Debra Searle

Debra Louise Searle MVO MBE (born 8 July 1975), née Newbury, later Veal, is a British adventurer, businesswoman, author and keynote speaker.

Searle is famous for having rowed across the Atlantic alone after her then husband and rowing partner, Andrew Veal, was rescued from their plywood rowing boat.

Searle was born in Plymouth, Devon, on 8 July 1975 along with her identical twin sister Hayley Barnard.

They were adopted by Robin and Christine Newbury as babies and have two older brothers.

Searle attended Stover School, on the edge of Dartmoor, where she first started undertaking expeditions, including Ten Tors and the Duke of Edinburgh's Award.

She studied for a BEd and graduated with 1st Class Honours and a number of outdoor instructor qualifications from De Montfort University.

She went on to gain a place in the Great Britain Dragon Boat Racing Team in 1998 for the European Championships in Rome and the 1999 World Championships in Nottingham, coming home with gold, silver and bronze medals.

Searle 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 included competitors being required to build their own plywood boats from flat pack kits.

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.

There was significant media interest in the couple's entry, as they were the only male/female and husband/wife team out of the 36 teams taking part in the 2001–02 race.

Media interest intensified when Andrew was forced to retire from the race suffering from uncontrollable anxiety.

Debra continued on alone, arriving in Barbados after 111 days at sea.

Robert Hall covered the story for the BBC Six O'Clock News over two consecutive days.

The Times newspaper ran the story on their front page for three consecutive days.

Searle had never rowed before signing up to row across the Atlantic.

From 2002 onwards, 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 keynote speaker and has written and contributed to a number of books and newspapers.

For over 20 years Searle has worked closely with Executive Boards of global corporations on leadership development and resilience, causing one British newspaper to place Searle at number 25 in the World's top 50 'inspirational leaders'.

She was later awarded an Honorary MA by De Montfort University in 2004 and an Honorary Degree from Plymouth Marjon University in 2019.

Searle taught at St Margaret's School, Exeter, Devon and then at Claremont Fan Court School, Esher, Surrey.

In 2004, Searle closed The Well Hung Art Company to focus on her second company, Shoal Projects Ltd, which she had founded two years earlier with her twin sister Hayley Barnard.

Shoal Projects manages Searle's adventures and other related media, publishing and motivational/leadership development work.

In 2004, Searle became a member of the Pindar Ocean Racing Team.

Yachts and Yachting Magazine reported that Searle was planning an attempt to become the first woman to sail non-stop the 'wrong way' around the world (against the prevailing winds and currents).

With major corporate sponsors in place Searle, who had no previous sailing experience, trained to become a RYA Yachtmaster.

Ben Fogle, the adventurer and TV presenter who rowed the Atlantic with James Cracknell in 2005 claimed to have been inspired by Searle's crossing in his book The Crossing, written with James Cracknell.

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 Searle 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.

Searle 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.

Searle's story is featured in the multi-award-winning film Row Hard No Excuses by Lantern Films, which was screened on PBS across the US in 2010 and 2011.

A dramatisation of the story is in development in Hollywood.

In 2014, Searle and business partner Barnard opened MIX Diversity Developers Ltd, a consultancy firm specialising in Diversity & Inclusion, Unconscious Bias and Cultural Change.

Mix was nominated for the HR Supplier Partnership Award by Personnel Today in 2015.

In 2024, Searle stepped down from the company to focus on her expanding keynote speaking and leadership development work.

In 2018, Searle founded Brave Girl Media after the story of her Atlantic Row was optioned by an LA based production company.

The movie of Searle's 3.5 month solo journey across the Atlantic is now being developed into a Hollywood movie.

In 2021, Searle reached no.3 in the World’s Top 30 Motivational Speakers list, after Simon Sinek at no.1 and Tony Robbins at no.2, making her the highest ranking female motivational speaker in the world, as voted by the public.

She has remained in the Top 30 list for 5 consecutive years.

Always a keen sportswoman, Searle represented her county in tennis and netball and represented the West of England in lacrosse whilst in her teens.