No American woman has rowed solo from California to Hawaii. Will she be the first?
If Pfendler completes the journey to Hawaii in fewer than 86 days, she'll become the youngest woman to do so. (kodiak greenwood/For the S.F. Chronicle)
On Thursday morning, Kelsey Pfendler climbed into her rowboat in Monterey and began whipping westward. If all goes well, she won't touch land again for months, until she reaches Honolulu, a feat that would make her the first American woman to row alone from California to Hawaii.
Pfendler, a 31-year-old Grand Canyon river guide, has been training in Monterey Bay for the past three months - readying her boat, gathering supplies and waiting for a window of calm air.
Only nine people are known to have completed the 2,400-mile voyage in such fashion - seven men and two women - and it has taken most of them around 70 to 90 days. Pfendler, who describes herself as a fierce competitor, hopes she can do it faster.
"I want to be in the middle of nowhere on a boat," she told the Chronicle before setting out. "But also, if you have a chance to do something big, why not go for a record? It's rare in our sports world to be the first at anything."
Pfendler prepped her rowboat and trained at the Breakwater Cove Marina in Monterey. (kodiak greenwood/For the S.F. Chronicle)
Pfendler has shaped her life around boating. She works as a seasonal rafting guide on the Colorado River, leading trips through the Grand Canyon. (In the winter she works as an emergency-room technician in Colorado.) She was part of a four-woman paddling team that won a national title at the U.S. Rafting Association's race on the Trinity River last fall. She crewed on a sailboat that crossed the Atlantic, from Spain to the Caribbean, in 2020.
In fact, Pfendler has already rowed the route she is about to attempt - in 2024, when she skippered a four-woman rowing team during the now-defunct Great Pacific Race. It took them 41 days.
"I was almost devastated that it was over," Pfendler said. "I really wanted to do another row."
The journey was so meaningful to the four crewmates that they got matching tattoos that say "humble safe passage," a phrase Pfendler repeated often during their journey as a reminder to approach the powerful ocean with humility.
"She is the strongest person I have ever met, physically and mentally," said Kristen Hofer, one of Pfender's crewmates on the Pacific voyage. "I've seen how well she handles crisis situations and stressful moments as a leader. … I have no doubt she can do this on her own."
The mid-Pacific crossing is a taxing ordeal.
Rowers spend months completely alone in a world of salt and sun, being battered by waves and living on freeze-dried meals, scarcely able to stand up or walk. They return to land totally exhausted and covered in salt sores, with severely atrophied legs, and starved for fresh fruit and vegetables.
Pfendler is bringing a long a few creature comforts for the voyage, including a sleeping pillow, audiobooks and lots of Pop-Tarts. (kodiak greenwood/For the S.F. Chronicle)
One woman who completed the journey is British ocean rower Lia Ditton, whose 86-day mid-Pacific crossing in the summer of 2020 was a harrowing odyssey in which her boat was capsized twice by rogue waves.
Others have tried and failed. Paralympian rower Angela Madsen drowned during her attempt in 2020. Australian Heather Taylor, who tried in 2021, lasted about five weeks before calling in a rescue off the coast of Mexico.
Pfendler knows all of this. She has contacted several finishers, including Ditton, for tips and guidance. Ditton wrote in an email to the Chronicle that she believes Pfendler "is the strongest contender we've had in a while to row solo to Hawaii."
Pfendler will travel in a 24-foot boat that, loaded with supplies, weighs around 1,200 pounds. It's a newer design than the class of craft that Ditton and others have rowed, and it's supposed to travel faster. For that reason, Ditton expects Pfendler to beat her record assuming all goes relatively well - which would make Pfendler the youngest woman to achieve the feat.
Still, Ditton added, "there is nothing easy about rowing to Hawaii solo!"
Long-distance ocean rower Lia Ditton stands for a portrait with her boat in Sausalito in 2019. (Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle)
Those who have attempted the route have said the first weeks are the hardest, physically. Coastal currents naturally carry rowers south while seasonal headwinds blow them back towards shore, so gaining headway towards the deep ocean requires a lot of hustle and muscle, hauling on the oars for days with minimal sleep.
Pfendler says she's ready. She waited weeks for an optimal weather window, and the seasonal winds ripping south subsided enough for her to start cranking westward towards the edge of the continental shelf.
Apart from the essentials - like navigation and communication equipment, watermakers and food - Pfendler is packing some creature comforts: a full-size vinyl sleeping pillow ("something I missed deeply" during her first Pacific voyage); a catalog of audiobooks, including the 68-hour "Lord of the Rings" trilogy; and lots of Pop-Tarts ("the world's best endurance food").
Setting a new record, she says, is part of the appeal but not the primary reason.
"The main driver is, I f–ing love it," Pfendler said.
"If I set a record, I'd want someone to come and take it," she added. "It pushes people to be stronger and better. I love that about sports."
