U.S. Rower Completes Trip Across the Atlantic

Weak-kneed but jubilant, a Kentucky lawyer on Friday became the first American--and the first woman--to row 3,000 miles across the Atlantic alone.

To the cheers of family and friends, Tori Murden rowed up to a dock on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, ending a journey that began in the Canary Islands in September.

“This land does wobble, and my legs are tanned,” she said as she set foot on land for the first time since she set off 81 days ago.

Murden, 36, set out so fast when she began her odyssey in the islands off northwestern Africa that she thought she would smash the 1970 record--73 1/3 days, set by Sidney Genders of Britain.

But foul weather bedeviled her. Late-season Hurricane Lenny whipped up 20-foot waves and high wind as it dissipated, upending her 23-foot boat, American Pearl, and catapulting Murden into the ocean.

Fighting despair, Murden almost gave up. But she persevered despite days when, because of Hurricane Lenny, she actually went backward as far as 10 miles.

The trip wasn’t a new experience for Murden, who had to be rescued last year when Hurricane Danielle capsized her 15 times. She had been at sea 85 days in an earlier attempt to cross the North Atlantic.

Whale and dolphin sightings, calm mornings and signs of land--birds and bugs--served to inspire her.

Murden used a butane stove to boil water for her food, all of which she packed below hatches on the boat. She used buckets to wash dishes and to go to the bathroom. At night, she closed the hatches, tied down her oars and slept on a hammock-like cloth.