Solo Female Rower Halfway To Hawaii

Two months and more than 1,000 miles after departing from San Francisco in an attempt to be the first woman to row solo across the Pacific Ocean, Roz Savage was halfway to Hawaii Wednesday.

Savage started her voyage aboard her 24-foot rowboat "The Brocade" beneath the Golden Gate Bridge on May 25, according to her spokesperson, Maayan Katz. In addition to being the first woman to make the trip, she aims to heighten awareness of ocean pollution.

"She's doing really, really well," Katz said. "She has a really strong environmental message."

Savage averages 30 to 40 nautical miles per day and expects to arrive in Hawaii by early or mid-September, Katz said.

At night she uses a sea anchor and sleeps in a small cabin on the boat.

"The anchor doesn't completely prevent her from moving at night but it does help out," Katz said.

The 2,300-mile journey to Hawaii is the first leg of Savage's three-part voyage across the Pacific Ocean.

In early 2009 she plans to row 2,600 miles to Tuvalu in the Southwest Pacific, and her final passage, of around 2,300 miles, is expected to take her to Australia.

Rowing across an ocean is not new to Savage. In 2005, she was the only solo woman to compete in the 3,000-mile Atlantic Rowing Race from the Canary Islands to Antigua and finished the race in 103 days, Katz said.