two hours [00:21:00] off and that’s where they sort of sleep and they’re rowing the whole time. But being on your own, you have to sort of sort of stop gates sleep for a bit.

I mean, you must, how was the sort of routine of being in the boat? So the first few weeks was a bit of a different routine because, well, the first, the first couple of weeks I was doing a couple of hours on revolvers was off sort of like war is recommended. And then I got hit with some really bad weather.

I couldn’t stop rowing a heart to road to try and fight it quite a lot. Then I was on power anchor, which was just a big, it’s like a sea anchor that stops you or tries to stop you from moving when the wind is blowing in the wrong direction. I then ended up sort of being able to sleep for days because I couldn’t vote.

And then you try and pick it, then you try rubbing again. I’m going [00:22:00] for like 20 hours a day, she’ll straight. But then it flows more again to later on, I figured out that I was fast-growing at nighttime, so it’s sleep a little bit more during the day and go for longer at night. And then the weather, the ocean would change again, or I would change and it would be faster to do it the other way around.

So I’d end up sleeping at night, rowing a lot during the day. And it was I never really got into a proper routine, but I would, the majority of it I’d sleep between three eight, like am. Oh, well good. And I suppose being out in the ocean, you know, there is nothing it’s just, you’re surrounded by water.

You must have seen some incredible wildlife throughout. The wildlife is amazing. So I swung the dolphins. [00:23:00] Just to say that you’ve spoken with dolphins before is really cool to be able to say, but it’s not like you have to wear a life jacket and you were stood in a warm pool in Florida and you have a photo of it.

You know what I mean? That’s sort of resolve and is that sort of like standing up petting warm? I was in the middle of the say that all around you and you can hear them all. You’re under the water and you can hear them all squeaking and bubbling and diving around each other. I know it was something else was just completely next.

And credible beauty to be able to see something so clearly feel such clear water. And then we’re looking at you going, who are you? What are you? And I’ll go, what are you like? It’s just absolutely incredible. And I had lots of fish as well. So I spent, I think I wasted quite a long time of rowing watching wildlife.

I didn’t care. I dropped my Oles and just watch them. I was meant to be rowing and I spent [00:24:00] three hours filming some fish because they’re really pretty. And it was just, was really, really cool. Whales. I asked some little pilot fish on Stripe fish under the bottom of my boat. Like every single day they were there, Judah Vado.

I had a Marlin as well. I’d have extract mine and say, hi I flying fish, lots of flying fish, even at a squid London. I also had a crab, which is a really weird one, literally like 40 days in I had a tiny little, I’ll be an old crab that was just said, hi, pretty sure you shouldn’t be here.

And it really questioned my knowledge as well as again, crap, they should be at the seaside, they need rocks and some, they don’t need thousands of [00:25:00] what were you bad? Like this guy, he was clinging onto the bottom of the boat. Cause he was there when I was cleaning it got him. I took him off the bottom of my boat.

It wasn’t there before because I’ve cleaned the bottom of it. And it was already four days in, got hung there for 40 days when I’m already cleaned it. And I sort of brought them on deck and I was like, I don’t know what to do with you now because I’m thinking if I throw you overboard, you’re then going to take hours before you hit the bottom of this.

Like I do. What do I do? And so I did, I was like, well, I can’t leave you on a boat because you know, there’s nothing for you to eat where you’re just going to have to go back in the CME. Sorry. Well, I just don’t know. I wish I knew stuff and I should maybe Google it, but I also don’t want to find out I did the wrong thing.

Cool. So when you were swimming with dolphins, did you sort of just strap yourself on, because you can’t really not strap self onto these boats because within a second they could be a hundred meters away [00:26:00] from you and say, did you just sort of flight there and it’s just swim around while they sort of circled you or, yeah.

So I always, when you go in, you have to have a harness on and your waist anywhere was attached to the boat. And then when I spam, I just put myself on an extended lead of just a rope that a heart attached and jump in, go swim with them. Yeah. Sometimes there’s loads of different like pods that were sort of ones right below you.

