Challenging the Pacific: The First Woman to Row the Kon-Tiki Route

Just two years after rowing solo across the North Atlantic at the age of twenty-five, Maud Fontenoy was ready for a new challenge—crossing the Pacific Ocean. Leaving from Lima, Peru, and traveling 4,400 miles in seventy-three days, Fontenoy landed in Hiva Oa in French Polynesia, becoming the first woman to complete what is known as the “Kon-Tiki” route. Alone at sea for days and nights on end, Fontenoy’s story relates the ups and downs of her time at sea, from circling sharks to the celebri...