For a tour of Sara G: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bvRU5fo1Lc

Sara G is 11.1m long with a 1.8m beam. She was built with three sculling positions on the deck thus catering for a crew of 6 - 3 rowing while 3 rest. Sara G displaces c. 1,750kg fully loaded (with an 6 man crew aboard her). The forward cabin sleeps 2 (1 at any one time apart from storm conditions) and the rear cabin will sleep 4 (2 at any one time apart from storm conditions). The hull is made of Duflex - a composite material with balsa core sandwiched between fibreglass sheeting. The entire boat is then wrapped in fibreglass for additional rigidity.

The boat is provisioned to be fully self contained and unsupported for a 40 day voyage. The boat will utilise its own water desalination machine plus 300 litres of fresh water ballast stored in 4 litre containers. The desalinator relies on electrics but also has a manual pumping capacity in the event of power failure. Power is generated by 6 solar panels, charging two 40ampH gel batteries for redundancy. Safety is paramount. A complete inventory of modern safety equipment (Liferaft, Sat Phone, EPIRBs, Flares, Lifejackets etc.) will be in place on each expedition.

Track Record of Sara G

In 2005, the ocean rowing boat Vopak Victory was built. Four dutch men -Gijs Groeneveld, Robert Hoeve, Jaap Koomen and Maarten Staarink - then went on to row Vopak Victory across the North Atlantic in a record time (for a 4 man boat) of 60 days, 16 hours and 19 minutes. Though they did not succeed in beating the overall 55 day record, they did set some new records in transatlantic ocean rowing:

• The fastest unsupported crossing from the US to Europe (former record at 62 days);
• The fastest modern day Ocean Rowing crossing from US to Europe; and
• The first time four persons successfully rowed the Atlantic Ocean from US to Europe (see picture below).

Then, in 2007, Australian Steven Gates decided that he, along with 3 others, were going to attempt to break the record for the fastest row across the Tasman Sea (NZ to Aus). Having heard of the calibre and successful performance of Vopak Victory on the treacherous North Atlantic two years previous, Gates knew the design he wanted for his boat - Sara G - the sister boat to Vopak Victory was born. On 30 December 2007, Sara G smashed the 67 day record for crossing the Tasman Sea from New Zealand to Australia coming in at 32 days albeit with 10 days under sea anchor!

In February 2009, Sara G was acquired by World Ocean Rowing. The next chapter of Sara G’s illustrious history is now due to be written in December 2009 when Sara G will take on the Atlantic.