Name Katie Spotz | ||
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Education Mentor High School, Warren Wilson College Awards Glamour Award for The Adventurer | ||
Katie spotz at tedxsmu 2013
Katie Spotz (born 1987) is an American adventurer who became the youngest person to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean, departing from Dakar, Senegal on January 3, 2010, and landing in Guyana on March 14, 2010. She was the first person to have swum the entire length of the Allegheny River in New York state and Pennsylvania.
Contents
- Katie spotz at tedxsmu 2013
- Katie spotz welcome home video
- Early life
- Allegheny River swim
- Atlantic crossing
- Just Keep Rowing
- References
Katie is an Ambassador to a nonprofit called H2O for Life speaking to schools and groups across the country. She is also giving talks about her book Just Keep Rowing (2015).
Katie spotz welcome home video
Early life
Spotz was born in Mentor, Ohio. She graduated from Mentor High School in 2005 and Warren Wilson College in Asheville, North Carolina, in 2008.
Allegheny River swim
In 2008, Spotz became the first person to swim the entire 325 mile (523 km) length of the Allegheny River, which runs between New York state and Pennsylvania. Accompanied by safety kayaker, James Hendershott, the two began on July 22 to hike the "stream" for 27 miles before starting at swimming depth on the river at Roulette, Pennsylvania. They finished at the "Point" where the Allegheny and the Monongahela River join to form the Ohio River in Downtown Pittsburgh less than a month later, on August 21.
Atlantic crossing
On January 3, 2010, Spotz embarked on a solo ocean rowing crossing of the Atlantic Ocean, in a planned 2,473 mile westward route from Senegal to French Guiana. During her journey, her diet consisted of mostly chocolate bars. En route she altered the route, increasing the total distance by approximately 400 miles, setting Georgetown, Guyana as the terminus for a total distance of 2,817 miles. Spotz altered course because weather conditions at her original destination were not favorable for an unassisted landing. She completed the trip on March 14, 2010, to become the youngest person to ever row solo across the Atlantic Ocean and the only American to row solo from Africa to South America. Spotz is also only the second woman to have rowed solo across the Atlantic from mainland to mainland, following the January 2007 crossing by Sophie Macé of France who rowed from Saint Louis, Senegal, to Saint Laurent, French Guyana.
Katie's boat, "Liv", is a 19-foot vessel that was used in a successful crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in 2009. The boat was designed by British boat designer Phil Morrison, who had been asked by Scottish rower Chay Blyth, who himself rowed across the North Atlantic in 1966, to design a small, light boat capable of surviving extreme conditions. This design was later modified to a solo vessel.
Just Keep Rowing
Five years after her record-breaking row, Katie Spotz’ book, Just Keep Rowing, which is co-authored by university professor Mark Bowles, details the various lessons she learned during her 70-day journey. A portion of the proceeds from Just Keep Rowing will support the mission of partner, H2O for Life.