One week after setting off to become the first woman and the first American to solo row across the Pacific Ocean, expected bad weather has forced Sonya Baumstein to end her attempt at history.

The Orlando native was rescued Saturday off the coast of Japan after sending out a distress signal.

Baumstein, 30, launched her 6,000-mile journey last Sunday morning from Japan, heading for San Francisco. But the weather turned rough, forcing her to send out the distress signal around 2 p.m. Saturday. She was rescued around three hours later.

Previous Story: Orlando woman sets out on 6,000-mile Pacific crossing by rowboat

Baumstein chose not to have a boat follow her for support, opting instead to have her team guide her via satellite phone and GPS from land.

Baumstein started her rowing career at Winter Park High School in ninth grade. The University of Central Florida graduate was hoping to reach the California coast by late September.

Expedition Pacific: Track Sonya's Journey

The trip was also scientific in nature; partnered with NASA, Baumstein was also measuring water samples to study climate change.

Baumstein did not immediately indicate when she would look to try and set the record again, but she has already clocked some serious expeditions.

Baumstein rowed competitively in high school and at the University of Wisconsin, but was sidelined by a bad car accident. After recovering, she joined three men in rowing the mid-Atlantic from the Canary Islands to Barbados in January 2012. She has kayaked from Washington state to Alaska, stand-up paddle-boarded across the Bering Strait and bicycled 1,800 miles from the Mexican border to Seattle.

Update — 1:58 p.m.

The following was posted on the Expedition Pacific website by Andrew Cull, the team's campaign manager and medical advisor:


After long conversations, loosing a drogue, a critical steering system failure, and battling headwinds and typhoons, Sonya made the decision to abandon this year's attempt. While we were only eight days in, the progress against wind and storms was slow and the next few weeks promised more storms and potentially even slower progress. Furthermore, she was receiving constant AIS alarms which given the weather conditions so far made it impossible to see the many vessels near her.

On top of the data, Sonya and some team members felt that things weren't going right. While we couldn't put our finger on it, something felt wrong. Our expedition experience has taught us that when that feeling doesn't go away, you pay attention. As we prepared to leave normal Coast Guard range, that feeling only got stronger. As a team, we felt that combined with incoming weather, loosing a piece of critical equipment with a a single backup, it would be irresponsible to continue. Perhaps more importantly, none of us could justify putting responder's lives at risk by pushing further.

The Japanese Coast Guard was in the area and they were able to pick up Sonya and tow the boat safely back to Japan. They are underway now, and we are eternally grateful for their hospitality and assistance.

At this time, our team is working as fast as possible responding to the many messages and media inquiries as well as coordinating the repatriation of the Icha into Japan and getting everything back to the US for now. Sonya hasn't made a decision yet on when or if she'll attempt again.

Over the past several months, we have been overwhelmed by the support we've received. I sincerely thank you for all of the well wishes, concerns, and inquires. We'll continue answering the hundreds of inquiries as fast as we can as soon as we all get a little sleep.

Sincerely,

Andrew

About Sonya Baumstein's record attempt

From Sonya, herself:

  • 6 oars on board
  • 900 dehydrated meals, 180 drink supplements
  • Closest human beings to me: International Space Station employees 90 miles above my head (unless a tanker comes within proximity to me)
  • 20 liters/10 minutes: Amount of water produced by electric watermaker
  • 20 minutes: amount of time it will take me to upload 1 minute of footage
  • 12-16 hours: the amount per day I will be rowing
  • 3.5 knots: the speed that the Kuroshio current moves
  • 3 Buckets: Bathrooms on Board (in case I lose one… or two…)
  • 15 degrees of longitude = 1 hour time change ahead as I move toward America
  • Every 10 seconds: time lapse between data samples
  • 60 liters: Backup freshwater