Rowing home the long way: Dawn Smith’s North Atlantic bid

Somewhere out in the North Atlantic, between the fog and the cold and the outside chance of an iceberg, a 50-year-old former police officer is pulling on the oars towards home. She is doing it the hard way, and by her own cheerful admission the long way, roughly 2,500 miles from Newfoundland to a stretch of the Essex coast.

Rowing home the long way round

Dawn Smith BEM is currently battling across the North Atlantic on an unsupported row from Newfoundland, Canada to the UK, a crossing she has described as the hardest challenge of her life. The 50-year-old former police officer and four-time Guinness World Records holder is one of the more decorated names in ocean rowing, and she is not doing this one alone.

She is rowing with American ocean rower and former US Marine Paul Lore. The pair left St John’s, Newfoundland on 26 June 2026 aboard their ocean rowing boat, and the crossing forms the final stage of a wider transatlantic expedition, called Row Aurora, designed to connect communities on both sides of the Atlantic while raising support for charities in the UK and the USA.

Dawn and Paul are rowing in shifts of three hours on and three hours off as they push towards Burnham-on-Crouch in Essex, carrying everything they need on board: all their food, a water desalinator, every navigation and communication system, and their emergency safety gear.

The records within reach

If the crossing is completed and ratified, the list of firsts is remarkable. Dawn would become the first British woman to row the Atlantic Ocean in both directions. It would be her seventh ocean crossing, extending her existing record for the most ocean rows completed by a woman, and adding to her record for the greatest number of ocean miles rowed by a woman. Together with Paul, she would also set a benchmark as the first and fastest mixed pair to row the North Atlantic from west to east.

None of this comes from nowhere. Dawn completed a solo Atlantic crossing in 2019 and has since rowed with crews across both the Atlantic and the Pacific. Earlier this year, she and Paul set a record for the fastest mixed pair to row the Atlantic from east to west.

Cold, fog and the chance of ice

The Newfoundland-to-UK route is a different animal. Dawn and Paul face powerful, fast-changing weather systems, cold and fog, sleep deprivation and the possibility of icebergs. They row in alternating shifts, with rest repeatedly broken into short stretches inside the boat’s small cabins.

“This row is about far more than records, it is about adventure, resilience, community, and proving that extraordinary challenges are still possible later in life,” Dawn says. “We are literally rowing home the long way round.”

From Essex Police to the open ocean

Dawn spent 26 years with Essex Police, including a spell working as a police boat skipper, before retiring in 2022 to pursue ocean rowing and set up Aurora Sea School. She is a commercially endorsed Yachtmaster Examiner and a British Rowing coach.

In 2022 she was awarded the British Empire Medal for her contribution to maritime safety and to her community. She has previously appeared on ITV’s Lorraine, and is available for broadcast and press interviews, subject to communications and conditions at sea.

Rowing for veterans on both sides of the Atlantic

Named Hometown Row, the expedition is raising awareness and support for Phoenix Heroes in the UK and K9s For Warriors in the United States, both of which support military veterans.

Dawn and Paul are aiming to reach the UK during August, with a ceremonial homecoming planned in Burnham-on-Crouch on 29 August, subject to weather, progress and safe navigation. The public can follow the team through the live tracker and daily updates from the Atlantic, and support the campaign on Facebook and Instagram.

For now the date is a hope, not a promise. Two people, one small boat, and an ocean that will decide when they get to come home.