Rower finds his passion in adventure and education
Published 12:59 pm Wednesday, October 28, 2015
I got a chance to talk recently with Jordan Hanssen of Oar Northwest, a nonprofit devoted to adventure and education. He is the author of “Rowing into the Son” and, with three teammates, is a record-holder for the fastest row across the Atlantic Ocean. Hanssen will speak about his book and his many adventures at a Mountaineers banquet in Everett on Nov. 7.
I’m active in the Mountaineers scrambling community, one of the groups that will be at the banquet. I won’t be able to attend myself, but I enjoyed the chance to talk to Hanssen about his backstory and to share it here.
For Hanssen, the biggest adventures of his life all begin with a decision to row across the Atlantic Ocean.
Hanssen, of Seattle, rowed for the University of Puget Sound. He and three others from the team decided to enter a race from the U.S. to England.
“It was the biggest idea we could think of that we thought we could do,” Hanssen said. “We also thought it would be a lot of fun. That was one of the many things it was.”
It was also exhausting, emotional, exhilarating and, at times, terrifying.
They set out to learn everything they could and outfit a boat that would keep them alive all the way across the ocean. It was like going to graduate school, Hanssen said.
“We didn’t get any letters after our name, we didn’t get any GPA, but we knew if we screwed this up, we could die,” he said.
Oe day 16 of their trip they realized they didn’t have enough food. They rationed what they had and arrived in England with half a bag of polenta and a can of tuna.
Between the four of them, they lost 145 pounds.
The trip turned into a book, “Rowing into the Son.”
After finishing the trip across the Atlantic, Hanssen was exhausted, but soon his desire for adventure returned. He did some paddling in Puget Sound and a trip around Vancouver Island. He started looking for the next big thing but couldn’t find anything that really fit. Eventually, he realized what he really enjoyed was rowing and education. So he helped lead a row from Senegal to Miami for the Canadian Wildlife Federation. Hanssen and his team shared their trip, in person and via the magic of the Internet, with classrooms. And throughout the trip they collected scientific data about the ocean, which was also shared online.
It was going well until, on day 73, two rogue waves hit their boat and flipped it.
Luckily, everyone made it out of the boat safely and they huddled on a tiny life raft. They activated their personal locator beacons. Four hours later, the Coast Guard located them. But it was a Coast Guard aircraft, so they couldn’t pick up Hanssen and his team.
The Coast Guard diverted a 580-foot car carrier to their location. Thanks to a rope ladder and a lot of luck, they managed to get aboard. Hanssen said it was like climbing onto a skyscraper resting on its side.
Their luck held. They were able, with a lot of help from the Canadian Wildlife Federation and other backers, to locate their boat and retrieve it, including most of the scientific gear, their data and footage of the trip.
Hanssen said that by the time life had settled down, it was clear that his mission, and that of Oar Northwest, the non-profit Hanssen helped found in 2005, was to use adventure as a way to conduct research and to get people engaged in learning and scientific exploration.
Next up was the Mississippi River, where Hanssen and three others paddled the length of the river, talking to about 2,000 students along the way.
Now two women are rowing down the Columbia River, collecting data along the way and sharing their stories in person and online. That trip will finish up soon.
Hanssen’s now looking forward. He’d like to continue with education and adventure and expand the reach of Oar Northwest.
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