All at sea

Part of a team of four blondes dubbed The Atlantic Angels, Sarah Duff, 24, and Clair Desborough, 32, had no engine or sails on their 29ft boat, just four oars and bags of determination.

It took the team 11 gruelling weeks to row their boat, Silver Cloud, from La Gomera in the Canary Islands to land at Antigua in the Caribbean in February this year.

Months earlier, while researcher Sarah from Whitchurch Hill and nurse Clair, of Henley-on-Thames were having a few drinks with pals from the Upper Thames Rowing Club, it had seemed like a good idea to sign up for the Woodvale Challenge Atlantic Rowing Race.

They recruited two others - Fiona Waller, 32, from London and Rachel Flanders, 17, from Bolton and started training but nothing could have prepared them for the actual reality.

Although 23 other teams and two support boats started the race, the vastness of the ocean, combined with the fact that is impossible to see more than two to five miles ahead, meant they lost sight of everyone else after the first few hours.

"Being such a long way out in the ocean the scenery never changes, so we didn't feel we were getting anywhere," said Sarah.

"It was like a cruel joke. We felt we had been anchored in the sea and would be rowing for the rest of our lives!" she added.

Incredibly, although experienced on river, the four women had never rowed at sea, neither had they cooked nor slept on their boat before setting off across the Atlantic.

The boat had a single deck with two tiny cabins, one at each end. One was full of equipment so the Angels had only one cabin for shelter and sleeping.

"It was so small we couldn't stand up in it. It was very smelly and unbelievably hot at times," recalled Sarah.

They rowed the boat continuously in pairs, taking turns of two hours on then two hours off to rest, eat or sleep.

"At night, when we went to the cabin, we would have to take off our lifejacket and wet gear, because a lot of the time we were getting splashed by the waves, Sarah said. "Then we had to wash the salt off our bodies and by the time we'd done that we'd have about 90 minutes actual sleep."

The crashing of the waves against the boat sounded magnified inside the cabin and Sarah said sometimes it felt as though the boat was going to break up.

But one of the worst things for the Angels was being woken up at night to take their turn rowing.

"I felt as though I'd been asleep for only two minutes or worse, I'd be dreaming I was rowing but had nearly finished my shift and it was time for me to go to bed," she said.

"I would hear this knock on the cabin door and it would be Time to row!' and I would think What? I am rowing, it is time for me to go to sleep'.

"Then I'd realise I had to get up and put my life jacket on. There'd be waves crashing over the deck so I'd be thrown about all over the place and everyone was soaked and miserable-looking.

"I would think I am exhausted but I have to be out here in the freezing cold and row for two hours," she remembered.

The Angels got off to a ropey start with Sarah describing the first day and night as "horrendous".

"It was the worst start weather the race organisers had ever had. Rachel and I both got seasick."

"We were drenched, exhausted and shocked. I think we had become quite numb and were all in survival mode," Sarah recalled.

They had to survive on dehydrated packet food, which also did little to lift their spirits according to Sarah.

"It was horrible. We used to torture ourselves about the thought of real food like jacket potatoes and toast."

Going to the loo had to be done in a bucket and because the four were sharing one tiny cabin, they had to strip off and wash in front of each other as Sarah explained.

"There was no privacy. It is amazing how you lose any sense of dignity within about a day."

Apart from exhaustion, seasickness and hunger, they faced other physical problems too such as stiff hands from being constantly wrapped around the oars.

They also suffered with raw bottoms from having to sit in the same position for almost three months.

"All of us except for Clair had really painful bums," Sarah said. "We had open sores which were agony.

Sarah revealed that the four bubbly blondes decided to tackle this medical problem in a slightly unorthodox way.

"Because it was so hot we had all been rowing topless quite a lot during the daytime.

"Then Clair said it would be a good idea to have a flow of air to help our sore bums so towards the end, most of us rowed completely naked.

"Well, at least we all got all-over tans," she laughed.

While they were over a thousand miles out to sea, Sarah is convinced they encountered pirates.

"We had a radar to tell how close other vessels were coming to us. We would radio to say Watch out for us, we are only a little rowing boat' "One night, we saw a mystery yacht that failed to respond. It came really close and shone a huge flashlight on us then disappeared.

"People have since told us they could have been modern-day pirates looking to see if we had anything worth stealing.

"Fortunately, they must have taken one look and thought Oh my God, crazy people!' she laughed.

Four women in a confined space and near desperate conditions, there must have been times when they felt like throwing each overboard, mustn't there?

"It was an incredibly difficult situation with some very tough moments for us all but we all got on really well during the trip and we are all still friends," said Sarah.

"Arriving at Antigua was amazing," Sarah remembered. "I had some of the best and worst times of my life out there."

Through sponsorship, the Angels raised an impressive £30,000 for three charities, Cancer Research UK, Helen Rollason Heal Cancer Charity and a London hospice.

And far from the whole experience having put her off, Sarah is looking forward to her next adventure.

"I am going to climb Mount Blanc in August. Then there is the first ever Indian Ocean rowing race next summer that I am quite tempted by"