The Happy Pod: The joy of rowing solo in the Pacific
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This is The Happy Pod from the BBC World Service. I'm Holly Gibbs and in this edition... If any part of this made at least one person feel a little bit more powerful in their own skin, I couldn't ask for anything else and I'm happy. Think about trying to find your own big, hard, scary thing. The rower who used joy to break records in the Pacific Ocean. The unlikely friendship that could become a Hollywood film. It's like a dream and we never want to wake up from it. I've been able to meet some amazing people. We've had lots of fun and now we've been able to go professional wrestling. You couldn't write it really, could you? Also a potential way to save the lives of identical twins. Plus the women making coats out of old blankets.
I like to say that we took bedclothes into the street. It's the way we find to use textiles that we already have.
And an increasingly popular way to work up a sweat. The heat is going to make your heart rate go up anyway. But people are dancing and enjoying it. It's just like taking a dance floor from a club and just dumping it in a sauna. It's quite surreal. For some people, the idea of spending a month alone at sea would be gruelling. But for 32-year-old Kelsey Fendler, it was, in her words, sheer joy. She's just completed a remarkable and record-breaking journey across the Pacific Ocean, where she became the fastest person to row solo from California to Hawaii, as well as the youngest and the first American woman to do it alone. Kelsey's 4,000 kilometre adventure wasn't without its challenges, and she hopes it will inspire more women to take risks and try something new.
The Happy Pod's Riley Farrell has been finding out how she kept motivated. When you imagine rowing from California to Hawaii, you probably picture blue waves. Maybe the Pacific stretching to the horizon or the sun beating above you. But what you probably don't picture is getting smacked in the face by a flying fish. Oh, we got another one. Here, I'm sorry. Every night was just like kind of like an onslaught battle of these flying fish hitting me and like jumping on the boat and like trying to like get them off the boat. So hard to grab without squishing. I'm so sorry. I remember like as I was taking a voice note, one hit me in the face and I was like, okay. Kelsey did it in roughly 43 days. She broke both the women's and men's speed records, according to Ocean Rowing Society International.
The reason I was able to go so fast is because I never woke up any of those days and didn't want to be there. I think ocean rowing is kind of like the epitome of like all the things I love packaged into one thing. Endurance, sports, the water, rowing, all of that just like in one piece. I mean, I was tired, of course, but like I deeply wanted this. The speed was just an extension of my joy. Kelsey was alone on the water, but she wasn't entirely isolated. Every day she posted updates online. Day one of becoming the first American woman to row solo from California to Hawaii.
Good morning.
Day 38. We're surfing! Yeah, I've been rowing against a headwind and some pretty strong southerly current. I'm under 100 miles from Oahu. You can see land over there. That's Oahu right there. Over the course of her journey, those videos racked up nearly 300 million views on TikTok alone. I had no idea that anyone else was going to care besides like my family and like the 10 people that I know that love ocean rowing. So I... feel completely humbled and grateful that so many people could find themselves in my own story because I do not see myself as this kind of like elite athlete figure or like this unreachable unattainable concept people are capable and people can do really hard things especially if they really want to be there and find the joy within it tell me about your relationship with the water
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–11:35
2
How did Kelsey Pfendler become the fastest solo rower from California to Hawaii?
11:35–13:56
3
What challenges and surprising moments did Kelsey face during her 43‑day Pacific crossing?
13:56–20:06
4
How did Kelsey use social media to document and inspire others during her row?
20:06–29:13
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from Global News Podcast
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