Woman Makes History: Rows Across Pacific Alone

After 150 days of rowing punctuated by storms, close encounters with sharks and cargo ships, exhaustion-induced hallucinations, and an engagement, Sarah Outen is back on dry land. The British adventurer has arrived in the Aleutian Islands, having become the first woman to row the 4,315 miles from Japan to Alaska, the Independent reports. Outen, who had to abandon a previous attempt last year, opened a bottle of champagne after her 22-foot ocean rowing shell "Happy Socks" made it to shore.

"I have had some of the most intense and memorable months of my life out on the Pacific," she said. "It has been brilliant and brutal at the same time. And it has been a privilege." She became engaged to her girlfriend during a satellite phone call about halfway through the journey, the AP reports. Outen—whose previous feats include becoming the first woman to row solo across the Indian Ocean—is now halfway through her mission to cycle, kayak and row her way around the world, and she plans to return to Alaska next year to pick up where she left off. (More Sarah Outen stories.)