The ocean dreams took hold of Taryn Smith when she was living in landlocked Nebraska, craving open-water adventures as a young adult in Omaha.
Smith, who’s now 25, read an article about an all-female rowing team that set a world record in the Great Pacific Race in 2022, rowing from Monterrey, California to Hawaii in just 34 days—and something stirred deeply within Smith.
“I just remember thinking it sounded like the most amazing thing in the entire world,” Taryn told PEOPLE, recapturing her thoughts about the rowing team’s record. “I wanted to do something big in my 20s. I wanted to spend the rest of my life knowing that I was capable of something like this.”
Smith started researching opportunities that might present an equally daunting challenge and soon discovered the World’s Toughest Row—a 3,000-mile rowing race from the Canary Islands on the western edge of Africa to Antigua in the Caribbean Sea.
Taryn was going to do it alone.
Her grandparents both had sailing experience, but she had a lot to learn. She quit her job in human resources and trained for three years, spending time in the United Kingdom, and living exclusively on her rowboat for several weeks at a time.
She needed to become one with the water because that would soon be her only company.
“Taryn seems to know no fear,” Shelly Smith, Taryn’s mother, told Nebraska Public Media. “She has always been a kid that thrives on adventure. She just really likes that challenge.”
And so, on December 14, Taryn faced 42 other teams from 20 different countries at the starting line of a race across the Atlantic. The journey was expected to take about two months, with Taryn rowing 10 to 12 hours by herself each day.
Obstacles arose every day—but Day 27 pushed her to the brink. She developed hives from sun exposure and hadn’t slept soundly for two straight nights. She spent the morning sobbing, fighting the fatigue and exhaustion, as her boat bounced up and down on waves that kept growing bigger from an impending storm. (Watch a video at the bottom…)
“Absolutely, huge waves,” she said in an Instagram video from Day 27. “A wave would come just gushing over the deck and would literally knock me out of my shoes. It was scary. It was really, really, scary. I think this is the first day I felt properly terrified since being out here.”
And to make matters worse, a menacing marlin stalked her boat and oars for miles. Nevertheless, she persisted. By day’s end, she had overcome every last challenge the Atlantic could muster, while still making considerable progress.
“It’s been a really hard day, but I am really proud of the effort that I put in today because it’s been a fast day and I’ve covered a lot of ground and I kept rowing and now it’s more comfortable to row than it is to try to sleep,” she said on Instagram at the end of the day.
“I’m listening to Harry Potter (in my headphones). So all in all, life is good…”
She partnered with Girls on the Run throughout her journey, raising money for the nonprofit that empowers girls in grades 3-8 through running, physical activity, and confidence-building programs.
With each row, Taryn was unleashing a powerful example of what those girls can do with a goal in front of them and the grit to chase it.
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She arrived in Antigua on January 29th, becoming the first female to finish the World’s Toughest Row alone. She even beat her own expectations in the process, finishing the race in 46 days, three hours, and 37 minutes, a few days before her own optimistic predictions.
Taryn pulled into the harbor with a flare in her hand as an American flag billowed behind her on the boat. (Watch the video below…)
The girl from the landlocked plains of the midwest had just completed a bold 3,000-mile crossing of the Atlantic—and her ocean dreams that began with a magazine article had become a reality, and a powerful reminder of the untapped potential that lies inside us all.
“Everything is more within reach than we think,” Taryn told PEOPLE. “I hope people understand that you should take on your biggest challenges, even if it means being alone. Even if it’s scary. You can do it—and you probably won’t be alone for very long.”
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