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

The first woman to follow the famous Kon-Tiki route from Peru to French Polynesia recounts her harrowing journey. 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 celebrity welcome upon her journey’s end. Named one of Time Magazine International’s thirty most important people of 2005, Fontenoy presents the reader with a terrific, entertaining adventure story on the high seas as she faces the Pacific Ocean. Fontenoy overcame the odds as well as her personal doubts and fears, demonstrating not only her indomitable courage and strength, but proving once again that women can conquer the most difficult and treacherous obstacles. “Fontenoy writes lyrically of the beauty and power of the sea and of her struggle to reach her goal.” —Publishers Weekly