Roz Savage

Rosalind Elizabeth Adriana Savage MBE FRGS (born 23 December 1967), known as Roz Savage, is an English ocean rower, environmental advocate, writer, speaker and politician.^[1] She was elected as the Liberal Democrat MP for the new South Cotswolds constituency at the 2024 general election.^[2]

She holds four Guinness World Records for ocean rowing, including first woman to row solo across three oceans: the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian.^[3]

Savage was born in Northwich, Cheshire,^[4] the elder daughter of a Methodist minister and a Methodist deaconess, and was educated at various state schools as her parents moved around the country. At the age of 15, she was awarded a government-assisted place in the sixth form at Perse School for Girls, which she attended until the age of 17.

She took up rowing at University College, Oxford and went on to gain two half-blues for representing Oxford against Cambridge in the 1988 Women's Reserve Boat Race and in the 1989 Women's Lightweight Boat Race.^[5][6]

She has a BA in law from the University of Oxford (1989) and a DProf from Middlesex University (2021), where her doctoral thesis topic was The ocean in a drop: A narrative of reintegration for an era of disintegration.^[7] In her thesis, Savage synthesises her experiences as a solo ocean rower with systems theory and Taoist philosophy to argue that resolving the global environmental crisis requires a fundamental shift in human consciousness from individual separation to holistic reintegration.^[8]

After 11 years as a management consultant, Savage underwent a mid-life career change at age 34. The shift was sparked by a "two obituaries" exercise she performed on a train, in which she compared her current trajectory with her ideal life. Realising the two were incompatible, she left her marriage, her career, and her suburban home to pursue environmental exploration.^[9][10]

In 2003, Savage was elected a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and participated in the Thomson–Ziegler expedition to Peru. The Anglo-American team used infrared technology to rediscover the ruins of Llactapata, an Inca ceremonial site in the cloud forests near Machu Picchu. Following the discovery, she spent three months travelling solo through the Andes to research her first book, Three Peaks in Peru (2004).^[11]

She ran in the New York Marathon in 1998^[12] and the London Marathon in 2001,^[13] finishing in the top 2% of women in each, with a time of 3 hours 21 minutes and 53 seconds in the London Marathon, 2 minutes more than her personal best.

In 2005, after meeting former Conservative MP Dan Byles, who had rowed across the Atlantic in 1995, Savage was inspired to enter the Atlantic Rowing Race in order to raise awareness about the environment.^[14]

On 14 March 2006, Savage finished the race as the only solo female competitor, having taken 103 days to reach the finish in Antigua. This she did unsupported, despite breaking all four of her oars and having to row with patched-up oars for more than half the race. Her cooking stove failed, then her navigation equipment and music player. She maintained her daily weblog until day 80 when her satellite phone failed.^[15]

Savage is the fifth woman to row solo across the Atlantic from East to West. Her story was filmed as A Little Silver Boat in a Big Silver Sea as part of the ITV1 documentary television series, Is It Worth It?, first broadcast in March 2007.^[16] Savage's book of her Atlantic voyage Rowing the Atlantic – Lessons Learned on the Open Ocean was published in October 2009 by Simon & Schuster.^[17]

Shortly after her Atlantic crossing, she announced her bid to become the first woman to row solo across the Pacific Ocean from the United States to Australia (noting that Maud Fontenoy rowed solo halfway across the Pacific in 2005, via a different route). She accomplished her goal in three stages: California to Hawaii in summer 2008, to Tuvalu in 2009, and to Papua New Guinea in 2010.^[18][19]

