Katy Spotz: Woman Rows Solo Across The Atlantic For Clean Water

On New Year's Day, weather permitting, she'll shove off the coast of Africa in her one-woman rowboat, prepared to cruise 2,500 miles over nearly 100 days alone at sea, hoping to set shore in Guyana in South America later this spring. From the Rotary Club in Dakar, Senegal, she blogs that even there, she must avoid tap water and ice cubes -- another reminder of the widespread problem she hopes to help fight. She awaits the arrival of her boat by freighter on Christmas Day and spends her remaining days ashore preparing her gear: freeze-dried foods she'll cook with a jetboil stove (like backpackers use). Because she'll consume 5,000 calories a day, Spotz plans to pack lightweight, high-energy foods like trail mix, beef jerky and energy bars to sustain herself. All of this goes into the hull of the 440-pound boat, meaning Spotz will be propelling about 1,000 pounds.

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