THE WORLD'S TOUGHEST ROW

They rowed 3,000 miles across the Atlantic, battling unpredictable weather, chaotic seas, and finicky equipment. But what they discovered gave them profound new insights into the power of the ocean.

- Lesley Evans Ogden

JUST BEFORE MIDNIGHT on December 17, 2023, a moonless sky is tempered only by the dim glow of navigation screens displaying the coordinates of a rowboat's position some 412 nautical miles off the coast of the Western Sahara. Two women sit at the oars near the end of a two-hour shift, their 28-foot craft dwarfed by the 30-foot waves pivoting them back and forth like an unhinged seesaw in churning, disorganized seas. Inside cramped cabins at each end of the vessel, two additional crew members are attempting to sleep on soggy mattresses, ravaged by seasickness, amped up on adrenaline, and fighting fear as their boat is tossed about like a bath toy.

Rowing up and down mountainous waves so close together that their tiny boat at times feels almost vertical, they are suddenly jolted by a deafening boom. A massive wave has hit them sideways, its approach unseen in the darkness. For Isabelle Côté, jarred from half-sleep alone inside the bow cabin, the few seconds of silence that follow feel like an eternity. Gripped by fear, not knowing if her crewmates are still at the oars or were thrown into the sea, she cracks open the door. On deck, the two rowers are struggling amidst the crashing waves. "Are you okay?!" Côté shouts. The rowers have been violently dislodged from their seats, but harnesses clipped to jacklines have prevented them from being swept overboard.

They're scared, but unhurt.

The boat, however, is not okay. A starboard oar is pinned underneath the hull. The roused sleepers don their foulweather gear and harnesses as quickly as possible so they can help their crewmates. As the flooded deck begins to drain, the problem becomes visible: the outrigger plates attaching starboard oarlocks to the boat's midsection have been hit with such force they have bent 45 degrees-as if mere paper clips. The middle rowing station is now unusable.