Cassie is part of ​‘Blades of Oary’, a team of four Perth women row­ing 4,800km across the Atlantic Ocean.

The World’s Tough­est Row is an endurance race that sees teams from around the world pushed to the edge of their limits. 

“We are beyond excit­ed and are cur­rent­ly train­ing six days a week,” Cassie says. ​“We’ll row for 40 – 60 days straight, car­ry­ing all our food, water, and med­ical sup­plies. Our ocean row­ing boat has two cab­ins in it at the bow and stern where we will rest and bunker down in a storm.”

Their jour­ney begins in La Gomera in the Canary Islands, from where they will row con­tin­u­ous­ly in two-hour on two-hour off shifts until arriv­ing in Antigua. 

“There is no sup­port boat, so we have a manda­to­ry list of cours­es such as nav­i­ga­tion, sea sur­vival, VHF radio oper­a­tion and marine first aid to com­plete pri­or to leaving.” 

Cassie thrives on this kind of adven­ture, hav­ing worked as a medic for an Aus­tralian camel trek across the Simp­son Desert and a 300km camel cross­ing of the Gobi Desert.

“I’ve always been com­plete­ly obsessed with expe­di­tion med­i­cine – a place where clin­i­cal prac­tice meets wild places and human endurance,” she says. 

“The skills I’d gained through remote health care, espe­cial­ly in plan­ning, clin­i­cal pri­ori­ti­sa­tion, and calm deci­sion-mak­ing, helped me lead confidently.” 

Cassie began her remote health­care jour­ney after being inspired by a remote area nurse at a young age, and still car­ries an admi­ra­tion for her colleagues. 

“Spend­ing a small part of my child­hood in the small coastal com­mu­ni­ty of Man­ingri­da in the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry had a big influ­ence on me. I remem­ber being inspired by a remote area nurse from Man­ingri­da, which was crazy that even as a child, I knew I want­ed to fol­low a sim­i­lar path,” she says. 

“Remote work has tak­en me every­where – from the Top End to Cocos Keel­ing Islands, Nor­folk Island, Cen­tral NSW, Christ­mas Island, and even Rot­tnest Nurs­ing Post. In my role with RFDS, I main­ly retrieve patients from these regions now and it’s clear: remote area nurs­es are the back­bone of these communities.” 

As the des­ig­nat­ed medic on board this expe­di­tion, Cassie is prepar­ing for what­ev­er may come. 

“From a med­ical per­spec­tive, I expect us to be man­ag­ing salt­wa­ter rubs, pres­sure sores, shoul­der and back injuries from overuse, but could encounter any­thing from cap­siz­ing to a mar­lin strike into the boat!” she says.

“While I hope to spend more time row­ing than triag­ing, CRANAplus has def­i­nite­ly giv­en me the skillset to man­age emer­gen­cies in the mid­dle of the ocean.” 

Cassie has com­plet­ed CRANAplus’ Remote Emer­gency Care, Mater­ni­ty Emer­gency Care and Mid­wifery Upskilling courses. 

“All of this laid the foun­da­tion for me to fit the cri­te­ria and become the per­fect can­di­date as a flight nurse – a role that per­fect­ly match­es my per­son­al­i­ty. I thrive on adven­ture, vari­ety, and the chal­lenge of work­ing in dif­fer­ent loca­tions with diverse presentations.”

While the phys­i­cal and emo­tion­al chal­lenges of the row are mon­u­men­tal, the cause behind it gives the jour­ney deep­er meaning. 

Cassie and her team are row­ing to raise mon­ey for two organ­i­sa­tions close to their hearts: the RFDS and Ruah Com­mu­ni­ty Ser­vices, Perth’s old­est women’s shelter. 

“This row is my way of giv­ing back,” Cassie says. 

“As women, our team hopes to send a pow­er- ful mes­sage about equi­ty, access, and the impor­tance of sup­port­ing remote com­mu­ni­ties and vul­ner­a­ble populations.”