One’s over there, one’s behind you, one’s in front of you. And it was really cool and you just sort of I’d swim towards them. So swim away from Argos from towards them. And I just was so mesmerized by it. I’d be there. I think where’s Aldo gone think, oh, I’m attached. Right. And I have no idea what my boats over to my left and the right photo behind me, not to clue because I’m so fixated [00:27:00] on these dolphins that I’m just sort of watching this from underneath me.

And there’s no, there was no tension on this rope. And I was just like, can you imagine if not immediate, I kept fine, but yeah, we definitely got to stay tight. So why, why are you with that? Because I knew that. What was really interesting about your trip was that you’re in this huge expanse of ocean and the chances are so slim of you being hit by something, but that’s what actually happened.

Almost happened to you. Yeah. You think you’ve got like vast ocean, you never even really going to see anything. And then in the middle of the night I had a big, like 800 foot shit was going on the exact same course as me right behind me. And then he took me out to familiar them and stay up the [00:28:00] way and row and yeah.

Try and avoid it, which he did just cause I managed to get them on the radio. But it was quite a close call. I don’t think any ruin boat has been that close to a boat in the middle of the sea. Yeah, because you are, how big is your beat in comparison? It must be. 10, 12 24. Yeah. 21 foot is my boat. I’m on the, this tanker.

Well, it was a, it was a drilling ship. It was 800 plus feet long, 130, I think compared to it literally absolutely tiny on the fact that this thing towers, like they own boat measurements that you see you it’s always like the Wix, the land. There’s never really how actually tall about is this boat honestly was so, so tall.

Right? It was towering over the top of me eat. I was so [00:29:00] close the effort toppled over. It would flatten me like it was really, really scary. It was just the light that it created. It was just, it owned the ocean. Like yeah, you feel so insignificant. How will you sort of alerted to it? So I have a system called AIS, which alert incoming ship is the easy way to say what it is.

And it says an alarm when there was a boat fairly close to you. Oh, this one didn’t alert me until it was like quite late on. It told me when we had like six minutes to impart or dust in the middle of the night. And this was a tool impact, not the, of a mile away. And they’re never going to hit you. Cause you know, it could be Malta masala eat.

It was fine. I kind of woke up thinking, oh, it’s [00:30:00] just another Walnut. It’s just way off is like four miles away. And it’s, and it’s going the opposite. I actually stuff like that. And I sort of, so tired turn off the alarm, wake up again. I, she was quite close to me. Right. Okay. Maybe we should do something about that.

What do I do? Radio? What’s the boot called? Should I do I, Dan, look outside and see this thing coming towards me. And it’s, I would have thought a lot clearer or a lot faster, but I was so tired. I’d just been asleep for like an hour or something to about four o’clock in the morning. How’s your sat up?

Y and also thinking you think, oh, sorry, they’ll be able to see me. They’ve got a system on board and it tells them I’ve got lights on low semen lights. Didn’t not happen at all. But I managed to get hold of them [00:31:00] on, they moved very last minute when we had not 0.2 miles till impact, which is literally a couple of hundred meters.

And they turned and missed me just so they turned north. So they turned to star board and I turned to Paul and headed south. And yeah, it was called closer. I mean, you’re probably getting at what 0.5 of a mile an hour or not. Yeah, pretty much. I was going between half and one and a half knots, depending on whether you’re on a wave.

And they were going at like 10 knots. And then just comply and buy. And then you’ve got the week afterwards as well, and I’m completely, side-on, it’s pitch black and you kind of blinded by this thing. And it’s like, wow. When you’re also like, my heart’s beating so fast because I’m, am I going to die?

Do you do a, do you sort of have that, [00:32:00] but when you don’t know whether something is going to happen or, you know, you don’t want to pretend like you are, what if I’m just being daft and, you know, it was just a bit of a weird one. I just don’t know how to take the situation. Cause also it’s quite prolonged.

