Rowing the Atlantic – Lessons Learned on the Open Ocean
By Roz Savage
Simon & Schuster, NY
2009
242 pages
Roz Savage is true testimony to determination and self sufficiency. At 36 and unhappy with her life she wrote two versions of her own obituary — "the one that I wanted and the one I was headed for. They were very different." She chose the former. Turning her back on an 11-year career as a management consultant and facing a failing marriage she reinvented herself. She invested all she had in an ocean rowboat she named Sedna Solo in honor of the Inuit goddess of marine animals and became the first woman to enter the 2005/2006 Atlantic Rowing Race solo from the Canary Islands to Antigua.
Rowing the Atlantic is the story of a life-changing passage, not simply the chronicle of a bold voyage. It is 3,000 miles of trial by fire as she faced broken oars, ocean storms, gear failures, loneliness, fatigue and self-doubt. Savage's honest narrative is painful as she questions herself and many of her long held values while gently coaxing her readers to do the same.
After 103 days, Savage arrived in Antigua stronger and wiser, but most important she was humble and appreciative of the lessons the broad Atlantic had taught her. She writes, "For we are all on a great adventure — the adventure of life — and even for the majority who will never row across an ocean or climb a great peak or trek to a pole, there is much to be learned from living life with mindfulness and awareness." She is truly an inspiration to anyone; and not just for the courage it took to row the Atlantic, but for having the courage to take control of her life and set the course.
