A South African couple rowed into the record books on Friday after becoming the first team to cross the Atlantic from Africa to the U.S.

It took Riaan Manser and his girlfriend Vasti Geldenhuys 153-days to make the journey in their custom-built 23ft row boat.

The couple celebrated their accomplishment with a kiss as they passed the Statue of Liberty, after enduring a 6,500-mile journey with no support crew and limited supplies.

Manser and Geldenhuys, who started their journey on December 30, estimate that it took 3.6 million rows for them to make it to New York City.

They carried only essentials on board, and kept themselves fed and watered by fishing and using a salt-water convertor.

A GPS system helped them - and their friends and family - keep track of their progress as they crossed the Atlantic, and made their way up from the Bahamas and Miami, to New York.

When they reached Manhattan the couple became the first crew to have rowed from mainland Africa to the mainland of North America.