Ocean Rowing: Katie's Halfway Done!

I haven't posted an update on Katie Spotz since she set out on her trans-Atlantic row, but I can assure you that she is making good progress. According to an update that came across her Twitter feed yesterday, she has now rowed more than 1287 miles, leaving her with "just" 1270 more to go.

You may recall that Katie set out from Senegal, along the West Coast of Africa, back on January 3rd with the intent of arriving in Guyana, South America. Initial estimates suggested that it would take the 22-year old American woman somewhere between 70-100 days to complete the journey, and now, 37 days later, she seems on track to easily make that goal.

The entire project has been undertaken to raise funds and awareness of the Blue Planet Run, an organization that is dedicated to promoting and funding clean water projects all over the planet. The according to their website, the non-profit organization has "partnered with 59 non-governmental organizations worldwide to implement more than 200 sustainable water projects in 21 countries impacting hundreds of thousands of lives" since it was created back in 2004.

So what exactly does it take to power your way across the Atlantic? In a recent blog post, from her 34th day out on the water, Katie ran down her inventory of food consumed so far. Here's what she's eaten at this point:

300 Clif bars (lots of different flavors)
210 dehydrated lunches/dinners
98 dehydrated breakfast meals
90 Snickers bars
80 Bumble bars
70 trail mix bags (small)
50 Twix, Butterfinger, and Hersheys bars
42 dehydrated desserts (cheesecake or chocolate pudding)
40 salmon or tuna packs
18 bags dried mango (plain and spicy)
12 bags of beef or turkey jerky
7 bags of dried plantains
8 bags almonds
12 bags cashews
5 bags dried cherries
6 bags wasabi peas
8 hard bread packs with almond butter
12 bags of crackers
10 bags dried pears
10 bags of mission fig and calamyrna figs
8 bags of dried peas
7 boxes of biscotti
30 sunflower packs (small)
200 GU Energy gels
100 GU Blocks
7 bags dried blueberries
40 gummies bags
50 fruit leathers
6 bags of flattened banana
4 bags of mangosteen
12 packs of chocolate covered ginger
4 bags of tangy almonds
3 bags of whey protein
2 packs of Fig Newtons
6 bags of sesame crepes
2 chocolate cookies bags
Nuun electrolyte replacement tablets
1 sprouting kit with lots of seeds!

And despite all of those calories, she's still probably losing weight! :)