UK woman in trans-Pacific rowing attempt rescued

By Adam Tanner

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A British woman who attempted to row across the Pacific Ocean alone has been rescued after her boat capsized several times amid high waves and gale-force winds, she said on Friday.

Roz Savage set off from California on August 12 seeking to become the first woman to row alone across the Pacific to highlight the problem of plastic pollution in the ocean. A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter picked her up about 90 miles (145 km) off shore on Thursday night.

"I never thought I was going to die; I never felt that my life was in danger," Savage told Reuters in an interview after she returned to land in California.

"... What made the rescue my best course of option was I was still in range of land and I was only 10 days into the expedition."

The former management consultant suffered some bruises and cuts when the strong waves capsized her boat several times and an anchor designed to face the specially designed vessel into waves was lost. Restraining straps had also broken.

"My instinct was really to tough it out," she said by telephone. "The ultimate decision was mine, but I could tell (the Coast Guard) were very concerned, and looking at it objectively I would see the reasons for their concerns."

"If I ran into storms later on and didn't have the sea anchor, didn't have the restraining straps on the bunk -- if I had the option to remedy those problems I think I would have regretted it later on."

A Coast Guard plane flew above her earlier on Thursday but Savage said she was initially reluctant to end the journey in conversations she had with officials via a satellite phone.