A rower from Malvern has been battling 40-foot waves and come face-to-face with sharks in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
Lara Vafiadis is rowing solo from the Canary Islands to Antigua and Barbuda as part of the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge.
The 33-year-old set out in December and is now more than halfway through the 3,000-mile challenge - but it has been far from easy.
After seeing in Christmas alone, just weeks after the death of her father, Lara encountered a huge storm - uncharacteristic for the time of year in that area of the ocean - and had to lock herself in her cabin for five days, unable to row.
A week later, Lara’s boat capsized. She was in her cabin at the time and had to trust it would right itself. When it did, Lara discovered she’d lost most of her pairs of shorts, which had been drying on a safety line, and her food bowl.
READ MORE: Malvern woman taking on Talisker Whiskey Atlantic rowing challenge
She has also dealt with a blocked bilge pump, problems with her navigation system, a power failure and water leaking into her tool department.
As this is an unassisted row, Lara has to fix everything herself. There is a support yacht but this is at least seven days away.
Among her highlights so far, Lara got up close with a reef shark as it circled her boat. She admitted being terrified but took pictures and even stroked the shark’s back as it swam past.
She has also had to conquer her fear of deep water by getting in the sea and cleaning barnacles off the boat every few days.
Lara lists other highlights as singing at the top of her voice to lift her mood, enjoying the stars under cloudless skies and seeing donations come in, week after week.
These, she says, distract her from the physical pain she is in and remind her why she is putting herself through all of this - to raise much-needed funds for three good causes: Plan UK, Prostate Cancer UK and Our Only World.
To support Lara, visit https://givestar.io/gs/A44Z65S and for updates head to www.thisgirlrows.com
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