Before leaving for Senegal, her biggest boating experience consisted of a 64km practice row on Lake Erie that ended with her boat being pinned against a cliff by wind and waves. The boat was nearly destroyed. Many people asked Spotz how she could row across the Atlantic if she could not even row on Lake Erie.
The answer, she said, was that the biggest danger in ocean rowing besides hurricanes was coming too close to shore, where the current can overwhelm the rower and push the boat into the rocks.
“The last day of the trip is always the most dangerous,” Williams said.
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