She began stage one on 12 August 2007 from Crescent City, California. Ten days later—about 90 miles offshore—the U.S. Coast Guard rescued her after a well-wisher, alarmed by Savage's blog post mentioning heavy weather and a head injury, alerted authorities. She was later able to recover her boat, Brocade.^[20][21] She set off again on 25 May 2008,^[22] launching from Sausalito, California, and arrived in Hawaii on 1 September 2008, becoming the first woman to row solo from California to Hawaii. She completed the crossing from San Francisco to Waikīkī in 99 days, 8 hours and 55 minutes. The total distance covered was 2,598 nautical miles (4,811 km) and the journey took approximately one million oar strokes.^[23][24] En route to Hawaii, Savage was given an essential resupply of water by the two-man crew of the JUNK Raft, also on a journey from California to Hawaii. They were running low on food as their voyage was taking longer than expected, and she was able to donate them some of her surplus.^[25]

She began stage two on 24 May 2009, with the intention of arriving at the island nation of Tuvalu, 2,580 miles away. On 28 August, after suffering adverse winds and currents for several days, with food supplies running low and her water-maker broken, Savage realised that she was unlikely to be able to reach Tuvalu and reluctantly changed course for Tarawa. She arrived there on 5 September after 104 days at sea and approximately 1.3 million oar strokes.^[26]

Savage began her third and final stage for the Pacific row on 18 April 2010 with the intention of rowing to the eastern shore of Australia. After mid-ocean currents gave her a more westerly course, she again changed her destination and arrived at Papua New Guinea on 8 May 2010.^[27] On 3 June 2010, she reported that she had arrived at Madang, Papua New Guinea, after 45 days at sea.^[28]

In April 2011, Savage set out to row across the Indian Ocean, launching from Fremantle, Australia. Her route, daily locations and destination were kept secret because of the danger from pirates.^[29] She was towed back to Australia a fortnight into the 4,000 mile voyage due to a fault with her boat's desalination machine.^[30] Savage completed her Indian Ocean crossing on 4 October 2011, becoming the first woman to solo row the "Big Three": the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. The crossing took 154 days.^[31]

In March 2012, Savage announced that she would row the North Atlantic as part of the Olympic Atlantic row team with Andrew Morris.^[32] The goal was to row from St John's, Canada to the UK, making landfall in Bristol, and then rowing through inland waterways to London, arriving in time for the 2012 Summer Olympics. This row was postponed indefinitely in May 2012 due to unusually large numbers of icebergs drifting past the coast of Newfoundland, the result of a huge chunk of ice breaking off a glacier in Greenland in 2010. The situation was deemed to represent an unacceptable level of risk to the safety of the rowers.^[33]

In 2012, Savage joined Chris Martin and the team at New Ocean Wave as race consultant to the Great Pacific Race from Monterey, California to Honolulu, Hawaii, starting in June 2014.^[34]

Savage decided to stand for election after the death of Elizabeth II in September 2022, and chose the Liberal Democrats instead of the Labour Party or the Green Party after reading each party's manifesto. She considers herself to be on the left wing of the Liberal Democrats.^[14]

Savage stood unsuccessfully in May 2023 for the Liberal Democrats in the by-election for the Painswick and Upton ward of Stroud District Council in Gloucestershire, coming third.^[35][36][37] She was selected in September 2023 as the Liberal Democrat candidate for the new South Cotswolds constituency, which covers parts of Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.^[38] She won the seat at the 2024 general election, defeating James Gray (who had been the Conservative MP for North Wiltshire from 1997 to 2024).^[39] In her maiden speech on 8 October 2024, Savage highlighted the beauty and agricultural heritage of the South Cotswolds, addressed local farming and environmental challenges, praised community initiatives, and pledged to serve her constituents with dedication and integrity.^[40]

After being selected in third place in the private members' bill ballot on 5 September 2024, Savage chose to advance the Climate and Nature Bill, which had its first reading on 16 October 2024.^[41][42] Its second reading took place on 24 January 2025, when debate was adjourned (after a division in the Commons) until 11 July 2025. The resumed debate was later rescheduled to 29 May 2026, but as the 2024–26 session ended on 29 April 2026, the bill fell.^[43] Savage has stated that her work on the bill contributed to government commitments, including the introduction of an annual Climate and Nature Statement to Parliament (first delivered by Ed Miliband on 14 July 2025), the development of Local Nature Recovery Strategies, coordination between the Joint Nature Conservation Committee and the Climate Change Committee, and initiatives intended to increase public engagement on climate and environmental policy.^[44]