Like there was time and so that I’ve got time to think, but I need to think correctly, this is really important. And it’s a bit of a strange one. Yeah. What would you say that was a biggest near miss? Because I remember listening to Ben Fogel and James crack nails, a little, little trip. It’s not really that little rowing across the Atlantic and you know, you capsize.

All sorts was, was that the worst or did you have other other moments? So I did have a cup size as well. I kind of had two, one was I was on deck and I just went for an accidental swim that didn’t really bother me a little bit. I was a little bit sort of like shaky. It was just a bit of an [00:33:00] adrenaline, but then the second one.

Yeah, by that point. You’re so in tune with the boat, you can feel what’s okay. What’s not okay. So this first light cup side of those that’s fine. But then the second one, when I was in my cabin and it was asleep again, it was like four o’clock in the morning. And I went the whole way around and it got bounced off the ceiling, bounced off the side and it really hurt.

Like, and that was the one that I thought we argue. Maybe it wouldn’t be okay. I thought, have I lost anything that was on deck of, I lost my life after philosopher calls. I really hurt my elbow. I’m pretty sure we like broke. Cause I walked it so hard on some safety glass, on a bunch of monitor screen, and then swelled up.

I couldn’t bend it to be able to row, but I was too, I was two days out, [00:34:00] so it wasn’t too bad. Well, it was, I think that would have been the worst if I was actually outwards in, I still had long time to go. But because I was so close to shore, I didn’t mind, well, obviously I did it really hurt and that was my poor boat.

We nearly made it. But yeah, that was sort of, I think if that had happened in the middle of the sea, that would have been a lot worse. I space on those last two days you were sort of running on adrenaline. You, you knew that you were close, so you sort of knew your time at sea was coming to an end. Then you just had two days to sort of push through the pain barrier and get to the.

Yeah, pretty much. And that’s what happened and to be fair, the reason I capsized because the smell was a big, the, I didn’t actually really need to row for the next two days. Anyway, I had to [00:35:00] be awake to make sure that I was staring in the right direction, but it was such bad weather. I only really needed to row for the last day to make sure that I could get him book a hard, like 24 hours recovery time after the cup size anyway.

So it was okay. And at that point I didn’t, I knew I was going to arrive it on Saturday. I didn’t care what time or anything like that, you know what, why don’t I make it I’ll make it. I just wanted to come in on a weekend and that’s, and I still was even if I didn’t row. So it was fine. I needed that last, that like day to sit there and take everything really in, you know, I don’t need to be rowing.

I can just, I’m a mom. I mean the ocean until he is just over there. Let me enjoy and savor on, watch this on. Is that properly? Let me not play any music and let me just absorb this world. Which yeah, whilst, obviously start by [00:36:00] going, oh my arm off. I forgot that that really hurt. It was sort of a magical about the last few days.

Yeah. You sort of had time to reflect. Yeah. Before I then go massively with media covers and people suddenly a lot of people. And after what? 70 days seeing no one, you suddenly surrounded by crowds and all sorts. Yeah. Well, what was, what was the feeding like when you came into the bay and you could see. I why she family probably want there because of COVID as well.

So because you can say I needed somebody. I was that with no money and no phone that was working either you know, clothes. So I needed to have somebody to be there basically. And it was elite athlete, so you could get away with having one person. [00:37:00] Okay. And so, yeah. What was the feeling like when you wrote in again, it was a little bit like the star.

It was the most amazing while sort of thing, but there was so much else to worry about. So I. Was I panic. And again, I’ve not seen alarmed in such a long time and suddenly you see land. And that’s the one thing that I’m really scared of on a boat, because I always feel that you’re so small. You’ve had the ocean suddenly this alumna and five meters away is way too close.

Actually, you’ve got to be five meters to be able to get in through the Harbor. And there was so many with the boats around so much noise and so many things. Telling me instructions, especially somebody that I didn’t know was that I don’t wanna listen to you. I’m listening to you, whereas [00:38:00] people I know and I trust and, and then it’s right.

