Peter Bird

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Peter Bird was a British ocean rower who, in 1983, became the first person ever to row solo across the Pacific.

Bird first became interest in ocean rowing in 1968 when he read about the Atlantic crossings by John Fairfax, Chay Blyth and John Ridgway. Then, while selling silk paintings door to door, he happened to meet Derek King who had just rowed around Ireland in a small boat. King was planning to row around the world and invited Bird to join him. The two only managed to cross the Atlantic however and having run out of money were forced to return home.

Bird next decided that he would try to row the Pacific solo. He set off from San Francisco on 23 August 1982 having already failed in one earlier attempt in 1982. 294 days later and within a quarter of a mile of the Great Barrier reef Bird was rescued by the Australian Navy.^{[citation needed]}

On the 3 June 1996, while attempting the more difficult West to East row across the Pacific, the Russian Rescue Center picked up an emergency signal from Bird. His badly damaged boat was found a few hours later with no sign of Bird.^{[citation needed]}

Bird was a cofounder of the Ocean Rowing Society.