In endurance running, the longer races become, the more competitive they are for women. Women semi-regularly win multi-day and 100+ mile races, even if women don't have course records at these times/distances. In an event of sufficient time/distance, factors besides strength dominate the outcome.

So, (and knowing very little about rowing), I am not surprised that a woman could take the record here. You can only row so fast. Other factors like weather, currents, nutrition, mental fortitude, navigation, and boat design overcome muscle strength.

All that said: props to Kelsey Pfendler! She definitely knows how to embrace the suck.

Here's a nice diary of her trip:

https://www.kcra.com/article/kelsey-pfendler-record-breaking...

Love these updates:

> Day 21: Kelsey gave an update on a lesson learned about her mental state, saying she had beaten herself up for sleeping in. But she realized that wasn't productive thinking. "When you're out here, you're not in control," she said. "You are in control of you." She said she realized that the way to respond to problems is much more important than the problem itself.

> Day 44: Kelsey could see O'ahu as she closed in on her goal. "If any part of this made at least one person feel a little bit more powerful in their own skin, I couldn't ask for anything else and I'm happy," she said. "Think about trying to find your own big, hard, scary thing. You might not think that you are strong enough to finish it right now, but you're definitely strong enough to start it and you'll find everything else along the way."

It’s quite an accomplishment, but this is done rarely (https://oceanrowing.com/statistics lists less than a thousand completed rows world-wide), and the weather hugely affects how long it will take to do it.

Also, my geographical knowledge may be lacking, but it appears “to Hawaii” is essential here.

https://oceanrowing.com/filter?id=1415 shows a row from Monterey to Hanalei, Kauai in 32 days. That’s in the state of Hawaii, too, but about 200km closer.

Fellow rower here, affirming the above.

Thought folks would be interested in her boat, built for ocean rowing:

https://yourowkelsey.com/about/

I wonder if it's as much of an issue with those big boats at sea. The wavelength gets pretty long off the continental shelf, so I imagine it's a lot less adjustment than lake waves, with the exception being storm conditions you should probably avoid anyway.

I don't know how to verify it, but I've been told that drinking seawater is acceptable to do and is just enough to keep you alive.

(I was replying to a child comment on fear of deep waters, seemingly deleted?)

I’ve heard this sentiment before, and can sort of intellectually follow, but man. I love scuba diving, I love the ocean and its varied and alien and multi-scale inhabitants. I’ve spent weeks on a live-aboard boat explicitly to seek out megafauna like sharks and rays (same subclass as sharks).

When I start my descent, I love to turn around and see my exhaled air bubble up, up towards the sun rays in the top layer of the water that slowly fade further away as the pressure on my ears builds and I enter the unknown ocean. It’s the most relaxing feeling, and I often remember it to go to sleep.

How beautifully individual our preferences can be. :-)

I thought sharks only attack stuff that looks like wounded animals. Would a shark really attack a boat?

This isn’t the first time she’s done it.

She spent 41 days making the same trip with 2 other people

I admire the ambition which likely preceded the trip over a long enough term to make the conclusive 43-day journey end up as the smaller amount of calendar time.

But that which obviously means the most from the standpoint of fulfillment :)

Usual answer is to get away from the wife (or partner), but she doesn't seem married so I'm baffled...

It’s an ocean-going row boat with 2 cabins. Most row boats you’ve seen are probably hyper-light and designed for still water.

The model of this boat:

https://www.rannochadventure.com/boats-2/r25

I always assumed it was because they had storm resistant cabins for sleeping and supply storage.

Daily use boats probably don’t need as much in that respect.

Because there are big waves in the open ocean and people need to sleep?

Her rowboat is fascinating: https://yourowkelsey.com/ https://yourowkelsey.com/about/

Yeah, it is cool, but this article is not HN appropriate.