In the 2024–26 session, Savage co-sponsored other MPs' bills, including Lee Pitcher's Water Safety Bill, Sian Berry's Clean Air (Human Rights) Bill and Pippa Heylings' Chalk Streams (UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site) Bill. In October 2025, she led an adjournment debate on social housing in the South Cotswolds.^[45]

She has been a member of the Petitions Committee since October 2024, contributing to debates on e-petitions addressing issues such as banning fossil fuel advertising, improving maternity and paternity pay, and protecting children with SEND. In September 2025, she replaced Heylings on the Environmental Audit Select Committee, where she has scrutinised government climate and nature policies.^[46] She is a vice-chair of the cross-party Climate and Nature Crisis Caucus,^[47][48] and is an officer of four all-party parliamentary groups: international conservation, local nature recovery, sustainable flood and drought management, and UK food security.  

Savage is recognized as a United Nations Climate Hero and serves as a trained presenter for the Climate Reality Project.^[49] She is an Athlete Ambassador for 350.org and a board member of Adventurers and Scientists for Conservation.^[50][51] Additionally, she is a Blue Ambassador for the UK-based BLUE project and co-patron of Greener Upon Thames, which advocated for a plastic bag–free 2012 Summer Olympics. She is listed as a notable member of the Plastic Pollution Coalition and supports the work of the Five Gyres Institute.^[52][53] Savage also serves as an ambassador for Plastic Oceans and the MacGillivray Freeman One World One Ocean initiative.^[54] Her ocean rowing expeditions were conducted under the Blue Frontier campaign.^[55] Between 2016 and 2017, she taught a weekly seminar on courage at Yale University's Jackson Institute for Global Affairs.^[56]

Savage was appointed MBE in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to environmental awareness and fundraising.^[57] She is a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the Explorers Club, and has been listed among the "Top Twenty Great British Adventurers" by The Daily Telegraph and the "Top Ten Ultimate Adventurers" by National Geographic.^[58][59] In 2011, Savage received the Ocean Inspiration Through Adventure award, and in 2014, she was awarded an honorary doctorate of laws from the University of Bristol.^[60][10]

• Savage, Roz (2022). The Ocean in a Drop: Navigating from Crisis to Consciousness. Flint. ISBN 978-0750999694.
• Savage, Roz (2020). The Gifts of Solitude: A Short Guide to Surviving and Thriving in Isolation. Roz Savage. ISBN 979-8637532049.
• Savage, Roz (2013). Stop Drifting, Start Rowing: One Woman's Search For Happiness And Meaning Alone On The Pacific. Hay House. ISBN 978-1781801185.
• Savage, Roz (2010). Rowing the Atlantic: Lessons Learned on the Open Ocean. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1439153727.

• BBC News, Tuesday, 14 March 2006
• Merco Press, Thursday 16 February 2006
• Financial Times FT.comk, 19 November 2005
• BBC Radio 4 Interview, 12 April 2006
• TheOcean.net 14 March 2006
• Yorkshire Post Today, 28 June 2006
• The Daily Telegraph
• Radio interview on WNYC for "Rowing the Atlantic" 6 October 2009 Deprecated link archived 19 March 2011 at archive.today

• Official website
• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou

• Profile on OpenSanctions, an open database of sanctions and persons of interest

• Roz Rows The Pacific
• Roz Savage YouTube Channel
• Solo woman rows the Atlantic: Part 1
• Solo woman rows the Atlantic: Part 2
• Solo woman rows the Atlantic: Part 3
• Solo woman rows the Atlantic: Part 4