51在线

Terror, Wonder 鈥� Triumph!

4 marine scientists make history racing across the Atlantic in a rowboat 

By Daphne Kotschessa Almodovar / University Communications & Marketing

The night was moonless, pitch-dark. Massive waves crashed onto the deck of the 28-foot rowboat, Emma, tossing it like a toy in the vast expanse of the Atlantic Ocean between Europe and North America. Alone below in a tiny cabin, Isabelle 颁么迟茅 covered her eyes and tried to claim her allotted two to three hours of sleep.  

鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to be here. I don鈥檛 want to be here,鈥� she thought. 

鈥淚 had no idea what I was going to find when I opened the door of the cabin,鈥� she later recalled. 鈥淲ould my teammates still be on deck? I was terrified.鈥� 

While she lay curled in the cabin, her teammates 鈥� Chantale 叠茅驳颈苍, Lauren Shea and Noelle Helder 鈥� fought towering wave crests and deep troughs. 

鈥淚 don鈥檛 even know how to describe the feeling of staring down a 25-plus-foot wall of water from the deck of our boat,鈥� says Shea. 鈥淎ll you can do is sit there and hope desperately that this won鈥檛 be the one that breaks directly on top of you.鈥�

Days before, on Dec. 13, 2023, the women had boarded Emma and pushed off from Spain鈥檚 Canary Islands for a 3,000-mile race across the ocean 鈥� the World鈥檚 Toughest Row-Atlantic. After 38 days, 18 hours and 56 minutes, they finished first in the Women鈥檚 Class on Jan. 20 鈥� the first North American team to ever win the category. They came in seventh overall out of 38 teams.

During their time at sea, they would celebrate birthdays, Christmas and the New Year with dehydrated meals. They would row for 12 hours a day; try to sleep on sodden mattresses in stifling heat; endure seasickness, rashes and swollen limbs. They would experience terror 鈥� and wonder.

The course for the four friends, marine scientists aged 27 to 60, had been set eight years earlier at the 51在线.

In 2015, Shea and Helder, then marine biology undergraduates at USF, took a field course in the Caribbean led by 叠茅驳颈苍, a USF professor. The two students stood out among their cohort and 叠茅驳颈苍 asked them to join her as field assistants. With shared interests, pastimes and values, the trio quickly bonded. 

Shea graduated in 2017 and was working in Antigua when she happened upon a spectacle: The winners of the 2020 Atlantic race, an all-male team, were rowing across the finish line into Nelson鈥檚 Dockyard English Harbour. 

An athlete who鈥檇 spent a lot of time on the water, she was immediately intrigued. She witnessed the finish again in 2021, this time on her 25th birthday, and knew it was something she wanted to try.

She also knew who might join her. 

Within a day, 叠茅驳颈苍, 42 at the time, and Helder, a 25-year-old 2016 grad, said, 鈥淵eah! Let鈥檚 do this thing!鈥�

They wanted a fourth teammate, and 叠茅驳颈苍 reached out to 颁么迟茅, then 58, her doctoral advisor at Simon Fraser University in Canada. The three generations dubbed themselves Salty Science, a nod to their sometimes unabashed personalities and their commitment to marine conservation. 

While the women were competitive runners and swimmers, none knew how to row in the ocean. They embarked on three years of preparation, including 18 months of intensive physical training entailing 10 to 14 hours a week working out and rowing in the Gulf of Mexico with a coach. They did it all while juggling full-time jobs, families and work toward advanced degrees.

They never dreamed of winning the race. They were novice rowers! They aimed to cross safely with their friendship intact, and row as fast as they could. They also hoped to raise awareness and $500,000 for ocean conservation. They had 鈥淩owing Across an Ocean for the Oceans鈥� emblazoned on Emma鈥檚 hull.

They would learn that this race is less about being an elite rower and more about being creative and resilient when problems arise, understanding how to navigate while leveraging winds and currents, and relying on one another鈥檚 strengths. In those areas, they鈥檇 had plenty of practice.

The World鈥檚 Toughest Row tests competitors physically, mentally, emotionally and technically, says CEO and race director Carsten Heron Olsen. It requires rowing for hours in cramped quarters with little sleep while assessing weather conditions and making critical navigational decisions.

Those challenges were compounded in the 2023-24 race when teams rowed straight into ferocious conditions whipped up by a mix of low pressure systems and strong head winds, he says. Some of the boats ground to a standstill. Many were pushed off course and their crews had to fight their way back to a route that would ensure arrival in the West Indies island of Antigua.

颁么迟茅 had no offshore experience. Training in the Gulf of Mexico, a pond compared to the open Atlantic, did not prepare her for the size of the waves that Salty Science encountered in the first 10 days.

