Just ahead of lightning and thunder, two women ended a grueling 61-day voyage in a rowboat across the Pacific on Saturday night, setting two world records.
Their biggest obstacle on the 2,550-mile crossing was "the fear of failure," said Angela Madsen, a 54-year-old paraplegic and a Marine who was injured in the line of duty.
"You feel you just want to quit," she said. "You don’t know if you’re ever going to make it. The oceans and seas are pretty scary."
She dedicated the voyage to veterans and the military, with this message: "Never give up on our goals and dreams."
Madsen and 44-year-old Tara Remington made landfall at 9 p.m. Saturday at the Waikiki Yacht Club to fanfare from a small group of family, friends and other supporters from California, New Zealand and Hawaii.
They left Long Beach, Calif., on May 20 in the Spirit of Orlando, a 19-foot ocean rowing vessel loaded with food, water and other necessities.
The pair rowed 70 to 80 miles a day, taking two-hour shifts while the other tried to get some shut-eye.
Madsen said the first 21 days were the most difficult as they tried to get away from the California coast.
"The first third of it was trying to get to the tradewinds," she said.
The pair kept in contact with their loved ones using their voices to send text messages via a satellite phone and an iPad.
They caught their first sight of lights on Maui on Thursday night and saw land Friday morning.
They were expected to arrive at the yacht club at 3 p.m. Saturday, and a small group of supporters waited anxiously for long hours.
At about 5:40 p.m. the women passed the Diamond Head buoy, their finish line.
A pod of spinner dolphins greeted them near the Diamond Head Lighthouse, jumping and spinning out of the water.
The conditions were choppy and windy, and Remington said it felt like an anchor was weighing them down.
Remington said they had to "haul it" to avoid getting caught in the remnants of Tropical Depression Wali.
As the sky got darker, they accepted a tow to the Ala Wai Channel, then rowed in to the yacht club.
There Madsen’s wife, Deb, and Remington’s wife, Rebecca, and Remington’s two children, 12 and 8, greeted them with lei and hugs.
A friend showered them with Champagne, then gave Madsen the bottle for a long, celebratory drink.
Someone shouted to her, "How do your legs feel?"
"Kinda like when I started," she replied, getting a round of laughter.
Madsen and Remington are the first female pair of rowers to cross the Pacific Ocean from California to Hawaii without an escort boat, and Madsen became the first paraplegic to make the trip, according to the Ocean Rowing Society.
On Tuesday, Madsen will row into Pearl Harbor to pay tribute to the fallen to fulfill a long-held dream. Her father was a Navy veteran.
Cara Troy, program director for Access Surf, a nonprofit providing ocean accessibility, such as surfing, swimming and snorkeling, for people with physical or cognitive disabilities, said, "We’re supporting her journey. … It’s pretty amazing, one, to even do that, and, two, that she’s paralyzed. It’s inspirational."
Peter Luscomb, a volunteer with the organization whose wife became disabled, said seeing someone who becomes paralyzed or disabled overcome a devastating ordeal and perform a monumental feat shows "life goes on," adding, "There’s still challenges and things you can aspire to do. It’s wonderful to be able to support them."
They are inspiring others to deal with great difficulties, he said.
Madsen, of Long Beach, a grandmother, holds six other Guinness World Records.
She rowed across the Atlantic Ocean in 2007 and 2011, and in 2009 became the first woman to row across the Indian Ocean.
Her solo attempt from California to Hawaii in 2013 ended after 172 miles and seven days due to gale-force winds.
She participated in the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing in rowing, and in 2012 won the bronze medal in the shot put in London.
She is founder and director of the California Adaptive Rowing Program, a nonprofit that encourages the disabled to row recreationally and competitively. To donate, go to www.carplb.net.
Remington, a record-setting ocean rower herself, is a teaching fellow at the University of Auckland in New Zealand.
They met in 2007 in the Canary Islands, where Madsen was preparing for her inaugural trans-Atlantic trip.
For Remington this latest and most difficult voyage will be the last.
"I won’t do another row again," she said Saturday night.
