A MUM has recalled “rowing for her life” through pain and fatigue after capsizing twice in the final day of her remarkable row across the Atlantic Ocean.

Elaine Theaker, of Abergavenny, and Atlantic Ladies crewmates Dianne Carrington and Sharon Magrath were 37 miles away from Antigua and the end of their 3,000-mile journey when disaster struck.

Amidst dangerous weather, the boat carrying the crew was battered by two “40-feet high” waves within half an hour of each other.

“These waves were phenomenal and were just coming straight at us full force,” said Mrs Theaker, aged 54.

“When I saw the first one I knew that something not very nice was going to happen. It was like a vertical wall of water.”

Both Mrs Theaker and Mrs Magrath, who had been rowing, were saved only by their safety harnesses when they were thrown overboard.

Then the boat, which the crew had named “Poppy”, fell on top of the pair with Mrs Carrington still in the cabin.

“Once we were back onboard the damage was quite extensive, and one of the oars had snapped,” said Mrs Theaker.

But the trio had little time to recover as another wave crashed into their broadside, throwing the two rowers back overboard.

In the chaos another oar had snapped, while Mrs Theaker felt pain in her leg and hip.

The crew decided against rowing any further and retreated to the cabin, where rescue teams told them that they were drifting off course.

“We had no option but to get back on the oars,” said Mrs Theaker.

“We dug deeper than we’ve ever dug before. We’d previously had sleep patterns but none of us slept in that final day.

“We were rowing for our lives.”

While the final day proved traumatic for the Atlantic Ladies,, there were moments of magic on their journey.

A day before Mrs Carrington’s birthday, and while Mrs Theaker was rowing along, the boat was visited by a dolphin pod.

“It was around 3am and I could heard this otherworldly sound. Then I saw silhouettes of dorsal fins and called down to Di and Sharon to wake them,” she said.

“We were also visited by a whale who was a few metres from our boat, and we saw a lot of green turtles. One swam right up to us to say hello.

“Any little visit like this was a real highlight as apart from that it was just us and the sea.”

Mrs Theaker also remembers vivid clear night skies where she saw “shooting stars and meteorites of green and yellow.”

Once the crew were 10 miles from Antigua they were escorted to the finish line by guide boats.

After 60 days at sea they emerged onto dry land battered, bruised but triumphant - they had become the first trio of women to row the Atlantic and the first trio of women to row any ocean

Mrs Carrington, who turned 62 during the row, also became the oldest woman to row the Atlantic Ocean.

But soon after reaching dry land, Mrs Theaker - who had lost 14 kilos while at sea - fainted and was later told that she had torn a tendon in her pelvis.

“I thought I’d broken it after falling off the boat but with the adrenaline pumping I managed to ignore the pain,” she said.

“I can’t even walk well at the moment, so it’s hard to think how I rowed that final 24 hours.”

It was on Nelson’s Dockyard that Mrs Theaker was reunited with husband Steve and son Che, both of whom acted as a constant source of motivation.

“I wanted so desperately to see them. The messages from friends an family kept us going,” she said.

“Our husbands were always on hand to check that we were safely clipped in.”

Mrs Theaker said that the Atlantic Ladies have come out the other side of their journey “friends for life”, adding: “It was inevitable after an experience like that. We went through hell and high water together.”

And a return to her day job as managing director of legal practice Advantage Legal in Abergavenny is still some way away.

“I’ve got a couple of weeks in Antigua now to relax. Having lost 20 per cent of my body weight I’ve got some feeding to catch up on,” said Mrs Theaker.

“The experience has been amazing but having done it once, I’m not sure I’ll be signing up to do it again!”