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Sonya Baumstein,
30, was rescued by the Japan Coast Guard a week after she began
the four-to-six month odyssey to San Francisco, according to
expeditionpacific.com, her support team's website.
During her first seven days on the water, Baumstein lost her
drogue, a critical steering system device, and battled strong
headwinds while dealing with the prospect of rough weather in
the forecast, the journey's operations manager, Andrew Cull,
said in a statement.
"Sonya and some team members felt that things weren't going
right. While we couldn't put our finger on it, something felt
wrong," he said.
Despite 16 attempted solo rows across the Pacific, no women and
only two men have successfully completed the journey: Frenchmen
Gerard d'Aboville in 1991 and Emmanuel Coindre in 2005,
according to Ocean Rowing Society records.
Baumstein was traveling in a custom-made 23-foot (7-meter),
660-pound (300-kg) boat without a motor or sail. Baumstein's
boat had an electric water maker that desalinates seawater for
drinking.
The only other woman to attempt to row from Japan to San
Francisco was Briton Sarah Outen. But she was blown northward
and after 149 days ended her 2013 journey in the Aleutian
Islands.
Baumstein has not decided when or if she will attempt the trip
again, Cull said.
(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee)
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