This South African Couple Rowed 6,600 Miles From Morocco To Manhattan

REUTERS/Mike Segar

A South African couple arrived in New York this weekend after crossing the Atlantic Ocean by rowing nearly 6,700 miles over six months, Corey Kilgannon of The New York Times reports.

Riaan Manser and Vasti Geldenhuys, an engaged couple from Cape Town, left Morocco on December 30 in a custom 22-foot rowboat. Their subsequent journey included 133 days on the water with no support boat and 74 consecutive days with no land in sight as they rowed all day and watched movies on a laptop at night.

Manser, a professional adventurer who previously became the first person to cycle the entire perimeter of the African continent and circumnavigate Madagascar by single kayak, and Geldenhuys, a lawyer, guided their high-tech craft into the 79th Street Boat Basin in Manhattan on Friday after an estimated 1.8 million oar strokes.

South African media notes that Geldenhuys is now t"he first African woman to row across any ocean on the planet, and with Riaan, the first woman to row from mainland Africa to mainland North America."

“We’ve done a journey that no human beings have done,” Manser told The Times.

Here's the note they sent on Thursday night:

“Landed on Staten Island. One month at sea from Miami. We’re tired, it’s been long. We’ve almost done it. Friday we do last 25km across finish line at Statue of Liberty. New York City coming out in full force.”

Here are some photos of their arrival in New York:

REUTERS/Mike Segar