- Debra Searle
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Personal information Full name Debra Searle Nationality British Born 8 July 1975 Website www.debrasearle.com Debra Searle MBE (born 8 July 1975) is a British adventurer, television presenter, author and motivational speaker.[1] In 2002 Debra Veal, as she was named at the time, rowed across the Atlantic alone after her husband and rowing partner, Andrew Veal, was recued from their plywood rowing boat.[2]
Contents
Biography
Personal life
Debra Searle (born Newbury) was born in Plymouth on 8 July 1975 along with identical twin sister Hayley Barnard.[3] They were adopted by Robin and Christine Newbury as babies and have two older brothers. Debra attended Stover School on the edge of Dartmoor where she first started undertaking expeditions, including Ten Tors and The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. Debra studied for a BEd in Physical Education specialising in Outdoor Education and graduated with 1st Class Honours and a number of outdoor instructor qualifications from De Montfort University. She was later awarded an Honorary MA by De Montfort University in 2004.[4]
Always a keen sportswoman, Debra represented her county in Tennis and Netball and represented the West of England in Lacrosse whilst in her teens. Debra went on to gain a place in the Great Britain Dragon Boat Racing Team in 1998[5] for the European Championships in Rome and the 1999 World Championships in Nottingham,[6] coming home with gold, silver and bronze medals.
Debra married Andrew Veal, a Management Consultant in 1999. They divorced in 2004.[7] Debra has since remarried and lives in Plymouth with her husband with whom she has had two children.
Debra is a Christian and came to faith during the months she spent alone while rowing the Atlantic, as recorded in the book My reason for hope
Debra Searle was awarded an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours in 2002.[8] She became a Trustee of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award in 2005.[9]
Career
Debra taught Physical Education and Outdoor Education at St Margaret’s School, Exeter, Devon and then at Claremont Fan Court School, Esher, Surrey. She gave up teaching after founding The Well Hung Art Company Ltd in 1999 with two friends, which promoted the work of lesser known artists via the web and sold original fine art to the corporate market.[10] Debra closed The Well Hung Art Company in 2004 to focus on her second company, Shoal Projects Ltd.
In 2002 Debra Searle founded her second company with twin sister Hayley Barnard. Shoal Projects Ltd manages Debra’s adventures and other related media, publishing and motivational work, as well as that of other sports people and adventurers. From 2002 onwards Debra Searle has undertaken a number of expeditions and adventurous challenges as detailed below and has worked as a TV presenter, mainly for the BBC. She is much in demand as a motivational speaker. She has written and contributed to a number of books and newspapers.
Atlantic Rowing Race
Debra and her then husband Andrew Veal entered the Ward Evans Atlantic Rowing Challenge, a 3,000 mile double –handed rowing race from Tenerife to Barbados. The challenge includes building your own plywood boat from a flat pack kit.
There was significant media interest in Debra and Andrew’s entry as they were the only male/female and husband/wife team out of the 36 teams taking part in the 2001-2 race.
Media interest intensified when Andrew was forced to retire from the race suffering from uncontrollable anxiety.[11] Debra continued on alone, arriving in Barbados after 111 days at sea.[12] Robert Hall from the BBC Six O’Clock News covered the story which was shown over two consecutive days.[13] The Times Newspaper ran the story on their front cover for three consecutive days.[14][15][16]
Debra had never rowed before signing up to row across the Atlantic.
Ben Fogle, the adventurer and TV presenter who rowed the Atlantic with James Cracknell in 2005 claimed to have been inspired by Debra Searle’s crossing in his book “The Crossing”, written with James Cracknell.[17]
Debra’s story is featured in the multi-award winning film ‘Row Hard No Excuses’ by Lantern Films (http://www.rowhardnoexcuses.org), being screened on PBS across the US in 2010 and 2011.[18]
Expeditions and Sporting Achievements
Year Achievement 1998 Won gold medal at European Dragon Boat Championships in Rome for Great Britain 1999 Won silver and bronze medals at Dragon Boat World Championships in Nottingham representing Great Britain 2001–2002 Rowed across the Atlantic (3300 miles) 2002 Yukon River Race (742 km) with childhood friend Bruce Parry 2004 Raced in Les Voiles De St. Tropez on board Mari Cha IV 140’ 2004–2005 Sailed across the Southern Ocean from Buenos Aires to Wellington, New Zealand, (7000 miles). Sponsored by Pindar. 2005 Kayak Surfed 4 peeks in the Maldives 2005 Raced in the Round the Island Race on board Pindar Alphagraphics Open 60 2005 Raced in Les Voiles De St. Tropez on board Pindar Volvo 60 2006 Obtained RYA Yachtmaster 2006 Raced in Antigua Race Week on board Pindar Alphagraphics Open 60 2006 Obtained PADI Advanced Diver Certification 2007 Skippered and Navigated “The Sisterhood” to a new Dragon Boat world record to cross the English Channel.[19] 2007 Competed in Vogalonga - a race around the canals of Venice in traditional craft 2007 Completed Time Megeve Mont Blanc Bike Race in the French Alps 2007 Successfully completed L’Etape du Tour bike race in the Pyrenees Mountains (Stage 15 of Le Tour de France - 196 km) 2009 Dartmoor Classic 100 mile bike race 2009 Forced to retire from L’Etape du Tour attempt due to bike failure 2010 Raced in Monte Carlo Rally Historique with Anna-Louise Felstead in a 1957 Alfa Romeo In 2004 Debra became a member of the Pindar Ocean Racing Team. Yachts and Yachting Magazine reported that Debra was planning an attempt to become the first woman to sail non-stop the ‘wrong way’ around the world (against the prevailing winds and currants).[20] With major corporate sponsors in place Debra, who had no previous sailing experience, trained to become a RYA Yachtmaster. She competed in a number of major sailing events on board Pindar Open 60 throughout 2005 and sailed on board Pindar in the Global Challenge Southern Ocean leg. However the attempt was scrapped after Debra was beaten to the record by Dee Caffari who set off on 20 November 2005, arriving back in the UK on 18 May 2006, after 178 days at sea.
