HONOLULU (AP) — A Grand Canyon river rafting guide who aimed to become the first American woman to row across the mid-Pacific solo has completed a record-breaking journey from California to Hawaii.
Hundreds gathered to cheer on Kelsey Pfendler as she pulled into a Honolulu harbor Friday night on her 21-foot row boat, Lily, after nearly a month and a half at sea, local media reported.
Pfendler, who launched from Monterey, California, in May, set out to become the first American woman, youngest woman and fastest woman to make the more than 2,400-mile journey solo, according to her website. Hundreds of thousands of people followed along with her journey on social media, where she shared the highs, lows and quirks of her trek in videos taken as she bobbed alone on the vast ocean.
Pfendler appears to have broken both the previous women’s speed record as well as the men’s speed record, according to records maintained by Ocean Rowing Society International, which adjudicates ocean-rowing achievements for Guinness World Records. The organization didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press about Pfendler’s finish.
I think this should be upgraded from mildly interesting to actually interesting
Awesome, literally just became aware of this yesterday. Awesome for her beating the human record for this. That’s a distance of at least 2,285 miles. I wonder how long it took not only her but everyone who has accomplished this so I can calculate the average speed across the journey.
In a recent video posted as she neared Oahu, she reflected on the meaning of her accomplishment and what she hoped others would take from it.
“If any part of this made at least one person feel a little bit more powerful in their own skin, I couldn’t ask for anything else and I’m happy,” she said. “Think about trying to find your own big, hard, scary thing. You might not think that you are strong enough to finish it right now, but you’re definitely strong enough to start it, and you’ll find everything else along the way. I’m going to go finish my big, hard scary thing.”
Fuck yeah
Pfendler finished in just under 44 days, faster than the previous comparable female record holder’s 86 days or the male record holder’s 52 days
Not even close, that’s seriously impressive.
Fucking big deal. I can do that too. There’s a branch off the North Equatorial Current that takes you right there; surely something that eats me in Monterey Bay will show up in Hawai’i eventually.
Lol… Down voters didn’t make it past the first 8 words. It’s a pretty good post if you make it all the way to the punchline.
I can probably do it in less than a day with a proper launching system. I say probably because I can only try once.
Yeah you can’t bury the lede so deep
It’s 20 words – 4 seconds at an average English reading speed of 300 wpm.
It’s not the length it’s the structure. You’ve got to introduce Chekhov’s gun right away.
I think a lot of voters don’t really read or think about a comment, just respond on vibes.
