A solo rowing expedition by a 34-year-old woman across the Atlantic Ocean – sounds frightening and thrilling at the same time, doesn’t it?
The gutsy Ananya Prasad, whose roots are in Bengaluru, broke several barriers to achieve this incredible feat.

Known on Instagram as @atlantic_odyssey, the woman with nerves of steel, has made history in the ‘World’s Toughest Row’ by becoming the first woman of color to solo row across any ocean. During this grueling journey, Ananya faced a significant amount of obstacles which she battled like a pro and overcame to successfully finish the exhilarating odyssey. From broken oars to unpredictable ocean waves, she faced them all with resilience and courage and is now an inspiration to many people who are bowled over by her grit. In an exclusive chat with us, Ananya, who was sponsored by C. Krishniah Chetty Group Of Jewellers, gets candid about her phenomenal journey and what it means to be the first woman of color to achieve this accomplishment…

Tell us a little about yourself and your upbringing in India and the UK.
I was born in Bangalore, but I moved to the UK with my parents when I was 5 years old and have been brought up in UK since. Since I was a child, I have been interested in adventure sports, but my background is in accounting, finance and marketing.

In brief, tell us about your journey across the Atlantic Ocean and how the experience was.
I had a really great experience and learnt a lot about myself. There was lot of figuring out how to deal with fear and isolation. It was very much a journey of self discovery. There were tough times as well as really amazing times. I saw things like wild life, whales, orchards and flying fish. The night skies were incredible to see.The tough times were difficult because it’s very physically and mentally demanding.

How does it feel to be the first woman of colour to row across any ocean?
The first woman of colour is just a title. For me, the important thing is adding representation to rowing and adventure sports which isn’t very diverse. The real message is about increasing diversity in adventure sports, especially for women and women of color who are very under represented in the outdoors. So it’s not really about the title, it’s more about the message.

You had your fair share of challenges. What were they and how did you overcome them ?
A lot of things broke around the boat because the ocean environment is constantly breaking things. I broke my oars and I lost my radar which broke. I had a fear of deep water, so overcoming that was a big challenge.

My message was that it’s possible to do so many things that you are afraid of if you don’t have a choice. I had to fix them, so it also required a lot of creativity. Being able to think outside the box is important.

The radar is something underneath the boat that you need to control in the direction you are going. It’s a very important part of the boat and that broke. To repair that, I had to swim under the boat in very strong conditions and 25 foot waves. That was very nerve wrecking and quite frightening. To get over that, I had the safety team on the front that was helping me. I didn’t really have a choice but to fix it. If I hadn’t fixed it, I would have had to give up the race. It’s amazing what you can do if you don’t have a choice and you are forced to confront your faith headon.

To take up such a challenging expedition, one needs to have a lot of courage and resilience. Were you always so bold? Also, how did you keep yourself mentally sane and motivated during the journey ?
In terms of motivation, it’s important to have goals outside of yourself. I wasn’t just doing this for myself, I was doing it for other women, especially Indian women. I was the first woman of color to do this and it makes an impact on other women of color and Indian women too. So, it wasn’t just about me. I was also fund raising for two charities – the Deenabandhu Trust and The Mental Health Foundation in the UK.

If I had a bad day, I would remind myself that this is about more than just me. I would think I am still very lucky to be here because in the good days, I have had amazing night skies and wildlife. So I’d think about how lucky I am to be out there experiencing those things and that would help me get through the bad days.

You were alone on a boat for a period of 52 days. How did you stay in touch with your family?
We had satellite phones on the boat so through that, I could call any phone that I wanted to. I could call them any time. We also had a device for Internet, so with that device I had access to WhatsApp as well.

What message do you have for women who want to dream big?
My main message is that we are capable of so much more mentally and physically than we think. I didn’t come from a rowing or sporting background. There were 6 solo contestants this year and I was the only female and I came second. This shows that women are capable even in sports. Being a woman shouldn’t limit you. My message would be to not be afraid to do something because you are not familiar with it or you don’t think that you will do well. I think that if I can do this, anyone can do whatever it is that they would like to do.

You have broken a lot of barriers. How does it feel to be a woman of color breaking so many stereotypes?
I think it’s important to have representation in every field, whether it’s adventure sports or any other arena. I think when we see people who are similar to us doing things, it makes it more comfortable for other people to also think they can do it. It’s all about inspiring others to do something they can’t do. So if they see a woman not coming from a rowing background accomplish this feat, I hope people realize that they also can do something that they feel is different or don’t know much about.