鈥淎t least during the day, you could see what was coming for you,鈥� says Shea. 鈥淲hen nighttime came around, you lost any ability to see beyond the end of your oars.鈥� 

Turning back was not an option.

鈥淵ou can鈥檛 make it back because of the dominant winds and currents, and there鈥檚 no safety boat shadowing you. There鈥檚 no helicopter that can reach you by the time you are a few hundred miles offshore,鈥� says 叠茅驳颈苍.

And Emma had no engine.

But after every terror-filled night in those early days, the sun inevitably rose. The four women celebrated by sipping coffee on deck and listening to music. Restored, they could face another day. 

They were rewarded with amazing sights, from seabirds thousands of miles offshore to whales, dolphins, tuna schools so dense they couldn鈥檛 avoid occasionally hitting a fish with an oar, and sharks, including one that rammed the rudder. 

鈥淚 was the first to get hit by a flying fish jumping on deck 鈥� and it hit me right in the face, which hurt a bit more than I was expecting,鈥� says Helder. 鈥淭hey are like little missiles!鈥� 

They also came to realize that stalwart little Emma wasn鈥檛 going to let them down. 

鈥淥nce I started trusting the boat, I think that allayed a lot of fears,鈥� 颁么迟茅 says. 鈥淏ecause, boy, she did not want to capsize.鈥�

The equipment, though, was another matter. Oars split and oarlocks bent. The women struggled to fashion repairs amidst high seas. 

鈥淲hen the watermaker broke, I went into the cabin, and I cried,鈥� Shea admits. 鈥淎nd then I reemerged, and I said, 鈥極K, I had my breakdown. Now I鈥檓 gonna think about how to fix it.鈥欌��

Shea switched out the pump and rebuilt the electronics with satellite phone guidance from a technician.

Back at home, spouses, partners, children and friends cheered them on. 

叠茅驳颈苍鈥檚 husband, Brendon 鈥淏oomer鈥� Baumeister, is the assistant marine superintendent at the 51在线 Institute of Oceanography, located at USF St. Petersburg. He texted daily weather reports that helped the team chart courses to take advantage of favorable winds and currents. He proudly shared their progress on social media. 

鈥淪alty Science is absolutely crushing it,鈥� he posted Jan. 13. 鈥淭hey are currently in 1st place women鈥檚. We are pretty sure a North American women鈥檚 team has never won this race.鈥�

Olsen attributes Salty Science鈥檚 historic win to the team鈥檚 individual and group strengths.

鈥淭hey are outwardly tight-knit, consistent with their goals and aims, which of course aligns with the fact the team consists of three generations of STEM women,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey have spent a lot of time together in relatively stressful situations before.鈥�

All of a sudden we鈥檙e the first women鈥檚 team and it鈥檚 like, whoa, how did that happen?鈥� says Shea.

鈥淚 think that, as we鈥檝e kind of taken a step back and reflected on all that we did to get there, it also maybe isn鈥檛 that surprising. 鈥� Our preparation for the trip and our intentions going into the trip and throughout the trip of remaining friends and supporting each other, that鈥檚 why we won.鈥�

Getting off the boat was challenging. 

鈥淔or two days I could not walk unaided,鈥� says 颁么迟茅.

The hours spent gripping oars left them struggling, for a time, to open jars or hold a pencil in their calloused, clawed hands. And despite gobs of sunscreen and high-tech UV clothing, all suffered overexposure from the blazing sun. 

It鈥檚 all worth the effort, they say. While they鈥檙e still working hard to achieve their goal of raising $500,000 for educating the next generation of marine scientists, at presstime, they were more than halfway there. The money will be divided evenly among the nonprofit Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre in British Columbia; Green Wave, a Connecticut nonprofit; and Shellback Expeditions, a nonprofit co-founded by 叠茅驳颈苍 and dedicated to involving young marine scientists with conservation projects in the Eastern Caribbean.

Olsen says Salty Science鈥檚 influence will be seen for years to come. A documentary about the team is in production and the BMSC Salty Science Scholarship is being established at the Bamfield Centre.

As for Emma, she鈥檚 already got her next adventure lined up. She鈥檚 been sold to a team planning to row from California to Hawaii 鈥� the World鈥檚 Toughest Row-Pacific.

WHERE THEY ARE NOW

叠茅驳颈苍 continues to teach multiple courses, including an annual service-learning field course in the Caribbean, in USF鈥檚 Bachelor of Science marine biology program. 

Shea is completing her master鈥檚 degree at the University of British Columbia, where she is conducting research in global fisheries economics.

Helder is a marine ecologist and geospatial scientist with the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

颁么迟茅 is a professor of marine ecology at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia. She has partnered with Bamfield Marine Science Centre in Canada to create the Salty Science Scholarship fund, designed to make marine science education more accessible to diverse students.