Okay. W have I finished yet? I have a finished one. Person’s telling me that I finished. And then when I put that person said to me that I’ve not finished until the head they come and go off, and then it was, oh, well, don’t do as many have made it. I was that. Right. And it says, oh, do another two strokes, do another Trish ropes and then a male, what was going on?

I don’t know. And then I held the flares. I was like, yay. Celebrate the birth of harm. Really Bartley’s was in so much pain. And then I’m still, my biggest concern is go and I can see he’s drifting towards rocks. Again. I’ve got to get back on the doors of this is I can’t be, it, it felt like a hun until I was on land.

I hadn’t made it. Our goal wasn’t safe and you’re so reliant. You’d been relying on just yourself so wrong that as soon as there’s help there, I don’t know how to access. And it was just a bit of a strange one. And so the finish was [00:39:00] absolutely magical, but also the most stress stuff ever beaten because it’s quite an important thing.

And I remember I lit the flare. I don’t know, I’d never left LA ever, not like that in a way. And I pulled the flat top off and I just launched it because for some reason I thought that was going to be hot. It wasn’t. So I just took this top out to see anyone I was holding. I was raising money for a cleanup, the oceans charity I’ve just been witnessed.

And then this, then this flat burned 100 good. Feel it better. I thought I’ve got to throw it, throw it in a thought. You can’t be seen to throw the entire flame as well into the sea to get pulled on. Jasmine, just hold on. And literally melted my hand away. Like it was just stressful. It was really stressful.

I can’t say it was the most enjoyable thing, but also it was because you had made it, you know, so thirsty, you get to land and there are a [00:40:00] lot more belief. Like when you put a mask on your

food, please. Yeah, it was, it was, they depends on the day when I’ll look at it and think about it, whether it was the most wonderful thing ever or actually the worst thing ever. Because I think that was also the last day. I probably rode my boat and it was emotional and. Yeah, it’s just a weird one. I think it had every single feeling you could possibly have.

How in one, and what do you think the sort of lesson that you sort of took from these 70 days about yourself? Cause you, as you, as we said earlier, you mean you want a rower before you had this goal and you went out and achieved it and like unbelievable. But like probably before you probably learnt so much about yourself.

Yeah. [00:41:00] I think,

I don’t know. I spent a lot of the time clearing out my brain. So I had a much clearer vision of life I wanted. And that was sort of the biggest thing that I learned was actually, I needed to have no distractions. You need to have a focus. And so, yeah, I had to focus on the finish line, but I needed to focus every single day.

I needed to know that today I was gonna do this. Even if it’s the smallest thing, even if I was going to eat something, that’s a big thing. If I was going to clean the boat, if I, if the biggest achievement of the day was to sleep, I knew that to not feel like I wasn’t achieving anything, I needed to have the smallest little goal and take everything step by step.

And I think for me, that was like, sort of what I learned about myself is that as long as [00:42:00] you’re, you’ve got to do. Everyday. Like, I would really annoy me if I didn’t make miles. I was, I like, but it’s fine because you’re still achieving it. No, no, no. It doesn’t matter if you don’t move today, as long as you’re doing this.

And I find that in our everyday life now, as long as I’m doing something that is going to help towards the end goal of having a good life if you do nothing all day, right? I don’t feel accomplished. I need to do something. And I found that that’s better for my sort of mental state as well to know that, but not make excuses for yourself.

Don’t think, oh, I needed to do nothing today. Again, you know, it’s actually learning what your body needs is what I don’t, cause I’ve never been. So in tune with myself, I never paid any attention to sort of like when I needed to go to the loop, you know what I mean? And suddenly I paid attention to that.

