Kelsey Pfendler, born in Lee Center and raised in Boonville, where she graduated from Adirondack Central School in 2012, became only the third woman, the first American – and youngest – woman to row the mid-Pacific solo course across a swath of the Pacific Ocean from the coast of California to the shores of Hawaii.
According to Governor of the State of Colorado Jared Polis, the 32-year-old rower, now a resident of Colorado, began her voyage from Monterey, CA on May 21, then rowed 2,300 miles to Honolulu, HI, arriving at Magic Island and Ala Wai Boat Harbor just after 9 p.m. on July 3. After traveling for 43 days, 17 hours, 55 minutes, she was welcomed by the cheers of throngs of locals as she rowed toward the Hawaiian shore.
Her time not only smashed the women’s solo speed record for the feat, reported by the Ocean Rowing Society International to be 86 days, 10 hours, 5 minutes, set by British rower Lia Ditton in 2020, but also the men’s solo speed record for the feat of 52 days, 13 hours, 17 minutes set by Rob Eustace, also from the U.K. who set the current men’s record in the summer of 2014.
“What an accomplishment!” effused Polis in a Facebook post celebrating the feat. “Colorado is proud to call you one of our own!”
Journey memorialized
Pfendler memorialized her journey in a video-journal, where entries were posted to Facebook and Instagram pages, further to a website tracking the voyage, dubbed YOU ROW KELSEY. The daring rower accumulated an enormous social media following over the course of the row and beyond, where – as of July 13 – 795,000 fans followed the YOU ROW KELSEY insta, while 1.9 million followers tracked her adventure on the brand’s Facebook page.
In a July 3 video journal entry, when Pfendler knew she was less than 100 miles from the shores of Oahu, she convened testimony to her thoughts and fears along the way before concluding the reel to say…
“It’s going to happen. I’m going to get to Oahu and I’m going to be the fastest person to have ever rowed the mid-Pacific solo,” marveled the Oneida County native, still trying to convince herself. “It’s a crazy feeling … to have this moment.”
Pfendler’s record-breaking row raises funds, for The Whale Foundation
For the past 10 years, Pfendler has worked as a Grand Canyon River Guide.
Her record-breaking row was dedicated to raising awareness through a non-profit organization committed to their cause, The Whale Foundation, which provides mental health support, emergency assistance, wellness programs, and educational scholarships for the Grand Canyon river guide community.
A link to the SpotFund titled ‘Kelsey’s Solo Pacific Row’ can be found on the You Row Kelsey website, where part of the proceeds will support The Whale Fund, for those who wish to make a gift to the cause. To date, over $200,000 has been donated to the fund.
“The Whale Foundation has played a deeply meaningful role in my life, both as a river guide and as a person,” Pfendler is quoted on the non-profit’s website. “Their mission – to support, restore, and celebrate the health and well being of the Grand Canyon river guiding community is something I’ve experienced first hand.”
More about Pfendler’s craft Lily
As shared in an insta-reel on the Instagram page for “The Powherful” podcast, Pfendler navigated the Pacific Ocean course in a 23-foot long, approximately 132 square-foot custom-made, fiberglass ocean rowing boat, “Lily,” a vessel with no propulsion engine designed to accommodate a single rower.
The boat had both a bow and stern cabin, with the rowing seat and apparatus between and exterior to them.
The two small cabins, which Pfendler referred to in her video journal entries as the “Bow Cabin” and “Stern Cabin” provided interior space for sleeping, food storage and prep, bathing, and secure storage.
Solar panels powered Pfendler’s communication devices, navigation equipment, and a water maker that converted salt seawater into drinkable water.
Pfendler used a para-anchor, described as an underwater parachute, to slow the drift of the boat when she was sleeping.
“I don’t really spend that much time in here,” Pfendler joked during a video journal entry shot inside the “stern cabin” to escape the sound of strong winds on deck.”
Pfendler navigated the entire course solo, with no accompaniment.
Except, that is, for Hugo and Morey, her stuffies, a crab and octopus respectively.
Pfendler shares in that video that “wanted some friends” to join her, so it wouldn’t get too lonely. She referred to Hugo and Morey as her “companions” and credited them with “Keeping me company.”
Pfendler shares thoughts in video journal entry
In a video posted by Pfendler on July 3 – part of a video diary she shared in real time over the course of her journey – when she was under100 miles from Oahu, she announced publicly, as she convinces herself, that she knew she would be breaking not only the Women’s mid-Pacific Solo record, but also the men’s record, making her the fastest human to ever row the course, a route that only a total of nine people have ever completed, where most averaged about 70 days to do so.
Pfendler shared that, when she set sail, her goal was to be first American – and youngest – woman to navigate the “mid-Pacific solo,” with the woman’s record in sight.
“I was coming for the women’s record,” Pfendler said in that video. “Really, no part of me thought it was within my ability to break the men’s record.”
Pfendler shared with raw, authentic honesty her human, but especially female tendency to self-talk herself out of the possibility that she could have achieved what she did.
“It’s been really hard for me to even absorb that this is happening,” Pfendler said, “it took me a really long time to allow myself to even believe it.”
Pfendler confesses that, despite training her “butt off … preparing in every way” she could, she spent most of her time telling herself, ‘you’re going to fail.’
“Most of the time of this row I spent my time just kind of talking myself out of the fact that I was ahead of the record,” confessed Pfendler in her July 3 video journal entry. “It’s a pretty human thing, but it’s also a ‘female’ thing to discredit your abilities, even as you’re doing them.”
Pfendler recalled beginning to believe it was possible to break both speed records just over the final week and a half of endeavor.
“At this point, it’s gonna happen. I’m gonna get to Oahu and I’m going to be the fastest person to have ever rowed the mid-Pacific solo.”
Said an emotional Pfendler, “I’m so grateful for this moment.”
This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Oneida County native sets, breaks records in 43-day CA-to-HI solo row
Reporting by Cara Dolan Berry, Utica Observer Dispatch / Observer-Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Cara Dolan Berry, Utica Observer Dispatch | USA TODAY Network
