Photo by Debra Madsen

Angela Madsen, a Long Beach resident who holds six Guinness World Records in ocean rowing, is making a second attempt to row from California to Hawaii this week.

High seas and adverse currents ended Madsen’s solo attempt last year. She’s giving it another go, this time teaming up with Tara Remington, an equally accomplished and determined ocean rower. 

Madsen and Remington will depart from the Pete Archer Rowing Center (5750 Boathouse Lane, at the northeast end of Marine Stadium) at 5:30PM on Thursday. The public is encouraged to attend and give these two courageous women a proper send-off.  

Angelas boat“It is very special to be able to leave from my home town,” Madsen said during a break in pre-voyage preparations. “It may be 200 miles further (from Hawaii than Santa Cruz, where Angela started her solo attempt), but more of my friends, family and community can come out to wish us Bon Voyage.”  

Angela welcomes the company of Remington, a United States native who moved to New Zealand in the ’90s. Madsen says that the human interaction, added rowing power and the ability for someone to always be “on watch” more than make up for the space limitations that will be encountered by the two women on their 20-foot boat, the “Spirit of Orlando.” This is the same boat Madsen had to ditch while being rescued at the end of her 2013 attempt. It was recovered weeks later and is back in action, modified to accommodate two rowers who can either row simultaneously or in a “one-on, one-off” configuration (see photo).    

Madsen and Remington are both at the super-elite level in their sport. Both have spent thousands of days rowing on the high seas in all conditions, and both have enormous reserves of mental toughness to draw upon during their 2500-mile trek to Hawaii. After Madsen competes in the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro (she’s world-class in the javelin and shot put), the two plan to team up in 2017 for what will be the second leg of a true Trans-Pacific row: Hawaii to New Zealand.  

Follow Angela and Tara’s journey, visit share.delorme.com/AngelaMadsen

Inset photo: Angela and Tara’s office for the next several weeks.  

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