Thursday, January 13, 2005

LIMA, Peru (AP) -- A 26-year-old French woman set out in a row boat Wednesday on a 7,900 kilometer (4,900-mile) solo voyage to Polynesia, hoping to trace Thor Heyerdahl's epic Pacific crossing six decades ago aboard the balsa raft Kon-Tiki.

"I'm leaving, a small woman with a little boat," Maud Fontenoy told reporters as she prepared to embark from Lima's port of Callao in Peru.

In 1947, Heyerdahl and his team sailed a primitive sail raft from Peru to Polynesia in 101 days, seeking to prove Heyerdahl's theory that the South Sea Islands were settled by ancient mariners from South America -- not Southeast Asia, as prevailing theory maintains.

In October 2003, Fontenoy rowed 117 days in crossing the Atlantic Ocean from west to east, from Canada to Spain, joining the ranks of seven male rowers who accomplished the trip before her.

"I know I'm going to have different problems, big storms and loneliness," she said. "But you know the victory will be bigger since it was difficult at the beginning."

Fontenoy heads off on what may prove to be an epic voyage.