Jim Shekhdar (born 13 November 1946) is a British ocean rower and was the first person to complete a solo unassisted non-stop crossing of the Pacific Ocean. Career Shekhdar was born in Leamington Spa, England in 1946 and lived in India from the age of seven to twelve, where he learned Hindi. Back in England, he went to university where he studied civil engineering. Shekhdar was a keen water polo player but stopped playing after a falling out with the British Water Polo Administration for claiming airfare to an International match. He stayed in Australia for a year and a half playing Rugby and working as an engineer. He then moved on to Papua New Guinea, Africa, the Middle East, New Zealand and Las Vegas. He finally returned to England, where he was permitted to play water polo again, but was banned for life one more time after throwing a referee into the water. He is now married to Nina Shekhdar ( Hlochova) and has two young daughters: Natalie (born 2008) and Alice (born 2011). They all live on the beach in Cornwall. Ocean rowing Shekhdar became interested in ocean rowing after reading John Ridgway's book about his transatlantic row with Chay Blyth. He initially wanted to start a corporate team building style venture with either Ridgway or Blyth but neither were interested. In 1997, he heard about the Port St Charles Atlantic Rowing Race organised by Sir Chay's company, Challenge Business, and entered with David Jackson. They rowed from Tenerife to Barbados in sixty five days. Rowing the Pacific The Atlantic race had given Shekhdar a taste for ocean rowing and his sights soon turned to the Pacific. Peter Bird had rowed across the Pacific already but he had stopped in Hawaii and eventually ended up being rescued by the Australian Navy 33 miles from the Australian mainland. The way was still open therefore for a solo unassisted non-stop crossing. Shekhdar had an arthritic hip and was on the waiting list for a replacement but decided to delay the operation in order to complete the row even though he was in pain. Bird had set off from San Francisco and had run aground on Hawaii. To avoid the same fate, Shekhdar decided to set out from South America which he felt offered a clearer route across the Pacific. He originally chose Chile but was denied permission and set off