I don’t, it just happened. [00:43:00] I ended up being, yeah, I know. I understand myself on my mentality quite a lot more. I think when you, as you say, when you’re doing these trips and you have so much time to think, because every day is very sort of simple when you break it down, it’s, you know, get up, eat row, sleep, eat row, repeat.

It’s almost like a t-shirt. And you have so much time to sort of think in that soil, it’s like almost like a sort of form of meditation, which you used can sort of do over 70 days. And I think you learn so much about yourself, your character, just how strong you are mentally. Whereas before. It’s quite difficult to sort of figure that out sometimes.

Yeah. It was strange that I needed such a big thing to make me understand myself. Like I [00:44:00] think other people are quite lucky that they sort of know, like they, they know why they think a certain way or why they do certain things or what they really want. Just in life. I’m quite a, whatever I don’t really care.

And then it sort of changed on the ocean. Become a lot more self-aware. Yeah, good. I mean, it’s an absolutely incredible story and just an incredible achievement as well. Any, anyone here raise across the Atlantic, it’s just especially doing it solo as well. It’s just a phenomenal achievement.

Yeah. I feel like, I feel like that maybe one day, how does it feel to you?

I don’t know. It just it’s what I wanted to do. And so I did it, you know, it’s [00:45:00] yeah, I feel like for me, it was just sort of, what does my achievement, that’s more I managed to do. And I knew that that’s what I wanted to, I knew I’d make it so same. Like. I think it’s quite a personal, like the word you just said phenomenal.

They can maybe not asked for me, but maybe somebody else, like you say any round, like let the Africa, Kenya, Kenya, same thing like that. That is phenomenal. That’s like amazing. And I’m like, I would probably be more proud of doing that then. Well, my own thing. Well then I’m sort of quite similar on yours. It was something I wanted to do.

And in my mind, I don’t see it probably because you’ve sort of done it as a big deal because it’s, as you say, you sort of, it’s something I wanted to do. It’s something that every day I got up and just ran and probably like [00:46:00] you every day you got up and row and at the end, it’s an, it’s a great sort of feeling of achievement, but it’s something you don’t think too much about.

Yeah, it’s a strange one. I’m just like, it’s just a story for me. I don’t necessarily see it as an achievement. I just see it as something to talk about the story, like something interesting. Well it’s a great story.

Good. Well, I mean, it’s been absolutely incredible listening to the story of yours and thank you so much for coming on and sharing it. There’s a part of the show where we ask the same five questions to each guest each week which is the first being. What’s the one gadget that you always take with you on your adventures.

[00:47:00] It would be a camera. I like to take a camera, but then again, off the time of the photo of cool things. Yeah, I don’t, I’m not really a budget person cause I travel quite lightly, but it would have to be a calmer phone. Probably it’d be somebody just take a picture there, there is something to be said, like when you have these incredible moments of just a being in the moment and sort of appreciating it, which is usually what happens, you sort of capture the sort of minor details, but then suddenly when something incredible comes before you, you sort of just stop and take it all in and don’t capture that incredible moment.

But it’s it’s with you all the time. Yeah. It’s that? I find that just having like a photo, it wouldn’t tell you anything really. Like somebody could look at it. Oh, well, that’s nice. But like, no, it’s so much more than that. It puts me [00:48:00] back in a moment to really have something. You know, it’s the, yeah, I don’t, I don’t think I even dependently eventually gadget, I would probably need, would be GPS.

Cause I kept lost quite a lot. That’s the most necessity one for me, but yeah, be a camera is the most desired desirable one. Your favorite adventure or travel book? Ventral travel book a month. I really

well, this is getting really like, I really liked four-stage Lee. So his first book art of resilience was quite. Well, not quite on the fact that it was swimming as well. Like I, to me, that just sort of screamed out like cool, but [00:49:00] I’m also, I don’t understand how we can do it. So it makes me think about how do you physically do even make everything sound so easy.

And it’s one that I think should have much more, like, turn that I put you. Can’t just say that you then just went into the gym and put on this much muscle in kilos. How can you, how can you do that? So I just find it fascinating, something that I can read over and over again. And it’s got everything in it.

