Murden, Tori (c. 1963—)

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Murden, Tori (c. 1963—)

The first woman and the first American to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, around 1963; youngest of three children of Albert Murden (an educator) and Martha Murden; undergraduate degree from Smith College, 1985; graduate degree from Harvard Divinity School, 1989; law degree from the University of Louisville; never married; no children.

On December 3, 1999, 36-year-old Tori Murden became the first woman and the first American to row solo across the Atlantic, having made the 3,000-mile journey from the Canary Islands to Fort-du-Bas, Guadelupe, in 81 days, 7 hours, and 31 minutes, just eight days longer than the record set in 1970 by Britain's Sidney Genders. Actually, Murden arrived at her destination 24 hours or so earlier—on December 2—but waited out the extra day in the harbor so as not to disappoint her support team ("the pearls"), scheduled to arrive on December 3rd. "It would have been just unconscionable for me to land without them," said Murden. "So many people helped. They did everything but row for me." Murden's friends agreed that it was not at all unusual for her to defer to others, even during a moment of glory.

Tori Murden has been seeking challenges throughout her life. A native of Louisville, Kentucky, she holds degrees from Smith College and Harvard Divinity School, as well as a law degree from the University of Louisville. She is also a member of Sector No Limits, a team of elite athletes dedicated to testing the outer limits of endurance. She was the first woman to reach the summit of Lewis Nunatuk in Antarctica and was one of a nine-person team to ski 750 miles to the geographic South Pole, the first American to do so. Having learned to row as a freshman at Smith, Murden made her first solo attempt at crossing the Atlantic, west-to-east, in 1998, but was pulled from the water after Hurricane Danielle capsized her boat 11 times in a single day. On her 1999 crossing, Murden was almost defeated by yet another hurricane—Lenny—which moved steadily in her direction over the period of a week, and eventually buffeted her with winds that sometimes drove her backward ten miles a day. At one point, she was hurled into the water when her 23-foot, 1,700-pound boat, "American Pearl," was upended, making her wonder if she should go on. "I dare not describe my mood," she said in a message she posted on the Internet during the storm. "I am well beyond screaming at the wind."

Murden rowed an average of 12 to 14 hours a day, fueling her body with energy bars and freeze-dried meals such as scrambled eggs or spaghetti. Her boat was equipped with a desalinating pump for water, a butane stove, a satellite telephone, and a water-resistant lap-top computer, all stowed in a water-tight compartment. Solar panels provided power so she could listen to audiobooks. (Gulliver's Travels and Robinson Crusoe were favorites.) She used the "bucket-and-dump method" of toileting, and slept in a cloth hammock, waking at intervals to check her position. On calm days, she corresponded by computer with schoolchildren, who kept track of her progress over the Internet. Although never feeling alone, Murden admitted to often being bored, and used the telephone to contact friends much more frequently than was her habit. "Before this trip, I was not a person who thought a telephone was a useful piece of equipment," she said.

When not pushing limits and setting records, Toni Murden works as development director of the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, a non-profit educational institution for underprivileged youths. Her future goals include tackling some of society's larger problems, although she is quite aware that it means long-term commitment. "What rowing across the ocean teaches me," she says, "is that you don't get there all at once."