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She caught her first glimpse of land on Wednesday, Dec.1. A day later,
rower Tori Murden could have put in at the island of Guadeloupe in the
West Indies. "But my friends weren't arriving until Friday morning,"
says Murden, 36, of Louisville, Ky.
"It would have been just unconscionable for me to land without them." So
after toughing out 81 days and 3,000 exhausting miles at sea, Murden
weathered one more day in her 23-ft. rowboat, cruising the length of the
island before pulling into the harbor and securing her place in
history--as both the first woman and the first American to row solo
across the Atlantic.
It is characteristic of Murden, say her friends, that even at this
triumphant moment, three years in the making, her thoughts were less of
herself than of them. The trademark pearls she wears represent those who
have supported her. "So many people helped," she says, paying tribute to
the dozens who lent logistical, financial and emotional support. "They
did everything but row for me." They, in turn, had the thrill of sharing
in Murden's history-making adventure. "She was very confident to let
each of the people do the job she asked and step away from it," says
Diane Stege, 44, a mother of three from Louisville, who helped raise
funds for the $100,000 effort.
Still, it was Murden, very much alone, who put her life on the line by
braving an unforgiving ocean and, nine weeks into her journey, fighting
through a furious tropical storm. "I spent a week watching Hurricane
Lenny move step-by-step in my direction," Murden recalls. After
surviving Lenny's first hit and hearing that the waves had been
downgraded to 12-ft. seas, she thought, "Yawn, that's easy." But Lenny
wasn't finished. When the remnants of the storm got to her, "Whoa!" says
Murden. "The lightning was plenty nasty, and I had gusts of wind in
excess of 80 mph."
As she battled 20-ft. waves, at one point capsizing, Murden beat back
painful memories of another storm--one that left her "stark raving
terrified." In September 1998, on day 85 of her first attempted solo
transatlantic crossing--she'd also tried unsuccessfully in 1997 with a
partner--she collided with Hurricane Danielle. After capsizing 15 times,
she was pulled from the water by a passing ship 950 miles from Brest,
France. This time, nature's fury didn't spoil her plans, but it did ruin
her shot at a world record. In all, the journey to Guadeloupe from the
Canary Islands off the coast of Africa took 81 days, 7 hours and 31
minutes--eight days longer than the record established in 1970.
Though often bored, Murden insists she never felt alone, since she
remained tethered to land by e-mail and satellite phone. "Before this
trip, I was not a person who thought a telephone was a useful piece of
equipment," says the rower, who has always valued her solitude. Adds pal
Kathy Steward, 44, who relayed weather reports to her friend: "She's
gotten a lot more open, a lot more sharing." For that, Murden credits
the new man in her life, Mac McClure, 56, a retired arboretum director
in Louisville, who "kind of brought out a softer side in me."
On calm days, Murden corresponded with schoolchildren, who peppered her
with questions: "Where do you go to the bathroom?" (Answer: "I use the
bucket-and-dump-it method.") "What made you want to take on this
challenge?" (Answer: "I wanted to close this chapter in my life.")
The youngest of three children born to educator Albert Murden and his
wife, Martha, Murden moved 13 times as a youth. Since obtaining a
divinity degree from Harvard, she has worked primarily at jobs with low
wages and generous emotional returns--at the same time pursuing
extraordinary physical challenges. While a chaplain at a public hospital
in Boston, she also worked at a homeless shelter. After moving south in
1990 to obtain a law degree from the University of Louisville, she
worked first at a women's center, then in the mayor's office. She now
raises funds for the nonprofit Muhammad Ali Center, which helps
underprivileged youths.
With three "firsts" under her belt--in addition to her Atlantic
crossing, she was the first woman to reach the summit of Lewis Nunatuk
in the Antarctic and the first American to ski to the geographic South
Pole--what will Murden do for an encore? "I want to be able to tackle
really big challenges in civilization," she says. "What rowing across
the ocean teaches me is that you don't get there all at once."
--Jill Smolowe --Cynthia Wang in Fort-du-Bas, Guadeloupe |