It’s got science mentality adventure swimming, perfect combo. Why are adventures important to you? Because. It gives people life. Like it gives me life. And it’s it’s stories. I like to be able to talk to people and have something, the smallest thing that reminds you of a time or something funny that [00:50:00] happened.

Everything can, it makes things relatable. Like you have an adventure and suddenly you can be talking to anybody. And you find something that, you know, you can, you adventurous taught you about either listening to that conversation or being able to join into it. And it’s yeah, I think it’s really important.

Just to get outside, to build up confidence and it’s of food. I like having fun. I like things that cool. Like adventures are cool. You can’t Harbor when cool adventure. Yeah. NA very tree. What about your favorite quote or motivational quotes? So there was one that was from the first guy that rode Argo my boat.

This is his quote is be stronger than your excuse. Well, I sort of changed [00:51:00] that when I was running a little bit, be stronger than my excuse, but I don’t have an excuse. How can I be stronger than might have chiefs? Well, I don’t have one. It’s sort of, I remember thinking about it quite a lot thought, right?

Don’t give yourself an excuse and then if you happen to get one, be stronger than it, and it’s sort of broke it into two paths. And so I don’t really know whether that was a quote. Don’t give yourself an excuse and then if you do, because you know, we’ve all got a other form out and then be stronger than it.

You know, if you can’t be stronger, Oh, well, you have informed not quite loud, but yeah. Be stronger than your excuses, the official one. And you can adapt it to whatever you feel like. Oh, very nice. People listing. Oh, sorry. That was done by mark slops. Yeah. Yeah. You could slightly change it and have it by yourself almost.

Yeah. [00:52:00] Don’t give yourself the excuse Jasmine Harrison. But if you do become mark people listening are always keen to travel and go on these grand adventures. What’s the one thing you would have recommend for people wanting to get started? Going on, to be honest, I wouldn’t recommend. Anything because it, mate, you’ve got to make it yours.

It’s got to be your adventure. So for me, whenever I’ve done any traveling and all gone to like a random country being a park lightly I’ve just gone to the cheapest place. Like, and I’ve always been determined. The, I want to look for something cool. Like I don’t care as long as it’s cool, but that’s because that’s what I’m into.

Like your adventure is it’s very personal. I think that’s a really personal thing. And so it would actually be don’t listen to anybody and their advice, because the advice that I got given was to [00:53:00] wear seasickness patches, but I look what happened and it ended up making me blind and going in circles and I lost three days worth of Rowan.

So, oh yeah. Don’t forget hallucinating. I ended up seeing people that want the, so I think biggest advice is follow your path rather than listening to others, because all of them, something like that, maybe one other person wants to, but it’s not quite the same, you know, it’s never the same if you’re exactly trying to copy something.

I think people are always trying to go for us, you know, something unique and in the world of sort of exploration, it’s very difficult to find something that’s unique to you. And so by creating your own sort of adventure, whether it’s you rowing across the Atlantic. You know, you can create it and you have your own experience from it.

Your experience is completely unique to you. No one else is going to [00:54:00] have that experience. And so by doing it, you, I don’t know, is this making sense? I’m not sure you create your, your own sort of story to tell. Yeah, I think in on what you’ve just said is don’t force an adventure either. Like it should be for me anyway, I took me so long to decide to definitely do it.

I’ve got to, if it’s going to be a big thing, something that’s going to really mean a lot and make a big impact in your life. Don’t take it lightly. It’s going to be. Sort of, you got to know your mind, so don’t do it because somebody else told you to, or because somebody else did that, what do you read reborn?

And that’s what you’ve got to go for it, but also you can turn anything into an adventure. Like you just can’t. If you want to turn going to the shops into an adventure, do it, you know, [00:55:00] he come, how would you recommend doing that? How fun do you know my favorite? I’m not, I’m not aware to sit in other people’s trolleys

and see what they do, push you along and just go, you know, it was just fun and you meet people and and that ends up in an adventure and you don’t know what’s going to happen. Like they might be like, oh, nice to meet you. And you’ve got friend dress up. Like this was the one during like, lockdown with, to dress up really smart, to go to.

