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Rowing feat propels Luverne grad into record books

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Caitlin Miller reflects on grueling 3,000-mile trek across Atlantic Ocean
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By
Mavis Fodness

After 58 days, 5 hours and 6 minutes rowing across the Atlantic Ocean, Caitlin Miller’s first steps on land were a little wobbly on Feb. 16.
“That first step we all felt we were swaying,” said Miller during a phone interview a day after the race.
Miller is the daughter of Alex and Karen Miller of rural Hardwick. She and her partner, George Pagano, from Media, Pennsylvania, finished the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge just short of two months.
Dubbed the “World’s Toughest Row,” the challenge attracted 26 entrants from around the world to row 3,000 miles from LaGomera to English Harbor, Antigua, in 90 days or less.
The first boat crossed the finish line in 37 days, 9 hours and 12 minutes. The four-man British team now has the fastest time recorded since the race began in 1997.
Miller, 23, and Pagano, 24, set two records of their own, finishing in 17th place.
 
A record-setting race
Miller and Pagano are the youngest American mixed pair to complete the race, and they broke the previous mixed pair record time of 60 days and 18 hours.
“It feels kind of surreal,” Miller said. “I know we did it, but the full effect hasn’t set in.”
Sleeping a solid 10 hours after her arrival to Antigua, Miller was surprised she slept so long after the daily routine of rowing for three hours and then sleeping for three.
“We thought we wouldn’t be able to sleep because it would be so quiet,” she said. “We got used to the sloshing noise of the water made against the boat. ”
The pair began their rowing on Dec. 20, upping the hours when a two-hour rotation wasn’t allowing either of them to adequately recover before it was time for the other to row again.
By Day 2 they were adjusting to their routine. For the next 34 days they didn’t see another human being except each other, and even that human contact was brief as they made the rowing switch.
“We would talk a few minutes before going to bed,” Miller said.
 
Focus was on rowing
Rowing was completed primarily in solitude, listening to music or singing along with the lyrics. At times, the rowing for Miller would become frustrating when the lack of winds slowed the rowing progress.
“The hard part is that you would row as hard as you could  … and only go 9 miles,” she said.
Generally, the pair averaged 40 or more nautical miles a day.
Heat was also a factor when daytime temperatures in the 70s and exertion from rowing elevated the temperatures in the cabins, allowing no time to cool off before rowing again.
“You thought you were sleeping in a heat chamber,” Miller said.
Despite the challenges, the pair didn’t experience dehydration, seasickness or blisters like other teams.
They settled into a routine that included dropping the daily monitoring of the navigation system. Miller said it was just as easy to row in a southwesterly direction than to constantly monitor their progress by machine.
To help pass the time, Miller thought of her daily rowing in four shifts — two during the day and two at night. The thought helped her deal with a little homesickness.
“Days did float by pretty quickly,” she said. “When I was rowing I would dream about food.”
 
Missing the tastes of home
She was missing the taste of fresh fruits, vegetables and bread.
The pair consumed a part of their daily 5,000 calories via dehydrated meals without complaint.
However, the two became tired of some snack choices. Topping the list were trail mix, peanut butter crackers and granola bars. Favorites were fruit snacks, mini muffins and chocolate of any kind.
As motivation, the two celebrated progress by consuming their limited supply of carbonated lemon drinks — a welcomed departure from the desalinated seawater.
“It’s amazing how carbonated lemon juice tastes after just drinking water,” Miller said. “We learned to appreciate the little things.”
Picturesque sunrises, sunsets and sightings of whales and flying fish rounded out the little things that added excitement to the rowing routine.
Birds were prevalent along the challenge with three or four birds following the boat during the entire challenge. At night, stars shown brightly.
“Rowing in the dark is difficult because they cannot see with only the headlamp on,” according to a post written on the pair’s Cranial Quest Facebook site Jan. 5. “Cannot see when and where a wave may hit them.”
 
Weathering the storm
While Mother Nature seemed to have blessed the challenge with scenic views, it threw the race participants a curve with a rare tropical storm on Jan. 11.
In what developed into Hurricane Alex as it approached land (one of only three ever recorded in January, according to race organizers), the storm was the first to develop in the Atlantic Ocean since the late 1930s.
The boats, including Miller’s and Pagano’s  “Washington Crossing,” released their sea anchors (a parachute-like apparatus) to point the boat’s bow into the waves and to wait out the worst of the storm. For 52 hours Miller and Pagano stayed in their separate cabins on each end of the 5-by-21-foot boat.
“When it (the storm) hit, we missed most of it,” she said.
Their rowing course was further south than the other rowers.
The storm pushed the pair six miles off their course. Other teams didn’t fare as well. The strong winds and waves took some rowers as much as 23 miles off course.
The pair had their first conversation with another person on Jan. 22, when a race support boat circled the rowers and asked how they were doing. They later talked briefly (about 30 seconds, Miller said) with a French crew who sailed nearby. They didn’t see people again until they entered English Harbor on Feb. 16.
There, Miller and Pagano were escorted to the dock while hundreds of people were ringing cowbells, shouting and playing music on shore.
“It was very overwhelming coming into port,” Miller said. “There were way more people than I expected.”
Among the cheering crowd were Caitlin’s parents and her brother, John, who helped the crew clean out their boat. They threw away ten bags of accumulated garbage.
“It didn’t smell the greatest,” she said.
 
Life after the challenge
As she travels back to the United States this week, Miller will continue to spend time with family and reunite with friends whom she didn’t see much during the two years planning and completing the challenge.
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln graduate plans to work for a year before turning her attention to graduate school.
She ultimately would like a career in climate research in Iceland or near the coral reefs. Pagano plans to enter law school.
Miller said their boat would be shipped back to the United States, where several parties have indicated interest in purchasing the first American-built boat to compete in the challenge.
As the two begin separate lives, Miller said she and Pagano have completed something special together.
“We will always have a bond,” she said. “We will be friends for life.”
They raised $40,000 for ALS research, a feat Miller said was harder than rowing across the ocean. When combined with the other 25 challenge teams’ fundraising efforts, about $2 million was raised for various charitable organizations around the world.
“It is really cool to be a part of something special to raise money for charity,” she said.
Reflecting on successfully rowing across the Atlantic Ocean Miller added, “It does feel really good.”

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