Most people fly across the Atlantic Ocean. Renee Blacken of Bethlehem is going to row it. Solo.
On Saturday, Jan. 24, Blacken will depart from Lanzarote in the Canary Islands and will row 3,200 miles across the ocean to Jolly Harbour, Antigua in the Caribbean as part of the Atlantic Dash.
The Atlantic Dash is one of the most challenging endurance sports in the world. It’s an ocean rowing regatta where everyone has the same goal: to simply make it across.
Blacken didn’t wake up one day and suddenly decide to take this on. It took years of dedication and deep reflection. She’s not just rowing for herself or to break a record; she’s rowing for survivors of trauma in northern New Hampshire.
“It’s not about sort of conquering or achievement or proving, or earning, gaining recognition for myself,” she said. “Something of this magnitude is, for me, very much about being present with each moment of the journey.”
That presence in the moment is everything the Dash is about. The name of the event itself comes from a poem called “The Dash” by Linda Ellis, which focuses on the importance of the time between birth and death and what we do with that time.
Blacken, a self-described athlete, musician, yoga instructor, teacher and farmer, and a survivor of complex trauma, realized that the only way she could push forward was by accepting her reality while pursuing her goals.
“I knew immediately, one, that I was going to do it, and two, I was going to row so that other people could be empowered on their own journeys of healing, wherever they are,” Blacken said.
“Because we desperately, desperately need more conversation, more awareness, more resources in northern New Hampshire,” she added.
She will be supporting Outdoor Adventuring for Good, a 501(c)3 non-profit supporting trauma recovery programs such as DustOff Yoga in Littleton.
DustOff Yoga offers programs like “Root to Rise” for survivors of domestic abuse and assault, “Warriors at Ease” for active military, veterans and first responders, and “iREST Yoga Nidra” for relieving chronic and mental conditions.
She will also be supporting Stable Connections, a non-profit out of Guildhall, VT that utilizes Equine-assisted psychotherapy for those suffering from trauma.
What makes the Atlantic Dash even more challenging is that there are no resupplies or support boats along the way. Three other boats will be racing across the ocean, but Blacken will be alone in her vessel. No motors, no sails, just oars and the open ocean.
If she completes the Atlantic Dash, she will become the oldest American woman to have rowed the Atlantic solo.
“The idea that this journey across an ocean is sort of like a parallel metaphor for that journey we take when we commit to moving through trauma, like it’s big, it’s unknown,” Blacken explained.
She said she will find her capacity for resiliency, endurance and hopes to embrace her full human spirit having gone through this journey, and she hopes others will too as they work through trauma.