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History was made this week when 25-year-old Taryn Smith, a yoga instructor from Nebraska, rowed into Antigua. It was the culmination of a 3,000 mile journey where she became the first American woman in history to solo row across the Atlantic Ocean.
She documented her journey along the way, from the Canary Islands to Antigua, while competing in the World’s Toughest Row competition and now she can say she just did something no other American woman has ever achieved.
Taryn Smith Becomes First American Woman To Solo Row Across Atlantic Ocean
Smith made it to dry land on Thursday, completing the 3,000 mile journey with an official time of 46 days, 3 hours and 37 minutes. That’s over a month and a half rowing across the Atlantic Ocean, through storms and heavy seas, and she did it all alone.
Most people these days can’t sit for an hour alone without staring at their phone for 59 of the 60 minutes. But she pushed herself to the limits and raised $36,316.35 in charitable donations for Girls on the Run along the way. Donations are still open, by the way.
She began the journey on December 12th, which meant she would spend Christmas and New Year’s Eve/Day alone at sea. Taryn did have social media with her to stay connected throughout the journey and her follower count on Instagram has reached 631K and counting.
On average, she rowed between 10-12 miles per day on the rough Atlantic seas in a custom-made boat for the journey. She was at the whims of rough winds, strong currents, and would have to make up for any lost ground when she slept.
Her final paddle into Antigua was live streamed on the World’s Toughest Row YouTube channel:
The World’s Toughest Row is an annual race from San Sebastian de La Gomera, Spain to Nelson’s Dockyard, Antigua. It is a 3,000 mile race and this year the World’s Toughest Row had 43 teams, including solo racers and multi-person teams.
I first covered the World’s Toughest Row here on BroBible back in 2018 when a 4-person team completed the 3,000 mile journey in just 29 days, setting a world record along the way.
That was a team of four people working virtually around the clock. Taryn Smith was able to complete the same 3,000 mile journey solo in just 15 additional days. That is absolutely incredible.
Her boat for this record-setting feat was a R25 by Rannoch. According to her website, the “R25s are constructed out of fibre glass and come complete with a Garmin Chart plotter to help her navigate.”
I have trouble imagining wanting to attempt something like this but that is probably because I’m still scarred from the Rowing team back in high school. Those 4am wake ups on the weekend for early Saturday practices and two-a-days during any holidays/spring break were miserable. Rowing nonstop for 46 days wold break my brain.
That said, I’m fairly certain I would be streaming ’46 Days’ by Phish the entire way into the harbor upon completion:
The endurance sports world will certainly be interested to see what she has cooked up next. I would also be curious to see her measured VO2 Max after this herculean effort.