TV presenting
Debra was approached by the BBC Extreme Lives team with a view to making a documentary about her Atlantic row and subsequent expedition, the Yukon River Quest. Debra invited long-term friend Bruce Parry (who went on to present numerous BBC series including ‘Tribe’, ‘Amazon’ and most recently, ‘Arctic’) to partner her in the 742 km canoe race through the Yukon Territory.
As a result of Debra’s appearance on Extreme Lives and following an interview for BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour Debra was allocated a ‘Talent Manager’ within the BBC and started presenting. Debra has presented over 40 programs for the BBC as well as working for ITV, Channel 5 and Sail TV. Credits include Grandstand (BBC1), G2 (BBC2 Grandstand spin-off), Extreme Lives, Builders, Sweat and Tears (BBC1), Big Strong Boys (BBC1) and The Southampton Boat Show (ITV).
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award
In 2005 Debra Searle was invited to be a Trustee of leading youth charity The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. At that time she was the only female and youngest Board Member. Other Board Directors include HRH The Earl of Wessex, The Lord Kirkham, and David Hempleman-Adams.[21]
Debra started her Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award whilst at school and completed it at university.
Writing
As author
- Rowing it Alone (2002) Hardback (11)
- Rowing it Alone (2003) Paperback
- The Journey: How to Achieve Against the Odds (2007) (12)
As contributor
- Kayak Surfing (2004)
- Extreme Survival (2006)
- My Reason for Hope (2008)
- Numerous UK papers including The Express and The Times and the Telegraph.
Speaking
Debra Searle works with some of the biggest organisations in the world as a keynote speaker, conference host and trainer including Microsoft, IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Unilever and Nokia. Keynote themes include:
- Change
- Motivation and productivity
- Team work and positive relationships
- Achieving impossible goals
- Excelling outside your comfort zone
- Commitment
References
- ^ Pengelly, Gaynor. "Sea Change". http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-1535472/Sea-change.html. Retrieved 21 August 2002.
- ^ "Rower completes Atlantic crossing". BBC News. 26 January 2002. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/1783704.stm. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
- ^ "Relative values: Debra Veal and Hayley Barnard". The Times (London). April 13, 2003. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/article1126834.ece. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
- ^ "Honorands 2004". http://www.dmu.ac.uk/news_events/events/honorands/honorands-2004.jsp. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
- ^ "European Championships 1998". http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:IJa7uaPcZNcJ:www.gbwomendragonboat.com/index.php%3Foption%3Dcom_content%26task%3Dview%26id%3D63%26Itemid%3D56+GB+Women%E2%80%99s+Dragon+Boat+Team+List+1998&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&source=www.google.co.uk. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
- ^ "International Dragon Boat Federation World Championship Results 1999". http://idbf.org/documents/general/DragonBoatSport09.pdf. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
- ^ "The 50 sporting couples". Times Online (London). August 15, 2007. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/more_sport/article2263845.ece. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
- ^ "Sir Bobby tops Honours List". Daily Mail (London). http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-123273/Sir-Bobby-tops-honours-list.html. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
- ^ "Duke of Edinburgh’s Award List of Trustees". http://www.dofe.org/en/content/cms/About_Us/Our_trustees/Our_trustees.aspx. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
- ^ Flanagan, Ben (23 February 2003). "Home is where the art is...". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2003/feb/23/property.homeimprovements. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
- ^ "Ocean Rowing Society list of failed Atlantic Rowing Attempts". http://www.oceanrowing.com/statistics/list_of_oceanrowers_incomplete.htm. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
- ^ "Rower Completes Atlantic Crossing". BBC News. 26 January 2002. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/1783704.stm. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
- ^ "BBC Six O’Clock News". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRBkCukVqO8. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
- ^ "Atlantic Rower to make Barbados Landfall today". The Times.
- ^ "Debra Veal was celebrating as she rowed into Port St Charles, Barbados". The Sunday Times. 27 January 2002.
- ^ "Now Sky’s the limit for Debra the lone Atlantic Rower". The Times. 28 January 2002.
- ^ James Cracknell; Ben Fogle (2006). The Crossing. pp. 4. ISBN 1 84354 511X.
- ^ "Row Hard No Excuses showing on PBS". http://www.wgbhinternational.org/index.php?page=programs&pgid=3&dle_pp=0&dle_od=asc&pr_act=details&pid=395. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
- ^ [The Telegraph Blog, Sisterhood. http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/sport/debrasearle/3953361/Sisterhood/ "The Telegraph Blog, Sisterhood."]. The Telegraph Blog, Sisterhood. http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/sport/debrasearle/3953361/Sisterhood/. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
- ^ "Debra Searle to take Wrong Way Round the World Attempt". 27 September 2005. http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/?article=19137. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
- ^ "Duke of Edinburgh’s Award List of Trustees". http://www.dofe.org/en/content/cms/About_Us/Our_trustees/Our_trustees.aspx. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
External links
- Personal website
- BBC News Coverage of Atlantic Row
- BBC Woman’s Hour interview
- BBC2 Extreme Lives: Yukon River Quest
- Monte Carlo Rally Youtube movie
- Sisterhood Channel Crossing movie
- Telegraph.co.uk blog of Cross Channel
- London Speaker Bureau
- Ocean Rowing
- Row Hard No Excuses Film
- Atlantic Rowing Race
Categories:- Living people
- 1975 births
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