To gates late Tescos or whatnot, dress up in black tie. And just to go do your shopping, it’s your one, one day out for the week or something, but that’s an adventure you can, yeah, you can do what you want. Yeah. It’s so funny. So funny. So funny finally, what are you doing now? And how can people follow you in the future?

[00:56:00] So, At the moment. I I’m at the start of putting together a new adventure challenge thing for next year. It sort of in the very early stages of planning so much so that when I explained earlier about the, I never told anybody for the first six months, because otherwise it just went crazy. I’m not ready for that yet.

I can’t answer enough questions. So I’m planning on doing something next June over the whole of summer. And the best way to follow is social media. My name is Jasmine Al Harrison and it’s Durham. So literally mark at the moment on Twitter, on Facebook, but that was my team named for the rowing, but I think I need to change it.

So then I are me rather than my team name for row. So yeah, you’ll find me on Jasmine. Oh yeah. [00:57:00] So what is this big thing next? Top secret. There is something that’s swimming related, something swimming related, because I think if I can have never rode before then those 3000 miles and get a world record from suddenly being on call podcasts like this, then what, what could I do with something I actually don’t my entire life.

And I know that I’m fairly, you know, where could that take me? So that’s, that’s the plan or is Yes paperwork in, man. I’m not very good at it. I’ve not been, I’ve not been like a home to be able to actually like laptop repair. Right. That’s just more for a long time. You find yourself scouting, Google maps quite a lot.

Yeah. I love it. I’ve got a special notes folder, which is just full of places that I need to go and tick off the list and I get really sort of, you get a day and you think, Ooh, let’s go take off another [00:58:00] thing. No. Okay. You need to focus on, you need to think about your plans. What do you want to do now? But I’m always describing this.

Like people say, how would you close these places and all of that and all right. I’m like, I have like an internal, like human version of cookies that when you hear something, it just sticks in your head, in your pickup, everything that is something outdoorsy or like adventurous or an edgy sort of place to go.

I don’t know. It’s certainly a comment. And I don’t know. Can’t just go. I couldn’t tell you, like, if I tuned into something like, oh, let’s tune into running, you know, suddenly I’ll pick up all of these running groups into my head, but I don’t, it’s all do something different and it swarms me, you know, I’m just walking around all the, like, you know, your phone listens to you.

It’s like me listening to the things you pick up stuff. Everyone’s convinced the pain is listening. Oh, it is definitely it’s. You have a of chat about fishing with your [00:59:00] father or something. And then Sunday it’s like, Hey, do you want to go fly fishing next week? Well, nicely. So it’s daft to saying near the guy.

So my, my my friend’s dog had an accident is now on like he’s got stabilizes, but the bark. And when she said, oh, we’re going to have to find a new hydrotherapy place where, because it shortened down and genuinely the next day I had a hydrotherapy advert for a place to take your dogs to. And I was just that, like, that was, I’ve only seen that once.

And that was literally the next day and not seen it yet. And I’d never seen it before. Right? Well, that’s clearly been listening to us.

Well,

all right, Jasmine, I can’t thank you enough for coming on. It has been absolutely incredible listening to your story and can’t wait to see what this big adventure next year is with this. [01:00:00] Yeah, well, we’ll see. It should work. It should go out. It’ll be fine. Just need to get a little bit. But yeah, it’s just been an incredible story and thank you so much for coming on and sharing it.

No, if I gave thank you for inviting me, have a me and also chasing me up about it because being quite useless just even looking at my phone to post, well, that is it for today. Thank you so much for watching and I hope you got something out of it. If you did hit that like button and subscribe, if you haven’t already, and I will see you in the next. [01:01:00]